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  Introducing LocalDB, an improved SQL Express

Updated 2011-11-28: Added reference to the walkthrough of using LocalDB in Visual Studio 2010 and to the new LocalDB Installer. Updated 2011-11-02: Added reference to .NET Framework 4 support for LocalDB in the Q&A section. Introduction It gives me great pleasure to introduce a new version of SQL Express called SQL Express LocalDB. LocalDB is created specifically for developers. It is very easy to install and requires no management, yet it offers the same T-SQL language, programming surfac...

   LocalDB,Microsoft,SQL Express     2012-03-31 00:13:43

  Tricks with Direct Memory Access in Java

Java was initially designed as a safe managed environment. Nevertheless, Java HotSpot VM contains a “backdoor” that provides a number of low-level operations to manipulate memory and threads directly. This backdoor – sun.misc.Unsafe â€“ is widely used by JDK itself in packages like java.nio or java.util.concurrent. It is hard to imagine a Java developer that uses this backdoor in any regular development because this API is extremely dangerous...

   Java,Directly memory access,Tricks,JVM     2012-02-13 05:31:19

  Why Flash didn’t work out on mobile devices

The debate over whether supporting the Adobe Flash plug-in on mobile devices is a feature or not is over. Last night, ZDNet got hold of a leaked Adobe announcement: It’s abandoning its work on Flash for mobile. It’s not a huge surprise that it came to this, since Adobe had been struggling to optimize the performance, and the tide has been turning toward HTML5.From the Adobe announcement ZDNet published:Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Fl...

   Flash,HTML5,Advantage,Merit,Mobile device,Support     2011-11-15 03:15:12

  Why We Moved Off The Cloud

Cloud computing is often positioned as a solution to scalability problems. In fact, it seems like almost every day I read a blog post about a company moving infrastructure to the cloud. At Mixpanel, we did the opposite. I’m writing this post to explain why and maybe even encourage some other startups to consider the alternative.First though, I wanted to write a short bit about the advantages of cloud servers since they are ideal for some use cases.Low initial costs. Specifically, you...

   Cloud,Cloud computing,Mixpanel,Get off,Disadvantage,Drawback     2011-10-28 10:22:32

  Pros and cons of 6 most popular test automation frameworks

Not everyone dappling into systems for test automation knows how to leverage the maximum benefit and keep them going in top shape for a long time. That's where test automation frameworks come in – they're basically sets of rules, standards, protocols and guidelines which can be incorporated into practice or simply followed to provide beneficial execution environments for automation test scripts.   Why are test automation frameworks important?   Test automation frameworks offer m...

       2015-11-30 08:14:23

  UDP vs. TCP

Introduction Hi, I’m Glenn Fiedler and welcome to the first article in my online book Networking for Game Programmers In this article we start with the most basic aspect of network programming, sending and receiving data over the network. This is just the beginning – the simplest and most basic part of what network programmers do, but still it is quite intricate and non-obvious as to what the best course of action is. Take care because if you get this part wrong it will have ...

   Game design,Networking,Communication,TCP,UDP,Design     2012-02-27 04:49:53

  A re-introduction to JavaScript

Introduction Why a re-introduction? Because JavaScript has a reasonable claim to being the world's most misunderstood programming language. While often derided as a toy, beneath its deceptive simplicity lie some powerful language features. 2005 saw the launch of a number of high-profile JavaScript applications, showing that deeper knowledge of this technology is an important skill for any web developer. It's useful to start with an idea of the language's history. JavaScript was created in 1...

   JavaScript,Types,Array,Re-introduction,OOP     2012-02-09 05:38:08

  The Greatest Developer Fallacy Or The Wisest Words You’ll Ever Hear?

"I will learn it when I need it"! I've heard that phrase a lot over the years; it seems like a highly pragmatic attitude to foster when you're in an industry as fast-paced as software development. On some level it actually IS quite pragmatic, but on another level I am annoyed by the phrase. It has become a mantra for our whole industry which hasn't changed said industry for the better. The problem is this, in the guise of sounding like a wise and practical developer, people use it as an exc...

   Tips, Programming, Expert     2011-04-06 11:07:43

  How Can Anyone Still Hate Bill Gates

David Coursey from Forbes has a nice article on Gates titled - How Can Anyone Still Hate Bill Gates?There were a couple of line in Coursey's article that rang very true.All that money you think Gates stole from you? He’s giving it back, with interest, to the world’s poorest.All that money you think Apple has overcharged people? Apple still has it and Steve got and kept his share.Steve Jobs has fittingly had a long list of tributes. He was among the greatest technologists, busi...

   Bill Gates,Steve Jobs,Glory,Competition,Good guy     2011-11-05 07:08:56

  10 New Year’s resolutions for designers

Get the new year off to a positive start with these design resolutions Wake up. I hope you enjoyed your holiday because it’s a new year and it’s time to get back to work. We did pretty good last year. We started standing up for ourselves. We stopped working for free. We started getting our financial house in order. (Please don’t make me do the contract thing again this year.) We rediscovered typography ...

   Designer,Chanllenge,2012,New UI     2012-01-18 09:11:02

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