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Let me see if got all the steps in the lesson down:
1. force the user to create an account ... I'm okay with that one.
2. after the user enters the usual credentials, put up a survey page with all kinds of questions (which I find "invasive") about your "computing lifestyle," purchase budget, etc., but don't tell the user the survey is mandatory to proceed to registration. don't warn the user about that as they click submit and the page exits.
3. don't send the user who just entered their credentials an e-mail telling them they need to do the survey to complete registration.
4. then let the new user try to log-in, and then tell the user their account doesn't exits.
5. once the user has figured out the survey is mandatory ... and the survey is completed ...
6. okay: let the user log-in, and then go to the product registration page
7. on that page require the user to enter two long serial numbers which are both underneath bar-codes on the box, one of which is small and virtually hidden. don't tell the user which bar-code is which, make them guess. as the wannabe registrant makes mistakes in that, put a new page with pictures of the serial numbers actually located on the card (which you've installed, and could not see without either x-ray vision, or some special tool).
8. did i mention that in the serial number entry fields lower and upper case are accepted ? since my paranoia was ripe at this point, i was careful to enter case matching the box codes, but I wonder if that might be another trap to punish the user designed by their obviously sadistic site-mongers.
9. and now, the coup de main: at last the weary and vexed registrant makes it to the last entry field, and it's a field that requires you to enter a link to a file which is a scan of the purchase receipt ! which, of course, you never thought of.
So, you wanna send a message to MSI support to let them know you'll never purchase another MSI product again: get ready to enter a serial number, even though you are logged in.
Is this the digital marketing equivalent of water-boarding ?
from my enlarged spleen, Bill
p.s. the card works quite well, and I actually see a visual improvement over the old one at 1080p. I prefer the nVidia UI over the former, Radeon, UI. I haven't installed the MSI over-clock utility yet, and will probably never use it.
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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MSI as in Microstar International? They're still around?
Wow.
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My last three notebooks are from MSI and all were quite good. Their good luck that they never tried to let me jump through some loops for some drivers.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
This is Javascript. If you put big wheels and a racing stripe on a golf cart, it's still a f***ing golf cart.
"I don't know, extraterrestrial?"
"You mean like from space?"
"No, from Canada."
If software development were a circus, we would all be the clowns.
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The first XX years of technology was meant to make everything easier.
We are now switching to a new mode...
The next XX years of technology are meant to make everything more difficult.
There are so many loopholes and security checks that its easier to do everything _manually_ again.
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raddevus wrote: so many loopholes and security checks
Sadly, I agree; it's the price we have to pay for opening new frontiers for organized criminal behavior, as well as every other type of human exchange ?
And, yet ... may the gods protect us from the web becoming more centralized than it's becoming now ... I think. fyi: I am in a country where, at times (not often, actually), I have to use a VPN to access certain well-known first-tier news-sites abroad, and where some bulletin board operators are now in jail for posts their users made, even though they deleted them after being notified of their content. It is also true that in the country I am in a large group of people (citizens of the country, not expats) from all walks of life are trying to get the occaisional restrictions lifted, and trying to take legal action to redress the condition of some of the folks in jail.
cheers, Bill
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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raddevus wrote:
The next XX years of technology are meant to make everything more difficult.
I mentioned this to someone the other day. Desktop app deployment and maintenance is way more difficult than it was 10 years ago...before UAC, HKLM restrictions, Program Files restrictions, and more aggressive AV programs. Additionally, I find more and more end users are 'locked down' or very limited to what they can do. (like run update tasks from the temp folder) Oh well, it stays interesting!
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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kmoorevs wrote: Oh well, it stays interesting!
That it does. 
And you are entirely correct about desktop deployment. It's a crazy world out there.
I'm working on a UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app right now and everything is different and _unexplained_.
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That is about right for a hardware manufacturer. In my experience they're rather clueless when it comes to software. Just see the corny skinned UIs that they make for their utilities. BIOS help messages are also another example of their crappiness. And there is no need to mention the pre-installed bloatware on PCs.
Why do you have to register the thing anyway? I never register any products (unless it is a subscription type, obviously). Life is too short to make another user account and keep track of its password.
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Hello,
I am new in development just recently completed my bachelors and now, I am working as a software developer but whenever I start a new project, am always stuck in the start and have so many question in my mind. From that list I am posting some of them. Please give me your suggestions and comments by considering me as a starter in development field.
- How can we select which language to use for which type of project?
- Is it really important to make a template for a web project in start?
- I have to document everything of my project but i don't know what to write in document and what to explain more and more using diagrams and figures etc.?
- Is there any proper format for documenting the software project?
- What type of risk may I have in software project?
And many other questions like that.
Kindly, give me anything that'll help me to overcome these questions. It can be your valuable comment, link, book etc.
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Most companies will have a set of standards to follow, you should ask your manager. Also look at some of the projects that have already been created, including their documentation. You may also use Google to find samples and tutorials on many subjects.
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I am agree with you but what if a company is a startup where a software developer need to find his own way to do everything and also there is no manager. Only direct requirements and instructions from the CEO.
I have already tried google but I am unable understand that's why I posted that questions here to get some suggestions and any reference book to follow and get started.
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I don't know of any such books that deal with your specific questions. It is more a matter of research and experience.
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Shahzad Mirza wrote: but what if a company is a startup where a software developer need to find his own way to do everything and also there is no manager. Only direct requirements and instructions from the CEO.
A dream job, IMO. Direct contact with the guy writing the checks, no BS middle management, create my own best practices / processes, choose the language I want to write in, choose the tools, etc.
The brutal honesty here is that, if you don't have enough experience under your belt to take on a project like this, but instead need a lot of hand holding (which is fine, we all start there) then you should admit to the CEO that you're not the right person for the job.
Marc
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The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
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The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks.......................
Caveat Emptor.
"Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
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UML. I know everyones' brains just melted.
Think about ANY project. There are certain things you need to know, but how do you capture those things?
Okay, let's create a basic list that EVERY project will need.
1. You need to know your target / goal. These are your requirements. -- Requirements list
2. You need to see how these requirements group up to create a complete system to quickly assess if the things the stakeholders want seem to be in there.. -- Use Case diagrams
3. You need to show stakeholders in a common (ubiquitous) language that they understand and you understand that you have captured the things that they want. -- Use Case diagrams
4. You need a way to begin to turn the requirements into software -- Domain Model : a middle ground between stakeholders and software developers. It uses language that stakeholder (business people) understand and can be turned into software design and code easily (class diagrams and database schemas). Domain model just groups up the things in the system.
5. Business Flow / Activity diagrams which show the basics of the actions that a system will take. Again using language which stakeholders understand to quickly show what the system will do.
6. Class diagrams which show the domain objects (business objects) that the system is broken into so developers can break up the functionality and work on pieces together
7. database schemas which show where these business objects will save their data.
If you really had those basic things, then you could begin to create the minimum viable product.
And then you could gather more feedback about places you are missing functionality (missed requirements) so you can iteratively add the things so you don't get to the end with so many misses.
Use Enterprise Architect[^] to create your UML diagrams.
Why Diagrams?
You simply create diagrams because pictures are easier to quickly communicate -- before all your stakeholder's eyes glaze over from boredom in your meetings.
How Do You Really Start?
1. Take your requirements -- I hope you have at least a few -- and read them and look for every noun. Take each noun and write it on a sticky note. These are CANDIDATE CLASSES (and properties). Probably the person who asked for the software used similar words and you'll see things repeat.
2. Do the same thing but this time pull out verbs -- These are candidates for functionality. Put each on a different color sticky.
These are some simple things to try and an bit of organized way to think. Consider it and see if it might help you get a better grasp for starting.
modified 17-Sep-16 14:56pm.
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Ask your project manager, or supervisor, what you should be working on, and take the initiative to learn what tools are in use where you work, and get busy learning how to use them. Ask your developer peers to guide you in terms of where, and what, you need to study in order to become productive, asap.
Start studying the source code of the project(s) you are working on.
This post is a form of "wistful moon-gazing" that will get you ... nowhere, but ... unemployed.
and, good luck, Bill
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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Currently, I am working in a startup company and here I have to do everything by myself and getting direct requirements and instructions from the CEO.
I am eager to learn and always looking for the things that I can read and that can be helpful in my software developer career. But what If I am totally going into wrong direction.
I am just asking this question because I want to improve my knowledge and as I am a starter in software development industry. I just need to keep up myself updated with the technology that I am using.
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Go look at the current source code (hopefully, there is some ?); study the source control system (hopefully, there is one ?).
I find it hard to believe there's no document of some kind describing what you are working on, a list of functional requirements, etc. I seriously doubt when you were hired that someone didn't discuss with you what you will be doing.
good luck, Bill
«There is a spectrum, from "clearly desirable behaviour," to "possibly dodgy behavior that still makes some sense," to "clearly undesirable behavior." We try to make the latter into warnings or, better, errors. But stuff that is in the middle category you don’t want to restrict unless there is a clear way to work around it.» Eric Lippert, May 14, 2008
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Shahzad Mirza wrote: Currently, I am working in a startup company and here I have to do everything by myself and getting direct requirements and instructions from the CEO.
I think you may have bitten off more than you can chew[^]. I second Marc's suggestion to inform the CEO that you're not the right person for the job. You could probably continue to be work at the company if you had someone with more experience to guide you. Good luck! 
/ravi
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Shahzad Mirza wrote: I am new in development just recently completed my bachelors
Purely out of interest, what on earth did you learn on your degree course?
The idea of it is that it teaches you to do all those things, so you are prepared when you get to the market.
The only way I can see that you'd have no idea how to start with any of those things are the end of an IT degree course is if you copied all your homework from the internet instead of doing any of it! 
So pretend it's a homework assignment and think about how you'd start that, what documentation you'd have to hand in, and so forth.
Then fit that to whatever the company normally expects from other developers and get started...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Are you talking about personal projects? If you are working, your employer has all the answers to your questions. If they are letting a new hire (no offence) make these kind of decisions, you might be in over your head! Find a mentor fast! Oh, and good luck!  .
Edited after reading responses about your employment situation:
I was in the same position 17 years ago, the first hire for a startup, lugging a crt monitor and tower to the boss's house every day. (until I got my first laptop!)
My boss (now an equal partner) has always been one to paint in broad strokes, simply stating what a screen or program should do and leaving the design and details up for interpretation. If you are free to choose the language and toolset, use something that you are familiar with. For documentation, there's probably plenty of free tools, but nothing says you can't use something simple (and reusable) like straight-up html or a simple homespun CMS.
The only other advice I have is to learn the business of your audience. Check out what your competition is doing and try to learn from them.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
modified 17-Sep-16 13:29pm.
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Shahzad Mirza wrote: - How can we select which language to use for which type of project?
Each language has its own strengths, weaknesses and limitations. You can't program a device-driver for Win10 in VB6, for example.
Shahzad Mirza wrote: - Is it really important to make a template for a web project in start?
No, but it explains the number of templates out there.
Shahzad Mirza wrote: - I have to document everything of my project
Yes. In case you get hit by a meteorite, someone else has to be able to understand what you were doing. If you know what you are doing, you can explain that.
Shahzad Mirza wrote: - Is there any proper format for documenting the software project?
By "proper" you'd mean a fill-in-the-gaps kinda thing. Simple answer; no.
Shahzad Mirza wrote: - What type of risk may I have in software project?
Everything that you depend on is a risc.
Shahzad Mirza wrote: I am new in development just recently completed my bachelors
There was this recent thread on degrees that I remember 
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
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As others have said, you don't have the experience to do the job properly. Not your fault, the startup is looking for the cheapest way to get the coding done.
You should highlight this shortcoming in their thinking, if you continue in the position the company stands to get a badly designed/structured solution that will probably take much longer to bring to market as you will be learning all the pitfalls that a more experienced developer will know to avoid.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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Shahzad Mirza wrote: How can we select which language to use for which type of project?
C#, C++, Java.
1) You can hire people without paying too much
2) The tools for these are vastly superior
3) The libraries for these are vastly superior
IF you need high performance/scalability/consistancy, use C++.
Shahzad Mirza wrote: What type of risk may I have in software project?
That you spend five years and five million dollars and have it completely fail.
Or, you have a great idea and everything is going great, then management sticks their noses in and messes it all up.
Or, you hire someone who claims to have experience and they don't.
And so on.
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