The Whiteboard

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user55340

12:29 AM

Q: How can I retain knowledge about new technologies I don't use every day?

At work we mostly do WinForms development and it’s not a secret that it is already very outdated. I have a passion to learn new stuff like WPF, MVVM and want to use full advantages of C# 4.0. There is no way I can push my bosses to change “well-recommended” and “proven” technologies like WinForms...

user55340

To which the latest Codeless Code: This Too Shall Pass

Duga

2:40 AM

I'd like to see that you've done some searching about this in a search engine, or that you've read some blogs about this, or something. If not, then this is possibly a better fit for programmers.stackexchange.com than stackoverflow.com. I'd prefer that you tried something in code (and you share that code), but at least point to some tutorials or blogs you read and what you don't understand about it. — Guy Schalnat 28 secs ago

7 hours later…

Duga

9:17 AM

Please read the FAQ before posting such questions. This question is not suitable for StackOverflow. SO is for questions for a specific problem. Your question is to broad and general and not related to a programming problem but asking for advices. You should use programmers.stackexchange.com for broad and unspecific questions — Tseng 44 secs ago

4 hours later…

Duga

1:15 PM

Since this is purely hypothetical (i.e. "how would I go about doing this?"), you may want to ask this on Programmers Stack Exchange instead. — SomethingDark just now

2 hours later…

MetaFight

3:07 PM

Anyone going to CCCamp?

Robert Harvey

3:22 PM

I've resisted such things up until now. Is there any value in attending them?

user20683

@RobertHarvey how's the new job?

Robert Harvey

So far so good. Their system is very cleverly crafted duct tape and chewing gum, but I'm making my way through it.

MetaFight

@RobertHarvey I've never been to CCCamp so I don't know. But I went to the UK's EMF Camp last year and it was great. There's something oddly comforting in being surrounded by people of similar geek levels.

Robert Harvey

I've sometimes wondered if being around that many pedants would bug the shit out of me.

Or how many egos.

But of course that's the half-empty glass view. My real objection is the cost. If I'm there for the training, I can watch the videos instead.

MetaFight

@RobertHarvey I went to EMF with my hackspace, so knowing the pedants around me made it more tolerable.

user55340

4:16 PM

user55340

Yes, they do tastings.

Duga

5:50 PM

I think this question is too open-ended to be on-topic for Stack Overflow. There is no specific problem to be solved. It might even be too open-ended for programmers.se. Could you please state some specific concern that prompted you to ask this question? — 200_success 18 secs ago

2 hours later…

Duga

7:26 PM

@AnsgarWiechers At the same time, we cannot scare away legitimate programmers by down-voting their questions without giving any sort of explanation as to why. I was traumatized when this happened to me on SO when I got started. Almost never came back to this site. So the least I can do to oxy, whose reputation score of 8 shows he is new here, is to give him a possible explanation for down-votes and upvote it so he is not so much downvoted he leaves and never comes back. — Shiva 8 secs ago

user55340

7:46 PM

Btw, those photos are from Vom Fass - they just opened a store in Madison. vomfassusa.com

Duga

Your question is too broad- actually it's four questions. Of these, licensing is off-topic, and questions about 'what's best?' tend to be opinion based. There is nothing here that has a definitive right answer, which makes the whole lot off-topic. Some of this might fit better on Programmers, but you should check their help centre before you post. — Hobo Sapiens 20 secs ago

2 hours later…

Nick Alexeev

10:16 PM

Q: Is there a name for this pattern?

A while loop can be written as follows in C# (and many other languages): int someValue; int someTerminatingValue; while ((someValue = GetSomeValue()) != someTerminatingValue) { // Do something interesting } Is there a name for this pattern of assigning the value inside the while loop's ex...

c# design-patterns patterns-and-practices

Jimmy Hoffa

10:46 PM

@NickAlexeev I suppose "bad code" is a pattern in it's own way...

Ixrec

I was trying to think of a way to rewrite that while() as a for() or a do-while but for some reason I couldn't work it out

not without writing the assignment in two places anyway

Nick Alexeev

@Ixrec That's what I've done in my answer to that question. It has got 2 assignments though. I suspect, that's cleaner semantically.

Jimmy Hoffa

@NickAlexeev the intent is clearer that way

Ixrec

hm, to me those both feel about as "icky" as the OP's

Nick Alexeev

@JimmyHoffa The plebiscite voted 5 to 3 against, surprisingly.

Ixrec

10:57 PM

but come to think of it I don't think I've ever encountered a real-life situation where that was the looping semantics I needed

I'm wondering if there's a reason for that

Jimmy Hoffa

@NickAlexeev Lead with "It's called an 'Idiom'" instead of just "Idiom" in big letters and I think I would have recognized your answer more quickly

I didn't immediately see what you were saying

Ixrec

huh, someone just unupvoted that answer

Jimmy Hoffa

what mcconnel suggests is precisely the way I always do it

anything else for that scenario just seems wrong

granted, I barely ever write loops of any sort

Nick Alexeev

@Ixrec My issue with that example is that it's an infinite loop. As soon as you try to add a timeout counter, the clever code idyll disappears.

Jimmy Hoffa

I almost always just use LINQ style declarative data processing if I have something to iterate

Ixrec

11:01 PM

and it just hit me: the one time I do encounter that is when reading lines of text in C++, where I can use while(getline(str)) and this is a non-issue

because there's this handy function that gets the value, assigns it via the pointer argument and returns a status boolean all in one

Jimmy Hoffa

you do similar in C# with various data structures using out

Ixrec

would it be idiomatic to write a similar helper function when one encounters loops like this?

Jimmy Hoffa

That said, it's explicit in the C# that there's an out, I cannot condone any approaches in C++, especially not somethin where it's implicitly changing your variables

or rather.. I simple cannot condone C++. It's a terrible thing that has harmed the industry and countless members in it

Ixrec

we're all entitled to our opinions

Jimmy Hoffa

@Ixrec and some opinions are harmful like "Slavery is ok" or "C++ is good"

Ixrec

11:05 PM

let's agree to disagree on that second one

Nick Alexeev

@Ixrec Except the lucky ones that are loud and suffer from myopic tunnel vision. Then everyone else is entitled to thoses opinion.