Stefan_Lang wrote:

I pointed out why this would be a mistake that could lead to problems beyond the lifetime of the program.

Yes, great point!

Erik Westermann

(just realized this question is really old! oh well - might help someone) I recently ran into a similar issue. This worked for me:

• In Visual Studio create a C++ Win32 console application

• Add the .C files to the solution (add...existing item)

• Compile - default output is .exe
  (The makefile seems to just compile the code - I think the .sh scripts might cleanup after the compiler. But, yeah, the makefile is designed to run in a linux/unix)

  Erik Westermann

To add to your excellent reply: related is lazy initialization lazy initialization[^] The .net framework convenieitly offers direct support: the Lazy Class[^]

Erik Westermann

Hey thanks - your begin...end actually helped me. Up to 800 words now :)

Erik Westermann

I thought you would go with something like this (being a C++ guy - based on your sig):

{
// etc...
}

Erik Westermann

Tried a few approaches - maybe on to something. Does not have any killer (.*)...yet!

Erik Westermann

Rosendo Lopez wrote:

blood, vengeance, freedom, sin, punishment and glory!

That covers about 98.3% of all books :D

Rosendo Lopez wrote:

Once upon a time, there was a gal who wanted to simplify his boring work

..sounds more like a book about someone with an identity issue, or a bad keyboard ;)

Erik Westermann

Ian Shlasko wrote:

I wish I knew about that thing earlier... I might have participated

It's not too late to start - it takes just 50,000 words by the end of November! It's great that you have a published series! Closest I've come to SciFi is Hitchhiker's Guide :-\

Erik Westermann

Hi Nish - It's nice to be back...I was never really that far.

Nishant Sivakumar wrote:

came back from the dead?

Not dead - just buried in life and work (thankfully in that order, yet life and work are so intermingled that they are sometimes indistinguishable). I have been reading a lot - the latest is Domain Specific Languages by Martin Fowler. I had a hard time getting my head around DSLs but saw the light after getting into dependency injection/IoC and then reading this book. Domain Specific Languages bought added the structure to get me to the tipping point. I'm still writing a great deal (technical, mostly offline for clients and now trying a novel). Maybe book reviews again soon - Safari Books Online[^] is great!

Erik Westermann

I'm on day four of National Novel Writing Month[^]. Day one was off to a good start - I started with zero words and finished out the day with 1,200. I roughly doubled after day two to about 2,600. Day three - this is where it gets bad....back to zero :( Technical writing is simple - start with a goal and write towards it. For me, writing a story is entirely different. I tried my goal method from technical writing, yet it is too targeted - I'm not trying to write about a moral or whatever - just a story, so the goal does not work well. I have been reading one-line book reviews to help me get started again. Do you have any one or two sentence ideas? I thought about a programming-related story but not too sure how I can work in code, coding, or design into a story. By the way, happy Diwali :)

Erik Westermann

Wags wrote:

Do you have any strange terms for programming / computer related things?

"Code complete" for code we think meets the requirements or spec. In reality, the code is junk because the end users changed their mind the moment that the developers started working, and of course, did not update the specs :D

Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net

Thank you very much Rama! I just sent an email via CP with my email address. -Erik

Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net

Hi Rama, Have you managed to make the changes to the kiosk-style email form? Thanks -Erik

Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net

You could try booting the image using an ISO of some LiveCD and use it to get your files, etc. The problem is with the server, so the LiveCD should be able to see the underlying volume (if it is able to read the file system). Here is a link to an article about using an Ubuntu LiveCD to recover a system[^]. Good luck!

Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net

Yeah - nice idea; it could come in handy for other scenarios.

Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net

Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:

I created a similar kiosk mode application

Kiosk mode - that's exactly what I need! I planned to use it on Friday, so I need it anytime before then. If it mostly works now (name, email, phone) that's good enough. The extra field for the draw is a bonus (I'm using physical tickets for now - I just wanted some way to map a ticket to a person. It's not a biggie since I can just ask the winner's name).

Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net

Good idea - I'll keep it in mind for some other time. Thanks!

Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net

Hi, I need some help finding an application for Mac OSX - have you seen something like this: I need an app that I can use to collect email address, name, and phone number. I plan to use this application interactively - meaning, that people come to the computer to type their details. I plan to use the information, partly, to hold a draw. Perhaps the form should include a ticket number or whatever. It should be straight-forward for a user - just 3-4 fields and a button to submit the info. I won't have connectivity so it needs to be local. Any suggestions? Remember that I need to be able to run this on OS X. I looked around, and I don't have time to write this myself unfortunately. Would be a great learning exercise - maybe next time. Thanks -Erik

Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net

Duncan Edwards Jones wrote:

...to have anything confidential told to him....

It's even better that he actually breaches his own confidentiality - he orders stuff using the speaker phone - so everyone knows his address, credit card number, date of birth and other interesting details. Many people even know his father's name and know that he's at his cottage this week :D I can only smile at this point. Thanks everyone for listening!

Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net

I understand what you are saying - it is indeed a nice way to think about it. I just look forward to the time of day when most of the staff leave.

Erik Westermann - ArtOfBabel.com - Systems Integration Magazine
Contact Erik for consulting, development, or content creation via erik [at] wWorkflow.net