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SEARCH KEYWORD -- Writing



  Write Your Own R Packages

Introduction A set of user-defined functions (UDF) or utility functions are helpful to simplify our code and avoid repeating the same typing for daily analysis work. Previously, I saved all my R functions to a single R file. Whenever I want to use them, I can simply source the R file to import all functions. This is a simple but not perfect approach, especially when I want to check the documentation of certain functions. It was quite annoying that you can’t just type ?func&n...

   DATA SCIENCE,R PROGRAMMING,DATA ENGINEERING     2019-10-19 07:20:52

  I hate cut-and-paste

Me, I blame the IDE's.Coding used to be hard. Not because programming itself was overly hard, but mostly because editors absolutely sucked. How much the typical development environment in the 70's and 80's sucked is hard to convey (except for a very lucky few, and those would have likely been using DEC and WANG gear). I got in on the tail end of the punch card era. Punching your own program is lots of fun. Once. And if you drop a deck you get to play with the sorter, which is also lots of fun (o...

   IDE,Editor,Cut and paste,Shortcut,Blame     2011-10-24 11:33:46

  Kodiak PHP can run PHP codes offline on iPad

In the eyes of the vast majority of application developers, iPad is the terminal equipment for running code, rather than the tool used to write code. However, there are some applications developers finding iPad's potential to develop a wide variety of programming applications with some applications, such as Diet Coda, Koder, Gusto and so on. The family of applications for writing applications has added a new member -  Kodiak PHP. This application runs on iPad, it can be used to develop PHP ...

   Kodiak PHP, rogramming,iPad     2012-09-24 11:54:08

  An Object is not a Hash

Following my article A String is not an Error, I want to bring attention to an issue that similarly applies to JavaScript in general, but has special relevance in the Node.JS environment. The problem boils down to the usage of {} as a data-structure where the keys are supplied by untrusted user input, and the mechanisms that are normally used to assert whether a key exists. Consider the example of a simple blog created with Express. We decide to store blog posts in memory in a {}, indexed ...

   Object,Hash,Node.js,JavaScript     2012-01-19 10:16:10

  Are college students learning?

In his State of the Union address last Tuesday, President Obama proposed several measures to lower college tuition. University leaders responded cautiously, warning that cost-cutting reforms might also cut into instructional quality. But here's the big open secret in American higher education: Most institutions have no meaningful way to measure the quality...

   College students,Learning,Survey     2012-02-02 07:10:02

  10 rules of PHP-masters

1. Use PHP only when it is necessary – Rasmus Lerdorf There is no better source than the creator of PHP, to learn what he can do. Rasmus Lerdorf created PHP in 1995. Since then, the language has spread like a wildfire rate in the developer community, incidentally changing the face of the Internet. However, Rasmus did not create PHP with these intentions. PHP was created for the needs of web development. As is the case with many other projects wi...

   PHP,Master,Experience,Advice     2011-12-16 09:38:07

  How Many C Programs Are There?

If I choose a size S, can you tell me how many valid C programs exist that are no larger than that size? I’m actually interested in the answer — it’ll help me make a point in a paper I’m writing. Shockingly, the Internet (or at least, the part of it that I looked at based on a few searches) does not provide a good answer. Let’s start with a few premises: Since it would be exceedingly difficult to construct the exact answer, we’re looking for a respe...

   C Progra,Number,Statistic,Calculation     2012-02-22 05:18:32

  Good programmer made bad designers

I got an email request to publish this article a few days ago.I was actually on the verge of moving the email to the trash when I noticed the first name of the author: Rand.For those of you not familiar with the Wheel of Time series, the main character’s name is Rand.I admit that it’s an embarrassing weak reason to respond to a strange email, but reading some 10,000 pages of a fantasy series obviously messes with your mind.Then again, it’s probably no stranger than...

   Programmer,Designer,Comparison     2011-08-29 22:06:33

  System programming is still there

System programming is the practice of writing system software. System software lives at a low level, interfacing directly with the kernel and core system libraries. Your shell and your text editor, your compiler and your debugger, your core utilities and system daemons are all system software. But so are the network server, the web server, and the database. These components are entirely system software, primarily if not exclusively interfacing with the kernel and the C library. But nowadays more...

   System programming     2014-02-27 05:46:48

  Why Lua

In this article, I would like to discuss why you should use Lua. This all started with a message that recently popped up on the Lua mailing list regarding why isn't Lua more widely used? The answers went from randomness to lack of libraries to a variety of other things, but the one that resonated with me most was that there are fewer people who enjoy the do it yourself approach, which Lua fully embraces. I've come to think of Lua as the Arch Linux of programming languages. Which, almost by d...

   Lua,Feature,C,Simple,Portable     2012-02-27 04:58:15