recommendation

Is it worth keeping up on COBOL? What compilers would you recommend?

In the past, I suffered through a course on COBOL in order to get a grade. Some people have suggested that, although nasty, this language still has a lot of relevance in the job market. My question: Is it even worth keeping up on COBOL? If so, are there any FOSS compilers you recommend? Thanks ...

Does the book Programming WPF has insufficient XAML coverage?

I am about to buy Programming WPF, but am undecided after reading this. Can anyone who has read this book tell me if it has insufficient XAML coverage. In fact one of the reviewers at Amazon mentioned that the following topics are not covered. dynamic data binding how to create an app start to finish using expression and all of the ...

Java Certifications recommendations?

I am studying for the Sun Certified Java Programmer examination, and I wondered: what have you used to study for this exam? How much experience in the real world do you need before you're ready for this exam? And will this certification actually help in terms of marketability? Thank you. ...

Is there a free/demo version of COBOL with multi-user support?

I have been using COBOL 85 for a long time, including work with merging COBOL and Z80 assembly. However traditional COBOL doesn't support multi-user/shareable (ie can run concurrently from various terminals) concepts. Can anyone recommend a newer version of COBOL that will let me rewrite my existing code with minimal effort? Is there ...

OpenID for a website - recommendation

I am running few websites for my clients (not connected at all), all of them with separate registration of users. I am thinking about implementing OpenID sign in module for those websites. I am looking for the recommendation - what kind of website - maybe even part of website (regular/irregular customers of e-shop, website comments autho...

How can I impress people with Perl's capabilities?

I would like to give a presentation for my co-workers that will show off some amazing things that Perl can do, things that would make programmers and non-programmers alike say to themselves, "WHOA you can do that?!" I really want to turn heads, since many are of the mindset that Perl is a dying language, but also be fun and entertaining...

.Net Profiling API approaches

I have a feeling I may already know the answer to this question, but I'll ask it anyway. Are there any better ways of using the .Net Profiling API than the COM/Managed C++ route? My reluctance to follow the suggested COM approach is as such: Effort, it's a lot of legwork to get started Don't like the magic involved in hooking up the ...

How do recommendation systems work?

I've always been curious as to how these systems work. For example, how do netflix or Amazon determine what recommendations to make based on past purchases and/or ratings? Are there any algorithms to read up on? Just so there's no misperceptions here, there's no practical reason for me asking. I'm just asking out of sheer curiosity. ...

Should I buy Uncle Bob's clean code?

I'm currently unsure whether I should buy Robert C. Martin's "Clean Code". I'm a student and have been programming for almost 13 years now. I know I should write short methods and use descriptive names. Are there any insights a moderately experienced programmer will have when reading this book? ...

Good books on writing clustered applications?

I'm looking for a general, language agnostic, higher-level/theory of clustering book. Think Principles of Transaction Processing, Gang of Four, Patterns of EAA, etc. These books present general ideas, knowledge, and patterns about a particular aspect of application development. I'm not looking for something hardware centric, nor books ...

What PHP/MySQL book would be good as a textbook?

I'm possibly teaching an undergraduate PHP/MySQL course in the Fall and was wondering if anyone has any recommendations for good textbooks. The books have to be geared towards a beginner/medium level (I'm assuming/hoping my students will have C++ and MsSQL classes prior to mine). Topics I want to cover in PHP: Variables/Constants Con...

What is the best open source wiki system ?

Hi, My boss asked me today to look for wiki system to install on our shared hosting site (PHP, MySQL support). We are not-for profit organization and have 30 employees (student-workers) I've been reading and comparing some wikis at the wikimatrix . Rihgt now, I am considering Dokuwiki. But I prefer a wiki that supports MySQL. I want ...

Recommendations on good Ada books

I'm looking for a good book on Ada. Wikipedia has a list but I have no idea where to start, what level they're aimed at, etc. I started coding ~6 years ago in college and I'm quite adept at Java and have dabbled in Python, C and PHP when required. Therefore, I don't need a beginners book, but more of a general overview of the language an...

Best book explaining how we tick to non-programmers?

The reading list for my cryptography class included Simon Singh's Code Book, of which the professor said that "this is the book you can get your grandmother for Christmas to explain to her what we are doing here". What is the best book (or film) to introduce non-programmers to what we are doing, and why we love it so much? ...

Beginning 3d Programming: Book/Website Suggestions?

First an overview of myself: Graduated almost 5 years ago w/ degree in Computer Engineering, minor in Math Currently attending grad school for MS in Computer Science. Work experience since college has been primarily VB.Net, ASP, SQL, etc, "business apps" Preferred C/C++, ASM, and other "lower level" languages in college, but haven't ha...

How to improve programming skills: from high-level to sth more deep & technical

I need your advice on how to develop my programming skills. Though I am very curious about learning new techniques, I somehow feel stucked at the moment and would like to get some opinions on that. I hope the following description will help to illustrate my current situation clearly to you. I got interested in programming after writing ...

Can you recommend any resources for learning WorkFlow in 3 days?

I'm replacing another developer in the final phase of an ASP.NET project using workflows. As I understand it, most of the project is complete but the workflows parts are still work in progress. This was a surprise assignment and now I have a long weekend to prepare. Can you recommend any resources to get me up to speed? I can learn on ...

What is a good C++ IDE for Windows for compiling in Linux?

I know there are many IDE related questions already answered on StackOverflow, but I have a strange request. I'm looking for a C++ IDE for Windows that is designed with Linux as a destination compile point. I just want to use it for syntax highlight, code completion, basic error detection, etc. In the end all code will be sftped over ...

Tool to migrate data between different DBMS?

There are some tool (free preferentially) to to migrate data between different DBMS (like from MySql to Firebird, or Sql Server to Sqlite, etc)? Edit: I want specifically to migrate from "Firebird Embed" to "Sqlite". But in another situations (like migration of my customers websites) I need migrate from MySql to Sql Server (and vice-ver...

What is .NET recommended practice to interact with MIME-emails with latest Windows OSes ?

We are using CDO interop (cdont.dll) in our current project for parsing incoming mime mails, but facing some bugs with Cyrillic code pages conversions. While looking for any MS supported replacements, we noticed that all available message parsing dlls marked with "Do not use" in MSDNLib (CDO, CDOex,CDOnt obviously, but inetcomm.dll for "...