The Whiteboard

Jim G.

01:50

-1: *Why waste time with all of this?" - You must be joking. — Jim G. 19 secs ago

edmicman

02:22

Can I bounce some application architecture ideas off anyone?

user20683

@edmicman me maybe

edmicman

I'm making an app where we create online surveys that are sent out. Right now the sending is manual but I'd sketching out how I might make a schedule functionality that could run automatically. I was initially thinking I would store in a table a map of surveys and days of the week. Then I'd have a scheduled app script (I'm using python) run daily and grab anything that is scheduled for that day.

But now I'm wondering if I want to get as granular as timing to send the surveys. Like be able to say 'send at 9am and 6pm' or maybe just 'send in the afternoon between 3 and 4'. Adding the time component made me wonder if instead of having a scheduled polling service I should have a dedicated sender script - i.e. if I want survey foo to go daily at 9am I'd do something like "sendsurvey /foo" and schedule that in cron. But I'd really like to not have to maintain a bunch of cron jobs either.

user20683

02:44

@edmicman is the timing of the sending important?

user20683

obviously they should be sent out but does the "when" actually matter in terms of spec?

edmicman

I don't think so, at least if it were set to a certain time. I'm thinking if I went that way at best I'd give a window of time that things would be sent

user20683

@edmicman you might trigger it to run at certain intervals if there are more surveys. If lots of surveys are in the system regularly it will run more, otherwise it will run less.

user20683

just a thought

user20683

honestly I think keeping it to one or two specific times would be best from a simplicity standpoint

user20683

02:50

if you properly architect it, you can always change it later

edmicman

I guess I'm debating between a scheduled send for everything (i.e., 9am every day) vs being able to define specifically when something might be sent, or at least close. I don't think the scheduled polling (i.e, the sender app runs and sees what is due to go in that window) might work very well ,though.

user20683

@edmicman the sender is going to have to fetch things unless you somehow make it so that the surveys can call for pickup

user20683

One possible approach would be to do it as a dictionary of lists where the the key is the time and the list is the list of surveys to be sent out. Then it queues up the appropriate list and off they go. Then the list gets cleared and the sender sets its clock to check back when the next key says to do so. Thus you'd just need to add new key/list pairs to the dict and let the sender do all the work

edmicman

hmmm that's interesting....I think I'll mull that over a bit. I think that helped me with some ideas though, too. Thanks!

user20683

@edmicman you're most welcome

gnat

06:02

@YannisRizos as a history enthusiast, what do you think about this answer? At a first glance, it appears like backed up with two innocently looking links, but per closer study, it feels this back-up is somewhat fake...

2

A: Why do programming languages, especially C, use curly braces and not square ones?

C is derived from B, which was derived from BCPL. According to Ritchie, C inherited the [] and {} notation from B and BCPL. B and BCPL were derived from CPL, which appears to have used keywords for blocks and [] for arrays.

...I mean, one of the claims made in answer ([] from BCPL) just contradicts the referenced article, while another (inheritance of {}) is not covered at all. For the sake of precision, claim about {} appears correct because it is made and appropriately backed up in another answer

Yannis Rizos

07:01

The Little Manual of API Design - Just started reading this, so far it makes sense.

Yannis Rizos

07:11

@gnat Yes, there are problems there...

Downvoted for now...

Crap answers like that is why we can't have nice things (== "not constructive" questions)

asghar ashgari

12:03

Hello everyone, does any body here do server side coding?

user55340

14:37

@asgharashgari "server side coding" is a very, very broad area. Could you be more specific?

user55340

I'm really not a DB person (I just write scary large sql some times) and have stayed away from the NOSQL databases - is Bad CaRMa also a cautionary tale about those db's (before they were)?

user55340

15:27

Opinions please... I'm leaning on "close" for that natural language fluent api that has shown up as not constructive or not a real question... Design an API via comments and question edits doesn't seem a good fit... but I can't put my finger on it.

user55340

7

Q: Using natural language grammar in fluent API

I'm tinkering with a query abstraction over WebSQL/Phonegap Database API, and I find myself both drawn to, and doubtful of, defining a fluent API that mimics the use of natural English language grammar. It might be easiest to explain this via examples. The following are all valid queries in my g...

user55340

I believe there is a good question in there somewhere... but I also believe that it has gone down the rabbit hole of... something... such that it would take a complete rewrite of the question to change its direction.

Jim G.

17:15

@asgharashgari I agree with @MichaelT. Your question is very broad. Many of us do plenty of server-side coding, but how can we help you with your specific question?

Robert Harvey

17:37

0

Q: Why are you still confused about what Programmers is for?

I'm going to try and keep this short, because a lot of it has already been discussed. If you are interested in the history, you can find it here on Programmers Meta, but here's a very brief recap: Programmers started out life as "Not Programming Related." It was supposed to be a haven for all...

discussion scope

2

Robert Harvey

18:25

@YannisRizos: I flagged your comment Not Constructive. :)

Yannis Rizos

@RobertHarvey np.

user41796

18:48

@MichaelT - that's a polling question at the moment. Interesting, but polling nonetheless. It could be salvaged by asking if it is violating XYZ rules for creating APIs. The pdf Yannis mentioned a little earlier in here could be the beginnings of an external reference. The RFC you mentioned may also be a solid external ref as well.

user55340

The RFC that I mention is one of my favorite ones... and was also published on April 1st so shouldn't be taken too seriously.

user41796

<---- didn't click through </full disclosure>.

user55340

The networking truths...

user55340

(1) It Has To Work.

user55340

(2) No matter how hard you push and no matter what the priority, you can't increase the speed of light.
(2a) (corollary). No matter how hard you try, you can't make a baby in much less than 9 months. Trying to speed this up *might* make it slower, but it won't make it happen any quicker.

Yannis Rizos

18:52

Doing a minor clean up. If you notice your rep decreasing, take it as a hint to not answer crap.

user55340

(one of my favorites...)
(3) With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead.

user55340

(4) Some things in life can never be fully appreciated nor understood unless experienced firsthand. Some things in networking can never be fully understood by someone who neither builds commercial networking equipment nor runs an operational network.

user41796

@YannisRizos - thanks for the warning. It was nice using the 10k+ tools while I had the chance. Maybe I'll earn the rep back by answering real questions.

Yannis Rizos

;)

user55340

Btw, it looks like if one clicks on the "show removed posts", one can see Yannis's efforts...

user41796

18:59

@MichaelT - none yet for me, but I suspect that Yannis simply picked another user today to find crap questions based upon said user's answers. ;-)

Yannis Rizos

and yes, I read every f'ing one before deleting it...

user55340

-20 32 mins ago removed Why can't HTTP give more than one HTTP response for every HTTP request?

user55340

Though I also have gotten back some too...

user55340

+1 30 mins ago removed What are the relative importance of various traits do we use to look for in programmers and how do we test that?
+1 42 mins ago removed Practical "desktop" programming languages to learn
+1 42 mins ago removed Practical "desktop" programming languages to learn

user41796

seriously, why can't it..... :-) Slacker protocols....

user41796

19:01

@RobertHarvey - what sort of discussions are you hoping to spark through your meta post?

user55340

I'm wondering what gnat's delta will be.

user41796

gnat will probably be +100 since he'll get rep back from deleted downvotes

user41796

@Rachel - here's the P.SE link for the same question over on Workplace: programmers.stackexchange.com/q/188778/53019

Yannis Rizos

@MichaelT Re: your last flag: Anything in a home setting is off topic on Server Fault.

...according to their FAQ

user55340

That doesn't necessarily need to be 'home'. I've got an ulgy hosts file in my work dev box... to the point where I broke down and did my own server.

Yannis Rizos

19:14

I'll ask.

user55340

@YannisRizos I see that the previous flag to that resulted in some action... Was my hunch right?

Yannis Rizos

@MichaelT Yes.

user55340

Have you tried alcohol? Works for me. — Yannis Rizos 7 mins ago

Yannis Rizos

SF answered: Product and service recommendations -> off topic.

so... I got the off topic part right, but the reason wrong.

user55340

Fair 'nuff. I suspected that that would be the case - the "shopping/polling aspect" of it.

Robert Harvey

19:21

@GlenH7 I'm genuinely curious why some people don't seem to get it. If I am clearly off my rocker, post a rebuttal.

Yannis Rizos

Sneaky review audit...

gnat

@GlenH7 +19, it was like magic. About dozen of extra votes to spend didn't feel bad, either :)

user41796

@RobertHarvey - oh, I don't think you're clearly off your rocker. Just a little bit off at most. :-) I respect your opinions based upon the time you've put into the SO and P.SE communities, so I wanted to make sure I understood the gist of your question before answering. While I mostly agree with your premise, I don't fully agree with all of the points you raise, so I'll wrap those up into an answer.

Yannis Rizos

256 posts deleted today. Bloodlust satisfied.

user55340

@YannisRizos You restrict yourself to removing powers of 2 posts? Woe if you delete one more...

user41796

19:28

@YannisRizos - did you intentionally stop at 2^8?

Robert Harvey

@GlenH7 A nice, round number.

user41796

And easily expressed in binary, too! :-)

Jimmy Hoffa

20:05

@YannisRizos where did like 45 of my rep go today?

ah bastard

Robert Harvey

@YannisRizos: Is this Leslar Bonar?

Ylyk Coitus

4

learning

user41796

@RobertHarvey - you beat me to it. I was about to call out TROLL! :-)

Jimmy Hoffa

Who cares, the name alone is a troll

user55340

@JimmyHoffa If you select the "show deleted posts" you can see it.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT how do I select that?

user41796

20:08

And now we know which user Yannis picked to drive today's deletion activities... (chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/8329006#8329006)

user55340

@JimmyHoffa Profile > Reputation > Post > check box at the bottom

Yannis Rizos

@RobertHarvey No

Jimmy Hoffa

Ah, yeah that was a terrible question

I actually downvoted and close voted it as well as answering

Yannis Rizos

1 hour ago, by Yannis Rizos

Doing a minor clean up. If you notice your rep decreasing, take it as a hint to not answer crap.

Jimmy Hoffa

but I like answering crap :(

user41796

20:13

@JimmyHoffa - here ya go then. Oh, wait, it's closed already. :-)

user41796

-3

Q: Which language is most beneficial to learn for a non-programmer?

There have been a couple of questions about which language is the best to learn for a beginner (i.e. a first language). But I have a different question, here's the backstory. I'm a guy who hasn't got much free time to spend (just like many other people), so I usually like to spend it usefully. I...

learning

Jimmy Hoffa

@YannisRizos while you're cleaning, do me a favor and delete

1

Q: Does anyone program with a chording keyboard?

I'm curious if anyone has ever heard of programming with a chording keyboard, or rather if this is even possible? I've done some googling but have come up empty-handed. So, has anyone ever heard of programming with a chording keyboard? Does a stenotype do all the punctuation necessary, is there ...

keyboard touch-typing

user20683

@GlenH7 If you learn a programming language...then you are not a non-programmer.

Jimmy Hoffa

@WorldEngineer only mutes are non-programmers, every language can program things

Yannis Rizos

@JimmyHoffa Nope, 256 deleted posts today, if I delete that then I'll have to delete 255 more...

Jimmy Hoffa

20:17

@YannisRizos so count more poorly

user20683

@YannisRizos change the base

Jimmy Hoffa

wouldn't he need a fractional base then? (now I want to ask if that's even a thing of someone who knows maths)

user20683

@JimmyHoffa it is

Jimmy Hoffa

What is it used for?

user20683

@JimmyHoffa math stuff

user20683

20:21

Golden ratio base

Golden ratio base is a non-integer positional numeral system that uses the golden ratio (the irrational number (1+)/2 ≈ 1.61803399 symbolized by the Greek letter φ) as its base. It is sometimes referred to as base-φ, golden mean base, phi-base, or, colloquially, phinary. Any non-negative real number can be represented as a base-φ numeral using only the digits 0 and 1, and avoiding the digit sequence "11" – this is called a standard form. A base-φ numeral that includes the digit sequence "11" can always be rewritten in standard form, using the algebraic properties of the bas...

user20683

Non-standard positional numeral systems

Non-standard positional numeral systems here designates numeral systems that are in some sense positional systems, but that deviate from the following description of standard positional systems: :In a standard positional numeral system, the base b is a positive integer, and b different numerals are used to represent all non-negative integers. Each numeral represents one of the values 0, 1, 2, etc., up to b-1, but the value also depends on the position of the digit in a number. The value of a digit string like d_3d_2d_1d_0 in base b is given by the polynomial form ::d_3\times b^3+d_2\ti...

user55340

@YannisRizos Think of it as imaginary... 256 + i.

user55340

20:41

@JimmyHoffa Fractional base... Just ask "what does 'ln(x)' mean?" -- what base is that being taken in?

user55340

Btw, my favorite word...

user55340

Zenzizenzizenzic

Zenzizenzizenzic is an obsolete form of mathematical notation representing the eighth power of a number (that is, the zenzizenzizenzic of a number x is the power x8), dating from a time when powers were written out in words rather than as superscript numbers. This term was suggested by Robert Recorde, a 16th century Welsh writer of popular mathematics textbooks, in his 1557 work The Whetstone of Witte (although his spelling was zenzizenzizenzike); he wrote that it "doeth represent the square of squares squaredly". At the time Recorde proposed this notation, there was no easy way of denot...

Robert Harvey

21:31

@YannisRizos: Increasingly, I am coming to the conclusion that most of the angst that occurs on Programmers is because a scope change was foisted onto the community, but several community members still use the site as if it's under the original scope.

user55340

There is that. There is also a fairly consistent stream of misdirection from SO - people not part of the community but under the impression that P.SE is for anything that isn't SO, but vaguely related to programming.

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