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Do you do programming?


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59 replies to this topic

#31 maestro949

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Posted 08 September 2006 - 02:28 AM

IDEs can really come in handy for complex multi-threaded server development and complex forms based fat clients. Being able to set breakpoints, suspend threads, profile, make on the fly changes to variables is a godsend IMO. Not something that can be easily done with simple editors.

Love or hate Microsoft, their VC# IDE is very good. Eclipse 3.2 is excellent too. Snappy and you can tie in a whole host of tools like the EMF, test tools, database query and modeling tools. The autocomplete functions, search & navigational tools to click through function calls to subroutines makes getting around a breeze. Code generation, reformatting tools, compile on the fly, source control integration etc, etc. There are so many cool things packed into the latest IDEs I can't see going back to not using one.

#32 jedsen

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Posted 08 September 2006 - 03:36 AM

I'm not really into projects of that scale, but I did find and install these IDEs for POSIX platforms:
http://www.kdevelop.org/
http://anjuta.sourceforge.net/
I not sure how much they could improve my program efficiency at this point, but at the very least they're very awesome text-editors. For future projects, though, I'm sure I'll use such tools for large projects, and C development.

Thanks for the tip!

Oh, and, how's the speed in eclipse? I'm not really fond of java, I know it's a very complete environment, but it's notoriously slow (at times).

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#33 maestro949

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Posted 08 September 2006 - 09:41 AM

Oh, and, how's the speed in eclipse? I'm not really fond of java, I know it's a very complete environment, but it's notoriously slow (at times).


Eclispe 3.2 performs quite nicely. Prior versions were sluggish if you were working on large projects and you weren't running a cutting edge workstation with plenty of RAM. Pretty sad that you needed a xeon processor to do java development but with the Core 2 Duo's on the horizon I think those days are well behind us :).

Java is still slower than C++ but if you cache objects to minimize the garbage collection and manage your threads well you can get good performance #s. With the increased speed in CPUs combined with their drop in cost, squeezing every ounce of horsepower isn't quite as necessary as it was in the past. This is especially true with larger apps that tie in with databases and other networked components where DB and network I/O tend to be the bottlenecks.

#34 Centurion

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Posted 08 September 2006 - 02:16 PM

I know its not programming, but for web design, has anyone used screem? Its fantastic

#35 attis

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Posted 29 September 2006 - 07:57 PM

C, C++ [a bit rusty on it, but I never really used the OOP paradigm of the language], Assembly [mov ax, YourBankAccount... Rawr!], and a little Java.

I've been considering learning Python again since I read some of its features mesh well with C++, which could turn into great practice with OOP paradigms. So, if you have any good suggestions for books or sites on the use of Python, please send them my way. :)

#36 Karomesis

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Posted 30 September 2006 - 06:44 PM

I'm not a programmer but I find the topic very interesting.

I need someone who is familiar with bayesian networks and hidden markov models to create some custom stuff, I had a guy who was going to help me, but he's too busy with studying nuclear physics and helping with the hardon collider in cern [:o] (seriously) [glasses]

#37 gmcdonald

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Posted 11 October 2006 - 02:47 AM

I program mainly in C++, VB, SQL. I've studied some biology in my own time and done a subject on computational biology. What are you looking at developing?

#38 JohnDoe1234

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Posted 11 October 2006 - 03:01 AM

Dang karomesis, your friend is into some heavy stuff their...

#39 emerson

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Posted 23 October 2006 - 01:07 PM

Bit late to the party, but primarily c/c++(with qt4, if lucky), java, or python. I have to agree with earlier comments though. Coding should be 90% design, and actual language features fill up that last 10%. Yet, saying that, I'll beg and plead to use python any day of year.

Oh, and I wanted to quickly throw another thumbs up at the mention of eclipse. I couldn't stand it at first, but 3.2 and the 3.3 branch have convinced me. Not only viable on the three operating systems I use most (win,linux, and osx), I don't feel at all cripled when using it on any of them.

#40 Ghostrider

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Posted 24 October 2006 - 03:02 AM

I'm not really into projects of that scale, but I did find and install these IDEs for POSIX platforms:
http://www.kdevelop.org/
http://anjuta.sourceforge.net/
I not sure how much they could improve my program efficiency at this point, but at the very least they're very awesome text-editors. For future projects, though, I'm sure I'll use such tools for large projects, and C development.

Thanks for the tip!

Oh, and, how's the speed in eclipse? I'm not really fond of java, I know it's a very complete environment, but it's notoriously slow (at times).


Notepad++, my favorite text editor. You can download it off of sourceforge at around 1 MB. Very light, but powerful program. Good text editing features.

#41 halcyondays

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Posted 25 October 2006 - 08:35 AM

I'm a programmer, although I only have a diploma vs a degree. I'm considering taking classes to get a Comp Sci degree. I really enjoy programming in C#. I really like .net in general. I've done some C programming as well, but the most complex thing I ever did was an assignment in school where we created a program that would convert a 24 bit bitmap image to red,green,blue, or grey scale. Not terribly difficult but it was still interesting.

I've also worked with Java, php, System Perl (Linux), ASP.NET, VB.NET... That's about it for programming languages.

#42 enki273

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Posted 25 October 2006 - 09:00 AM

I did some programming some years ago; the first and to me most easy language was Visual basic, later Itook courses on Java (and HTML). My favourite, though, is Delphi due to its velocity.

#43 Ghostrider

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Posted 26 October 2006 - 02:23 AM

My favorite programming language is LaTeX personally. Lots of fun and straight-forward, very little debugging required.

#44 rahein

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Posted 26 October 2006 - 06:57 PM

I know a varity of languages, but Delphi is my current favorite for work.

#45 RighteousReason

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Posted 26 October 2006 - 07:42 PM

Java is my favorite, did a lot of VB and basic (calculator programming ;) ) and HTML back in teh day. Doing some C/C++ and assembly for classes this semester.

Programming is easy and enjoyable, especially if you are using an easy language (like Java). Design is disproportionately more difficult (and important)

#46 dangerousideas

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Posted 27 October 2006 - 05:10 PM

In my experience - which is more than 20 years now (starting with Fortran77 in 1978) - the most important issue is understanding the programming paradigm - for example Object Oriented Programming - and the availability of good frameworks to support that paradigm - preferably written using that paradigm from the ground up.

In my opinion, the best frameworks are not dependent on any particular language; .NET does an admirable job in this respect. The C family of languages (C, C++, C#) is a very solid choice; any OO programmer could learn C# in a couple of weeks, a competent C++ programmer could learn it in a couple of days (but would take months to get over their bad C++ habits...). The ability to use existing libraries is also important, and fortunately almost every library that is worthwhile will already be ported for use in all of the common environments. The only environments that really matter today, particularily for anything new, are Linux and Windows. If you have to work with something else, well you have my sympathy.

Software systems are so heterogeneous and distributed that it is essential to have a good knowledge of interoperability protocols, especially between Linux and Windows systems. Object Management Group CORBA plus XML should be in every programmers toolkit. Yes, CORBA is hard. A lot of programming is, unfortunately. However, if you produce software that makes its objects available thru OMG CORBA then you don't need to be bilingual; you can pick Linux or Windows and work almost exclusively in the environment of your choice. This can result in significant productivity gains as you become expert on the toolsets of choice.

Also, since data storage is almost unavoidable for anything useful, a good working familiarity with relational databases and data standards is also important. Now, that means SQL and XML.

I work almost exclusively in Windows, although I do have several Linux machines for testing purposes. I program almost exclusively in C# using Visual Studio. I use a lot of XML, and when I need a heavy duty database I use SQL Server. I also use CORBA, via IIOP.NET and ACE/TAO. When I need to do scripting I use plain old .bat files, but if these are a bit too crude or basic I can always use IronPython.

#47 Ghostrider

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Posted 28 October 2006 - 06:06 AM

What do you programmers think about bioinformatics? Is it a good field to go into or an over-hyped "has-been"?

#48 maestro949

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Posted 28 October 2006 - 03:03 PM

What do you programmers think about bioinformatics?  Is it a good field to go into or an over-hyped "has-been"?



I guess it depends on on how many things you stuff under the bioinformatics umbrella. If it's as general as applying computing technology to biological research and advancement, then it's practically impossible to over-hype it as all fields of research and engineering will increasingly use software to tackle the problems we currently consider intractable. Today 99.9% of our biological knowledge is organized in natural language systems. e.g. research journals. Imagine a day when it's entirely stored in machine-readable data and in-memory object models that is accessible to nearly anyone.

#49 jedsen

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Posted 06 December 2006 - 08:07 AM

I'm not really into projects of that scale, but I did find and install these IDEs for POSIX platforms:
http://www.kdevelop.org/
http://anjuta.sourceforge.net/
I not sure how much they could improve my program efficiency at this point, but at the very least they're very awesome text-editors. For future projects, though, I'm sure I'll use such tools for large projects, and C development.

Thanks for the tip!

Oh, and, how's the speed in eclipse? I'm not really fond of java, I know it's a very complete environment, but it's notoriously slow (at times).


Notepad++, my favorite text editor. You can download it off of sourceforge at around 1 MB. Very light, but powerful program. Good text editing features.

I guess if I wanted to launch a windows emulator, that would work... but for those of us who want serious features like syntax-highlighting, console/debugger integration, and a treed file browser, IDEs like MonoDevelop are a necessity. If you don't want all that, use gvim (it still supports syntax-highlighting).

Also, I stumbled across this little gem of a Ruby on Rails IDE: http://www.radrails.org/

Who needs proprietary crap?

#50 basho

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Posted 06 December 2006 - 12:21 PM

Myself: C++, a bit of Python and SQL as required, Scheme some time ago, thinking of learning functional language like Haskell.

Regarding entering a field like bioinformatics, it will help considerably if you are passionite about the subject area. Try to get a good grounding in computer science, algorithms, and underlying programming paradigms rather than focusing exclusively on a specific language. I must admit though that it is difficult not to get attached to a favorite programming language.

#51 Ghostrider

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Posted 09 December 2006 - 04:21 AM

I guess if I wanted to launch a windows emulator, that would work... but for those of us who want serious features like syntax-highlighting, console/debugger integration, and a treed file browser, IDEs like MonoDevelop are a necessity. If you don't want all that, use gvim (it still supports syntax-highlighting).

Also, I stumbled across this little gem of a Ruby on Rails IDE: http://www.radrails.org/

Who needs proprietary crap?


Jedsen, syntax-highlighting is the first feature listed on their feature list
(http://notepad-plus....net/uk/site.htm). Second, the project is open source so only an newbie would need to run it in windows emulation rather than compile the source files. I guess you must be too "serious" for this.

#52 jedsen

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Posted 09 December 2006 - 08:41 AM

I guess if I wanted to launch a windows emulator, that would work... but for those of us who want serious features like syntax-highlighting, console/debugger integration, and a treed file browser, IDEs like MonoDevelop are a necessity. If you don't want all that, use gvim (it still supports syntax-highlighting).

Also, I stumbled across this little gem of a Ruby on Rails IDE: http://www.radrails.org/

Who needs proprietary crap?


Jedsen, syntax-highlighting is the first feature listed on their feature list
(http://notepad-plus....net/uk/site.htm). Second, the project is open source so only an newbie would need to run it in windows emulation rather than compile the source files. I guess you must be too "serious" for this.

You're absolutely right. All code is portable from one operating system to the next, especially GUI applications that use the a native toolkit. *Slaps forehead*

But seriously, I don't have a need for proprietary software, so I don't use it (e.g., windows). I'm serious about the underlying philosophy of free software.

#53 Ghostrider

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Posted 09 December 2006 - 10:15 AM

Yeah, it does use the Win32 API and would require some hacking to compile in Linux. However, it is still an open source project...if that's what you care about. I am not going to start a pissing match with you similar to what happened in the Introduction to Linux thread. I never said that Notepad++ was the best editor or anything about open source when I first mentioned it. I only stated that I am very happy with it.

I am interested in Linux, I like the concept and it is a great way to learn more about computers. It's great, but have not had the time to pick it up. I am glad that you are serious about the underlying philosophy of free software. You certainly have high opinions of yourself. Now what has your opinions/knowledge allowed you to accomplish?

#54 jedsen

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Posted 09 December 2006 - 10:39 AM

I'm glad to hear you're interested. The GNU/Linux is a great development environment, from web applications to the kernel itself, you have full access. If you would like some help, I'd gladly give you some pointers.

And of course I have high opinions of myself. I'm smart, good-looking, and have a cock as big as all of the outdoors. High self-esteem is healthy, after all.

#55 jedsen

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Posted 09 December 2006 - 10:50 AM

Oh, excuse me, I didn't answer your question. My opinions have allowed me to sustain the drive needed to slog my way through man pages, online documentation, mailing lists, and many lines of code. My knowledge base is continually growing. I hope to some day become a developer for Gentoo Linux (my personal favorite). At the moment, I help newer users discover the freedom of GNU philosophy. I have attained certification to administer Red Hat and Fedora Core systems, using knowledge grok'd from books, but have yet to get a job.

So, in summation, I have accomplished nothing. Happy?

#56 Ghostrider

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Posted 09 December 2006 - 07:35 PM

Oh, excuse me, I didn't answer your question. My opinions have allowed me to sustain the drive needed to slog my way through man pages, online documentation, mailing lists, and many lines of code. My knowledge base is continually growing. I hope to some day become a developer for Gentoo Linux (my personal favorite). At the moment, I help newer users discover the freedom of GNU philosophy. I have attained certification to administer Red Hat and Fedora Core systems, using knowledge grok'd from books, but have yet to get a job.

So, in summation, I have accomplished nothing. Happy?


Jedsen, I am glad that you have found your passion. However, I doubt that your condescending attitude will attract users to Linux / Open-source and promote your goal of helping "newer users discover the freedom of GNU philosophy". I will concede that you probably know a lot more about Linux / Open-source than I do. However, for the sake of your own goal, I recommending not acting in a way that reaffirms existing negative stereotypes about open-source "experts". A lot of professionals do not have time to learn another operating system or program so they go with with what they know. I am not saying that this is good, but this is reality. It's called specialization. Most lawyers, bankers, and doctors have better things to do with their time than read man pages, online documentation, mailing lists, and many lines of code. The open-source community needs to acknowledge this fact if they wish to gain wider acceptance. And it looks like they have, referring to Ubuntu, Fedora, and Knoppix. Knoppix has a very useful drive repartitioner which came in handy when I upgraded my hard drive sometime ago. RedHat also introduced me to OpenOffice which I now use over Office even though my place of work provides me with a free copy of MS Office and Windows XP for my home PC. I like the direct export to PDF feature and the fact that captions stay attached to figures and the figure stay in their intended spot on the page. My point is that these are some of the things you should be talking more about if you want to convert people over to open-source. Along with security, non-proprietary code, and of course the price. Mocking people for listing SQL as a programming language or using one text editor or operating system over another is not going to further your cause. All knowledge is trivia until it is applied.

Also, although I may sound like a Nazi. If you really wish to convert people, I would suggest replacing your personal quote and photo with something a little less aggressive and offensive. It simply lacks professionalism. We are trying to attract investors here for life extension funding...not have them dismiss us as a group of unprofessional radical zealots. I think that fear of the previous association is why two key leaders of this forum recently left.

#57 jedsen

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Posted 10 December 2006 - 12:59 AM

Right, I will change my avatar a quote right away.

I'm sorry that my attitude came across as "condescending", but I also believe that most people view computers as a means to an end, and not as a means in themselves. I don't believe that I can single-handedly change the entire forum to using free software, so my goal here was simply to brag (this is a bragging thread, after all), and perhaps pique the interest of one or two forums members who have already heard oh free software, and are interested.

I think by definition trivia are facts that cannot be applied in everyday use, while knowledge can be. And I do apply my knowledge every day, every time I use my computer.

#58 Ghostrider

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Posted 10 December 2006 - 08:24 AM

Well, if you want to get philosophical, I would have to argue that happiness is the only true end and everything else is just a means to happiness. Computers may have high value to you, but I am willing to submit that they are just tools for acquiring happiness either directly or indirectly through some other means. This is Jeremy Bentham's utilitarianism. Is this knowledge a piece of trivia? Maybe, not sure how it can be applied.

Anyway, no hard feelings man, you're cool. All the best.

#59 Centurion

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Posted 10 December 2006 - 06:37 PM

It's all about bucks, the rest is just conversation.
Come to think of it I'm quite possibly the complete opposite of an immortalist. Burn the candle at both ends, work all day, out drinking at night, plenty of time to sleep when youre dead and all that. I'm happy because I like where I am now and I know im doing all that I can to make things better. To quote someone whose name currently escapes me, the best way to be happy with your future is to shape it as you see fit.

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#60 Centurion

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Posted 10 December 2006 - 06:43 PM

Right, I will change my avatar a quote right away.

I'm sorry that my attitude came across as "condescending", but I also believe that most people view computers as a means to an end, and not as a means in themselves. I don't believe that I can single-handedly change the entire forum to using free software, so my goal here was simply to brag (this is a bragging thread, after all), and perhaps pique the interest of one or two forums members who have already heard oh free software, and are interested.

I think by definition trivia are facts that cannot be applied in everyday use, while knowledge can be. And I do apply my knowledge every day, every time I use my computer.


Too many see technology in general as a means to an end. I would say to such people that its intimately weaved with very human survival, from the first stone tools right to today's IT as a means of survival in business. Even in Greek mythology technology is revered as the fire from the hearth of the Gods themselves (Prometheus). Take pride in what you do and what you know because it is literally the future of mankind.




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