What Makes A Software Programmer a Professional? - CodeProject

Summary article written by Rob Kraft in
https://www.codeproject.com/Articles/5129182/What-Makes-A-Software-Programmer-a-Professional

• Use version control
• Back up everything off site
• Track the changes, fixes, and enhancements in each release
• Keep the source code related to each deployed version that is in use
• Keep a copy of your software in escrow
• Use automated builds
• Schedule builds
• Write regression unit tests
• Use a bug tracking system
• Use a system to track tasks and features being developed
• Keep customers informed about the progress of the software development
• Keep third party software used updated regularly
• Understand the security risks
• Ensure proper compliance with industry standards such as PCI, HIPAA, SOX, and PII
• Educate yourself continuously
• Invest in your development tools
• Properly license development tools and software

Using ODBC 32-bit on 64-bit Operating System

Which ODBC driver should we install on 64-bit machine using Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, or Windows 8? It would depend. When I installed MySQL ODBC 64-bit driver on Windows 8.1 Preview, it worked when I added a new DSN. But, it did not work when Microsoft Access 2007 application made ODBC call to MySQL server.

What wrong? It took me couple hours to figure out. Microsoft Access 2007 may not work with other 64-bit driver or program yet. Installed MySQL ODBC 32-bit solve the problem.

On Windows 8.1, there are two ODBC Administrors under Control Panel – Administrative Tools. One for ODBC Datasources 32-bit and one for ODBC Datasources 64-bit. On Windows Server 2008 R2, there is only one reference to ODBC Administrator. This is 64-bit. Where is 32-bit? To add or manage DSN for ODBC 32-bit, you need to call program odbcad32.exe in C:\Windows\SysWOW64\

Hope this help.

WAMP

WAMP stands for Microsoft Windows operating system, Apache web server, MySQL database, and PHP general-purpose scripting language for server side Web development. Among WAMP server packages, I like WampServer since it easy to instal, have latest version from Apache, MySQL and PHP and it's free. Before you install the WampServer, you need to make sure your computer have:

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 run-time. Without Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 run-time, you will see the error message "vcr100.dll missing" when install.
• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1. This fixed the problem 'aestan tray menu has stopped' when you start the WampServer

To install Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package (x64) ( http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14632 )

On Windows 2008R2 server, make sure .NET Framework 3.5.1 enable. It disable by default. ( http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/ac1bf719-0a88-4b5d-be98-395f2623e805/what-version-of-net-framework-comes-with-windows-2008-r2 )

Notes on MVC Music Part 7 Tutorial

When using Visual Studio 2012 and MVC 3 to practice the MVC Music Store tutorial, you may get this error on part 7:
‘CompareAttribute’ is an ambiguous reference between ‘System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations.CompareAttribute’ and ‘System.Web.Mvc.CompareAttribute’

Here is the solution:
Remove the reference using System.Web.Mvc;
from MvcMusicStore\Models\AccountModels.cs

Android Studio

On Google IO 2013, Google introduced Android Studio, based on IntelliJ IDEA, a new tool for Android developers. I liked it. Since it was a preview version, Google noted:

Caution: Android Studio is currently available as an early access preview. Several features are either incomplete or not yet implemented and you may encounter bugs. If you are not comfortable using an unfinished product, you may want to instead download (or continue to use) the ADT Bundle (Eclipse with the ADT Plugin).

As soon it posted on developer.android.com, I downloaded and installed on three platforms: Ubuntu 13.04, Mac OS/X Lion 10.7.5 and Windows Vista. On Ubuntu 13.04 with OpenJDK 1.7, I got this error message:

'tool.jar' is not in Android Studio class path. Please ensure JAVA_HOME points to JDK rather than JRE.

I have no problem using Eclipse Juno (4.2.2) for Android development on this machine. Ran android-studio/bin/studio.sh at a terminal, there was a warning:

WARNING: You are launching the IDE using OpenJDK Java runtime. ITS KNOWN TO HAVE PERFORMANCE AND GRAPHICS ISSUES! SWITCH TO THE ORACLE(SUN) JDK BEFORE REPORTING PROBLEMS!

Downloaded and switched to Oracle (Sun) JDK from OpenJDK on Ubuntu 13.04 according to Hendré's blog, problem solved.

On Mac OS/X with Java 1.6.0_45, I got Android Studio ran immediately without hicup. After I made a new simple project to test, I could not load any Android Virtual Device. To work around, I opened Android Virtual Device Manager from Eclipse Juno to load the Android Application launched from Android Studio.

On Windows Vista with JRE 7 installed only, Nothing running after executed Android Studio (c:\android-studio\studio,exe) application. Tried to replaced Oracle JRE 7 with Oracle JDK 7, no luck. Solution: Added environment variable JAVA_HOME with value "C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.7.0_21) to system variables. Further reading:

• Getting Started with Android Studio. Need to read this page thoroughly to save time.
• IntelliJ IDEA and Android Studio FAQ. This FAQ is good.

Install Android Development Tools on Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal)

1. First thing first. Make sure Java Development Kit (JDK) install. Go to Terminal and type 'Java -version' to check. You should see the following:
   java version "1.7.0_07"
   OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea7 2.3.2) (7u7-2.3.2a-1ubuntu1)
   OpenJDK Server VM (build 23.2-b09, mixed mode)
2. If Java Development Kit is not installed, you can install it from Ubuntu Software Center. Click on Ubuntu Software Center icon from left side bar and search for Java. Here, I selected 'OpenJava JDK 7 runtime'
3. Go to http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/ to download Eclipse Classic 4.2.1 (Juno)
4. Go to your downloads folder and extract it. Move 'eclipse' folder to your home directory.
5. Launch Eclipse 4.2.1 (Juno) from 'eclipse' folder.
6. Install Android Developer Tools (ADT) plugin for Eclipse. Click on Help -> Install New Software and add the URL 'https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/' on the input text box next to 'Work with' and click the 'Add' button.
   
7. Download and install Android SDK from Eclipse 4.2.1. Click on Window -> Android SDK Manager. If Android SDK is not install, Eclipse will display a windows like this:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Otherwise, select the existing Android SDK and specify location if it already installed. 
8. Go to Windows -> AVD Manager to make at least one Android Virtual Device (AVD). Here is the screen shot for AVD using Galaxy Nexus skin.
   

References: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Java http://developer.android.com/sdk/installing/installing-adt.html

Ruby and Ruby on Rails Resources

Ruby Programming Language is a dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity. It has an elegant syntax that is natural to read and easy to write. Ruby was first designed and developed by Yukihiro Matsumoto (a.k.a. Matz), a Japanese computer scientist and software programmer, in the mid-1990s in Japan.

Ruby on Rails (RoR) is an open-source web framework using Ruby programming language. Ruby on Rails released as open source by David Heinemeier Hansson, Danish programmer, in July 2004. Like many web frameworks, Ruby on Rails uses a variant of the Model/View/Controller (MVC) architecture pattern to organize application programming. As of March, 2012, there are more than 200,000 sites using Ruby on Rails per BuiltWith.com

Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide

Ruby in Twenty Minutes

Coursera.org: Software Engineering for Software as a Service

Stanford Open Class Room: Web Application

RubyGems.org is the Ruby community's gem hosting service.

RubyForge is a home for open source Ruby projects

The Pragmatic Bookshelf | Learn to Program

Learn Code The Hard Way

Ruby Tutorials for Beginners

http://rubylearning.com/

RubyMonk - Interactive ruby tutorials to learn Ruby

Rails 3 screencasts

Free episodes from RailsCasts.com

Ruby Koans

The Pencil Analogy

This article written by Brad Wallace posted on SQL Server Central on Aug. 18, 2011. It was a great editorial. After reading, I wondered who is at fault? The CEO or the contractor.

"The Pencil Analogy" reminded me of my own painful experience almost 25 years ago. As the requirements kept changing, little by little, I ended up working for nothing. I did not make enough money to keep my roof over my head. I closed my first startup business and went to work for others.

How long 2011 Developer Conferences Sold Out?

Microsoft BUILD conference occurred in Anaheim, California from Sept. 13 to Sept 16, 2011. In this developer conference, Microsoft introduced Windows 8. How long did it take Microsoft to sell out? Two months. (http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/08/02/windows.8.focused.build.conference.now.sold.out/ and http://blogs.msdn.com/b/msdnmagazine/archive/2011/08/04/10192770.aspx)

Three months ago, Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2011 ran from June 6 to June 10, 2011 in San Francisco.  Steve Jobs introduced IOS 5 at this event. How long did it take to sell out? 10 hours. (http://blogs.computerworld.com/18047/apple_wwdc_2011_tickets_registration_sell_out)

Earlier this year, Google I/O 2011 from May 10 to May 11 also took place in San Francisco, California. The ticket to this developer event sold out in record time, not days, not hours but in minutes : 59 minutes. (http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/07/google-io-tickets-sell-out-in-59-minutes/)

Thus, we know which technology is most attractive to developer.