Can anybody explain me what exactly Resource manager do. Thanks in advance.
Basically, you can use this for creating internationalized applications.
It is a single point of access that allows you to retrieve internationalized data from your resource bundles.
Here are some useful official links on the matter:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/FlashPlatform/reference/actionscript/3/mx/resources/ResourceManager.html
http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/help.html?content=l10n_6.html
And some unofficial:
http://sujitreddyg.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/localizing-flex-applications
http://www.visible-form.com/blog/flex-localization-with-resource-bundles/
Cheers
I recently heard about a type of priority queue called a "pagoda" that allegedly has excellent runtime guarantees. In fact, some of the references I've found on it have suggested that it's one of the fastest priority queue implementations available. Surprisingly, though, I can't seem to find a single good resource on this data structure anywhere on Google or Bing.
Does anyone know of any good resources (analysis, source code, etc.) on this data structure?
Pagodas: pg 174 of the "Handbook of Algorithms and Data Structures" by G.H. Gonnet (published 1984). Contains psuedocode and analysis.
There is a more recent version of this book here.
On stack overflow, I see that there is referred to Wikipedia a lot. However, I'm often not sure whether they are the definite authority for very specific software development related concepts. For example, I have recently looked for definitions of the terms web server/service and RPC/IPC, and the responses I get very often refer to Wikipedia (directly and indirectly).
Hence my question: which sources do you trust the most for definitions of software development jargon?
http://www.google.com
And no, this isn't being tongue-in-cheek.
Personally I used to trust Wikipedia, and I still read it to get an idea about the subject. But definitely books are better choice. Because they not only have a "compressed" explanation but also provide an examples and give broader description. As professors of my university say, don't trust wikipedia, search for an authorized source. For example a huge information about web service technology you can find in the book Building Web Services with Java - Making Sense of XML, SOAP, WSDL, UDDI - 2nd Edition 2005. It contains information you'll never find in Wikipedia or even in Google (Unless you'll find this book using it ;) ).
Hope this helps.
Google and technical & non-technical software development books.
"A Story Culture" may be a useful read for you as you want something other than a dictionary, IMO. You want something with the knowledge and wisdom of the topic rather than simply what does this mean. For example, there are a couple of blog posts about Technical Debt that I really like to use for reference about the subject, one from Steve McConnell and one from Martin Fowler.
While I can generally suggest going to the source for the term, there is something to be said for a term getting overloaded or overused so that it can have little meaning. There are a few folks' blogs that I can say I trust to get some understanding on a subject including Joels and Jeffs, but don't forget that each of us has a brain and we shouldn't be afraid to use it.
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One of the pitfalls I run into on a daily basis is customers saying one thing while meaning another. Usually, this is just due to a miscommunication somewhere, but occasionally they are, in fact, saying the same thing I am just using a different term.
For example, one of my customers the other day mentioned a feature he called, "find as you type." Being a little confused, I asked him what he meant, and he described the feature in Google where, once you start typing a search query, Google suggests other, popular queries that match the letters you have typed.
Click! He meant AutoComplete! He was not wrong, it is just that I had never heard that term before.
In the spirit of reducing confusion, what terms can you think of that are different but mean, essentially, the same thing?
Also, what terms do people think mean the same thing, but don't. Please differentiate between the two.
Please only one set of terms per answer, so we can vote on the best ones.
parameter == argument
Parameter is the variable in the
declaration of function or method.
Argument is the actual value of this
variable that gets passed to function.
I like this one because it happens even to programmers
I've seen this a few times on this site:
Authentication != Authorization
Authentication: Your identity
Authorization: Your privileges
Users often confuse "web browser" with "the Internet." I'll hear them say "I'm going to the Internet," which means "I'm launching a web browser."
"CPU" = tower
A favorite term I have heard customers use.
AJAX and Javascript.
A lot of times I hear semi-technical people interchanging the two terms. Like: "Can't you animate that image using AJAX". Which is of course just plain javascript.
"Client" is the big, perennial classic term that means so many things, all within the context of almost every development project.
Hard drive space != RAM
Verification == Validation
From wikipedia:
It is sometimes said that validation
can be expressed by the query "Are you
building the right thing?" and
verification by "Are you building the
thing right?". "Building the right
thing" refers back to the user's
needs, while "building it right"
checks that the specifications be
correctly implemented by the system.
In some contexts, it is required to
have written requirements for both as
well as formal procedures or protocols
for determining compliance.
"open source" == "free software"
If you watch Revolution OS, you'll hear Richard Stallman use the term "free software" and others like Linus Torvalds and Bruce Perens use "open source." After watching the film, I think they're talking about the same thing, but disagreeing (vehemently in some cases) on what to call it.
(I hope none of them are reading this.)
"Inconceivable"
I do not think it means what you think it means.
I once heard a junior dev use NULL and VOID interchangeably.
Scariest thing I'd ever heard.
Drop down = Combo box
Wiki != Wikipedia. (As in, "Well I looked it up on Wiki, and it says...")
This one is not really programming related, but it could cause a problem for someone working at a company that had their own internal wiki.
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About
Some wikis that are not Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wikis
Java == Javascript
Winchester == hard disk drive.
It ain't!
alt text http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Winchester_Model_1873_Short_Rifle_1495.jpg/300px-Winchester_Model_1873_Short_Rifle_1495.jpg
Scope != Lifetime
Scope :: is the collection of statements where a variable can be referenced. Those statements are called the referencing environment of that variable.
Lifetime :: is the association between a variable(the name) and its place of storage in memory(address).
Closure == lambda. In reality, they are distinct things: lambda is any anonymous function, and may or may not close over some variables; closure is any function that closes over some variables, and may or may not be anonymous. For example, the original Pascal had no lambdas, but it had closures (in form of nested functions).
deprecate != depreciate
Seriously people. Features are not depreciated from upcoming releases of software. They are deprecated.
hard disk drive = computer
There are 180 pages of preferred terms in the "Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications," which is a great book for technical writers, but I think programmers should have it too.
Many of the entries mention unacceptable (or outdated) equivalents.
Example: "system tray Do not use. Use notification area instead."
PowerPoint != the projector
It really bothers me when people say "I'll just put it up on the PowerPoint" and then they go to Microsoft Word or something instead.
Bug - Incident - Failure - Error - Defect - Problem - Issue
Some users will use the term "downloading" to generally mean "transferring" instead of distinguishing between "downloading" and "uploading." So, if they say "The error happened right after I downloaded the data," it might refer to another part of the process than what a tech person would take it to mean.
System == Library == Framework == Program == Application == Software
One that really turned my head around was someone in my QA department referring to a null value and a blank value as being one and the same. I smiled and asked if they were serious and they said, "of course they're the same." I tried to explain as simply as I could that they were not the same and it just didn't register with them.
/matt
PC != Windows
PC means personal computer. Apple invented the PC. But, now it's taken a life of its own as anything that has Windows on it.
In this same vein, people tend to compare "Mac" or "PC" when it should be "OS X" or "Windows"... or "Mac vs. ThinkPad/Satellite"
Of course, that would be more difficult to put into an ad.
computer == system == workstation == machine == box
Whenever dealing with Departments of Education you must learn that "system" means software and "technology" means hardware.
Host == Server
.. Which is untrue :)
Value Object == Value Type
Value Objects are classes representing immutable attributes, as in Domain Driven Design.
Value Types are variables whose values are held on the stack (int, bool, struct, etc). These are spoken of in relation to Reference Types, which live on the heap and have memory pointers.