Posts

Showing posts from February, 2014

Can Software Developers enjoy their personal life?

Can Software Developers enjoy their personal life? Normally in any job around the world, you have to work for 40-45 hours a week. But is this really true for a software developer? As a software developer, if you have to grow in your professional life, you have to sacrifice your personal life. This statement is intimidating, but true to some extent. Mainly, the initial years of a software developer are very crucial and you have to work extensively to thrive in your career. Only the lucky software developers get flexible working hours in the office otherwise most of the software developers have to compromise their personal life. In a software industry, you will have to face: 1. Tight Deadlines 2. Excessive Work Load 3. Staying Late Nights 4. Working on Weekends 5. Code quality and code delivery at same time 6. Bug fixing If you are a software developer, you have to try hard to maintain work-life balance. Software development is full of uncertainties. Any time any thing can happen in your

Tips to make Interview comfortable for Interviewee

Tips to make Interview comfortable for Interviewee Job interviews can be intimidating and uncomfortable for applicants. People enter an interview unsure of what is expected and nervous about their performance. The more you, as the employer, can do to make the experience less stressful, the more accurate your impression will be of the person you're interviewing. Some HR personnel may make candidates feel nervous, unintentionally. However, most HR staff want prospects to feel welcome and at home. It’s important to remember that your company is being interviewed too. People are becoming more and more selective about the jobs they’ll accept these days as a result. Therefore, here are a few simple things you can do that will help job candidates feel much more comfortable before, during and after the interview process.  1. Have someone to greet the candidate personally No matter how busy things are, you need to make a point of having someone ready to make the candidate feel welcomed by t

With Keyword in Delphi

With Keyword in Delphi The With keyword is a convenience provided by Delphi for referencing elements of a complex variable, such as a record or object.  It simplifies the code by removing the need to prefix each referenced element with the complex variable name.  For example:  myObject.colour := clRed; myObject.size   := 23.5; myObject.name   := 'Fred';  can be rewritten :  With myObject do begin   colour := clRed;   size   := 23.5;   name   := 'Fred'; end;  However be warned that it can surprisingly make your code more difficult to read, especially when nesting With clauses. More disturbingly, it can create maintenance problems, where a code change can mean that the wrong target for the 'child' field referenced. Example code: Using the with keyword with a record structure type   // Declare a customer record   TCustomer = Record     firstName : string[20];     lastName  : string[20];     address1  : string[100];     address2  : string[100];     address3  : strin

Pointers in Delphi

Pointers in Delphi Pointers are a special type of variable. Like a meta-variable. They can point to other variables, or to memory. You might use a record pointer, for example, to point to a block of memory where you have stored lots of record data. You would then use the pointer just as if it were a record variable. The Pointer type provides a general use pointer to any memory based variable. That is, one that is accessed by reference.  Delphi provides a number of typed pointer types, such as PChar, and PExtended, along with a generic, 'point to anything' type - the Pointer type. var   generalPtr : Pointer;  // A pointer to anything   formPtr    : ^TForm;   // A pointer to a form object begin   // The current unit's form is addressable via the self keyword   generalPtr := Addr(self);   // We can assign this pointer to the form pointer   formPtr := generalPtr;   // And set the form caption to show this   formPtr.Caption := 'Test program'; end; The nice thing about th

Currency Data Type in Delphi

Currency Data Type in Delphi Currency is a fixed-point data type that minimizes rounding errors in monetary calculations. It is stored as a scaled 64-bit integer with the 4 least significant digits implicitly representing decimal places. When mixed with other real types in assignments and expressions, Currency values are automatically divided or multiplied by 10000. The Currency type is designed for use in financial applications. It supports 4 decimal places with at least 53 bits precision. Decimal places beyond the supported 4 are rounded up or down, as appropriate. See the sample code for an example. var   account1, account2, account3 : Currency; begin   account1 := 123.456749;   // Too many decimals - will be rounded down   account2 := 123.456750;   // Too many decimals - will be rounded up   account3 := account1 + account2;   ShowMessage('Account1 = '+CurrToStr(account1));   ShowMessage('Account2 = '+CurrToStr(account2));   ShowMessage('Account3 = '+CurrToSt

Conditional Compilation in Delphi

Conditional Compilation in Delphi Conditional compilation is based on the existence and evaluation of constants, the status of compiler switches, and the definition of conditional symbols. Conditional symbols work like Boolean variables: they are either defined (true) or undefined (false). Any valid conditional symbol is treated as false until it has been defined. The {$DEFINE} directive sets a specified symbol to true, and the {$UNDEF} directive sets it to false. You can also define a conditional symbol by using the -D switch with the command-line compiler or by adding the symbol to the Conditional Defines field on the Project > Options > Delphi Compiler page. The conditional directives {$IFDEF}, {$IFNDEF}, {$IF}, {$ELSEIF}, {$ELSE}, {$ENDIF}, and {$IFEND} allow you to compile or suppress code based on the status of a conditional symbol. {$IF} and {$ELSEIF} allow you to base conditional compilation on declared Delphi identifiers. {$IFOPT} compiles or suppresses code depending o

How to open and close datasets in Delphi? Difference between Open Method and Active Property in Delphi

How to open and close datasets in Delphi? Difference between Open Method and Active Property in Delphi To read or write data in a dataset in Delphi, an application must first open it. You can open a dataset in two ways: 1. Open method: Call the Open method for the dataset at run time. 2. Active Property: Set the Active property of the dataset to True, either at design time in the Object Inspector, or in code at run time. After performing operations on datasets, you must close them. You can close a dataset in two ways: 1. Close method: Call the Close method for the dataset at run time. 2. Active Property: Set the Active property of the dataset to False, either at design time in the Object Inspector, or in code at run time. For example, if you have dsSample dataset in your code. You can open it like: dsSample.Open; dsSample.Active := True; and close it like: dsSample.Close; dsSample.Active := False; Difference between Open and Active 1. Open is a methods and Active is a property. 2.

5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Software Developer Job

5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Software Developer Job  No job is perfect. Every job has some advantages and disadvantages. If you are enjoying your job, that job is best for you. You should carefully choose a right career for you as it can make your life heaven or hell. If you have chosen for becoming a software developer, you must know the pros and cons of this career. I would like to share the advantages and disadvantages of software developer's job. Advantages of Software Programming Job 1. Good Pay: As compared to other jobs and professions, software programming job's pay is high. 2. Portable Skills: You learn a lot of things like programming language, software tools etc. in one company and can apply that knowledge in another company. When you switch from one company to another, you also get a good salary hike. 3. Work Anywhere: You can work from anywhere. All you need is one laptop and the internet connection. Work From Home is a very good facility in this field. 4.

Should Interviewers ask Puzzles to Software Developers in an Interview to evaluate their skills?

Should Interviewers ask Puzzles to Software Developers in an Interview to evaluate their skills? Programming is not about writing lines of code, it is about solving problems for the people. Some interviewers ask puzzles in an attempt to gauge software developer's ability and approach to solving problems. Puzzles can be useful in assessing problem solving skills, which is of course one of the key aspects of programming. Interviewer's expectations in that case are to hear you articulate your approach to the problem. What other data would you try to gather? How would you test your hypothesizes, etc. The point of asking the puzzles is to watch how developers work toward the solution, not necessarily if they get the right answer. You can spot good programmers pretty quickly just by watching this process. The interviewer must have been referring to problem solving and logic skills, which is part of the everyday work of a programmer. When given a problem, you need to be able to analyz

Amazon AWS vs IBM SoftLayer: Why IBM cannot dominate Amazon as a Cloud Computing Services Provider?

Amazon AWS vs IBM SoftLayer: Why IBM cannot dominate Amazon as a Cloud Computing Services Provider? Can IBM SoftLayer ever dominate Amazon AWS? Today, Amazon is the biggest Cloud Computing Services provider. Amazon AWS already has a number of large enterprises running production workloads on it, and the trend is accelerating. IBM is unquestionably a strong brand with deep customer relationships — it exerts a magnetism for its customers that competitors like HP and Dell don’t come anywhere near to matching.  Why IBM SoftLayer cannot dominate Amazon AWS? 1. Is IBM SoftLayer worthy? IBM's own cloud did not work, and now it has thrown out that strategy and is now pinning its hopes on SoftLayer, which was never a credible AWS competitor to begin with. IBM acquired SoftLayer last year and announced addition of more than 1,500 customers just after three months of its acquisition of SoftLayer.  It certainly helps immensely that SoftLayer is a more compelling solution than SCE, but customer

AngularJS vs Ember vs Backbone: Which Javascript Framework to choose for Front-end Web Development?

AngularJS vs Ember vs Backbone: Which Javascript Framework to choose for Front-end Web Development? I have tried to compare three most widely used Javascript frameworks like AngularJS, Ember and Backbone in terms of their performance, model mutation, template engine, testability, easy to learn and implement etc. Which javascript framework to choose for front-end web development is mainly decided by the nature of your application, what functionalities do you want to achieve in your application and your hold on the Javascript framework. Let's try to understand the difference between the various features of AngularJS, Ember and Backbone. 1. Templates Backbone: In backbone, you can choose your own template engine, no matter whether it’s String or DOM based. Usually people prefer handlebars.js, a string-based template library. Ember: It uses built-in string-based templates (mandatory). Arguments in favor of string-based templates include “it’s faster” (debatable) and “theoretically, t

Basic AngularJS Interview Questions and Answers for Front-end Web Developers

Basic AngularJS Interview Questions and Answers for Front-end Web Developers AngularJS is widely known Javascript framework. If you are a front-end web developer preparing for AngularJS interview, following basic AngularJS interview questions and answers might help you little bit. Before going to AngularJS interview, you should know basic concepts and architecture of AngularJS, key features of AngularJS, how AngularJS is different from jQuery or other Javascript frameworks etc. Following basic AngularJS interview questions and answers will give you little insight of these concepts. 1. Why is this project called "AngularJS"? Why is the namespace called "ng"? Because HTML has Angular brackets and "ng" sounds like "Angular". 2. Is AngularJS a library, framework, plugin or a browser extension? AngularJS fits the definition of a framework the best, even though it's much more lightweight than a typical framework and that's why many confuse it w