Helpful Posts For Developers

Some Of The Best Answers From Latest Asked Questions

84

answers

Is Java "pass-by-reference" or "pass-by-value"?

 I always thought Java uses pass-by-reference. However, I've seen a couple of blog posts (for example, this blog) that claim that it isn't (the blog post says that Java uses pass-by-value). I don't thi..

35

answers

What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java?

 What are the differences between a HashMap and a Hashtable in Java? Which is more efficient for non-threaded applications?..

7

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What is the command to truncate a SQL Server log file?

 I need to empty an LDF file before sending to a colleague. How do I force SQL Server to truncate the log?..

9

answers

How to tell which disk Windows Used to Boot

 I'm need to find a method to programmatically determine which disk drive Windows is using to boot. In other words, I need a way from Windows to determine which drive the BIOS is using to boot the whol..

6

answers

Force unmount of NFS-mounted directory

 I have an NFS-mounted directory on a Linux machine that has hung. I've tried to force an unmount, but it doesn't seem to work: $ umount -f /mnt/data $ umount2: Device or resource busy $ umount: /mnt/..

9

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How do you beta test an iphone app?

 How can you beta test an iPhone app? I can get it on my own device, and anyone that gives me a device, I can run it on theirs, but is there a way to do a limited release via the app store for beta te..

11

answers

How to find a Java Memory Leak

 How do you find a memory leak in Java (using, for example, JHat)? I have tried to load the heap dump up in JHat to take a basic look. However, I do not understand how I am supposed to be able to find ..

5

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How do I install and use the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit in my .NET 3.5 web applications?

 How do I get it to work with my project? http://ajax.asp.net/ http://www.codeplex.com/AjaxControlToolkit/..

11

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How do I remove an item from a stl vector with a certain value?

 I was looking at the API documentation for stl vector, and noticed there was no method on the vector class that allowed the removal of an element with a certain value. This seems like a common operati..

3

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function declaration isn't a prototype

 I have a library I created, mylib.c: #include <mylib.h> int testlib() { printf("Hello world\n"); return (0); } mylib.h: #include <stdio.h> extern int testlib(); In my progra..

10

answers

How do I handle newlines in JSON?

 I've generated some JSON and I'm trying to pull it into an object in JavaScript. I keep getting errors. Here's what I have: var data = '{"count" : 1, "stack" : "sometext\n\n"}'; var dataObj = eval('(..

16

answers

How do I get the difference between two Dates in JavaScript?

 I'm creating an application which lets you define events with a time frame. I want to automatically fill in the end date when the user selects or changes the start date. I can't quite figure out, ho..

9

answers

How do I download code using SVN/Tortoise from Google Code?

 I just saw a really cool WPF twitter client that I think is developed by the Herding Code podcast guys HerdingCode called Witty. (or at least, I see a lot of those guys using this client). This proj..

15

answers

How do you properly use namespaces in C++?

 I come from a Java background, where packages are used, not namespaces. I'm used to putting classes that work together to form a complete object into packages, and then reusing them later from that pa..

86

answers

Use of var keyword in C#

 After discussion with colleagues regarding the use of the 'var' keyword in C# 3 I wondered what people's opinions were on the appropriate uses of type inference via var? For example I rather lazily u..

28

answers

How can I add reflection to a C++ application?

 I'd like to be able to introspect a C++ class for its name, contents (i.e. members and their types) etc. I'm talking native C++ here, not managed C++, which has reflection. I realise C++ supplies some..

12

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I get a "An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format" error on a SQL Server replication project

 The exact error is as follows Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.SqlServer.Replication, Version=9.0.242.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91' or one of its dependencies...

16

answers

Checking if a list is empty with LINQ

 What's the "best" (taking both speed and readability into account) way to determine if a list is empty? Even if the list is of type IEnumerable<T> and doesn't have a Count property. Right now I..

20

answers

Dynamic LINQ OrderBy on IEnumerable<T> / IQueryable<T>

 I found an example in the VS2008 Examples for Dynamic LINQ that allows you to use a sql-like string (e.g. OrderBy("Name, Age DESC")) for ordering. Unfortunately, the method included only works on IQue..

9

answers

Java and SQLite

 I'm attracted to the neatness that a single file database provides. What driver/connector library is out there to connect and use SQLite with Java. I've discovered a wrapper library, http://www.ch-we..

9

answers

WCF Service Returning "Method Not Allowed"

 In the process of developing my first WCF service and when I try to use it I get "Method not Allowed" with no other explanation. I've got my interface set up with the ServiceContract and OperationCo..

42

answers

How to generate a random alpha-numeric string

 I've been looking for a simple Java algorithm to generate a pseudo-random alpha-numeric string. In my situation it would be used as a unique session/key identifier that would "likely" be unique over ..

12

answers

Find in Files: Search all code in Team Foundation Server

 Is there a way to search the latest version of every file in TFS for a specific string or regex? This is probably the only thing I miss from Visual Source Safe... Currently I perform a Get Latest o..

4

answers

How to Automatically Start a Download in PHP?

 What code do you need to add in PHP to automatically have the browser download a file to the local machine when a link is visited? I am specifically thinking of functionality similar to that of downl..

18

answers

Execute a large SQL script (with GO commands)

 I need to execute a large set of SQL statements (creating a bunch of tables, views and stored procedures) from within a C# program. These statements need to be separated by GO statements, but SqlComm..

7

answers

How should I cast in VB.NET?

 Are all of these equal? Under what circumstances should I choose each over the others? var.ToString() CStr(var) CType(var, String) DirectCast(var, String) EDIT: Suggestion from NotMyself&hellip..

22

answers

What is the best way to give a C# auto-property an initial value?

 How do you give a C# auto-property an initial value? I either use the constructor, or revert to the old syntax. Using the Constructor: class Person { public Person() { Name = "In..

10

answers

How do I get the full url of the page I am on in C#

 I need to be able to get at the full URL of the page I am on from a user control. Is it just a matter of concatenating a bunch of Request variables together? If so which ones? Or is there a more sim..

11

answers

Differences in string compare methods in C#

 Comparing string in C# is pretty simple. In fact there are several ways to do it. I have listed some in the block below. What I am curious about are the differences between them and when one should..

14

answers

Extending the User model with custom fields in Django

 What's the best way to extend the User model (bundled with Django's authentication app) with custom fields? I would also possibly like to use the email as the username (for authentication purposes). ..

20

answers

Truncate (not round) decimal places in SQL Server

 I'm trying to determine the best way to truncate or drop extra decimal places in SQL without rounding. For example: declare @value decimal(18,2) set @value = 123.456 This will automatically round..

8

answers

Changing the default title of confirm() in JavaScript?

 Is it possible to modify the title of the message box the confirm() function opens in JavaScript? I could create a modal popup box, but I would like to do this as minimalistic as possible. I would l..

14

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How to concatenate strings of a string field in a PostgreSQL 'group by' query?

 I am looking for a way to concatenate the strings of a field within a group by query. So for example, I have a table: ID COMPANY_ID EMPLOYEE 1 1 Anna 2 1 Bill 3 2 ..

5

answers

How SID is different from Service name in Oracle tnsnames.ora

 Why do I need two of them? When I have to use one or another?..

5

answers

How to convert a date String to a Date or Calendar object?

 I have a String representation of a date that I need to create a Date or Calendar object from. I've looked through Date and Calendar APIs but haven't found anything that can do this other than creatin..

3

answers

How do I style (css) radio buttons and labels?

 Given the code bellow, how do I style the radio buttons to be next to the labels and style the label of the selected radio button differently than the other labels? _x000D_ _x000D_ <link href="htt..

20

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How to find the mime type of a file in python?

 Let's say you want to save a bunch of files somewhere, for instance in BLOBs. Let's say you want to dish these files out via a web page and have the client automatically open the correct application/v..

14

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Can I write native iPhone apps using Python?

 Using PyObjC, you can use Python to write Cocoa applications for OS X. Can I write native iPhone apps using Python and if so, how?..

27

answers

Comparing two byte arrays in .NET

 How can I do this fast? Sure I can do this: static bool ByteArrayCompare(byte[] a1, byte[] a2) { if (a1.Length != a2.Length) return false; for (int i=0; i<a1.Length; i++) ..

6

answers

T-SQL stored procedure that accepts multiple Id values

 Is there a graceful way to handle passing a list of ids as a parameter to a stored procedure? For instance, I want departments 1, 2, 5, 7, 20 returned by my stored procedure. In the past, I have pas..

11

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How do I calculate a trendline for a graph?

 Google is not being my friend - it's been a long time since my stats class in college...I need to calculate the start and end points for a trendline on a graph - is there an easy way to do this? (work..

28

answers

What are some resources for getting started in operating system development?

 One thing I've always wanted to do is develop my very own operating system (not necessarily fancy like Linux or Windows, but better than a simple boot loader which I've already done). I'm having a ha..

23

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Easy way to write contents of a Java InputStream to an OutputStream

 I was surprised to find today that I couldn't track down any simple way to write the contents of an InputStream to an OutputStream in Java. Obviously, the byte buffer code isn't difficult to write, bu..

16

answers

Algorithm to randomly generate an aesthetically-pleasing color palette

 I'm looking for a simple algorithm to generate a large number of random, aesthetically pleasing colors. So no crazy neon colors, colors reminiscent of feces, etc. I've found solutions to this proble..

35

answers

How do you get the index of the current iteration of a foreach loop?

 Is there some rare language construct I haven't encountered (like the few I've learned recently, some on Stack Overflow) in C# to get a value representing the current iteration of a foreach loop? For..

32

answers

How to get the last day of the month?

 Is there a way using Python's standard library to easily determine (i.e. one function call) the last day of a given month? If the standard library doesn't support that, does the dateutil package supp..

14

answers

Best way to get identity of inserted row?

 What is the best way to get IDENTITY of inserted row? I know about @@IDENTITY and IDENT_CURRENT and SCOPE_IDENTITY but don't understand the pros and cons attached to each. Can someone please explain..

8

answers

How do I call ::CreateProcess in c++ to launch a Windows executable?

 Looking for an example that: Launches an EXE Waits for the EXE to finish. Properly closes all the handles when the executable finishes. ..

63

answers

How do you rotate a two dimensional array?

 Inspired by Raymond Chen's post, say you have a 4x4 two dimensional array, write a function that rotates it 90 degrees. Raymond links to a solution in pseudo code, but I'd like to see some real world ..

28

answers

How do you get the footer to stay at the bottom of a Web page?

 I have a simple 2-column layout with a footer that clears both the right and left div in my markup. My problem is that I can't get the footer to stay at the bottom of the page in all browsers. It wo..

5

answers

How do you add an image?

 Situation: I have a simple XML document that contains image information. I need to transform it into HTML. However, I can't see where the open tag is and when I use the XSL code below, it shows the f..

13

answers

How do you automatically set the focus to a textbox when a web page loads?

 How do you automatically set the focus to a textbox when a web page loads? Is there an HTML tag to do it or does it have to be done via Javascript?..

21

answers

SQL: How to get the id of values I just INSERTed?

 I inserted some values into a table. There is a column whose value is auto-generated. In the next statement of my code, I want to retrieve this value. Can you tell me how to do it the right way?..

29

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How do you detect/avoid Memory leaks in your (Unmanaged) code?

 In unmanaged C/C++ code, what are the best practices to detect memory leaks? And coding guidelines to avoid? (As if it's that simple ;) We have used a bit of a silly way in the past: having a counter..

20

answers

Get month and year from a datetime in SQL Server 2005

 I need the month+year from the datetime in SQL Server like 'Jan 2008'. I'm grouping the query by month, year. I've searched and found functions like datepart, convert, etc., but none of them seem usef..

16

answers

MySQL Error 1093 - Can't specify target table for update in FROM clause

 I have a table story_category in my database with corrupt entries. The next query returns the corrupt entries: SELECT * FROM story_category WHERE category_id NOT IN ( SELECT DISTINCT category...

46

answers

How do you force Visual Studio to regenerate the .designer files for aspx/ascx files?

 Sometimes when I'm editing page or control the .designer files stop being updated with the new controls I'm putting on the page. I'm not sure what's causing this to happen, but I'm wondering if there..

9

answers

Why does the order in which libraries are linked sometimes cause errors in GCC?

 Why does the order in which libraries are linked sometimes cause errors in GCC?..

21

answers

How to parse a string into a nullable int

 I'm wanting to parse a string into a nullable int in C#. ie. I want to get back either the int value of the string or null if it can't be parsed. I was kind of hoping that this would work int? val ..

28

answers

Safely turning a JSON string into an object

 Given a string of JSON data, how can I safely turn that string into a JavaScript object? Obviously I can do this unsafely with something like: var obj = eval("(" + json + ')'); but that leaves me ..

10

answers

Complex CSS selector for parent of active child

 Is there a way to select a parent element based on the class of a child element in the class? The example that is relevant to me relating to HTML output by a nice menu plugin for http://drupal.org. ..

46

answers

What is a monad?

 Having briefly looked at Haskell recently, what would be a brief, succinct, practical explanation as to what a monad essentially is? I have found most explanations I've come across to be fairly inacc..

12

answers

Explicit vs implicit SQL joins

 Is there any efficiency difference in an explicit vs implicit inner join? For example: SELECT * FROM table a INNER JOIN table b ON a.id = b.id; vs. SELECT a.*, b.* FROM table a, table b WHERE a.id..

15

answers

Java Delegates?

 Does the Java language have delegate features, similar to how C# has support for delegates?..

17

answers

C# switch statement limitations - why?

 When writing a switch statement, there appears to be two limitations on what you can switch on in case statements. For example (and yes, I know, if you're doing this sort of thing it probably means y..

11

answers

Can someone explain __all__ in Python?

 I have been using Python more and more, and I keep seeing the variable __all__ set in different __init__.py files. Can someone explain what this does?..

14

answers

How would you make a comma-separated string from a list of strings?

 What would be your preferred way to concatenate strings from a sequence such that between every two consecutive pairs a comma is added. That is, how do you map, for instance, ['a', 'b', 'c'] to 'a,b,c..

10

answers

VB.NET Empty String Array

 How can I create an empty one-dimensional string array?..

8

answers

Reading Email using Pop3 in C#

 I am looking for a method of reading emails using Pop3 in C# 2.0. Currently, I am using code found in CodeProject. However, this solution is less than ideal. The biggest problem is that it doesn't sup..

18

answers

Add alternating row color to SQL Server Reporting services report

 How do you shade alternating rows in a SQL Server Reporting Services report? Edit: There are a bunch of good answers listed below--from quick and simple to complex and comprehensive. Alas, I can ch..

9

answers

How do I get the current location of an iframe?

 I have built a basic data entry application allowing users to browse external content in iframe and enter data quickly from the same page. One of the data variables is the URL. Ideally I would like to..

14

answers

UDP vs TCP, how much faster is it?

 For general protocol message exchange, which can tolerate some packet loss. How much more efficient is UDP over TCP?..

15

answers

What is a magic number, and why is it bad?

 What is a magic number? Why should it be avoided? Are there cases where it's appropriate?..

24

answers

How do you remove all the options of a select box and then add one option and select it with jQuery?

 Using core jQuery, how do you remove all the options of a select box, then add one option and select it? My select box is the following. <Select id="mySelect" size="9"> </Select> EDIT:..

10

answers

Generator expressions vs. list comprehensions

 When should you use generator expressions and when should you use list comprehensions in Python? # Generator expression (x*2 for x in range(256)) # List comprehension [x*2 for x in range(256)] ..

27

answers

Remove duplicates from a List<T> in C#

 Anyone have a quick method for de-duplicating a generic List in C#?..

11

answers

String concatenation: concat() vs "+" operator

 Assuming String a and b: a += b a = a.concat(b) Under the hood, are they the same thing? Here is concat decompiled as reference. I'd like to be able to decompile the + operator as well to see what..

4

answers

How do you list all triggers in a MySQL database?

 What is the command to list all triggers in a MySQL database?..

11

answers

How do I monitor the computer's CPU, memory, and disk usage in Java?

 I would like to monitor the following system information in Java: Current CPU usage** (percent) Available memory* (free/total) Available disk space (free/total) *Note that I mean overall memory ava..

15

answers

Best way in asp.net to force https for an entire site?

 About 6 months ago I rolled out a site where every request needed to be over https. The only way at the time I could find to ensure that every request to a page was over https was to check it in the ..

5

answers

Sprintf equivalent in Java

 Printf got added to Java with the 1.5 release but I can't seem to find how to send the output to a string rather than a file (which is what sprintf does in C). Does anyone know how to do this? ..

45

answers

How do I efficiently iterate over each entry in a Java Map?

 If I have an object implementing the Map interface in Java and I wish to iterate over every pair contained within it, what is the most efficient way of going through the map? Will the ordering of el..

7

answers

How do you create a foreign key relationship in a SQL Server CE (Compact Edition) Database?

 Visual Studio 2005 doesn't provide an interface for creating relationships between tables in a SQL Server CE database (I'm using version 3.0) and you can't open a Compact Edition DB using Management S..

14

answers

How can I send an email by Java application using GMail, Yahoo, or Hotmail?

 Is it possible to send an email from my Java application using a GMail account? I have configured my company mail server with Java app to send email, but that's not going to cut it when I distribute ..

27

answers

When do you use POST and when do you use GET?

 From what I can gather, there are three categories: Never use GET and use POST Never use POST and use GET It doesn't matter which one you use. Am I correct in assuming those three cases? If so, wh..

14

answers

Response.Redirect with POST instead of Get?

 We have the requirement to take a form submission and save some data, then redirect the user to a page offsite, but in redirecting, we need to "submit" a form with POST, not GET. I was hoping there w..

12

answers

htmlentities() vs. htmlspecialchars()

 What are the differences between htmlspecialchars() and htmlentities(). When should I use one or the other?..

9

answers

Possible to perform cross-database queries with PostgreSQL?

 I'm going to guess that the answer is "no" based on the below error message (and this Google result), but is there anyway to perform a cross-database query using PostgreSQL? databaseA=# select * from..

95

answers

How to validate an email address in JavaScript

 Is there a regular expression to validate an email address in JavaScript?..

13

answers

How do you move a file?

 I'm using TortoiseSVN against the SourceForge SVN repository. I'd like to move a file from one folder to another in order to maintain its revision history. Is this possible? If so, how do you do it? ..

19

answers

php execute a background process

 I need to execute a directory copy upon a user action, but the directories are quite large, so I would like to be able to perform such an action without the user being aware of the time it takes for t..

5

answers

Git ignore file for Xcode projects

 Which files should I include in .gitignore when using Git in conjunction with Xcode?..

11

answers

How do I export (and then import) a Subversion repository?

 I'm just about wrapped up on a project where I was using a commercial SVN provider to store the source code. The web host the customer ultimately picked includes a repository as part of the hosting pa..

8

answers

How do I create a MessageBox in C#?

 I have just installed C# for the first time, and at first glance it appears to be very similar to VB6. I decided to start off by trying to make a 'Hello, World!' UI Edition. I started in the Form Des..

7

answers

How can I make an EXE file from a Python program?

 I've used several modules to make EXEs for Python, but I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. How should I go about this, and why? Please base your answers on personal experience, and provide reference..

9

answers

How do I write a for loop in bash

 I'm looking for the basic loop like: for(int i = 0; i < MAX; i++) { doSomething(i); } but for bash. ..

32

answers

Prefer composition over inheritance?

 Why prefer composition over inheritance? What trade-offs are there for each approach? When should you choose inheritance over composition?..

9

answers

How do I implement a callback in PHP?

 How are callbacks written in PHP?..

6

answers

How do I list loaded plugins in Vim?

 Does anybody know of a way to list up the "loaded plugins" in Vim? I know I should be keeping track of this kind of stuff myself but it would always be nice to be able to check the current status...

11

answers

How do I create a foreign key in SQL Server?

 I have never "hand-coded" object creation code for SQL Server and foreign key decleration is seemingly different between SQL Server and Postgres. Here is my sql so far: drop table exams; drop table q..

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