difference between project management and process management
What is the difference between project management and process management? ...
terminology
What is the term for "catching" a return value
I was training a new developer the other day and realized I don't know the actual term for "catching" a return value in a variable. For example, consider this pseudocoded method: String updateString(newPart) { string += newPart; return string; } Assume this is being called to simply update the string - the return value is not need...
Why was .NET called .NET?
I always wondered why Microsoft chose such a strange, search-engine-unfriendly name for such a great platform. Couldn't they have come up with something better? Apparently the codename was NGWS: Microsoft started development on the .NET Framework in the late 1990s originally under the name of Next Generation Windows Services (...
Job titles involved in the software development process
I have seen many job titles for people involved in a software development process, but never found a consensus on what they mean. I know many of them are equivalent, and found some other questions about that here in SO, but I would like to know your definitions and comments about them. I want not only to know if there is really a conse...
Shared library terminology
What is the difference between "shared library text" and "shared library data"? Also, what does it mean for shared library data to be "pre-relocated"? This question is in reference to a couple of AIX-specific features involving shared libraries. http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/systems/topic/com.ibm.aix.genprogc/doc/genprogc/...
Ubuntu LTS vs regular release
Hi, I was wondering, what is the difference between the LTS (Long Term Support) and the regular versions of Ubuntu? I know, the LTS releases are supported 3 and 5 years (desktop and server), but what difference does it make e.g. if I use 8.10? Is it possible, in a couple of years I won't get any security updates for 8.10, only for 8.04...
Terminology - can events be "thrown"?
Twice this week, I've read people write that an event (.net) was "thrown". I've always thought that the verb to use with events is either "fire" or "raise". I thought that "thrown" was used for exceptions, but not events ("raise" can be used for either). Does anyone else find it confusing for events to be "thrown"? ...
Do you find that corporate buzzwords or heavy jargon gets in the way of software project communication?
Do you find that corporate buzzwords or heavy management jargon gets in the way of software project communication? for example using words such as Mainstreaming Holistic Contestability Synergies etc. Would you rather see a initiative within the industry to put a stop to jargon such as this to help people communicate better and keep p...
Computer-friendly name for entity
What's the technical term for a computer-friendly name of an entity: e.g. "Guns N' Roses" becomes guns_n_roses. This has nothing to to with escaping or sanitizing input, but with aesthetics - looking good in an url. To clarify, in an "questions" table, you might have the following fields Title: Computer-friendly name for entity Body: ...
What is the origin of the term "heap" for the free store?
I am trying to find the official (or a good enough) reason that the free store is commonly referred to as the heap. Except for the fact that it grows from the end of the data segment, I can't really think of a good reason, especially since it has very little to do with the heap data structure. Note: Quite a few people mentioned that i...
Is there a strict definition for the words define, declare and assign?
I tend to use the words define, declare and assign interchangeably but this seems to cause offense to some people. Is this justified? Should I only use the word declare for the first time I assign to a variable? Or is there more to it than that? ...
Ruby Terminology Question: Is this a Ruby declaration, definition and assignment, all at the same time?
If I say: x = "abc" this seems like a declaration, definition and assignment, all at the same time, regardless of whether I have said anything about x in the program before. Is this correct? I'm not sure what the correct terminology is in Ruby for declarations, definitions and assigments or if there is even a distinction between thes...
What's the correct terminology for this design pattern?
I am writing a section of code that allows "soft" forms, such as a configurable questionnaire or checklist. The header table/class just groups together a bunch of questions, where each question has a "Text" property for the question itself, an "AnswerType" enumeration (string/boolean/StronglyAgree-StronglyDisagree) etc., an order proper...
OOP Terminology: "Container" & "Collection"
Is the C++ term "Container" simply synonymous with the Java term "Collection" ? ...
Is 'c' said to be a character or a string in Ruby - or both?
char hello[] = "hello"; #C hello = ['h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o'] #Ruby If I output the class of hello[0] in Ruby, it says "String". This is because single quoted Strings exist in Ruby and there does not seem to be the notion of a char type. The other day I said to my coworker that he had an array of characters and he said "no I don't, I ha...
Static factory method OR Creation method
I am wondering about correct definition for such construction: class A { public static A create() { return new A(); } private A() { } } In Effective Java (Item 1) and on wikipedia article I found that this is called Static Factory Method (some kind of Factory Method). But during reading of Refactoring to Patterns (Chapter 6)...
What is a multibyte character set?
Does the term multibyte refer to a charset whose characters can - but don't have to be - wider than 1 byte, (e.g. UTF-8) or does it refer to character sets which are in any case wider than 1 byte (e.g. UTF-16) ? In other words: What is meant if anybody talks about multibyte character sets? ...
What does the term "Tuple" Mean in Relational Databases?
Please explain what is meant by tuples in sql?Thanks.. ...
DTO, DAO, and DCO. What is a DCO?
My search for the meaning of DCO was quite fruitless, so I decided to ask here. In my Java application, there are many classes like EmployeeDetailsDto, EmployeeDetailsDao, but recently I also came across EmployeeDetailsDco. Does anyone know what does the DCO stand for? ...
What is the best explanation for the term "generic"?
I am looking for an good explanation, maybe with some examples. In my understanding, something is "generic" when it can be used for multiple purposes. But I may be wrong... ...