qid int64 1 74.7M | question stringlengths 12 33.8k | date stringlengths 10 10 | metadata list | response_j stringlengths 0 115k | response_k stringlengths 2 98.3k |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9,838 | I seem to be the only one in my house capable of putting the remote in the same spot.
How can I solve the "I can't find the remote problem"? | 2015/10/29 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/9838",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/2431/"
] | Maybe you could attach the remote to something big so that it's easier to find if it gets lost.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uKlZh.jpg) | I think you can try tie/glue/tape a piece of string to it and tie the other end somewhere near your couch, or wherever you sit to watch TV. If that dangles too much, maybe you can try fixing one of those retractable lanyard thing to your remote so it doesn't still end up at random places because it will retract to that one spot. |
9,838 | I seem to be the only one in my house capable of putting the remote in the same spot.
How can I solve the "I can't find the remote problem"? | 2015/10/29 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/9838",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/2431/"
] | Maybe you could attach the remote to something big so that it's easier to find if it gets lost.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/uKlZh.jpg) | Get duplicates.
I have 3 copies of the remote control for my cable set top box. The cable company actually sends them out for free -- all you need to do is ask. |
9,838 | I seem to be the only one in my house capable of putting the remote in the same spot.
How can I solve the "I can't find the remote problem"? | 2015/10/29 | [
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/questions/9838",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com",
"https://lifehacks.stackexchange.com/users/2431/"
] | Rather than attaching something to the remote, make a place for it that is more attractive/easy to use:
Various places sell sofa-side magazine holders, or trays. Have one of these on the most useful end of the sofa. Use tape to mark out a silhouette of the remote (or remotes, as many of us have) and tag it with the name of the remote.
This should help encourage usage. To further help, why not gamify the process, with points for each member of the family who places the remote correctly or loses points for failing to do so. Top points at end of week wins a prize. | I use self-sealing Velcro touch fasteners bands that I put on the back of the remote control and on the element it is related to (pedestal of the TV, body of the iPod docking station, table, etc).
Then, this system only needs discipline to work : you take the remote control, you use it. Once you are finished, you put it back on the Velcro band. |
31,881,635 | I have been trying to support multiple screen resolutions for Android, i have tried all the viewports but non of them fit my game well, my game is like Asteroids where the ship wraps around the world when it reaches the edge of the screen. if i use Fitviewport on some resolutions the ship wraps around before it reaches the edge of the screen and if use Fillviewport the ship goes out of the screen instead of wraping around, if i use Stretchviewport the game looks horrible the other viewports are not working well either, So i think the only solution for me would be to create diffrent assets for diffrent resolutions, now how do i go about doing that? | 2015/08/07 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/31881635",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5008598/"
] | OK, let look at this in terms of efficiency.
Yes for the simple case you describe, the client may have to wait slightly longer.
In terms of developing a useful site though, you most likely will be doing authentication and wanting to make ajax calls from the middle of your page. You too may want to do layout changes based on user input that are impractical and messy to do in a jsp page.
Manually written javascript used to run quite differently in different browsers too, and that was a nice thing about GWT compiling different versions for particular browsers. It may not be as true today but you should consider browser differences if you need to target more than one.
So my answer in terms of efficiency is that no GWT is not the most efficient for the simplest cases, but if you need to make a more complex web-application and want to avoid browser issues, then developing in Java is easier and simpler to maintain.
I actually am returning a .jsp page on my first call, and then the GWT javascript get bootstrapped from there (instead of using an html page). There isn't any real reason you couldn't include whatever data you wanted with the jsp page, except that if your requirement is so simple, keep it that way as for sure there will be some cost in bootstrapping the GWT code. In my case, I need to do authentication first, and then data than gets returned depends on their credentials, and then a load of ajax calls depending on what the information the user needs. Developing in javascript by hand would be a nightmare. | GWT compiler generated java script is cached on the client side so when you access application for the first time you will see that it takes some time as compared to plain java script. But if you try to access it again you will not see the performance issue in loading the page.
In both cases you are accessing the server twice. First request is to load the view and second request is to get the data from the server.
GWT is not suitable for simple application. It is mainly used for enterprise applications.
GWT compiler generated java script handles most of the browser intricacies which is hard to maintain in plain java script code. |
9,015,245 | I have scheduled a task to run a SSIS job using the Task Scheduler (TS). It is configured to run as a User who belongs to the Admin group.
The security is
"Run whether user is logged on or not" is checked
"Dont store password" is checked
"Run with highest preveilage" is unchecked
The scheduled task run ONLY when the user is logged in but when the user logs out the task doest seem to run. I figured "Run whether user is logged on or not" should run the task when the user isnt logged on.
What am I missing? | 2012/01/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/9015245",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1168784/"
] | When I setup tasks to "run whether user is logged on or not", I take this approach:
I create a user on that computer that is a member of no groups. This user is the designated task scheduler user. Open the Local Security Policy and grant that new user "Log on as batch job" permission. If you do not, you'll get this error: "This task requires that the user account specified has Log on as batch job rights." Specific instructions on how to set that permission are here:
<http://power-programming.co.uk/post/2010/11/18/Task-Scheduler-This-task-requires-that-the-user-account-specified-has-Log-on-as-batch-job-rights.aspx>
Create the task in the Task Scheduler.
Select the "Run whether user is logged on or not" radio button.
Check the "Do not store password" checkbox.
Check the "Run with highest privileges" checkbox.
Assign the task to run under the new user account. | Try storing the password. If the user isn't logged in and the password isn't stored there may be no proper authentication. If its a domain user, you can also try creating a local user whose password never expires. |
9,015,245 | I have scheduled a task to run a SSIS job using the Task Scheduler (TS). It is configured to run as a User who belongs to the Admin group.
The security is
"Run whether user is logged on or not" is checked
"Dont store password" is checked
"Run with highest preveilage" is unchecked
The scheduled task run ONLY when the user is logged in but when the user logs out the task doest seem to run. I figured "Run whether user is logged on or not" should run the task when the user isnt logged on.
What am I missing? | 2012/01/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/9015245",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1168784/"
] | Follow like this:
1. Type in secpol.msc /s
2. Select "Local Policies" in MSC snap in
3. Select "User Rights Assignment"
4. Right click on "Log on as batch job" and select Properties
5. Click "Add User or Group", and include the relevant user. | Try storing the password. If the user isn't logged in and the password isn't stored there may be no proper authentication. If its a domain user, you can also try creating a local user whose password never expires. |
9,015,245 | I have scheduled a task to run a SSIS job using the Task Scheduler (TS). It is configured to run as a User who belongs to the Admin group.
The security is
"Run whether user is logged on or not" is checked
"Dont store password" is checked
"Run with highest preveilage" is unchecked
The scheduled task run ONLY when the user is logged in but when the user logs out the task doest seem to run. I figured "Run whether user is logged on or not" should run the task when the user isnt logged on.
What am I missing? | 2012/01/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/9015245",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1168784/"
] | When I setup tasks to "run whether user is logged on or not", I take this approach:
I create a user on that computer that is a member of no groups. This user is the designated task scheduler user. Open the Local Security Policy and grant that new user "Log on as batch job" permission. If you do not, you'll get this error: "This task requires that the user account specified has Log on as batch job rights." Specific instructions on how to set that permission are here:
<http://power-programming.co.uk/post/2010/11/18/Task-Scheduler-This-task-requires-that-the-user-account-specified-has-Log-on-as-batch-job-rights.aspx>
Create the task in the Task Scheduler.
Select the "Run whether user is logged on or not" radio button.
Check the "Do not store password" checkbox.
Check the "Run with highest privileges" checkbox.
Assign the task to run under the new user account. | You might find in sig606's solution that the "Add User or Group" is greyed out in Administrative Tools->Local Security Policy->Local Policies->User Right Assignment->Log on as a batch job, Local Security Setting tab. If that's the case, you need to check your Group Policy in AD. A good reference is [here](http://www.networksteve.com/forum/topic.php/Problem_with_scheduled_task_%22this_task_requires_that_the_account/?TopicId=28407&Posts=6).
Basically on your DC, Administrative Tools->Group Policy Management->Computer Configuration->Policies->Windows Setting->Security Settings->Local Policies->User Rights Assignment->Log on as a batch job, edit and add your user there. |
9,015,245 | I have scheduled a task to run a SSIS job using the Task Scheduler (TS). It is configured to run as a User who belongs to the Admin group.
The security is
"Run whether user is logged on or not" is checked
"Dont store password" is checked
"Run with highest preveilage" is unchecked
The scheduled task run ONLY when the user is logged in but when the user logs out the task doest seem to run. I figured "Run whether user is logged on or not" should run the task when the user isnt logged on.
What am I missing? | 2012/01/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/9015245",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1168784/"
] | Follow like this:
1. Type in secpol.msc /s
2. Select "Local Policies" in MSC snap in
3. Select "User Rights Assignment"
4. Right click on "Log on as batch job" and select Properties
5. Click "Add User or Group", and include the relevant user. | When I setup tasks to "run whether user is logged on or not", I take this approach:
I create a user on that computer that is a member of no groups. This user is the designated task scheduler user. Open the Local Security Policy and grant that new user "Log on as batch job" permission. If you do not, you'll get this error: "This task requires that the user account specified has Log on as batch job rights." Specific instructions on how to set that permission are here:
<http://power-programming.co.uk/post/2010/11/18/Task-Scheduler-This-task-requires-that-the-user-account-specified-has-Log-on-as-batch-job-rights.aspx>
Create the task in the Task Scheduler.
Select the "Run whether user is logged on or not" radio button.
Check the "Do not store password" checkbox.
Check the "Run with highest privileges" checkbox.
Assign the task to run under the new user account. |
9,015,245 | I have scheduled a task to run a SSIS job using the Task Scheduler (TS). It is configured to run as a User who belongs to the Admin group.
The security is
"Run whether user is logged on or not" is checked
"Dont store password" is checked
"Run with highest preveilage" is unchecked
The scheduled task run ONLY when the user is logged in but when the user logs out the task doest seem to run. I figured "Run whether user is logged on or not" should run the task when the user isnt logged on.
What am I missing? | 2012/01/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/9015245",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1168784/"
] | Follow like this:
1. Type in secpol.msc /s
2. Select "Local Policies" in MSC snap in
3. Select "User Rights Assignment"
4. Right click on "Log on as batch job" and select Properties
5. Click "Add User or Group", and include the relevant user. | You might find in sig606's solution that the "Add User or Group" is greyed out in Administrative Tools->Local Security Policy->Local Policies->User Right Assignment->Log on as a batch job, Local Security Setting tab. If that's the case, you need to check your Group Policy in AD. A good reference is [here](http://www.networksteve.com/forum/topic.php/Problem_with_scheduled_task_%22this_task_requires_that_the_account/?TopicId=28407&Posts=6).
Basically on your DC, Administrative Tools->Group Policy Management->Computer Configuration->Policies->Windows Setting->Security Settings->Local Policies->User Rights Assignment->Log on as a batch job, edit and add your user there. |
19,233 | My wife and I and our adult children have inherited a few acres in the middle of a forest in the mountains of North Carolina and would like to set up a semi-permanent campsite.
Ideally, this would allow us to camp there with minimum preparation but still have minimal impact on the site and not attract vandalism from passers-by. | 2018/04/28 | [
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/19233",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/15573/"
] | Unless you are going to build a sturdy structure, you cannot be confident that you will escape vandalism over the long term whether by homo sapiens or some other species. You will also have to be prepared for normal maintenance. Even a sturdy structure is not absolute proof against vandalism or people breaking in.
Your best option, proof against vandalism, but something of a PIA, is packing everything you need in a closet at home in a highly organized manner, including clothes and things like toothbrushes, and haul it to the site each time.
You might also want to investigate [roof top tents](https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/10838/roof-top-tents-vs-conventional-tents).
**Addendum:** I should have made my answer clearer when, or shortly after, I posted it. **You cannot make a *semi-permanent* campsite proof against trespassers, squatter, or vandals.**
As soon as you improve your campsite, passers-by (the OP's phrase) will use it. Some, maybe many, users will be respectful of the site, but eventually someone is going to litter, cut down a tree or otherwise deface or make a mess of your site. At a minimum, they will trample down vegetation and make a path you don't want. All you can do is minimize the hassle of assembling and packing stuff for your visits. Enlisting a neighbor to watch your site will warn you when your site has become a mess. Campsites in parks don't stay clean by themselves! | There is a [great answer by Willeke](https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/19236/4079) and a [reasonable answer by ab2](https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/19235/4079) in addition to the points they suggested, I have a suggestion.
Find a used travel trailer in your area (e.g., Craigslist) buy it, and move it to the property, and leave it there. This makes your base camp. Leave the door unlocked; if someone wants in, the lock is not going to stop them, and they won't need to break anything to get in.
Avoid RV's with an engine. They can be difficult to move and or recycle when when you want to upgrade. |
19,233 | My wife and I and our adult children have inherited a few acres in the middle of a forest in the mountains of North Carolina and would like to set up a semi-permanent campsite.
Ideally, this would allow us to camp there with minimum preparation but still have minimal impact on the site and not attract vandalism from passers-by. | 2018/04/28 | [
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/19233",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com",
"https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/15573/"
] | **What to sleep in?**
Any building will be inviting vandals, so I would just level out a part of the plot with easy access for your car or a camper van.
Instead of having a building you can bring a tent or a camper van, RV or a trailer that is ready to camp in.
In (parts of) Europe it is also quite common to see a small trailer that holds a tent, which you fold out into a roomy tent big enough to sleep 4 or even 6 people. The beds are part of the structure and there is some space for the essentials.
**A base for your nights!**
That flat area can be just dirt if the dirt in your plot is going to work for that, it can also be tiles or concrete slabs you put in, cut wood or if allowed in the area, a slap of concrete you poor on the plot.
Or you can make and maintain a lawn to camp on or around if you are willing to put in the time for mowing it and the tent (or vehicle) will not be on it enough to do damage.
Of all above the concrete slap will have the most impact but is also the best collecting all that drips from the vehicle so you can collect that and take it off site if needed.
If you are in an area where forest fires are common or very dangerous, I would not make a fire pit but use a fire container which you can put in your car when you leave, either a BBQ or a fire cage.
**How to make the going out effort free?**
If you want to stay in a tent or several small tents, you can have all of the gear packed in a trailer or a couple of duffel bags which you can put in the back of your car.
A trailer, camping van or RV are always ready to go.
And the fold in trailer tent is basically ready to go, although you might prefer not to store the extra's inside long term.
**Drive on or not?**
The less easy the access to the plot, the less likely someone will come and make use of it, (either as you would or as a vandal) but the less easy it will be for you to arrive and leave. So it will be a trade off.
Consider parking a bit farther out and walk your gear in over a narrow path compared to driving onto the site.
If the site is a bit farther from an access road you may have to walk your gear in. In which case a small cart with wheels suitable for the ground might be a very valued part of your kit.
**Facilities!**
If you are just camping there once in a long while, you can dig a latrine or bring out all human waste as well as all your (kitchen)waste.
But if you do go there often, you might want to consider a 'loo' structure where you can easily collect the human waste to take off, (which can be a tent like structure) or build a system that does not need the taking away of waste, compost loo's come to mind but are likely not the only suitable structure.
Using a camping vehicle you might have a waste water system doing it for you.
Waste water that is true water might be allowed to get into the ground or through the ground into a natural stream in/near the plot, but only if it is clean of chemicals and disease. A shower (behind a screen for privacy) can be rigged with a bucket or watering can, over a small tiled area for foot safety, as long as no unwanted chemicals are used. | There is a [great answer by Willeke](https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/19236/4079) and a [reasonable answer by ab2](https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/19235/4079) in addition to the points they suggested, I have a suggestion.
Find a used travel trailer in your area (e.g., Craigslist) buy it, and move it to the property, and leave it there. This makes your base camp. Leave the door unlocked; if someone wants in, the lock is not going to stop them, and they won't need to break anything to get in.
Avoid RV's with an engine. They can be difficult to move and or recycle when when you want to upgrade. |
12,107,155 | In my site we are doing image protecting section. Can I protect images in my site from others without download.That is i want to protect my image from downloading by others.Is it possible using php code | 2012/08/24 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/12107155",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1505907/"
] | You can't protect your images with PHP because PHP is server side. JS can be used because it's client side, but somebody can easily disable JS in their browser and save the image anyway. There is no way to fully protect the images that you're displaying. If it's available via the Internet, anyone can download it. | If site visitors can see your images they will be able to save or make copies of them. E.g., they can do a screendump and save the image from the clipboard.
You can add a watermark to it.
You can write some copyright string on or near the image. |
12,107,155 | In my site we are doing image protecting section. Can I protect images in my site from others without download.That is i want to protect my image from downloading by others.Is it possible using php code | 2012/08/24 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/12107155",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1505907/"
] | You can't protect your images with PHP because PHP is server side. JS can be used because it's client side, but somebody can easily disable JS in their browser and save the image anyway. There is no way to fully protect the images that you're displaying. If it's available via the Internet, anyone can download it. | If you are using those images users to display you can not protect that.But if you are not using you can protect using the .htaccess file. |
887,016 | I want to develop a small utility for windows and I prefer doing that in c# because it is easier (I'm a java developer).
The utility will be available for download by many people and I assume some of them will not have the .net framework installed (is this assumption correct, say I target win xp and above?)
My question is: can a c# application be compiled in a way that it will not require the .net framework installed? | 2009/05/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/887016",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102092/"
] | No, it will need the .Net framework installed. Note though that you will need only the redistributable version, not the SDK. | You can probably also include the .net framework installer in your application. |
887,016 | I want to develop a small utility for windows and I prefer doing that in c# because it is easier (I'm a java developer).
The utility will be available for download by many people and I assume some of them will not have the .net framework installed (is this assumption correct, say I target win xp and above?)
My question is: can a c# application be compiled in a way that it will not require the .net framework installed? | 2009/05/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/887016",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102092/"
] | Normally, you will need the .NET Framework being installed on the target system. There is no simple way around that.
However, certain third-party tools such as Xenocode or Salamander allow you to create stand-alone applications. See this related question:
>
> [Is there some way to compile a .NET application to native code?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45702/is-there-some-way-to-compile-a-net-application-to-native-code)
>
>
>
As these solutions are not straight-forward and require commercial products I would recommend you to create a simple Visual Studio *Setup and Deployment* project. In the properties of the project you should include the .NET Framework as a pre-requisite. The setup.exe created will then automatically download and install the .NET Framework prior to installing your application. | No, it will need the .Net framework installed. Note though that you will need only the redistributable version, not the SDK. |
887,016 | I want to develop a small utility for windows and I prefer doing that in c# because it is easier (I'm a java developer).
The utility will be available for download by many people and I assume some of them will not have the .net framework installed (is this assumption correct, say I target win xp and above?)
My question is: can a c# application be compiled in a way that it will not require the .net framework installed? | 2009/05/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/887016",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102092/"
] | No, it will need the .Net framework installed. Note though that you will need only the redistributable version, not the SDK. | A minor aside - but in this scenario, consider developing the utility in Silverlight - it has a much smaller footprint and is supported on a number of operating systems. This might allow you to get the coverage including people who don't already have .NET.
If you need "normal" .NET, then "Client Profile" is perhaps an option. |
887,016 | I want to develop a small utility for windows and I prefer doing that in c# because it is easier (I'm a java developer).
The utility will be available for download by many people and I assume some of them will not have the .net framework installed (is this assumption correct, say I target win xp and above?)
My question is: can a c# application be compiled in a way that it will not require the .net framework installed? | 2009/05/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/887016",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102092/"
] | No, it will need the .Net framework installed. Note though that you will need only the redistributable version, not the SDK. | In a related question, [Can you compile C# without using the .Net framework?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/551554/can-you-compile-c-without-using-the-net-framework), it's mentioned you could do this using mkbundle from mono. I haven't tried it myself so I can't comment on if it's the way you should go, but you may want to consider it. |
887,016 | I want to develop a small utility for windows and I prefer doing that in c# because it is easier (I'm a java developer).
The utility will be available for download by many people and I assume some of them will not have the .net framework installed (is this assumption correct, say I target win xp and above?)
My question is: can a c# application be compiled in a way that it will not require the .net framework installed? | 2009/05/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/887016",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102092/"
] | Normally, you will need the .NET Framework being installed on the target system. There is no simple way around that.
However, certain third-party tools such as Xenocode or Salamander allow you to create stand-alone applications. See this related question:
>
> [Is there some way to compile a .NET application to native code?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45702/is-there-some-way-to-compile-a-net-application-to-native-code)
>
>
>
As these solutions are not straight-forward and require commercial products I would recommend you to create a simple Visual Studio *Setup and Deployment* project. In the properties of the project you should include the .NET Framework as a pre-requisite. The setup.exe created will then automatically download and install the .NET Framework prior to installing your application. | You can probably also include the .net framework installer in your application. |
887,016 | I want to develop a small utility for windows and I prefer doing that in c# because it is easier (I'm a java developer).
The utility will be available for download by many people and I assume some of them will not have the .net framework installed (is this assumption correct, say I target win xp and above?)
My question is: can a c# application be compiled in a way that it will not require the .net framework installed? | 2009/05/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/887016",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102092/"
] | A minor aside - but in this scenario, consider developing the utility in Silverlight - it has a much smaller footprint and is supported on a number of operating systems. This might allow you to get the coverage including people who don't already have .NET.
If you need "normal" .NET, then "Client Profile" is perhaps an option. | You can probably also include the .net framework installer in your application. |
887,016 | I want to develop a small utility for windows and I prefer doing that in c# because it is easier (I'm a java developer).
The utility will be available for download by many people and I assume some of them will not have the .net framework installed (is this assumption correct, say I target win xp and above?)
My question is: can a c# application be compiled in a way that it will not require the .net framework installed? | 2009/05/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/887016",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102092/"
] | Normally, you will need the .NET Framework being installed on the target system. There is no simple way around that.
However, certain third-party tools such as Xenocode or Salamander allow you to create stand-alone applications. See this related question:
>
> [Is there some way to compile a .NET application to native code?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45702/is-there-some-way-to-compile-a-net-application-to-native-code)
>
>
>
As these solutions are not straight-forward and require commercial products I would recommend you to create a simple Visual Studio *Setup and Deployment* project. In the properties of the project you should include the .NET Framework as a pre-requisite. The setup.exe created will then automatically download and install the .NET Framework prior to installing your application. | A minor aside - but in this scenario, consider developing the utility in Silverlight - it has a much smaller footprint and is supported on a number of operating systems. This might allow you to get the coverage including people who don't already have .NET.
If you need "normal" .NET, then "Client Profile" is perhaps an option. |
887,016 | I want to develop a small utility for windows and I prefer doing that in c# because it is easier (I'm a java developer).
The utility will be available for download by many people and I assume some of them will not have the .net framework installed (is this assumption correct, say I target win xp and above?)
My question is: can a c# application be compiled in a way that it will not require the .net framework installed? | 2009/05/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/887016",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102092/"
] | Normally, you will need the .NET Framework being installed on the target system. There is no simple way around that.
However, certain third-party tools such as Xenocode or Salamander allow you to create stand-alone applications. See this related question:
>
> [Is there some way to compile a .NET application to native code?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/45702/is-there-some-way-to-compile-a-net-application-to-native-code)
>
>
>
As these solutions are not straight-forward and require commercial products I would recommend you to create a simple Visual Studio *Setup and Deployment* project. In the properties of the project you should include the .NET Framework as a pre-requisite. The setup.exe created will then automatically download and install the .NET Framework prior to installing your application. | In a related question, [Can you compile C# without using the .Net framework?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/551554/can-you-compile-c-without-using-the-net-framework), it's mentioned you could do this using mkbundle from mono. I haven't tried it myself so I can't comment on if it's the way you should go, but you may want to consider it. |
887,016 | I want to develop a small utility for windows and I prefer doing that in c# because it is easier (I'm a java developer).
The utility will be available for download by many people and I assume some of them will not have the .net framework installed (is this assumption correct, say I target win xp and above?)
My question is: can a c# application be compiled in a way that it will not require the .net framework installed? | 2009/05/20 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/887016",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/102092/"
] | A minor aside - but in this scenario, consider developing the utility in Silverlight - it has a much smaller footprint and is supported on a number of operating systems. This might allow you to get the coverage including people who don't already have .NET.
If you need "normal" .NET, then "Client Profile" is perhaps an option. | In a related question, [Can you compile C# without using the .Net framework?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/551554/can-you-compile-c-without-using-the-net-framework), it's mentioned you could do this using mkbundle from mono. I haven't tried it myself so I can't comment on if it's the way you should go, but you may want to consider it. |
1,776 | I just grilled up a steak marinated in vinegar, rosemary, and olive oil. Problem is I made too much. What's the proper way to freeze, store, and subsequently reheat this steak to get it as close to as delicious and tender as it now? | 2010/07/18 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1776",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/99/"
] | I'd recommend letting it cool to near room-temperature, then place it in an airtight sealed plastic freezer bag before it dries out too much. You can spoon some of the juices from cooking into the bag with the steak so that when it defrosts again the juices will be in there working to keep it moist.
When you defrost it, do so in your fridge leaving it overnight so that it defrosts gradually, keeping it in the freezer bag so it doesn't lose any more moisture. It should then be good to reheat, probably best in a shallow pan rather than a microwave to retain moisture. | Generally speaking, you don't.
If you really must freeze steak, freeze it before cooking and *slowly* defrost it in a collander overnight.
Re: your current problem - I would wrap in tinfoil and heat in the oven. A pan may overcook it. |
1,776 | I just grilled up a steak marinated in vinegar, rosemary, and olive oil. Problem is I made too much. What's the proper way to freeze, store, and subsequently reheat this steak to get it as close to as delicious and tender as it now? | 2010/07/18 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1776",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/99/"
] | I'd recommend letting it cool to near room-temperature, then place it in an airtight sealed plastic freezer bag before it dries out too much. You can spoon some of the juices from cooking into the bag with the steak so that when it defrosts again the juices will be in there working to keep it moist.
When you defrost it, do so in your fridge leaving it overnight so that it defrosts gradually, keeping it in the freezer bag so it doesn't lose any more moisture. It should then be good to reheat, probably best in a shallow pan rather than a microwave to retain moisture. | My favorite way to handle this situation is to allow the steak to defrost in the refrigerator and then slice it thinly for a steak sandwich with provolone cheese. |
1,776 | I just grilled up a steak marinated in vinegar, rosemary, and olive oil. Problem is I made too much. What's the proper way to freeze, store, and subsequently reheat this steak to get it as close to as delicious and tender as it now? | 2010/07/18 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1776",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/99/"
] | I'd recommend letting it cool to near room-temperature, then place it in an airtight sealed plastic freezer bag before it dries out too much. You can spoon some of the juices from cooking into the bag with the steak so that when it defrosts again the juices will be in there working to keep it moist.
When you defrost it, do so in your fridge leaving it overnight so that it defrosts gradually, keeping it in the freezer bag so it doesn't lose any more moisture. It should then be good to reheat, probably best in a shallow pan rather than a microwave to retain moisture. | In general, you can't (just to back up the other answers). But you can do other things with the steak!
[Leftover Steak Recipes](http://www.leftoversteakrecipes.com/) has some pretty nice recipes. It's sponsored by [Fleming's](http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/), so, I'd like to think that's worth something as far as the calibre of the recipes go.
Update: My wife says that while it's not ideal to freeze it after cooking, you can use a vacuum sealer (if you have one) to help reduce the chance of frosting, and keep the moisture in as it thaws. Zip-Loc is also selling a bag that's supposed to do much of the same, but we haven't tried it. But getting as much air out as possible is the key. |
1,776 | I just grilled up a steak marinated in vinegar, rosemary, and olive oil. Problem is I made too much. What's the proper way to freeze, store, and subsequently reheat this steak to get it as close to as delicious and tender as it now? | 2010/07/18 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1776",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/99/"
] | I'd recommend letting it cool to near room-temperature, then place it in an airtight sealed plastic freezer bag before it dries out too much. You can spoon some of the juices from cooking into the bag with the steak so that when it defrosts again the juices will be in there working to keep it moist.
When you defrost it, do so in your fridge leaving it overnight so that it defrosts gradually, keeping it in the freezer bag so it doesn't lose any more moisture. It should then be good to reheat, probably best in a shallow pan rather than a microwave to retain moisture. | First wrap in foil. You don't want plastic anywhere near your steak if you can help it to avoid that plastic frozen dinner taste. Then wrap airtight in plasric wrap - not plastic bag. |
1,776 | I just grilled up a steak marinated in vinegar, rosemary, and olive oil. Problem is I made too much. What's the proper way to freeze, store, and subsequently reheat this steak to get it as close to as delicious and tender as it now? | 2010/07/18 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1776",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/99/"
] | Generally speaking, you don't.
If you really must freeze steak, freeze it before cooking and *slowly* defrost it in a collander overnight.
Re: your current problem - I would wrap in tinfoil and heat in the oven. A pan may overcook it. | First wrap in foil. You don't want plastic anywhere near your steak if you can help it to avoid that plastic frozen dinner taste. Then wrap airtight in plasric wrap - not plastic bag. |
1,776 | I just grilled up a steak marinated in vinegar, rosemary, and olive oil. Problem is I made too much. What's the proper way to freeze, store, and subsequently reheat this steak to get it as close to as delicious and tender as it now? | 2010/07/18 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1776",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/99/"
] | My favorite way to handle this situation is to allow the steak to defrost in the refrigerator and then slice it thinly for a steak sandwich with provolone cheese. | First wrap in foil. You don't want plastic anywhere near your steak if you can help it to avoid that plastic frozen dinner taste. Then wrap airtight in plasric wrap - not plastic bag. |
1,776 | I just grilled up a steak marinated in vinegar, rosemary, and olive oil. Problem is I made too much. What's the proper way to freeze, store, and subsequently reheat this steak to get it as close to as delicious and tender as it now? | 2010/07/18 | [
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/1776",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com",
"https://cooking.stackexchange.com/users/99/"
] | In general, you can't (just to back up the other answers). But you can do other things with the steak!
[Leftover Steak Recipes](http://www.leftoversteakrecipes.com/) has some pretty nice recipes. It's sponsored by [Fleming's](http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/), so, I'd like to think that's worth something as far as the calibre of the recipes go.
Update: My wife says that while it's not ideal to freeze it after cooking, you can use a vacuum sealer (if you have one) to help reduce the chance of frosting, and keep the moisture in as it thaws. Zip-Loc is also selling a bag that's supposed to do much of the same, but we haven't tried it. But getting as much air out as possible is the key. | First wrap in foil. You don't want plastic anywhere near your steak if you can help it to avoid that plastic frozen dinner taste. Then wrap airtight in plasric wrap - not plastic bag. |
28,224 | (I created this variant of a classic puzzle a long time ago, before the movie HPCOS was released.)
Enough is enough. You've decided it's time to take a stand. Every year since that boy started attending Hogwarts, Dumbledore has given the House cup to Gryffindor by a "last minute awarding" of large numbers of points to him for ever more dubious reasons. The Gryffindors have even stopped trying, knowing that they'll get the cup no matter what happens. This year, Dumbledore has just announced an award of 400 points to the boy "for parting his hair in a most interesting way", taking the cup away from your own house of Hufflepuff.
So you've confronted Dumbledore, and not only your own house, but also all the Ravenclaws and Slytherins have joined you. Even the Gryffindors look embarassed. "So, young Hufflepuff. I've been partial, have I? Well, then, let's put this nonsense to rest. We'll have a contest, between you and our fine Gryffindor champion. Mr. Finch! Bring the Urns of Peano from my office!" Finch comes back carrying 3 large urns, and Dumbledore calls the two of you forward. You see that two of the urns are empty while the third is full of balls with numbers printed in a strange magical script. Indeed, you pull one out of the top and try to read the number, but it keeps going on around the ball repeatedly, yet somehow without ever overlapping itself. Finally you give up and put it back. Dumbledore explains "In this urn is a ball for every natural number. Yes, infinitely many - a wonderful magic. As you can see, each of the urns has a dispenser track on the bottom where the lowest ten values in the urn are displayed. Go ahead, take the first ball." You pick it up and find the number 0. When you drop it back in the top of the urn, suddenly the balls on the track back up a space, while the 0 ball rolls through them to its original position.
"The contest", Dumbledore explains, "is this: Each of your houses are assigned one of the empty urns. The two of you will act in turns. In each round, you, young Hufflepuff," (you suspect he doesn't even know your name) "will take two balls from the track and place them in the Hufflepuff urn. Then our fine Gryffindor here will take a single ball from the Hufflepuff urn, and move it to the Gryffindor urn. This will continue until one of you can no longer take your turn." "But, won't that take forever?" asks your opponent. "Indeed, it would", Dumbledore replies, "But I shall cast 'Zeno's Accelerator' upon you. Fix a strategy in your mind, and when I cast the spell, your hands will follow it automatically. Each round will take but half the time of the round before, until an infinite number of rounds have been completed. In this way, the entirety of the urn may be emptied in only twice as much time as the first round takes." Your opponent's egghead friend can no longer contain herself. "That's ridiculous! The energy it would take is infinite! The heat produced would kill us all!". "Honestly, young lady,", Dumbledore replies, "you should have learned by now that muggle physics takes a back seat to magic!" The Gryffindor champion still appears confused. "But, sir, if in every round, two balls are added to Hufflepuff, and I take one of them to put in Gryffindor, how will either house pull ahead? We'll just be tied in the end!"
"Oh, no, Gryffindor. You misapprehend! If even one ball remains in the Hufflepuff urn when the contest ends, Hufflepuff will be declared the winner. Let them accuse me of favoritism now!" Your opponent looks very nervous, but suddenly appears to listen to something and calm down. A glance shows his egghead friend whispering something, apparently using a teleloquela charm. Obviously the fix is in. But fortunately, it appears that you've paid more attention to your arithmancy classes than Dumbledore did, for you spot a flaw in his plan. You smile as you fix your strategy in mind.
Why does Dumbledore expect Gryffindor to win? And what strategy can you use to defeat him? | 2016/03/03 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/28224",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/17915/"
] | To follow on from the other answers, what Dumbledore has missed is that
>
> he never stated that the entire contest should take place under the Zeno-accelerated time.
>
>
>
In fact,
>
> you can just make your strategy to take all the balls from 2 upwards in ascending order. When the Zeno spell ends, there will still be 0 and 1 in the original urn, with all others in your opponent's urn. At this point, the concept of whose turn it was last is vague at best, but if you manage to argue that it's yours (after all, you don't have any balls left so you can't have just taken two) then you're free to take 0 and 1. Your opponent can only take one of these, leaving you with one at the end of the contest.
>
>
>
A countably infinite number of points to Hufflepuff! | The concept of infinity involves that there is no last turn. That means for Gryffindor:
>
> They will win with any strategy that guarantees a marble is taken in each turn. This may be "Take the one with the lowest number." or "Take a random one." When the game runs until infinity, then Hufflepuff's urn will be empty.
>
>
>
However, the flaw in Dumbledore's plan is:
>
> "This will continue until one of you can no longer take your turn."
>
>
>
Thus Hufflepuff's strategy will be:
>
> Make sure that we can't take our turn anywhere between 1 and infinity, **exclusive**. It can be as simple as "Take the marbles numbered 0 and 1." This will work fine in the first turn, leaving 1 marble in Hufflepuff's and 1 marble in Gryffindor's urn. In the second turn, Hufflepuff's strategy will fail, marbles 0 and 1 are no longer available, and the game stops with 1 marble in Hufflepuff's urn.
>
>
>
All points for Hufflepuff! |
28,224 | (I created this variant of a classic puzzle a long time ago, before the movie HPCOS was released.)
Enough is enough. You've decided it's time to take a stand. Every year since that boy started attending Hogwarts, Dumbledore has given the House cup to Gryffindor by a "last minute awarding" of large numbers of points to him for ever more dubious reasons. The Gryffindors have even stopped trying, knowing that they'll get the cup no matter what happens. This year, Dumbledore has just announced an award of 400 points to the boy "for parting his hair in a most interesting way", taking the cup away from your own house of Hufflepuff.
So you've confronted Dumbledore, and not only your own house, but also all the Ravenclaws and Slytherins have joined you. Even the Gryffindors look embarassed. "So, young Hufflepuff. I've been partial, have I? Well, then, let's put this nonsense to rest. We'll have a contest, between you and our fine Gryffindor champion. Mr. Finch! Bring the Urns of Peano from my office!" Finch comes back carrying 3 large urns, and Dumbledore calls the two of you forward. You see that two of the urns are empty while the third is full of balls with numbers printed in a strange magical script. Indeed, you pull one out of the top and try to read the number, but it keeps going on around the ball repeatedly, yet somehow without ever overlapping itself. Finally you give up and put it back. Dumbledore explains "In this urn is a ball for every natural number. Yes, infinitely many - a wonderful magic. As you can see, each of the urns has a dispenser track on the bottom where the lowest ten values in the urn are displayed. Go ahead, take the first ball." You pick it up and find the number 0. When you drop it back in the top of the urn, suddenly the balls on the track back up a space, while the 0 ball rolls through them to its original position.
"The contest", Dumbledore explains, "is this: Each of your houses are assigned one of the empty urns. The two of you will act in turns. In each round, you, young Hufflepuff," (you suspect he doesn't even know your name) "will take two balls from the track and place them in the Hufflepuff urn. Then our fine Gryffindor here will take a single ball from the Hufflepuff urn, and move it to the Gryffindor urn. This will continue until one of you can no longer take your turn." "But, won't that take forever?" asks your opponent. "Indeed, it would", Dumbledore replies, "But I shall cast 'Zeno's Accelerator' upon you. Fix a strategy in your mind, and when I cast the spell, your hands will follow it automatically. Each round will take but half the time of the round before, until an infinite number of rounds have been completed. In this way, the entirety of the urn may be emptied in only twice as much time as the first round takes." Your opponent's egghead friend can no longer contain herself. "That's ridiculous! The energy it would take is infinite! The heat produced would kill us all!". "Honestly, young lady,", Dumbledore replies, "you should have learned by now that muggle physics takes a back seat to magic!" The Gryffindor champion still appears confused. "But, sir, if in every round, two balls are added to Hufflepuff, and I take one of them to put in Gryffindor, how will either house pull ahead? We'll just be tied in the end!"
"Oh, no, Gryffindor. You misapprehend! If even one ball remains in the Hufflepuff urn when the contest ends, Hufflepuff will be declared the winner. Let them accuse me of favoritism now!" Your opponent looks very nervous, but suddenly appears to listen to something and calm down. A glance shows his egghead friend whispering something, apparently using a teleloquela charm. Obviously the fix is in. But fortunately, it appears that you've paid more attention to your arithmancy classes than Dumbledore did, for you spot a flaw in his plan. You smile as you fix your strategy in mind.
Why does Dumbledore expect Gryffindor to win? And what strategy can you use to defeat him? | 2016/03/03 | [
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/questions/28224",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com",
"https://puzzling.stackexchange.com/users/17915/"
] | To follow on from the other answers, what Dumbledore has missed is that
>
> he never stated that the entire contest should take place under the Zeno-accelerated time.
>
>
>
In fact,
>
> you can just make your strategy to take all the balls from 2 upwards in ascending order. When the Zeno spell ends, there will still be 0 and 1 in the original urn, with all others in your opponent's urn. At this point, the concept of whose turn it was last is vague at best, but if you manage to argue that it's yours (after all, you don't have any balls left so you can't have just taken two) then you're free to take 0 and 1. Your opponent can only take one of these, leaving you with one at the end of the contest.
>
>
>
A countably infinite number of points to Hufflepuff! | **Sorry guys - had to write this. It isn't any different from the accepted answer, but was fun.**
...You smile as you fix your strategy in mind.
Suddenly, Gryffindor's egghead friend pipes up, a worried look on her face. "Professor Dumbledore, sir. It is not that I want to question your magic, but I am still concerned about the muggle physics and would not wish to see us all destroyed in the energy release. In the interests of safety, can we avoid the spell and simply argue why our strategy will work?"
Dumbledore shrugs his shoulders, clearly not interested since his young protégé's friend has obviously figured out the problem and the result is no longer in doubt. "If young Hufflepuff agrees..." he says reluctantly putting away his wand.
You have no wish to see your hands move that fast anyway, and wondering if you'd actually live an infinite lifetime during that crazy spell, forced to move balls forever, you agree to her proposal. "Fine", you say. "Since I get to go first, my strategy would be..."
But egghead quickly interrupts. Now that she has the answer, she is quite excited to reveal it and will not wait for your dimwitted pandering.
>
> "***Our*** strategy is to simply take the lowest ball in Hufflepuffs's track."
>
>
>
She seems to also be unaware of your name. ***How come no one knows who I am?*** you wonder to yourself. ***Is a simply memory charm beyond these people?***
Egghead continues without pause:
>
> "***I*** can prove that every ball in the his urn must eventually end up in our urn. Thus, our urn has all the balls and Hufflepuff's must therefore be empty."
>
>
>
While most the crowd cannot make sense of the answer, a few Ravenclaws are seen to be nodding sagely. Dumbledore smiles; "Well done! I award 100 points to Gryffindor for outstanding use of logic!" There is a smattering of applause from the Gryffindor crowd, but the rest of the gathered students and teachers hang their heads in collective defeat. "This year's house cup," he continues, "is once again is awarded to..."
"Excuse me Professor Dumbledore", you interject. He pauses his delivery, clearly forgetting you were even there.
"Yes, young Hufflepuff? Do you have something to add?"
"Actually, sir, I haven't had a chance to reveal my strategy sir."
"But haven't you heard young egghe.. I mean Gryffindor's strategy? Can't you see that for any numbered ball you believe to be left in your cup, it will eventually end up in Gryffindor's cup, so at the end of the spell, your urn must be empty?" Egghead, smirks, clearly thinking along the same lines as Dumbledore, that you are confounded by infinity.
"Well, yes sir, I do see that, but if I may..." you start.
"Do you need me to cast my spell so that you may witness the result?" He asks pulling our his wand from beneath his robes.
This time, both you and egghead jump in to stop him and both say "That will not be necessary!" over each other.
"Al-right", he says with a sigh, again reluctantly putting away his wand. "Now, if I may continue with the presentation of the house cup?" He asks, politely waiting for you to surrender the contest.
"I just would like to say my strategy if you don't mind first professor." you say demurely. "I think you will find it interesting."
"Go on if you must", he says, patiently waiting for you.
>
> "As I was going to say professor, my strategy would be to simply leave the first two balls. I will take the lowest of the balls numbered 2 or higher."
>
>
>
You pause and look to egghead to see if she has figured it out. Her puzzled look soon melts into understanding as she realizes your strategy. Dumbledore, however, is still in doubt.
"Yes, yes, and all those balls would end up in Gryffindor's urn, would they not?"
"Yes professor. But the 0 and 1 would be the only balls remaining in the original urn."
"But every ball you put in your urn will eventually be taken and put into the Gryffindor urn correct?" he says, getting impatient.
"Yes, except for the last."
"But there is no last! We are talking about ***all*** the numbers! Blast! This is not getting us anywhere." he says taking out his wand again. "I see I have no choice but to cast the spell and prove you are incorrect young Hufflepuff." He begins the spell and you look over to egghead. She is clearly distraught, but cannot stop the crazy old wizard from destroying the universe. You have just enough time to concentrate on your strategy when he completes the spell and you feel a tightness in your chest as light washes all over you. As it dissipates, the contest begins of its own accord.
You watch like a spectator as your hands calmly take the 2 and 3 out of the main urn and put them in your own. You see scarhead take the 2 and put it in his urn. the whole process takes less than 10 seconds. Then your hands move of their own accord and take the 4 and 5, much quicker this time. Four-eyes takes the 3, equally as fast. By the time your hands are reaching for the 12 and 13, you can no longer keep up and close your eyes. Even through your closed lids, you can see that your hands are moving so fast they are starting to glow. You begin to wonder if it will ever end, and the entire school will explo...
...and it is over. You look down and your hands are smoking, but not in too much pain. The original urn is also smoking, but when you look in the top, it is empty. There are only 2 balls remaining in the track. The 0 and the 1.
Your urn is also empty. You glance at Gryffindor's urn and see him also looking at his smoking hands in wonder. He too peers in own urn and smiles. The track contains 2-11 and is full. Egghead is not so pleased; being quicker than her friend, she has seen where you are headed. Unfortunately, Dumbledore has not.
"As you can see, your urn is empty, and Gryffindor's is full. While I appreciate the opportunity to practice my magic, I assume you will now admit defeat so that we can present the cup?" His is very proud of his skills with the Zeno's Accelerator spell and was happy to show it off.
"But sir," you say quietly, "the game is not over".
"Whatever do you mean?" he asks. "Your urn is empty and his is full." He is confused by your stubborness.
"The main urn is not empty professor. I still have a move available to me."
He now sees for the first time that there is a 0 and 1 available. "Go on then, make your last move." As wonderous a wizard he is, he has not seen the eventual outcome.
The Gryffindor crowd, however has. You take the final two balls and place them in your urn. Egghead is hanging her head while Dumbledore's favourite takes the 0 from your urn and places it in his own.
"I can no longer make any moves professor." you announce. Finally, Dumbledore sees what has happened. Your urn contains a single ball labelled 1. The Gryffindor urn contains every other possible ball, but not the 1.
"Well, young Hufflepuff," Dumbledore finally looks at you with more than passing interest. "I see you have outwitted Gryffindor in this test. Congratulations!"
The crowd erupts! Even some of the Gryffindor students are openly cheering for you! As you get pats on the back and handshakes from many kids you never knew, Dumbledore approaches you. "What is your name again young man?" he asks.
"Cedric, sir" you say. "Cedric Diggory."
"Well, congratulations Cedric. You have made your house proud today, and I am certain you will do so again in the near future." His eyes twinkle knowingly and you wonder what he has in store for you... |
33,309 | I have to sync iCal on all the computers without having a MobileMe account, I would like it to be "live" because the co-workers have to see the changes right away on their screens, they also need to be able to edit and stay sync on the rest of the LAN.
There isn't a server available - so a server solution such as iCal Server won't work. | 2009/06/29 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/33309",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/3511/"
] | Use [Google Calendar + CalDav](http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=99358#ical).
We use it as our calendar for our business, and it's solid. iCal integration is not 100% (no tasks, each calendar is a new account), but the most important parts are even better than iCal Server IMO. Having google email or SMS you a few hours before a meeting is especially nice. | One option would be to use [iCal server](http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/features/ical-server.html) which is apart of Mac OS X Server.
Or
Publish iCal calendars with local WebDAV server. |
33,309 | I have to sync iCal on all the computers without having a MobileMe account, I would like it to be "live" because the co-workers have to see the changes right away on their screens, they also need to be able to edit and stay sync on the rest of the LAN.
There isn't a server available - so a server solution such as iCal Server won't work. | 2009/06/29 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/33309",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/3511/"
] | One option would be to use [iCal server](http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/features/ical-server.html) which is apart of Mac OS X Server.
Or
Publish iCal calendars with local WebDAV server. | Check out [Zimbra Open Source Edition](http://www.zimbra.com/community/downloads.html). It supports CalDAV for Leopard clients as well as address book Sync. You won't need to setup a dedicated server since it supports Mac OSX as a server platform or you could run it under a Linux virtual machine with VirtualBox/VMWare Fusion/Parallels and make it portable. |
33,309 | I have to sync iCal on all the computers without having a MobileMe account, I would like it to be "live" because the co-workers have to see the changes right away on their screens, they also need to be able to edit and stay sync on the rest of the LAN.
There isn't a server available - so a server solution such as iCal Server won't work. | 2009/06/29 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/33309",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/3511/"
] | One option would be to use [iCal server](http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/features/ical-server.html) which is apart of Mac OS X Server.
Or
Publish iCal calendars with local WebDAV server. | I up-voted for Google Calendar + CalDAV as I use that for my personal calendars and it works well for me, but I don't use To Dos/Tasks at all so I don't miss that functionality.
I wouldn't suggest using Mac OS X Server's iCal Server (also CalDAV-powered) anyway as there are still a few odd bugs w/group calendars, permissions, re-sycing when disconnected, etc. Also, it really requires an Open Directory setup with the workstations bound and don't expect to be able to invite anyone to meetings if they aren't in Open Directory. Overall it's okay, but probably more work than you're looking for.
One other suggestion is [BusyMac's BusySync](http://www.busymac.com/busysync/index.html). Shareware and does a great job of sharing & syncing calendars on a local network. |
33,309 | I have to sync iCal on all the computers without having a MobileMe account, I would like it to be "live" because the co-workers have to see the changes right away on their screens, they also need to be able to edit and stay sync on the rest of the LAN.
There isn't a server available - so a server solution such as iCal Server won't work. | 2009/06/29 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/33309",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/3511/"
] | Use [Google Calendar + CalDav](http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=99358#ical).
We use it as our calendar for our business, and it's solid. iCal integration is not 100% (no tasks, each calendar is a new account), but the most important parts are even better than iCal Server IMO. Having google email or SMS you a few hours before a meeting is especially nice. | Check out [Zimbra Open Source Edition](http://www.zimbra.com/community/downloads.html). It supports CalDAV for Leopard clients as well as address book Sync. You won't need to setup a dedicated server since it supports Mac OSX as a server platform or you could run it under a Linux virtual machine with VirtualBox/VMWare Fusion/Parallels and make it portable. |
33,309 | I have to sync iCal on all the computers without having a MobileMe account, I would like it to be "live" because the co-workers have to see the changes right away on their screens, they also need to be able to edit and stay sync on the rest of the LAN.
There isn't a server available - so a server solution such as iCal Server won't work. | 2009/06/29 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/33309",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/3511/"
] | Use [Google Calendar + CalDav](http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=99358#ical).
We use it as our calendar for our business, and it's solid. iCal integration is not 100% (no tasks, each calendar is a new account), but the most important parts are even better than iCal Server IMO. Having google email or SMS you a few hours before a meeting is especially nice. | I up-voted for Google Calendar + CalDAV as I use that for my personal calendars and it works well for me, but I don't use To Dos/Tasks at all so I don't miss that functionality.
I wouldn't suggest using Mac OS X Server's iCal Server (also CalDAV-powered) anyway as there are still a few odd bugs w/group calendars, permissions, re-sycing when disconnected, etc. Also, it really requires an Open Directory setup with the workstations bound and don't expect to be able to invite anyone to meetings if they aren't in Open Directory. Overall it's okay, but probably more work than you're looking for.
One other suggestion is [BusyMac's BusySync](http://www.busymac.com/busysync/index.html). Shareware and does a great job of sharing & syncing calendars on a local network. |
33,309 | I have to sync iCal on all the computers without having a MobileMe account, I would like it to be "live" because the co-workers have to see the changes right away on their screens, they also need to be able to edit and stay sync on the rest of the LAN.
There isn't a server available - so a server solution such as iCal Server won't work. | 2009/06/29 | [
"https://serverfault.com/questions/33309",
"https://serverfault.com",
"https://serverfault.com/users/3511/"
] | Check out [Zimbra Open Source Edition](http://www.zimbra.com/community/downloads.html). It supports CalDAV for Leopard clients as well as address book Sync. You won't need to setup a dedicated server since it supports Mac OSX as a server platform or you could run it under a Linux virtual machine with VirtualBox/VMWare Fusion/Parallels and make it portable. | I up-voted for Google Calendar + CalDAV as I use that for my personal calendars and it works well for me, but I don't use To Dos/Tasks at all so I don't miss that functionality.
I wouldn't suggest using Mac OS X Server's iCal Server (also CalDAV-powered) anyway as there are still a few odd bugs w/group calendars, permissions, re-sycing when disconnected, etc. Also, it really requires an Open Directory setup with the workstations bound and don't expect to be able to invite anyone to meetings if they aren't in Open Directory. Overall it's okay, but probably more work than you're looking for.
One other suggestion is [BusyMac's BusySync](http://www.busymac.com/busysync/index.html). Shareware and does a great job of sharing & syncing calendars on a local network. |
6,593 | On Oracle version 11g:
After Googling, I can't find a simple way to reclaim free space after deleting a table.
I've found a lot of explanations, telling how the datafile becomes fragmented, the big stack of boring queries you have to run in order to move the "empty space" at end of the datafile (table by table... even when you have 200 tables !?).
Then you have to reduce the datafile size by "guessing" by how much you can reduce it, or you must know exactly what is your "block size"... And finally you should not forget to "rebuild the indexes".
See for example : <http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUESTION_ID:54178027703899>
and <http://www.oracle-base.com/articles/misc/ReclaimingUnusedSpace.php>
Is there a simple PL/SQL procedure which, given a tablespace name or datafile name, would to that job? Or any similar Oracle tool? | 2011/10/07 | [
"https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/6593",
"https://dba.stackexchange.com",
"https://dba.stackexchange.com/users/3769/"
] | Before you try to shrink datafiles at all, ask yourself: Are you going to create new segments again inside the associated tablespace somewhen in the not so far future? If yes, there is no point in shrinking. The space will just get reused for your new segments and you save yourself and the system much effort by leaving it as it is. | As said earlier you will have to move all the 200+ tables in that tablespace to free up some space in your datafile and then resize to reclaim the space. But instead of running all those queries, 12c Enterprise manager does this task. You will have to navigate to Database Home > Storage > Tablespace. Select the tablespace you want to work on and click Reorganize. It will give an option to view the SQL statements that are about to be executed. You can either take a copy of them and run it yourself or schedule a job in EM.
It actually creates another tablespace, moves all the objects to the new tablespace, rebuilds the indexes and drops the objects from the old tablespace.
There are a couple of drawbacks I can think of. This should be done during off-peak hours else it will error out saying the resource is busy. The datafile (not tablespace) will have "reorg" added to its name, towards the end. |
31,637,840 | I have a Vodafone smart first 6 phone, that I want to debug over bluetooth. I have turned on usb debugging at developer options and also allowed mock locations. I downloaded the usb driver for it from <http://androidxda.com/download-vodafone-usb-drivers> . I have windows 8.1 and android studio 1.2.2
When I connect my phone to my computer the phone sais "USB debugging connected" but my android studio doesn't see it, altough my computer recognize it as a media device. The adb devices command isn't see it either.
All this steps worked for me for previous devices, I have debuged a lot of android devices before but I cannot find a solution for this vodafone phone. Can anyone help me?
Thank you! | 2015/07/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/31637840",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/3162918/"
] | Deleted the two 'vf695' entries in device manager, disconnected the phone, installed PDANet (<http://pdanet.co/>), selected the 'unknown device' option, followed the instructions, seemed to do the job. | I just found the solution after 1 week searching go to this blog and you will download all the zip file <http://www.mediafire.com/download/5ff6s5bk1couva9/Compelte_USB_Drivers+PDanet+Adb_Installer.rar> install first C++ then find Universal ADB DRiver it will get your ABD with ! mark restart you will find you are so so so so happy as I am now don't forget to configure your mobile with this configuration:
1. Setting - Storage - click in to three dots USB computer connection - then choose (MTP) Media Device\
2. We change your mobile device to developer mode click on USB debugging connected and choose USB debugging |
22,253 | It seems I've been seeing a lot of uses for foam on this site, from a weapon to a spaceship defense mechanism. However, the details on what the foam is made of and how it works always seem lacking to me; thus, I worry that many of these foams are just science fiction.
My question is **is there a foam that can be used to quickly construct airtight walls solid enough to keep humans out?** I imagine using this foam on a spaceship to trap the enemy, or alternately to fix hull breaches. Perhaps there is a fast-acting variant that can be used as a grenade to immobilize enemies. As it is a foam, it could be carried around much more easily than other wall-building materials, thus I could outfit my space marines with a few cans apiece.
So, does this foaming material exist, or is there a theoritcal way to produce it? If so, how big would the initial substance be, and how long would it take to dry/harden?
The foam need not be activated by air; on the contrary, it would be great if it contains its own reactants, and can be activated in a vacuum.
It need not last; it should only be functional for a minimum of a couple hours. If it breaks down after that, that's fine.
I would like it to be as strong as possible. If it can get to concrete levels, that would be best, but as long as it's very difficult for a human to burrow through that'll work. | 2015/08/10 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/22253",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/6507/"
] | The only foam I have much experience with is the expanding-foam insulation that comes in a spray can. From that, I find it fairly believable that you could plug a hole in the side of a ship with enough of it, though I'd imagine it would also unavoidably plug up a good deal of the interior of the ship. I've also unfortunately never been able to test it in vacuum.
The hard part is making it durable enough to prevent tunneling. But if the human-to-be-trapped lacks access to digging tools, you might be able to keep them in by embedding hand-lacerating caltrops of some sort in the foam mixture. (Maybe these caltrops "grow" there through rapid crystallization?) There's not much point in digging a tunnel out of prison if you bleed out halfway through.
Actually, if you use enough foam, and/or if it sets quickly enough, you could just trap the intruder like an insect in amber. That would also suffocate them almost immediately, unless they had a suit with an independent air supply, in which case you'd just have to wait until that supply runs out. | Dental cement
Spray a foam version of dental cement onto the assailant. Use a high-powered laser to cure it. Alternatively don't even use foam. Just spray them with the liquid and use the laser. You will cover them in a thin but incredibly hard outer shell that will immobilise them.
[Influence of argon laser curing on resin bond strength](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8397985)
The main point about using lasers is (1) the ability to aim them (2) they act at a distance and (3) they cause fast setting even if the strength isn't increased. |
22,253 | It seems I've been seeing a lot of uses for foam on this site, from a weapon to a spaceship defense mechanism. However, the details on what the foam is made of and how it works always seem lacking to me; thus, I worry that many of these foams are just science fiction.
My question is **is there a foam that can be used to quickly construct airtight walls solid enough to keep humans out?** I imagine using this foam on a spaceship to trap the enemy, or alternately to fix hull breaches. Perhaps there is a fast-acting variant that can be used as a grenade to immobilize enemies. As it is a foam, it could be carried around much more easily than other wall-building materials, thus I could outfit my space marines with a few cans apiece.
So, does this foaming material exist, or is there a theoritcal way to produce it? If so, how big would the initial substance be, and how long would it take to dry/harden?
The foam need not be activated by air; on the contrary, it would be great if it contains its own reactants, and can be activated in a vacuum.
It need not last; it should only be functional for a minimum of a couple hours. If it breaks down after that, that's fine.
I would like it to be as strong as possible. If it can get to concrete levels, that would be best, but as long as it's very difficult for a human to burrow through that'll work. | 2015/08/10 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/22253",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/6507/"
] | Foam is, by definition, simply a lot of bubbles.
**Bubbles don't work in a vacuum.** (Theoretically they do, but their behavior isn't interesting since they explode — emphasis on *explode* — immediately.)
So this gives you a few upsides and a few downsides. I could see a viable 'cement-like' foam that hardens *because* the water or other liquid with which it is inflated immediately evacuates and vaporizes in outer space (e.g. when repairing the wall of a spacecraft) leaving only the igneous-rock-like matrix behind.
@AndyD273 points out quite correctly that foam in a vacuum expands far more than it does in atmospheric pressure. But remember that this also means that you have far thinner bubbles in much more space, leaving you with a much weaker structure.
Your wall material would have to be pretty (1) flexible and (2) strong to begin with, even before spraying.
**But this gets more complicated when working in atmospheric pressure.** You're limited at the very *fastest* by the entropy-fueled diffusion and expansion of gas. This leads me to believe that a foam used as a quick-spray detainment weapon would need to have *highly* reactive gaseous compounds that are stored separately and then injected together into the foam as it's released, causing that sort of high-speed expansion you're looking for. (Side-benefit: **Such a quick expansion would either release or absorb a lot of heat**, depending on the mechanism. I could viably see your foam curing due to its own high heat, or freezing due to its below-zero temperatures.)
---
Side-note: Anyone who's tried to use their hands to tear that foam insulation stuff knows from experience that, even though it's *possible*, it's an enormous pain to actually do. Easy to dent it, not easy to rip.
**[EDIT]**: As @JDługosz points out, a foam in a vacuum can cure from the outside in... But that would lead to a pressurized interior. And [we all know what happens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V2eCFsDkK0) when brittle materials harden on the outside and leave a still-liquid, still-cooling interior... | The only foam I have much experience with is the expanding-foam insulation that comes in a spray can. From that, I find it fairly believable that you could plug a hole in the side of a ship with enough of it, though I'd imagine it would also unavoidably plug up a good deal of the interior of the ship. I've also unfortunately never been able to test it in vacuum.
The hard part is making it durable enough to prevent tunneling. But if the human-to-be-trapped lacks access to digging tools, you might be able to keep them in by embedding hand-lacerating caltrops of some sort in the foam mixture. (Maybe these caltrops "grow" there through rapid crystallization?) There's not much point in digging a tunnel out of prison if you bleed out halfway through.
Actually, if you use enough foam, and/or if it sets quickly enough, you could just trap the intruder like an insect in amber. That would also suffocate them almost immediately, unless they had a suit with an independent air supply, in which case you'd just have to wait until that supply runs out. |
22,253 | It seems I've been seeing a lot of uses for foam on this site, from a weapon to a spaceship defense mechanism. However, the details on what the foam is made of and how it works always seem lacking to me; thus, I worry that many of these foams are just science fiction.
My question is **is there a foam that can be used to quickly construct airtight walls solid enough to keep humans out?** I imagine using this foam on a spaceship to trap the enemy, or alternately to fix hull breaches. Perhaps there is a fast-acting variant that can be used as a grenade to immobilize enemies. As it is a foam, it could be carried around much more easily than other wall-building materials, thus I could outfit my space marines with a few cans apiece.
So, does this foaming material exist, or is there a theoritcal way to produce it? If so, how big would the initial substance be, and how long would it take to dry/harden?
The foam need not be activated by air; on the contrary, it would be great if it contains its own reactants, and can be activated in a vacuum.
It need not last; it should only be functional for a minimum of a couple hours. If it breaks down after that, that's fine.
I would like it to be as strong as possible. If it can get to concrete levels, that would be best, but as long as it's very difficult for a human to burrow through that'll work. | 2015/08/10 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/22253",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/6507/"
] | A foaming quick set epoxy grenade might work.
Basically a weaponized, military version of this [expanding epoxy foam](http://www.prosetepoxy.com/custom_foam.html).
Inside the grenade would be multiple chambers containing either the epoxy and the hardener.
When the grenade triggers, a CO2 canister could cause the contents to mix and then be sprayed out in all directions through multiple nozzles.
Foam in a vacuum seems to be [extra effective](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDMySLjeyL0) as the low pressure causes the cells to expand a lot. If the epoxy was very quick setting then the cells probably wouldn't burst before it hardened.
As @j6m8 points out, the cell walls would thin during the expansion into vacuum, which cause them to cure faster. The cells on the surface would burst, but when their walls collapsed surface tension would pull them back, thickening the outer surface, making it tougher and slowing the rate that the bubbles burst.
To further weaponize it, mix a breathable or contact anesthetic into the gas mix or hardener, so that if the cells are broken open in atmosphere the anesthetic would be released and potentially knock out the target.
In vacuum this wouldn't be effective, but the anesthetic could be switched out for something that could attack the targets suit like an acid compound, making it dangerous to attack the wall. | Dental cement
Spray a foam version of dental cement onto the assailant. Use a high-powered laser to cure it. Alternatively don't even use foam. Just spray them with the liquid and use the laser. You will cover them in a thin but incredibly hard outer shell that will immobilise them.
[Influence of argon laser curing on resin bond strength](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8397985)
The main point about using lasers is (1) the ability to aim them (2) they act at a distance and (3) they cause fast setting even if the strength isn't increased. |
22,253 | It seems I've been seeing a lot of uses for foam on this site, from a weapon to a spaceship defense mechanism. However, the details on what the foam is made of and how it works always seem lacking to me; thus, I worry that many of these foams are just science fiction.
My question is **is there a foam that can be used to quickly construct airtight walls solid enough to keep humans out?** I imagine using this foam on a spaceship to trap the enemy, or alternately to fix hull breaches. Perhaps there is a fast-acting variant that can be used as a grenade to immobilize enemies. As it is a foam, it could be carried around much more easily than other wall-building materials, thus I could outfit my space marines with a few cans apiece.
So, does this foaming material exist, or is there a theoritcal way to produce it? If so, how big would the initial substance be, and how long would it take to dry/harden?
The foam need not be activated by air; on the contrary, it would be great if it contains its own reactants, and can be activated in a vacuum.
It need not last; it should only be functional for a minimum of a couple hours. If it breaks down after that, that's fine.
I would like it to be as strong as possible. If it can get to concrete levels, that would be best, but as long as it's very difficult for a human to burrow through that'll work. | 2015/08/10 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/22253",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/6507/"
] | Foam is, by definition, simply a lot of bubbles.
**Bubbles don't work in a vacuum.** (Theoretically they do, but their behavior isn't interesting since they explode — emphasis on *explode* — immediately.)
So this gives you a few upsides and a few downsides. I could see a viable 'cement-like' foam that hardens *because* the water or other liquid with which it is inflated immediately evacuates and vaporizes in outer space (e.g. when repairing the wall of a spacecraft) leaving only the igneous-rock-like matrix behind.
@AndyD273 points out quite correctly that foam in a vacuum expands far more than it does in atmospheric pressure. But remember that this also means that you have far thinner bubbles in much more space, leaving you with a much weaker structure.
Your wall material would have to be pretty (1) flexible and (2) strong to begin with, even before spraying.
**But this gets more complicated when working in atmospheric pressure.** You're limited at the very *fastest* by the entropy-fueled diffusion and expansion of gas. This leads me to believe that a foam used as a quick-spray detainment weapon would need to have *highly* reactive gaseous compounds that are stored separately and then injected together into the foam as it's released, causing that sort of high-speed expansion you're looking for. (Side-benefit: **Such a quick expansion would either release or absorb a lot of heat**, depending on the mechanism. I could viably see your foam curing due to its own high heat, or freezing due to its below-zero temperatures.)
---
Side-note: Anyone who's tried to use their hands to tear that foam insulation stuff knows from experience that, even though it's *possible*, it's an enormous pain to actually do. Easy to dent it, not easy to rip.
**[EDIT]**: As @JDługosz points out, a foam in a vacuum can cure from the outside in... But that would lead to a pressurized interior. And [we all know what happens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V2eCFsDkK0) when brittle materials harden on the outside and leave a still-liquid, still-cooling interior... | Dental cement
Spray a foam version of dental cement onto the assailant. Use a high-powered laser to cure it. Alternatively don't even use foam. Just spray them with the liquid and use the laser. You will cover them in a thin but incredibly hard outer shell that will immobilise them.
[Influence of argon laser curing on resin bond strength](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8397985)
The main point about using lasers is (1) the ability to aim them (2) they act at a distance and (3) they cause fast setting even if the strength isn't increased. |
22,253 | It seems I've been seeing a lot of uses for foam on this site, from a weapon to a spaceship defense mechanism. However, the details on what the foam is made of and how it works always seem lacking to me; thus, I worry that many of these foams are just science fiction.
My question is **is there a foam that can be used to quickly construct airtight walls solid enough to keep humans out?** I imagine using this foam on a spaceship to trap the enemy, or alternately to fix hull breaches. Perhaps there is a fast-acting variant that can be used as a grenade to immobilize enemies. As it is a foam, it could be carried around much more easily than other wall-building materials, thus I could outfit my space marines with a few cans apiece.
So, does this foaming material exist, or is there a theoritcal way to produce it? If so, how big would the initial substance be, and how long would it take to dry/harden?
The foam need not be activated by air; on the contrary, it would be great if it contains its own reactants, and can be activated in a vacuum.
It need not last; it should only be functional for a minimum of a couple hours. If it breaks down after that, that's fine.
I would like it to be as strong as possible. If it can get to concrete levels, that would be best, but as long as it's very difficult for a human to burrow through that'll work. | 2015/08/10 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/22253",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/6507/"
] | Shotcrete <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotcrete> would probably be one of the best known structural foams currently available but there are certainly others available and is certainly able to set creating a gas tight surface and more than capable of keeping humans in or out. Good for making a permanent repair to that hole in your lunar bio-dome, probably heavier than you would want for a spaceship repair, and certainly too slow setting for foe suppression.
For your emergency hull repair you would want a lighter weight substrate to quickly fill the gap and then use a heavier solid foam for the permanent repair
For foe suppression just stick to sticky foam <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_foam>. | Dental cement
Spray a foam version of dental cement onto the assailant. Use a high-powered laser to cure it. Alternatively don't even use foam. Just spray them with the liquid and use the laser. You will cover them in a thin but incredibly hard outer shell that will immobilise them.
[Influence of argon laser curing on resin bond strength](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8397985)
The main point about using lasers is (1) the ability to aim them (2) they act at a distance and (3) they cause fast setting even if the strength isn't increased. |
22,253 | It seems I've been seeing a lot of uses for foam on this site, from a weapon to a spaceship defense mechanism. However, the details on what the foam is made of and how it works always seem lacking to me; thus, I worry that many of these foams are just science fiction.
My question is **is there a foam that can be used to quickly construct airtight walls solid enough to keep humans out?** I imagine using this foam on a spaceship to trap the enemy, or alternately to fix hull breaches. Perhaps there is a fast-acting variant that can be used as a grenade to immobilize enemies. As it is a foam, it could be carried around much more easily than other wall-building materials, thus I could outfit my space marines with a few cans apiece.
So, does this foaming material exist, or is there a theoritcal way to produce it? If so, how big would the initial substance be, and how long would it take to dry/harden?
The foam need not be activated by air; on the contrary, it would be great if it contains its own reactants, and can be activated in a vacuum.
It need not last; it should only be functional for a minimum of a couple hours. If it breaks down after that, that's fine.
I would like it to be as strong as possible. If it can get to concrete levels, that would be best, but as long as it's very difficult for a human to burrow through that'll work. | 2015/08/10 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/22253",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/6507/"
] | Foam is, by definition, simply a lot of bubbles.
**Bubbles don't work in a vacuum.** (Theoretically they do, but their behavior isn't interesting since they explode — emphasis on *explode* — immediately.)
So this gives you a few upsides and a few downsides. I could see a viable 'cement-like' foam that hardens *because* the water or other liquid with which it is inflated immediately evacuates and vaporizes in outer space (e.g. when repairing the wall of a spacecraft) leaving only the igneous-rock-like matrix behind.
@AndyD273 points out quite correctly that foam in a vacuum expands far more than it does in atmospheric pressure. But remember that this also means that you have far thinner bubbles in much more space, leaving you with a much weaker structure.
Your wall material would have to be pretty (1) flexible and (2) strong to begin with, even before spraying.
**But this gets more complicated when working in atmospheric pressure.** You're limited at the very *fastest* by the entropy-fueled diffusion and expansion of gas. This leads me to believe that a foam used as a quick-spray detainment weapon would need to have *highly* reactive gaseous compounds that are stored separately and then injected together into the foam as it's released, causing that sort of high-speed expansion you're looking for. (Side-benefit: **Such a quick expansion would either release or absorb a lot of heat**, depending on the mechanism. I could viably see your foam curing due to its own high heat, or freezing due to its below-zero temperatures.)
---
Side-note: Anyone who's tried to use their hands to tear that foam insulation stuff knows from experience that, even though it's *possible*, it's an enormous pain to actually do. Easy to dent it, not easy to rip.
**[EDIT]**: As @JDługosz points out, a foam in a vacuum can cure from the outside in... But that would lead to a pressurized interior. And [we all know what happens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V2eCFsDkK0) when brittle materials harden on the outside and leave a still-liquid, still-cooling interior... | A foaming quick set epoxy grenade might work.
Basically a weaponized, military version of this [expanding epoxy foam](http://www.prosetepoxy.com/custom_foam.html).
Inside the grenade would be multiple chambers containing either the epoxy and the hardener.
When the grenade triggers, a CO2 canister could cause the contents to mix and then be sprayed out in all directions through multiple nozzles.
Foam in a vacuum seems to be [extra effective](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDMySLjeyL0) as the low pressure causes the cells to expand a lot. If the epoxy was very quick setting then the cells probably wouldn't burst before it hardened.
As @j6m8 points out, the cell walls would thin during the expansion into vacuum, which cause them to cure faster. The cells on the surface would burst, but when their walls collapsed surface tension would pull them back, thickening the outer surface, making it tougher and slowing the rate that the bubbles burst.
To further weaponize it, mix a breathable or contact anesthetic into the gas mix or hardener, so that if the cells are broken open in atmosphere the anesthetic would be released and potentially knock out the target.
In vacuum this wouldn't be effective, but the anesthetic could be switched out for something that could attack the targets suit like an acid compound, making it dangerous to attack the wall. |
22,253 | It seems I've been seeing a lot of uses for foam on this site, from a weapon to a spaceship defense mechanism. However, the details on what the foam is made of and how it works always seem lacking to me; thus, I worry that many of these foams are just science fiction.
My question is **is there a foam that can be used to quickly construct airtight walls solid enough to keep humans out?** I imagine using this foam on a spaceship to trap the enemy, or alternately to fix hull breaches. Perhaps there is a fast-acting variant that can be used as a grenade to immobilize enemies. As it is a foam, it could be carried around much more easily than other wall-building materials, thus I could outfit my space marines with a few cans apiece.
So, does this foaming material exist, or is there a theoritcal way to produce it? If so, how big would the initial substance be, and how long would it take to dry/harden?
The foam need not be activated by air; on the contrary, it would be great if it contains its own reactants, and can be activated in a vacuum.
It need not last; it should only be functional for a minimum of a couple hours. If it breaks down after that, that's fine.
I would like it to be as strong as possible. If it can get to concrete levels, that would be best, but as long as it's very difficult for a human to burrow through that'll work. | 2015/08/10 | [
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/22253",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com",
"https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/users/6507/"
] | Foam is, by definition, simply a lot of bubbles.
**Bubbles don't work in a vacuum.** (Theoretically they do, but their behavior isn't interesting since they explode — emphasis on *explode* — immediately.)
So this gives you a few upsides and a few downsides. I could see a viable 'cement-like' foam that hardens *because* the water or other liquid with which it is inflated immediately evacuates and vaporizes in outer space (e.g. when repairing the wall of a spacecraft) leaving only the igneous-rock-like matrix behind.
@AndyD273 points out quite correctly that foam in a vacuum expands far more than it does in atmospheric pressure. But remember that this also means that you have far thinner bubbles in much more space, leaving you with a much weaker structure.
Your wall material would have to be pretty (1) flexible and (2) strong to begin with, even before spraying.
**But this gets more complicated when working in atmospheric pressure.** You're limited at the very *fastest* by the entropy-fueled diffusion and expansion of gas. This leads me to believe that a foam used as a quick-spray detainment weapon would need to have *highly* reactive gaseous compounds that are stored separately and then injected together into the foam as it's released, causing that sort of high-speed expansion you're looking for. (Side-benefit: **Such a quick expansion would either release or absorb a lot of heat**, depending on the mechanism. I could viably see your foam curing due to its own high heat, or freezing due to its below-zero temperatures.)
---
Side-note: Anyone who's tried to use their hands to tear that foam insulation stuff knows from experience that, even though it's *possible*, it's an enormous pain to actually do. Easy to dent it, not easy to rip.
**[EDIT]**: As @JDługosz points out, a foam in a vacuum can cure from the outside in... But that would lead to a pressurized interior. And [we all know what happens](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V2eCFsDkK0) when brittle materials harden on the outside and leave a still-liquid, still-cooling interior... | Shotcrete <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotcrete> would probably be one of the best known structural foams currently available but there are certainly others available and is certainly able to set creating a gas tight surface and more than capable of keeping humans in or out. Good for making a permanent repair to that hole in your lunar bio-dome, probably heavier than you would want for a spaceship repair, and certainly too slow setting for foe suppression.
For your emergency hull repair you would want a lighter weight substrate to quickly fill the gap and then use a heavier solid foam for the permanent repair
For foe suppression just stick to sticky foam <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sticky_foam>. |
1,481 | In the movie [Inception](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/), why does Cobb's passport not get stamped properly at the airport in the final scene i.e, the date was missing.
Was it really intended and is there any implicit reason for that or was it just a flaw?
 | 2012/03/03 | [
"https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/1481",
"https://movies.stackexchange.com",
"https://movies.stackexchange.com/users/556/"
] | First of all, please note that this answer is *not* based on facts and is just my personal observation.
As you have said in a comment, Christopher Nolan is too great a director to allow minor flaws as this in his movies. (And I guess it would have been easier to stamp a real seal on the passport than one without a date).
Inception is almost completely based on dreams within dreams and in different *times*. So if a specific date has been stamped on Cobb's passport, it would have given definitive evidence on the exact date and reality Cobb was currently in. And it would have more or less succeeded in lowering the confusion level of the audience.
So my conclusion is that this was intentionally done so as to leave the audience further in the dark as this also is very unreal-looking (to have your passport stamped without a date) and confusing about the "real" reality. | According to **[IMDB](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/faq#.2.1.66)**, Nolan may have wanted to show that the whole film is a dream.
Found out the following stuff quoted in the [IMDB FAQ](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/faq#.2.1.66) after a long enough googling;
>
> At the end when they get off the plane and Cobb gets his passport stamped, the date is missing, suggesting that the **time frame is nonexistent**.
>
>
> |
189,542 | **Background**
I revisited an old (but great) site I had not been to for ages - the Alioth Language Shootout ([http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/](https://web.archive.org/web/20130325171128/http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/)).
I started out programming in C/C++ several years ago, but have since then been working almost exclusively in Java due to language constraints in the projects I have been involved in. Not remembering the figures, I wanted to see, approximately, how well Java fared against C/C++ in terms of resource usage.
The **execution times** were still relatively good, with Java at worst performing 4x slower than C/C++, but on average around (or below) 2x. Due to the nature of the implementation of Java itself, this was no surprise, and it's performance time was actually *lower* than what I expected.
The real brick was the **memory allocation** - at worst, Java allocated:
* a whopping 52x more memory than C
* and 25x more than C++.
52x the memory ... Absolutely nasty, right? ... or is it? Memory is comparatively cheap now.
**Question:**
If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), **should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?**
I am asking in part because I am considering migrating to Scala as my primary language. I very much like the functional aspects of it, but from what I can see it is even more expensive in terms of memory than Java. However, since memory seems to be getting faster, cheaper and more plentiful by the year (it seems to be increasingly hard to find a consumer laptop without at least 4GB of DDR3 RAM), could it not be argued that resource management is becoming increasingly more irrelevant as compared to (possibly implementation-wise expensive) high-level language features which allow for faster construction of more readable solutions? | 2013/03/06 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/189542",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/78847/"
] | Memory management is utterly relevant since it governs how fast something appears even if that something has a great deal of memory. The best and most canonical example are AAA-title games like Call of Duty or Bioshock. These are effectively real-time applications that require massive amounts of control in terms of optimization and usage. It's not the usage per se that's the issue but rather the management.
It comes down to two words: Garbage Collection. Garbage Collection algorithms can cause slight hiccups in performance or even cause the application to hang for a second or two. Mostly harmless in an accounting app but potentially ruinous in terms of user experience in a game of Call of Duty. Thus in applications where time matters, garbage collected languages can be hugely problematic. It's one of the design aims of Squirrel for instance, which seeks to remedy the issue that Lua has with its GC by using reference counting instead.
Is it more of a headache? Sure but if you need precise control, you put up with it. | It depends on a number of factors, especially the scale at which you're working.
Just for the sake of argument, let's assume a 30x difference in memory and 2x in CPU usage.
If you're dealing with an interactive program that would take 10 megabytes of memory and 1 millisecond of CPU if written in C, it's pretty much inconsequential -- 300 megabytes of memory and 2 milliseconds to execute is normally entirely irrelevant on a typical desktop, and unlikely to mean much even on a phone or tablet.
The difference between needing around half the resources of 1 server and needing 15 servers is a *much* bigger step though -- especially since scaling out to 15 servers is likely to require a lot of *extra* work to develop instead of less. As far as future expansion goes, the same factors you mention tend to suggest that unless your customer base undergoes *massive* growth, that if it'll run on one server now, chances are pretty good that when you outgrow that server, you'll be able to replace that with one newer server without any problem.
The other factor you really need to consider is exactly how much difference in development cost you're going to see for your particular task. Right now, you're basically looking at one side of an equation. To get a good idea of costs vs. benefits, you (obviously enough) need to look at both costs and benefits, not just one in isolation. The real question is basically: "is x greater than y?" -- but you can't determine that by looking only at x. You clearly need to look at y as well. |
189,542 | **Background**
I revisited an old (but great) site I had not been to for ages - the Alioth Language Shootout ([http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/](https://web.archive.org/web/20130325171128/http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/)).
I started out programming in C/C++ several years ago, but have since then been working almost exclusively in Java due to language constraints in the projects I have been involved in. Not remembering the figures, I wanted to see, approximately, how well Java fared against C/C++ in terms of resource usage.
The **execution times** were still relatively good, with Java at worst performing 4x slower than C/C++, but on average around (or below) 2x. Due to the nature of the implementation of Java itself, this was no surprise, and it's performance time was actually *lower* than what I expected.
The real brick was the **memory allocation** - at worst, Java allocated:
* a whopping 52x more memory than C
* and 25x more than C++.
52x the memory ... Absolutely nasty, right? ... or is it? Memory is comparatively cheap now.
**Question:**
If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), **should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?**
I am asking in part because I am considering migrating to Scala as my primary language. I very much like the functional aspects of it, but from what I can see it is even more expensive in terms of memory than Java. However, since memory seems to be getting faster, cheaper and more plentiful by the year (it seems to be increasingly hard to find a consumer laptop without at least 4GB of DDR3 RAM), could it not be argued that resource management is becoming increasingly more irrelevant as compared to (possibly implementation-wise expensive) high-level language features which allow for faster construction of more readable solutions? | 2013/03/06 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/189542",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/78847/"
] | Memory management is utterly relevant since it governs how fast something appears even if that something has a great deal of memory. The best and most canonical example are AAA-title games like Call of Duty or Bioshock. These are effectively real-time applications that require massive amounts of control in terms of optimization and usage. It's not the usage per se that's the issue but rather the management.
It comes down to two words: Garbage Collection. Garbage Collection algorithms can cause slight hiccups in performance or even cause the application to hang for a second or two. Mostly harmless in an accounting app but potentially ruinous in terms of user experience in a game of Call of Duty. Thus in applications where time matters, garbage collected languages can be hugely problematic. It's one of the design aims of Squirrel for instance, which seeks to remedy the issue that Lua has with its GC by using reference counting instead.
Is it more of a headache? Sure but if you need precise control, you put up with it. | To be fair, a lot of Java out there indulges in some truly and pointlessly class-explosive patterns that just murder performance and hog memory but I do wonder how much of that memory is just the JVM which in theory (heh) let's you run the same app in multiple environments without having to completely rewrite new ones. Hence the design tradeoff question it all boils down to: "How much of your users memory is such a development advantage worth to you?"
This is, IMO a perfectly worthwhile and reasonable tradeoff to consider. What pisses me off though is the notion that because modern PCs are so powerful and memory is so cheap, we can completely ignore such concerns and bloat features and bloat code and be lazy about choices to the point where it seems like a lot of the stuff I do on a windows PC now, takes just as long as it did in Window '95. Seriously though, Word? How much new crap that 80% of their user-base actually needs could they have possibly added in 18 years? Pretty sure we had spellcheck pre-windows right? But we were talking memory which is not necessarily speed if you have plenty of it so I digress.
But of course if you can get the app done in 2 weeks at the cost of maybe a few extra megabytes rather than 2 years to get the needs-only-a-few-K version, it's worth considering how a few megs compares to (I'm guessing) 4-12 gigs on the average users machine before scoffing at the idea of being so sloppy.
But what does this have to do with Scala beyond the tradeoff question? Just because it's garbage collection, doesn't mean you shouldn't always be trying to think about the flow of data in terms of what's in scopes and closures and whether it should be left sitting around or used in such a way that it will be deallocated by GC when it's no longer needed. That's something even us JavaScript UI web devs have had to think about and hopefully will continue to as we spread into other problem domains like the perf-savvy cancer (that you all should have killed with Flash or Applets or something when you had the chance) that we are. |
189,542 | **Background**
I revisited an old (but great) site I had not been to for ages - the Alioth Language Shootout ([http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/](https://web.archive.org/web/20130325171128/http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/)).
I started out programming in C/C++ several years ago, but have since then been working almost exclusively in Java due to language constraints in the projects I have been involved in. Not remembering the figures, I wanted to see, approximately, how well Java fared against C/C++ in terms of resource usage.
The **execution times** were still relatively good, with Java at worst performing 4x slower than C/C++, but on average around (or below) 2x. Due to the nature of the implementation of Java itself, this was no surprise, and it's performance time was actually *lower* than what I expected.
The real brick was the **memory allocation** - at worst, Java allocated:
* a whopping 52x more memory than C
* and 25x more than C++.
52x the memory ... Absolutely nasty, right? ... or is it? Memory is comparatively cheap now.
**Question:**
If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), **should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?**
I am asking in part because I am considering migrating to Scala as my primary language. I very much like the functional aspects of it, but from what I can see it is even more expensive in terms of memory than Java. However, since memory seems to be getting faster, cheaper and more plentiful by the year (it seems to be increasingly hard to find a consumer laptop without at least 4GB of DDR3 RAM), could it not be argued that resource management is becoming increasingly more irrelevant as compared to (possibly implementation-wise expensive) high-level language features which allow for faster construction of more readable solutions? | 2013/03/06 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/189542",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/78847/"
] | Memory management is utterly relevant since it governs how fast something appears even if that something has a great deal of memory. The best and most canonical example are AAA-title games like Call of Duty or Bioshock. These are effectively real-time applications that require massive amounts of control in terms of optimization and usage. It's not the usage per se that's the issue but rather the management.
It comes down to two words: Garbage Collection. Garbage Collection algorithms can cause slight hiccups in performance or even cause the application to hang for a second or two. Mostly harmless in an accounting app but potentially ruinous in terms of user experience in a game of Call of Duty. Thus in applications where time matters, garbage collected languages can be hugely problematic. It's one of the design aims of Squirrel for instance, which seeks to remedy the issue that Lua has with its GC by using reference counting instead.
Is it more of a headache? Sure but if you need precise control, you put up with it. | As with all things, it's a trade-off.
If you are building an application that is going to run on a single user desktop and can reasonably be expected to control a large fraction of the RAM on that machine, it may be worth it to sacrifice memory usage for implementation speed. If you're targeting that same machine but you're building a small utility that is going to be competing with a bunch of other memory-hungry applications that are running simultaneously, you may want to be more cautious about that trade-off. A user may be fine with a game that wants all of their memory when it's running (though, as World Engineer points out, they'll be concerned if the garbage collector decides to pause the action periodically to do a sweep)-- they are likely to be much less enthused if the music player they run in the background while doing other things decides to gobble up a ton of memory and interferes with their ability to work. If you're building a web-based application, any memory you use on the servers limits your ability to scale out forcing you to spend more money on more application servers to support the same set of users. That can have a major impact on the economics of the company so you may want to be very cautious about making that trade-off. |
189,542 | **Background**
I revisited an old (but great) site I had not been to for ages - the Alioth Language Shootout ([http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/](https://web.archive.org/web/20130325171128/http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/)).
I started out programming in C/C++ several years ago, but have since then been working almost exclusively in Java due to language constraints in the projects I have been involved in. Not remembering the figures, I wanted to see, approximately, how well Java fared against C/C++ in terms of resource usage.
The **execution times** were still relatively good, with Java at worst performing 4x slower than C/C++, but on average around (or below) 2x. Due to the nature of the implementation of Java itself, this was no surprise, and it's performance time was actually *lower* than what I expected.
The real brick was the **memory allocation** - at worst, Java allocated:
* a whopping 52x more memory than C
* and 25x more than C++.
52x the memory ... Absolutely nasty, right? ... or is it? Memory is comparatively cheap now.
**Question:**
If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), **should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?**
I am asking in part because I am considering migrating to Scala as my primary language. I very much like the functional aspects of it, but from what I can see it is even more expensive in terms of memory than Java. However, since memory seems to be getting faster, cheaper and more plentiful by the year (it seems to be increasingly hard to find a consumer laptop without at least 4GB of DDR3 RAM), could it not be argued that resource management is becoming increasingly more irrelevant as compared to (possibly implementation-wise expensive) high-level language features which allow for faster construction of more readable solutions? | 2013/03/06 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/189542",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/78847/"
] | For people dealing with "big data" memory management is still a huge issue. Programs in astronomy, physics, bioinformatics, machine learning, etc., all have to deal with multi-gigabyte datasets, and the programs run a lot faster if the relevant portions can be kept in memory. Even running on a machine with 128GB of RAM doesn't solve the problem.
There is also the matter of taking advantage of GPU, though perhaps you'd classify that as an embedded system. Most of the hard thinking in using CUDA or OpenCL boils down to memory management issues in transferring data from main memory to GPU memory. | >
> Is memory management in programming becoming an irrelevant concern?
>
>
>
Memory management (or control) is actually the primary reason I'm using C and C++.
>
> Memory is comparatively cheap now.
>
>
>
Not fast memory. We're still looking at a small number of registers, something like 32KB data cache for L1 on i7, 256KB for L2, and 2MB for L3/core. That said:
>
> If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on
> working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), should memory
> usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?
>
>
>
Memory usage on a general level, maybe not. I'm a little bit impractical in that I don't like the idea of a notepad that takes, say, 50 megabytes of DRAM and hundreds of megabytes of hard disk space, even though I have that to spare and abundant more. I've been around for a long time and it just feels weird and kind of icky to me to see such a simple application take relatively so much memory for what should be doable with kilobytes. That said, I might be able to live with myself if I encountered such a thing if it was still nice and responsive.
The reason memory management is important to me in my field is not to reduce memory usage so much in general. Hundreds of megabytes of memory use won't necessarily slow an application down in any non-trivial way if none of that memory is frequently accessed (ex: only upon a button click or some other form of user input, which is extremely infrequent unless you are talking about Korean Starcraft players who might click a button a million times a second).
The reason it's important in my field is to get memory *tight and close together* that is very frequently accessed (ex: being looped over every single frame) in those critical paths. We don't want to have a cache miss every time we access just one out of a million elements that need to all be accessed in a loop every single frame. When we move memory down the hierarchy from slow memory to fast memory in large chunks, say 64 byte cache lines, it's really helpful if those 64 bytes all contain relevant data, if we can fit multiple elements worth of data into those 64 bytes, and if our access patterns are such that we use it all before the data is evicted.
That frequently-accessed data for the million elements might only span 20 megabytes even though we have gigabytes. It still makes a world of difference in frame rates looping over that data every single frame drawn if the memory is tight and close together to minimize cache misses, and that's where the memory management/control is so useful. Simple visual example on a sphere with a few million vertices:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FvGvH.gif)
The above is actually slower than my mutable version since it's testing a persistent data structure representation of a mesh, but with that aside, I used to struggle to achieve such frame rates even on half that data (admittedly the hardware has gotten faster since my struggles) because I didn't get the hang of minimizing cache misses and memory use for mesh data. Meshes are some of the trickiest data structures I've dealt with in this regard because they store so much interdependent data that has to stay in sync like polygons, edges, vertices, as many texture maps as the user wants to attach, bone weights, color maps, selection sets, morph targets, edge weights, polygon materials, etc. etc. etc..
I've designed and implemented a number of mesh systems in the past couple of decades and their speed was often very proportional to their memory use. Even though I'm working with so, so much more memory than when I started, my new mesh systems are over 10 times faster than my first design (almost 20 years ago) and to a large degree because they use around 1/10th of the memory. The newest version even uses indexed compression to cram as much data as possible, and in spite of the processing overhead of the decompression, the compression actually improved performance because, again, we have so little precious fast memory. I can now fit a million polygon mesh with texture coordinates, edge creasing, material assignments, etc. along with an spatial index for it in about 30 megabytes. My oldest version used several hundred megabytes and even testing my oldest one today on my i7, it's many, many times slower, and that several hundreds MB of mem use didn't even include a spatial index.
Here's the mutable prototype with over 8 million quadrangles and a multires subdivision scheme on an i3 with a GF 8400 (this was from some years ago). It's faster than my immutable version but not used in production since I've found the immutable version so much easier to maintain and the performance hit isn't too bad. Note that the wireframe does not indicate facets, but patches (the wires are actually curves, otherwise the entire mesh would be solid black), although all the points in a facet are modified by the brush.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Igi5Y.gif)
So anyway, I just wanted to show some of this above to show some concrete examples and areas where memory management is so helpful and also hopefully so people don't think I'm just talking out of my butt. I tend to get a little bit irritated when people say memory is so abundant and cheap, because that's talking about slow memory like DRAM and hard drives. It's still so small and so precious when we're talking about fast memory, and performance for genuinely critical (i.e., common case, not for everything) paths relates to playing to that small amount of fast memory and utilizing it as effectively as we can.
For this kind of thing it is really helpful to work with a language that allows you to design high-level objects like C++, for example, while still being able to store these objects in one or more contiguous arrays with the guarantee that the memory of all such objects will be contiguously represented and without any unneeded memory overhead per object (ex: not all objects need reflection or virtual dispatch). When you actually move into those performance-critical areas, it actually becomes a productivity boost to have such memory control over, say, fiddling with object pools and using primitive data types to avoid object overhead, GC costs, and to keep memory frequently-accessed together contiguous.
So memory management/control (or lack thereof) is actually a dominating reason in my case for choosing what language most productively allows me to tackle problems. I do definitely write my share of code which isn't performance-critical, and for that I tend to use Lua which is pretty easy to embed from C. |
189,542 | **Background**
I revisited an old (but great) site I had not been to for ages - the Alioth Language Shootout ([http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/](https://web.archive.org/web/20130325171128/http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/)).
I started out programming in C/C++ several years ago, but have since then been working almost exclusively in Java due to language constraints in the projects I have been involved in. Not remembering the figures, I wanted to see, approximately, how well Java fared against C/C++ in terms of resource usage.
The **execution times** were still relatively good, with Java at worst performing 4x slower than C/C++, but on average around (or below) 2x. Due to the nature of the implementation of Java itself, this was no surprise, and it's performance time was actually *lower* than what I expected.
The real brick was the **memory allocation** - at worst, Java allocated:
* a whopping 52x more memory than C
* and 25x more than C++.
52x the memory ... Absolutely nasty, right? ... or is it? Memory is comparatively cheap now.
**Question:**
If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), **should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?**
I am asking in part because I am considering migrating to Scala as my primary language. I very much like the functional aspects of it, but from what I can see it is even more expensive in terms of memory than Java. However, since memory seems to be getting faster, cheaper and more plentiful by the year (it seems to be increasingly hard to find a consumer laptop without at least 4GB of DDR3 RAM), could it not be argued that resource management is becoming increasingly more irrelevant as compared to (possibly implementation-wise expensive) high-level language features which allow for faster construction of more readable solutions? | 2013/03/06 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/189542",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/78847/"
] | As with all things, it's a trade-off.
If you are building an application that is going to run on a single user desktop and can reasonably be expected to control a large fraction of the RAM on that machine, it may be worth it to sacrifice memory usage for implementation speed. If you're targeting that same machine but you're building a small utility that is going to be competing with a bunch of other memory-hungry applications that are running simultaneously, you may want to be more cautious about that trade-off. A user may be fine with a game that wants all of their memory when it's running (though, as World Engineer points out, they'll be concerned if the garbage collector decides to pause the action periodically to do a sweep)-- they are likely to be much less enthused if the music player they run in the background while doing other things decides to gobble up a ton of memory and interferes with their ability to work. If you're building a web-based application, any memory you use on the servers limits your ability to scale out forcing you to spend more money on more application servers to support the same set of users. That can have a major impact on the economics of the company so you may want to be very cautious about making that trade-off. | To be fair, a lot of Java out there indulges in some truly and pointlessly class-explosive patterns that just murder performance and hog memory but I do wonder how much of that memory is just the JVM which in theory (heh) let's you run the same app in multiple environments without having to completely rewrite new ones. Hence the design tradeoff question it all boils down to: "How much of your users memory is such a development advantage worth to you?"
This is, IMO a perfectly worthwhile and reasonable tradeoff to consider. What pisses me off though is the notion that because modern PCs are so powerful and memory is so cheap, we can completely ignore such concerns and bloat features and bloat code and be lazy about choices to the point where it seems like a lot of the stuff I do on a windows PC now, takes just as long as it did in Window '95. Seriously though, Word? How much new crap that 80% of their user-base actually needs could they have possibly added in 18 years? Pretty sure we had spellcheck pre-windows right? But we were talking memory which is not necessarily speed if you have plenty of it so I digress.
But of course if you can get the app done in 2 weeks at the cost of maybe a few extra megabytes rather than 2 years to get the needs-only-a-few-K version, it's worth considering how a few megs compares to (I'm guessing) 4-12 gigs on the average users machine before scoffing at the idea of being so sloppy.
But what does this have to do with Scala beyond the tradeoff question? Just because it's garbage collection, doesn't mean you shouldn't always be trying to think about the flow of data in terms of what's in scopes and closures and whether it should be left sitting around or used in such a way that it will be deallocated by GC when it's no longer needed. That's something even us JavaScript UI web devs have had to think about and hopefully will continue to as we spread into other problem domains like the perf-savvy cancer (that you all should have killed with Flash or Applets or something when you had the chance) that we are. |
189,542 | **Background**
I revisited an old (but great) site I had not been to for ages - the Alioth Language Shootout ([http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/](https://web.archive.org/web/20130325171128/http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/)).
I started out programming in C/C++ several years ago, but have since then been working almost exclusively in Java due to language constraints in the projects I have been involved in. Not remembering the figures, I wanted to see, approximately, how well Java fared against C/C++ in terms of resource usage.
The **execution times** were still relatively good, with Java at worst performing 4x slower than C/C++, but on average around (or below) 2x. Due to the nature of the implementation of Java itself, this was no surprise, and it's performance time was actually *lower* than what I expected.
The real brick was the **memory allocation** - at worst, Java allocated:
* a whopping 52x more memory than C
* and 25x more than C++.
52x the memory ... Absolutely nasty, right? ... or is it? Memory is comparatively cheap now.
**Question:**
If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), **should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?**
I am asking in part because I am considering migrating to Scala as my primary language. I very much like the functional aspects of it, but from what I can see it is even more expensive in terms of memory than Java. However, since memory seems to be getting faster, cheaper and more plentiful by the year (it seems to be increasingly hard to find a consumer laptop without at least 4GB of DDR3 RAM), could it not be argued that resource management is becoming increasingly more irrelevant as compared to (possibly implementation-wise expensive) high-level language features which allow for faster construction of more readable solutions? | 2013/03/06 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/189542",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/78847/"
] | >
> The real brick was the memory allocation - at worst, Java allocated a
> whopping 52x more memory than C, and 25x more than C++.
>
>
>
Do you *understand* the numbers you base your question upon?
* How much memory was allocated?
* What were the programs doing?
When there's a big disparity between those Java and C programs, it's mostly the **default JVM memory allocation** versus whatever libc needs:
* n-body
Java program 13,996KB :: C program 320KB :: Free Pascal 8KB
Look at the tasks that do **require memory** to be allocated (or use additional buffers to accumulate results from multicore programs):
* mandelbrot
Java program **67**,880KB :: C program **30**,444KB
* k-nucleotide
Java program **494**,040KB :: C program **153**,452KB
* reverse-complement
Java program **511**,484KB :: C program **248**,632KB
* regex-dna
Java program **557**,080KB :: C program **289**,088KB
* binary-trees
Java program **506**,592KB :: C program **99**,448KB
>
> ...should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose
> language today?
>
>
>
It depends whether the **specific** usage, for your **specific** approach to solving the **specific** problems you need to solve, will be constrained by the **specific** limits of available memory on the **specific** platform that will be used. | It depends on a number of factors, especially the scale at which you're working.
Just for the sake of argument, let's assume a 30x difference in memory and 2x in CPU usage.
If you're dealing with an interactive program that would take 10 megabytes of memory and 1 millisecond of CPU if written in C, it's pretty much inconsequential -- 300 megabytes of memory and 2 milliseconds to execute is normally entirely irrelevant on a typical desktop, and unlikely to mean much even on a phone or tablet.
The difference between needing around half the resources of 1 server and needing 15 servers is a *much* bigger step though -- especially since scaling out to 15 servers is likely to require a lot of *extra* work to develop instead of less. As far as future expansion goes, the same factors you mention tend to suggest that unless your customer base undergoes *massive* growth, that if it'll run on one server now, chances are pretty good that when you outgrow that server, you'll be able to replace that with one newer server without any problem.
The other factor you really need to consider is exactly how much difference in development cost you're going to see for your particular task. Right now, you're basically looking at one side of an equation. To get a good idea of costs vs. benefits, you (obviously enough) need to look at both costs and benefits, not just one in isolation. The real question is basically: "is x greater than y?" -- but you can't determine that by looking only at x. You clearly need to look at y as well. |
189,542 | **Background**
I revisited an old (but great) site I had not been to for ages - the Alioth Language Shootout ([http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/](https://web.archive.org/web/20130325171128/http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/)).
I started out programming in C/C++ several years ago, but have since then been working almost exclusively in Java due to language constraints in the projects I have been involved in. Not remembering the figures, I wanted to see, approximately, how well Java fared against C/C++ in terms of resource usage.
The **execution times** were still relatively good, with Java at worst performing 4x slower than C/C++, but on average around (or below) 2x. Due to the nature of the implementation of Java itself, this was no surprise, and it's performance time was actually *lower* than what I expected.
The real brick was the **memory allocation** - at worst, Java allocated:
* a whopping 52x more memory than C
* and 25x more than C++.
52x the memory ... Absolutely nasty, right? ... or is it? Memory is comparatively cheap now.
**Question:**
If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), **should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?**
I am asking in part because I am considering migrating to Scala as my primary language. I very much like the functional aspects of it, but from what I can see it is even more expensive in terms of memory than Java. However, since memory seems to be getting faster, cheaper and more plentiful by the year (it seems to be increasingly hard to find a consumer laptop without at least 4GB of DDR3 RAM), could it not be argued that resource management is becoming increasingly more irrelevant as compared to (possibly implementation-wise expensive) high-level language features which allow for faster construction of more readable solutions? | 2013/03/06 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/189542",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/78847/"
] | It depends on a number of factors, especially the scale at which you're working.
Just for the sake of argument, let's assume a 30x difference in memory and 2x in CPU usage.
If you're dealing with an interactive program that would take 10 megabytes of memory and 1 millisecond of CPU if written in C, it's pretty much inconsequential -- 300 megabytes of memory and 2 milliseconds to execute is normally entirely irrelevant on a typical desktop, and unlikely to mean much even on a phone or tablet.
The difference between needing around half the resources of 1 server and needing 15 servers is a *much* bigger step though -- especially since scaling out to 15 servers is likely to require a lot of *extra* work to develop instead of less. As far as future expansion goes, the same factors you mention tend to suggest that unless your customer base undergoes *massive* growth, that if it'll run on one server now, chances are pretty good that when you outgrow that server, you'll be able to replace that with one newer server without any problem.
The other factor you really need to consider is exactly how much difference in development cost you're going to see for your particular task. Right now, you're basically looking at one side of an equation. To get a good idea of costs vs. benefits, you (obviously enough) need to look at both costs and benefits, not just one in isolation. The real question is basically: "is x greater than y?" -- but you can't determine that by looking only at x. You clearly need to look at y as well. | >
> Is memory management in programming becoming an irrelevant concern?
>
>
>
Memory management (or control) is actually the primary reason I'm using C and C++.
>
> Memory is comparatively cheap now.
>
>
>
Not fast memory. We're still looking at a small number of registers, something like 32KB data cache for L1 on i7, 256KB for L2, and 2MB for L3/core. That said:
>
> If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on
> working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), should memory
> usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?
>
>
>
Memory usage on a general level, maybe not. I'm a little bit impractical in that I don't like the idea of a notepad that takes, say, 50 megabytes of DRAM and hundreds of megabytes of hard disk space, even though I have that to spare and abundant more. I've been around for a long time and it just feels weird and kind of icky to me to see such a simple application take relatively so much memory for what should be doable with kilobytes. That said, I might be able to live with myself if I encountered such a thing if it was still nice and responsive.
The reason memory management is important to me in my field is not to reduce memory usage so much in general. Hundreds of megabytes of memory use won't necessarily slow an application down in any non-trivial way if none of that memory is frequently accessed (ex: only upon a button click or some other form of user input, which is extremely infrequent unless you are talking about Korean Starcraft players who might click a button a million times a second).
The reason it's important in my field is to get memory *tight and close together* that is very frequently accessed (ex: being looped over every single frame) in those critical paths. We don't want to have a cache miss every time we access just one out of a million elements that need to all be accessed in a loop every single frame. When we move memory down the hierarchy from slow memory to fast memory in large chunks, say 64 byte cache lines, it's really helpful if those 64 bytes all contain relevant data, if we can fit multiple elements worth of data into those 64 bytes, and if our access patterns are such that we use it all before the data is evicted.
That frequently-accessed data for the million elements might only span 20 megabytes even though we have gigabytes. It still makes a world of difference in frame rates looping over that data every single frame drawn if the memory is tight and close together to minimize cache misses, and that's where the memory management/control is so useful. Simple visual example on a sphere with a few million vertices:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FvGvH.gif)
The above is actually slower than my mutable version since it's testing a persistent data structure representation of a mesh, but with that aside, I used to struggle to achieve such frame rates even on half that data (admittedly the hardware has gotten faster since my struggles) because I didn't get the hang of minimizing cache misses and memory use for mesh data. Meshes are some of the trickiest data structures I've dealt with in this regard because they store so much interdependent data that has to stay in sync like polygons, edges, vertices, as many texture maps as the user wants to attach, bone weights, color maps, selection sets, morph targets, edge weights, polygon materials, etc. etc. etc..
I've designed and implemented a number of mesh systems in the past couple of decades and their speed was often very proportional to their memory use. Even though I'm working with so, so much more memory than when I started, my new mesh systems are over 10 times faster than my first design (almost 20 years ago) and to a large degree because they use around 1/10th of the memory. The newest version even uses indexed compression to cram as much data as possible, and in spite of the processing overhead of the decompression, the compression actually improved performance because, again, we have so little precious fast memory. I can now fit a million polygon mesh with texture coordinates, edge creasing, material assignments, etc. along with an spatial index for it in about 30 megabytes. My oldest version used several hundred megabytes and even testing my oldest one today on my i7, it's many, many times slower, and that several hundreds MB of mem use didn't even include a spatial index.
Here's the mutable prototype with over 8 million quadrangles and a multires subdivision scheme on an i3 with a GF 8400 (this was from some years ago). It's faster than my immutable version but not used in production since I've found the immutable version so much easier to maintain and the performance hit isn't too bad. Note that the wireframe does not indicate facets, but patches (the wires are actually curves, otherwise the entire mesh would be solid black), although all the points in a facet are modified by the brush.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Igi5Y.gif)
So anyway, I just wanted to show some of this above to show some concrete examples and areas where memory management is so helpful and also hopefully so people don't think I'm just talking out of my butt. I tend to get a little bit irritated when people say memory is so abundant and cheap, because that's talking about slow memory like DRAM and hard drives. It's still so small and so precious when we're talking about fast memory, and performance for genuinely critical (i.e., common case, not for everything) paths relates to playing to that small amount of fast memory and utilizing it as effectively as we can.
For this kind of thing it is really helpful to work with a language that allows you to design high-level objects like C++, for example, while still being able to store these objects in one or more contiguous arrays with the guarantee that the memory of all such objects will be contiguously represented and without any unneeded memory overhead per object (ex: not all objects need reflection or virtual dispatch). When you actually move into those performance-critical areas, it actually becomes a productivity boost to have such memory control over, say, fiddling with object pools and using primitive data types to avoid object overhead, GC costs, and to keep memory frequently-accessed together contiguous.
So memory management/control (or lack thereof) is actually a dominating reason in my case for choosing what language most productively allows me to tackle problems. I do definitely write my share of code which isn't performance-critical, and for that I tend to use Lua which is pretty easy to embed from C. |
189,542 | **Background**
I revisited an old (but great) site I had not been to for ages - the Alioth Language Shootout ([http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/](https://web.archive.org/web/20130325171128/http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/)).
I started out programming in C/C++ several years ago, but have since then been working almost exclusively in Java due to language constraints in the projects I have been involved in. Not remembering the figures, I wanted to see, approximately, how well Java fared against C/C++ in terms of resource usage.
The **execution times** were still relatively good, with Java at worst performing 4x slower than C/C++, but on average around (or below) 2x. Due to the nature of the implementation of Java itself, this was no surprise, and it's performance time was actually *lower* than what I expected.
The real brick was the **memory allocation** - at worst, Java allocated:
* a whopping 52x more memory than C
* and 25x more than C++.
52x the memory ... Absolutely nasty, right? ... or is it? Memory is comparatively cheap now.
**Question:**
If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), **should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?**
I am asking in part because I am considering migrating to Scala as my primary language. I very much like the functional aspects of it, but from what I can see it is even more expensive in terms of memory than Java. However, since memory seems to be getting faster, cheaper and more plentiful by the year (it seems to be increasingly hard to find a consumer laptop without at least 4GB of DDR3 RAM), could it not be argued that resource management is becoming increasingly more irrelevant as compared to (possibly implementation-wise expensive) high-level language features which allow for faster construction of more readable solutions? | 2013/03/06 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/189542",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/78847/"
] | As with all things, it's a trade-off.
If you are building an application that is going to run on a single user desktop and can reasonably be expected to control a large fraction of the RAM on that machine, it may be worth it to sacrifice memory usage for implementation speed. If you're targeting that same machine but you're building a small utility that is going to be competing with a bunch of other memory-hungry applications that are running simultaneously, you may want to be more cautious about that trade-off. A user may be fine with a game that wants all of their memory when it's running (though, as World Engineer points out, they'll be concerned if the garbage collector decides to pause the action periodically to do a sweep)-- they are likely to be much less enthused if the music player they run in the background while doing other things decides to gobble up a ton of memory and interferes with their ability to work. If you're building a web-based application, any memory you use on the servers limits your ability to scale out forcing you to spend more money on more application servers to support the same set of users. That can have a major impact on the economics of the company so you may want to be very cautious about making that trade-off. | >
> Is memory management in programming becoming an irrelevant concern?
>
>
>
Memory management (or control) is actually the primary reason I'm using C and C++.
>
> Memory is comparatively cheap now.
>
>
>
Not fast memory. We're still looking at a small number of registers, something like 32KB data cache for L1 on i7, 256KB for L2, and 2MB for L3/core. That said:
>
> If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on
> working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), should memory
> usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?
>
>
>
Memory usage on a general level, maybe not. I'm a little bit impractical in that I don't like the idea of a notepad that takes, say, 50 megabytes of DRAM and hundreds of megabytes of hard disk space, even though I have that to spare and abundant more. I've been around for a long time and it just feels weird and kind of icky to me to see such a simple application take relatively so much memory for what should be doable with kilobytes. That said, I might be able to live with myself if I encountered such a thing if it was still nice and responsive.
The reason memory management is important to me in my field is not to reduce memory usage so much in general. Hundreds of megabytes of memory use won't necessarily slow an application down in any non-trivial way if none of that memory is frequently accessed (ex: only upon a button click or some other form of user input, which is extremely infrequent unless you are talking about Korean Starcraft players who might click a button a million times a second).
The reason it's important in my field is to get memory *tight and close together* that is very frequently accessed (ex: being looped over every single frame) in those critical paths. We don't want to have a cache miss every time we access just one out of a million elements that need to all be accessed in a loop every single frame. When we move memory down the hierarchy from slow memory to fast memory in large chunks, say 64 byte cache lines, it's really helpful if those 64 bytes all contain relevant data, if we can fit multiple elements worth of data into those 64 bytes, and if our access patterns are such that we use it all before the data is evicted.
That frequently-accessed data for the million elements might only span 20 megabytes even though we have gigabytes. It still makes a world of difference in frame rates looping over that data every single frame drawn if the memory is tight and close together to minimize cache misses, and that's where the memory management/control is so useful. Simple visual example on a sphere with a few million vertices:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/FvGvH.gif)
The above is actually slower than my mutable version since it's testing a persistent data structure representation of a mesh, but with that aside, I used to struggle to achieve such frame rates even on half that data (admittedly the hardware has gotten faster since my struggles) because I didn't get the hang of minimizing cache misses and memory use for mesh data. Meshes are some of the trickiest data structures I've dealt with in this regard because they store so much interdependent data that has to stay in sync like polygons, edges, vertices, as many texture maps as the user wants to attach, bone weights, color maps, selection sets, morph targets, edge weights, polygon materials, etc. etc. etc..
I've designed and implemented a number of mesh systems in the past couple of decades and their speed was often very proportional to their memory use. Even though I'm working with so, so much more memory than when I started, my new mesh systems are over 10 times faster than my first design (almost 20 years ago) and to a large degree because they use around 1/10th of the memory. The newest version even uses indexed compression to cram as much data as possible, and in spite of the processing overhead of the decompression, the compression actually improved performance because, again, we have so little precious fast memory. I can now fit a million polygon mesh with texture coordinates, edge creasing, material assignments, etc. along with an spatial index for it in about 30 megabytes. My oldest version used several hundred megabytes and even testing my oldest one today on my i7, it's many, many times slower, and that several hundreds MB of mem use didn't even include a spatial index.
Here's the mutable prototype with over 8 million quadrangles and a multires subdivision scheme on an i3 with a GF 8400 (this was from some years ago). It's faster than my immutable version but not used in production since I've found the immutable version so much easier to maintain and the performance hit isn't too bad. Note that the wireframe does not indicate facets, but patches (the wires are actually curves, otherwise the entire mesh would be solid black), although all the points in a facet are modified by the brush.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Igi5Y.gif)
So anyway, I just wanted to show some of this above to show some concrete examples and areas where memory management is so helpful and also hopefully so people don't think I'm just talking out of my butt. I tend to get a little bit irritated when people say memory is so abundant and cheap, because that's talking about slow memory like DRAM and hard drives. It's still so small and so precious when we're talking about fast memory, and performance for genuinely critical (i.e., common case, not for everything) paths relates to playing to that small amount of fast memory and utilizing it as effectively as we can.
For this kind of thing it is really helpful to work with a language that allows you to design high-level objects like C++, for example, while still being able to store these objects in one or more contiguous arrays with the guarantee that the memory of all such objects will be contiguously represented and without any unneeded memory overhead per object (ex: not all objects need reflection or virtual dispatch). When you actually move into those performance-critical areas, it actually becomes a productivity boost to have such memory control over, say, fiddling with object pools and using primitive data types to avoid object overhead, GC costs, and to keep memory frequently-accessed together contiguous.
So memory management/control (or lack thereof) is actually a dominating reason in my case for choosing what language most productively allows me to tackle problems. I do definitely write my share of code which isn't performance-critical, and for that I tend to use Lua which is pretty easy to embed from C. |
189,542 | **Background**
I revisited an old (but great) site I had not been to for ages - the Alioth Language Shootout ([http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/](https://web.archive.org/web/20130325171128/http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/)).
I started out programming in C/C++ several years ago, but have since then been working almost exclusively in Java due to language constraints in the projects I have been involved in. Not remembering the figures, I wanted to see, approximately, how well Java fared against C/C++ in terms of resource usage.
The **execution times** were still relatively good, with Java at worst performing 4x slower than C/C++, but on average around (or below) 2x. Due to the nature of the implementation of Java itself, this was no surprise, and it's performance time was actually *lower* than what I expected.
The real brick was the **memory allocation** - at worst, Java allocated:
* a whopping 52x more memory than C
* and 25x more than C++.
52x the memory ... Absolutely nasty, right? ... or is it? Memory is comparatively cheap now.
**Question:**
If we do not speak in terms of target platforms with strict limits on working memory (i.e. embedded systems and the like), **should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose language today?**
I am asking in part because I am considering migrating to Scala as my primary language. I very much like the functional aspects of it, but from what I can see it is even more expensive in terms of memory than Java. However, since memory seems to be getting faster, cheaper and more plentiful by the year (it seems to be increasingly hard to find a consumer laptop without at least 4GB of DDR3 RAM), could it not be argued that resource management is becoming increasingly more irrelevant as compared to (possibly implementation-wise expensive) high-level language features which allow for faster construction of more readable solutions? | 2013/03/06 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/189542",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/78847/"
] | Memory management is utterly relevant since it governs how fast something appears even if that something has a great deal of memory. The best and most canonical example are AAA-title games like Call of Duty or Bioshock. These are effectively real-time applications that require massive amounts of control in terms of optimization and usage. It's not the usage per se that's the issue but rather the management.
It comes down to two words: Garbage Collection. Garbage Collection algorithms can cause slight hiccups in performance or even cause the application to hang for a second or two. Mostly harmless in an accounting app but potentially ruinous in terms of user experience in a game of Call of Duty. Thus in applications where time matters, garbage collected languages can be hugely problematic. It's one of the design aims of Squirrel for instance, which seeks to remedy the issue that Lua has with its GC by using reference counting instead.
Is it more of a headache? Sure but if you need precise control, you put up with it. | >
> The real brick was the memory allocation - at worst, Java allocated a
> whopping 52x more memory than C, and 25x more than C++.
>
>
>
Do you *understand* the numbers you base your question upon?
* How much memory was allocated?
* What were the programs doing?
When there's a big disparity between those Java and C programs, it's mostly the **default JVM memory allocation** versus whatever libc needs:
* n-body
Java program 13,996KB :: C program 320KB :: Free Pascal 8KB
Look at the tasks that do **require memory** to be allocated (or use additional buffers to accumulate results from multicore programs):
* mandelbrot
Java program **67**,880KB :: C program **30**,444KB
* k-nucleotide
Java program **494**,040KB :: C program **153**,452KB
* reverse-complement
Java program **511**,484KB :: C program **248**,632KB
* regex-dna
Java program **557**,080KB :: C program **289**,088KB
* binary-trees
Java program **506**,592KB :: C program **99**,448KB
>
> ...should memory usage be a concern when picking a general purpose
> language today?
>
>
>
It depends whether the **specific** usage, for your **specific** approach to solving the **specific** problems you need to solve, will be constrained by the **specific** limits of available memory on the **specific** platform that will be used. |
266,307 | Josh from The Winnower (thewinnower.com) here. I wanted to reach out and see if SE Mathematica, Academia, Chemistry, History of Science and Math, and Overflow would be interested in permanently archiving and assigning [digital object identifiers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifier) (DOIs) to top exchanges with The Winnower.
We’ve begun to offer DOIs and permanent archival to blogs, scholarly [Reddit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit) AMAs (<https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/3finu8/doi_assignments_for_science_amas/>) and other forms of new media (student essays, how-to's) and we think various exchanges are equally deserving of these services, services that are typically only afforded to traditional scholarly articles. In short, we’d love to make these Stack Exchange Q&As citable in the scholarly literature and count on users CVs for credit in the workplace/academia. But of course, we’d like your feedback before we do anything. We’ve met with some great people at the Stack Exchange offices and based upon your feedback they are willing to help. So…
1. Do you think DOIs for certain Stack Exchange sites are worthwhile?
2. Which Stack Exchange sites should receive a DOI within those which posts?
3. Where should the DOIs be displayed, etc.
For those unaware of what a DOI is, here is an entertaining read: *[Now I am become DOI, destroyer of gatekeeping worlds](https://thewinnower.com/papers/now-i-am-become-doi-destroyer-of-gatekeeping-worlds)*
And for those curious we archive content via Portico, the same method used for many leading scholarly journals.
**How would you determine when a question is "done" and ready to be archived?**
We (or SE) could assign versioned DOIs to posts set by some defined criteria (question is answered and/or gets enough upvotes).
**Would you assign a DOI to every question, or are there metrics you use to select, or dynamically as people request them?**
We'd set some threshold so only the best threads get a DOI/archival. Think of it as a step beyond reputation points.
Just noticed this  on Twitter that I think is relevant to the discussion here. | 2015/09/14 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/266307",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/305420/"
] | Interesting.
* How would you determine when a question is "done" and ready to be archived?
* Would you assign a DOI to every question, or are there metrics you use to select, or dynamically as people request them?
* What is the likelihood that you will charge for access to the archived versions the DOI points to, or place advertisements on those versions?
* Does your archived version comply with all the linking, attribution, and other requirements of the CC license Stack Exchange uses, or are you going to have to make changes or have special pages for Stack Exchange archived topics?
* How will you handle updates - will a question have multiple DOIs assigned if major changes are made to it or the answers, each referring to a specific version, or once assigned and archived are the newer updates never linkable without special effort?
* When you ask for help or support from Stack Exchange for this effort, are you merely asking for guidance, or are you hoping to have DOIs show up on Stack Exchange pages, or otherwise altering the Stack Exchange codebase/database/sites?
* Why is using Winnower better than Stack Exchange simply registering to issue DOIs and using the existing revisions system to return a specific DOI assigned version of a question?
Initially I'm skeptical. It seems like a great way to aggregate content, and lock people in to using your DOI, which you can later monetize. Perhaps your intentions are purely altruistic, but there's no way for Stack Exchange to take control of the DOIs you might assign it in the future.
If Stack Exchange wants to be part of the DOI system, it could readily implement it.
On the other side of the coin, given that all the content is licensed CC-BY-SA with attribution required, you can go ahead and do essentially nearly all this without any sort of assistance.
Please understand I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but there are a lot of questions unanswered even if the answer to *"Should Stack Exchange articles have a DOI?"* is yes - which is clearly debatable. | No. In my personal opinion, they're not worthwhile. What would be the point? What problem would it solve? It's not clear to me what problem this solves, or why it should be Stack Exchange's concern to solve it. I can't see a use case for it, and the question doesn't describe one.
Of course, this is just my personal opinion... but since that's what you asked for, I'm giving it.
---
If the problem this solves is "some journals only let you cite things with DOIs", the fix to that is to fix those journals' policy. A campaign to give selected things DOIs will never be enough to fix that problem -- there will always be something else out there that is cite-worthy but doesn't have a DOI. We already have a thing that serves that purpose: it's called a URL. We don't need to re-invent another URL thingy that's like a URL only not as universal and not as good. Anyway, even if this is a problem, I don't see that it's *our* problem to solve.
---
And the proposal is vague: if you were going to do it, what pages would receive a DOI? Every page? Every question? Each individual answer? Only those that someone specifically requests? And why does this need support from the Stack Exchange software? Why can't you just do it today? |
266,307 | Josh from The Winnower (thewinnower.com) here. I wanted to reach out and see if SE Mathematica, Academia, Chemistry, History of Science and Math, and Overflow would be interested in permanently archiving and assigning [digital object identifiers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifier) (DOIs) to top exchanges with The Winnower.
We’ve begun to offer DOIs and permanent archival to blogs, scholarly [Reddit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit) AMAs (<https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/3finu8/doi_assignments_for_science_amas/>) and other forms of new media (student essays, how-to's) and we think various exchanges are equally deserving of these services, services that are typically only afforded to traditional scholarly articles. In short, we’d love to make these Stack Exchange Q&As citable in the scholarly literature and count on users CVs for credit in the workplace/academia. But of course, we’d like your feedback before we do anything. We’ve met with some great people at the Stack Exchange offices and based upon your feedback they are willing to help. So…
1. Do you think DOIs for certain Stack Exchange sites are worthwhile?
2. Which Stack Exchange sites should receive a DOI within those which posts?
3. Where should the DOIs be displayed, etc.
For those unaware of what a DOI is, here is an entertaining read: *[Now I am become DOI, destroyer of gatekeeping worlds](https://thewinnower.com/papers/now-i-am-become-doi-destroyer-of-gatekeeping-worlds)*
And for those curious we archive content via Portico, the same method used for many leading scholarly journals.
**How would you determine when a question is "done" and ready to be archived?**
We (or SE) could assign versioned DOIs to posts set by some defined criteria (question is answered and/or gets enough upvotes).
**Would you assign a DOI to every question, or are there metrics you use to select, or dynamically as people request them?**
We'd set some threshold so only the best threads get a DOI/archival. Think of it as a step beyond reputation points.
Just noticed this  on Twitter that I think is relevant to the discussion here. | 2015/09/14 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/266307",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/305420/"
] | No. In my personal opinion, they're not worthwhile. What would be the point? What problem would it solve? It's not clear to me what problem this solves, or why it should be Stack Exchange's concern to solve it. I can't see a use case for it, and the question doesn't describe one.
Of course, this is just my personal opinion... but since that's what you asked for, I'm giving it.
---
If the problem this solves is "some journals only let you cite things with DOIs", the fix to that is to fix those journals' policy. A campaign to give selected things DOIs will never be enough to fix that problem -- there will always be something else out there that is cite-worthy but doesn't have a DOI. We already have a thing that serves that purpose: it's called a URL. We don't need to re-invent another URL thingy that's like a URL only not as universal and not as good. Anyway, even if this is a problem, I don't see that it's *our* problem to solve.
---
And the proposal is vague: if you were going to do it, what pages would receive a DOI? Every page? Every question? Each individual answer? Only those that someone specifically requests? And why does this need support from the Stack Exchange software? Why can't you just do it today? | I'm strongly against it. Stack Exchange is by no means an academic resource. Yes, there are some brilliant folks doing the answering, but the standards of proof and of reference are way below peer-reviewed articles. Yes, there are now DOIs to GitHub repos and whatnot, and I do understand the value of having a frozen linkable version of code for scientific publications to cite.
Yet the use case for DOIfication of SE content eludes me. SE (ideally) should be a living organism, not a frozen outdated archive because it (in principle) is targeted at practitioners, and practitioners don't need DOI - they need URLs and they get URLs from search engines. |
266,307 | Josh from The Winnower (thewinnower.com) here. I wanted to reach out and see if SE Mathematica, Academia, Chemistry, History of Science and Math, and Overflow would be interested in permanently archiving and assigning [digital object identifiers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_object_identifier) (DOIs) to top exchanges with The Winnower.
We’ve begun to offer DOIs and permanent archival to blogs, scholarly [Reddit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddit) AMAs (<https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/3finu8/doi_assignments_for_science_amas/>) and other forms of new media (student essays, how-to's) and we think various exchanges are equally deserving of these services, services that are typically only afforded to traditional scholarly articles. In short, we’d love to make these Stack Exchange Q&As citable in the scholarly literature and count on users CVs for credit in the workplace/academia. But of course, we’d like your feedback before we do anything. We’ve met with some great people at the Stack Exchange offices and based upon your feedback they are willing to help. So…
1. Do you think DOIs for certain Stack Exchange sites are worthwhile?
2. Which Stack Exchange sites should receive a DOI within those which posts?
3. Where should the DOIs be displayed, etc.
For those unaware of what a DOI is, here is an entertaining read: *[Now I am become DOI, destroyer of gatekeeping worlds](https://thewinnower.com/papers/now-i-am-become-doi-destroyer-of-gatekeeping-worlds)*
And for those curious we archive content via Portico, the same method used for many leading scholarly journals.
**How would you determine when a question is "done" and ready to be archived?**
We (or SE) could assign versioned DOIs to posts set by some defined criteria (question is answered and/or gets enough upvotes).
**Would you assign a DOI to every question, or are there metrics you use to select, or dynamically as people request them?**
We'd set some threshold so only the best threads get a DOI/archival. Think of it as a step beyond reputation points.
Just noticed this  on Twitter that I think is relevant to the discussion here. | 2015/09/14 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/266307",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/305420/"
] | Interesting.
* How would you determine when a question is "done" and ready to be archived?
* Would you assign a DOI to every question, or are there metrics you use to select, or dynamically as people request them?
* What is the likelihood that you will charge for access to the archived versions the DOI points to, or place advertisements on those versions?
* Does your archived version comply with all the linking, attribution, and other requirements of the CC license Stack Exchange uses, or are you going to have to make changes or have special pages for Stack Exchange archived topics?
* How will you handle updates - will a question have multiple DOIs assigned if major changes are made to it or the answers, each referring to a specific version, or once assigned and archived are the newer updates never linkable without special effort?
* When you ask for help or support from Stack Exchange for this effort, are you merely asking for guidance, or are you hoping to have DOIs show up on Stack Exchange pages, or otherwise altering the Stack Exchange codebase/database/sites?
* Why is using Winnower better than Stack Exchange simply registering to issue DOIs and using the existing revisions system to return a specific DOI assigned version of a question?
Initially I'm skeptical. It seems like a great way to aggregate content, and lock people in to using your DOI, which you can later monetize. Perhaps your intentions are purely altruistic, but there's no way for Stack Exchange to take control of the DOIs you might assign it in the future.
If Stack Exchange wants to be part of the DOI system, it could readily implement it.
On the other side of the coin, given that all the content is licensed CC-BY-SA with attribution required, you can go ahead and do essentially nearly all this without any sort of assistance.
Please understand I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but there are a lot of questions unanswered even if the answer to *"Should Stack Exchange articles have a DOI?"* is yes - which is clearly debatable. | I'm strongly against it. Stack Exchange is by no means an academic resource. Yes, there are some brilliant folks doing the answering, but the standards of proof and of reference are way below peer-reviewed articles. Yes, there are now DOIs to GitHub repos and whatnot, and I do understand the value of having a frozen linkable version of code for scientific publications to cite.
Yet the use case for DOIfication of SE content eludes me. SE (ideally) should be a living organism, not a frozen outdated archive because it (in principle) is targeted at practitioners, and practitioners don't need DOI - they need URLs and they get URLs from search engines. |
97,623 | There were no mirrors inside the Chamber Of Secrets. If there was one, would the Basilisk get petrified if it saw itself in the mirror?
On a more complex point, what would happen if two Basilisks made eye contact?
**Edit:** The water in the Chamber Of Secrets should be neglected. If a snake moves in water, it sends out ripples which make the image of the Basilisk unclear for it to see itself. | 2015/08/07 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/97623",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/48898/"
] | As far as I know, no canon info on this, as there is only one basilisk in all of the seven books, so there is no example of an altercation between two of them.
If I had to take a guess, I don't think a basilisk would be petrified by its own reflection.
The basilisk had to enter the castle and leave through the secret entrance in Myrtle's bathroom, where there is liable to be a number of mirrors and puddles of water, so it is unlikely that the basilisk never accidentally caught a glimpse of itself.
We know form canon that an indirect look into the basilisk eyes (through camera lens, Nick, mirror reflection, etc) only reduces the potency of the basilisk stare, but still causes some damage (that is, petrification). As in the Harry Potter Universe, certain powerfully magic creatures are immune to a certain level of magic (eg, dragon and giant skin), and the basilisk being a rare and powerful magic creature, the reduced level of potency of it's stare in case of indirect eye contact may not be enough to cause damage.
As for what happens if a basilisk looks into the eyes of another, there is no way to tell based on the 7 books (nor Fantastic Beasts, as far as I know). | I think a basilisk is immune to the stare of another one, just like most venomous spiders, scorpions and snakes are immune to the poison of their own kind. |
165,179 | I see that accept rate has now been [removed from display on questions](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/164654). I think this is not a great solution for [reasons that waffles explained well](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/104371). Take it away waffles!
>
> On one hand accept rate bothers me a lot, it is a **one-dimensional** metric that does not really give me enough information about how upstanding a user is in the community. It is used frequently to **bully** users and leaves a horrible taste.
>
>
> On the other hand, introducing accept rates **heavily increased the amount of accepted answers** in the system. Which in turn helps close loops and motivate the community.
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
> When we introduced the accept rate stuff we were careful not to add too much of a value statement. On hover we **do not say** "horrible user, never accepts answers".
>
>
> Going forward I would much prefer that we retired accept rate in favor of a more general metric that covers a variety of "citizenship" metrics that do not result in rep.
>
>
> * Does the user vote?
> * Does the user accept answers?
> * Does the user answer questions?
> * Does the user edit or suggest edits on questions?
> * Does the user flag stuff?
>
>
> I don't know, perhaps we should go the other way and show a *tagline of honor* for the top N percent of users.
>
>
>
Rather than removing accept rate, I propose replacing it with a citizenship percentage or level, based on the above criteria. This would be a powerful motivator for better sites, and gives much more useful context for the question.
It is not that displaying accept rate was bad, so much as *incomplete*. I always had plans to circle back and improve it to be a citizenship level.
Displaying this metric on questions might help participants think of the game at a bit higher level. **What is more useful to the longer term health of a community: a single OK question, or an engaged community member who assists and participates — as a citizen, not just another drive by hit and run?** | 2013/01/26 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/165179",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/1/"
] | Not sure if revolutionary...or new way to flame users.
------------------------------------------------------
Here's why I feel this way.
===========================
We've [demonized talking about the accept rate](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/136951/175248), and comments making reference to such were always [considered inappropriate comments](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/23326/175248).
I'm playing devil's advocate here, so I want to challenge the merits of bringing yet another measure of a Stack Exchange participant, and if it will benefit or adversely affect Stack Exchange at large.
1. It's yet *another* way to measure participation.
---------------------------------------------------
We have badges, reputation, number of answers, number of questions, number of reviews...all of this information, while not readily available on a *single* screen, is a great measure of active participation on any SE site. Maybe this suggestion combines this information into one screen (heh), but that brings me to...
2. It's yet *another* way to flame users.
-----------------------------------------
Remember that commenting about a user's accept rate was considered a no-no. What would having a "poor" citizenship rate earn a user?
Say, for example, we have some user117243\*. They're new to Stack Exchange and participate on Stack Overflow and TeX.SE. They're fairly active in both - over 500 reputation on both sites, asked plenty of questions, answered their fair share, flagged some answers/comments, and participate on Meta. However, they don't always accept their answers, don't have many badges, and don't review or make peer edits. Are they a bad citizen? If so, *why*? They're one of the many people that actively participate on Stack Exchange at a level I personally feel comfortable with - general active participation.
Let's presume that they're stuck with a low "citizenship rate". They're going to get comments about it, they're going to get flamed for it, and that will actively discourage their participation on Stack Exchange, something that is a **huge detriment** to the system. [That's already occurred with the previous measure](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/125529/175248), but I shouldn't be beating a dead horse.
\*: Sorry to user117243; I pulled that number out of thin air. You're awesome, d00d!
3. It will feel incomplete on its first implementation.
-------------------------------------------------------
There's lots of ways that someone measures valuable participation. Personally, I feel it comes not just from a collusion of badges and general participation, but also *meaningful* participation - I mean, I've been vocal [about the way the reviews are done](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/156535/175248), and I feel that anyone that's a "good citizen" and participates in the review queues should be doing them well. I would personally feel that a measure of quality of reviews not being present in the system would render it "incomplete".
There's a lot more out there that could be thrown into the mix, too.
* How *often* do they participate in peer edits?
* Do they post on Meta?
* Is the average score of their questions above 5 (minimum 10 questions)?
* ...and so forth...
I'm not entirely sure or convinced that we can cover all the bases of "activity on this. | I think showing only reputation on questions is fine. When I'm deciding whether to spend time on a question, I consider things like:
* Is it understandable?
* Do I already know the answer?
* How extensive an answer (plus possible research effort) does it need?
* Am I interested in the answer for myself?
If the answer will require significant effort and doesn't interest me, only then might I care whether this is a user deserving of that effort by virtue of their own contributions.
The accepted answer rate doesn't help with *any* of these. Reputation gives me some warm fuzzy that the user won't abandon their question, in addition to a measure of their contributions to the site, without differentiating contributions of good questions, good answers, or site maintenance.
As such, reputation is also a reasonably good metric for awarding powers (comment, edit, etc).
Before introducing a citizenship score separate for reputation, someone needs to answer "If something matters so much, shouldn't it count toward earning powers?" If the answer is always yes, the reputation is the only citizenship score we need.
Where I'd like to see a metric other than reputation is on answers. Reputation doesn't tell me anything whatsoever about how trustworthy an answer is, simply because reputation draws from so many sources. On an answer, it would be useful (and especially so to newer users) to see:
* Does the user have badges on THIS TAG?
* Is the user getting upvotes (and not downvotes) for other answers on THIS TAG?
* If a combination of tags is popular enough, look at score on that combination particularly.
Questions aren't authoritative. Answers need to be. Put the metric of expertise on the answers. (And no, I'm not suggesting that acceptance rate is a measure of expertise, nor does the "good citizen" score appear to be one) |
165,179 | I see that accept rate has now been [removed from display on questions](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/164654). I think this is not a great solution for [reasons that waffles explained well](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/104371). Take it away waffles!
>
> On one hand accept rate bothers me a lot, it is a **one-dimensional** metric that does not really give me enough information about how upstanding a user is in the community. It is used frequently to **bully** users and leaves a horrible taste.
>
>
> On the other hand, introducing accept rates **heavily increased the amount of accepted answers** in the system. Which in turn helps close loops and motivate the community.
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
> When we introduced the accept rate stuff we were careful not to add too much of a value statement. On hover we **do not say** "horrible user, never accepts answers".
>
>
> Going forward I would much prefer that we retired accept rate in favor of a more general metric that covers a variety of "citizenship" metrics that do not result in rep.
>
>
> * Does the user vote?
> * Does the user accept answers?
> * Does the user answer questions?
> * Does the user edit or suggest edits on questions?
> * Does the user flag stuff?
>
>
> I don't know, perhaps we should go the other way and show a *tagline of honor* for the top N percent of users.
>
>
>
Rather than removing accept rate, I propose replacing it with a citizenship percentage or level, based on the above criteria. This would be a powerful motivator for better sites, and gives much more useful context for the question.
It is not that displaying accept rate was bad, so much as *incomplete*. I always had plans to circle back and improve it to be a citizenship level.
Displaying this metric on questions might help participants think of the game at a bit higher level. **What is more useful to the longer term health of a community: a single OK question, or an engaged community member who assists and participates — as a citizen, not just another drive by hit and run?** | 2013/01/26 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/165179",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/1/"
] | **Citizenship, to me, implies well-rounded-ness in the use of Stack Overflow.** Not only do you ask questions, you accept answers, you write new answers, you edit, you review, etc.
So, what else is well-rounded? Delicious pie, of course! Or cake, if you prefer.
**I propose showing a wheel on a user's profile, with wedges that are representative of the user's activity in a particular area of the site.** Once you've performed some quantum of activity in that particular category, you are granted the wedge. A similar feature was [introduced on Kickstarter last year](http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/this-week-in-kickstarter-40), where you collect a wedge for supporting a project in each category. Classically, of course, it takes inspiration from collecting wedges in Trivial Pursuit.
You could use more saturated colours for higher activity levels in a category, or make it a simple binary. You could have a count on the number of activities in a wedge, for example, you wouldn't get the question wedge until you've asked a certain number of questions, or accepted answers for them, or upvoted/edited them, or earned a certain number of question-related badges, or some combination of all of the above.
I don't believe it would dilute the existing systems, as it would be more about displaying the existing badges/reputation gains in a more consolidated way (a meta-badge, if you will). For examples of categories, see the above list, or just about every other answer here.
I don't believe it would unfairly penalize active contributors, as I've rarely seen a contributor that hasn't asked a single question. Even so, there needn't be specific *question* and *answer* categories - a *content* category could cover both ways of contributing content to the site. Other answers with useful categories: [badp](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/165188/168352), [lechlukasz](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/165475/168352), and even the [original post](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/165475/).
**But most importantly, it would help give new users a sense of the broader goals of the site**. The current collection of badges is fairly useful in that sense, but there is an overwhelming number of them, in *alphabetical* order. Which is fine if you're looking for criteria on a specific badge, but not so great if you're trying to find out which badges are for good answers (for example). | If the end goal is to increase the amount of accepted answers, the straightforward way of accomplishing that is to award points for accepting answers. |
165,179 | I see that accept rate has now been [removed from display on questions](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/164654). I think this is not a great solution for [reasons that waffles explained well](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/104371). Take it away waffles!
>
> On one hand accept rate bothers me a lot, it is a **one-dimensional** metric that does not really give me enough information about how upstanding a user is in the community. It is used frequently to **bully** users and leaves a horrible taste.
>
>
> On the other hand, introducing accept rates **heavily increased the amount of accepted answers** in the system. Which in turn helps close loops and motivate the community.
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
> When we introduced the accept rate stuff we were careful not to add too much of a value statement. On hover we **do not say** "horrible user, never accepts answers".
>
>
> Going forward I would much prefer that we retired accept rate in favor of a more general metric that covers a variety of "citizenship" metrics that do not result in rep.
>
>
> * Does the user vote?
> * Does the user accept answers?
> * Does the user answer questions?
> * Does the user edit or suggest edits on questions?
> * Does the user flag stuff?
>
>
> I don't know, perhaps we should go the other way and show a *tagline of honor* for the top N percent of users.
>
>
>
Rather than removing accept rate, I propose replacing it with a citizenship percentage or level, based on the above criteria. This would be a powerful motivator for better sites, and gives much more useful context for the question.
It is not that displaying accept rate was bad, so much as *incomplete*. I always had plans to circle back and improve it to be a citizenship level.
Displaying this metric on questions might help participants think of the game at a bit higher level. **What is more useful to the longer term health of a community: a single OK question, or an engaged community member who assists and participates — as a citizen, not just another drive by hit and run?** | 2013/01/26 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/165179",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/1/"
] | At the risk of flogging a dead unicorn, I think that there's another angle here.
All this discussion turns, I think, on the concept of 'citizenship.'
I'd suggest that we could usefully consider users as sorting themselves into three categories:
1. Members of the community
2. Well-behaved casual visitors
3. Trouble
The first category are the only people who are going to build up a significant inventory of reputation. If they are experts, they are answering questions. If they are not answering questions, they are engaged, repeat, visitors who ask questions. They ask good questions, they vote, and, yes, they even accept when an answer actually helps them.
The second category are people who turn up, at most, from time to time. They don't infest the first page looking for things to answer. They don't create a lot of questions. When they have a question, they ask it. And, again, they ask on-topic, coherent, questions. We'd like to hope that they would click on the vote arrows or the check mark from time to time, but I'd hate to think that we'd hate on them if they did not. Simply showing up and asking a good question should be enough. That 'makes the internets better.' That provides fuel for our more obsessive participants to answer and to vote for.
The last category, are, of course, the reason for all this discussion. Whatever their frequency of appearance, they are people who do not add good content to the site.
If you want to go creating metrics, by all means. Just, please, design them to draw a line between (2) and (3), not between (1) and (2). | On the rare occasion that I looked at accept rate (because I seem to have a blind spot; maybe that makes me a Good Citizen) it wasn't because the question was good. It helped me decide on whether the asker of a godawful question was worth the effort of trying to help them improve it, and I think that was a good thing to have.
If you want to pursue this further (which seems in doubt, given the feedback here - most of which I agree with) then perhaps this aspect would be a more useful metric for a "secondary rep" than the be-all "citizenship" concept.
In other words, devise a metric which focuses on **respect for answerers** and their time and effort.
It could include the following, although some of them are dubious.
* Voluntarily removed questions with negative vote
* Closed or migrated questions (negative score!?)
* Accept rate
* Flags (negative score!?)
* Long comment threads which refuse migration to chat (negative score!?)
* On the other hand, "responds to comments", while not very focused, might be a useful counter-measure
Maybe only display the result if it's positive? I.e. let the absence of a "nice buddy star" mark a user as a potential waste of your time and spirits, as it were.
Because most of these are hard to remedy, I would like to see a time cap of some sort. Because some users visit only rarely, a fixed time window isn't very good; so maybe calculate it on their last 30 "active" visits or something like that. (I dont't know what exactly "active" means but just logging in and passively reading the site shouldn't count.)
Still not sure how new users should be tackled. They're a problem in any system which bases judgments on previous actions, anyhow. I suppose "innocent until proven guilty" would work here, especially in combination with the low rep of new users. |
165,179 | I see that accept rate has now been [removed from display on questions](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/164654). I think this is not a great solution for [reasons that waffles explained well](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/104371). Take it away waffles!
>
> On one hand accept rate bothers me a lot, it is a **one-dimensional** metric that does not really give me enough information about how upstanding a user is in the community. It is used frequently to **bully** users and leaves a horrible taste.
>
>
> On the other hand, introducing accept rates **heavily increased the amount of accepted answers** in the system. Which in turn helps close loops and motivate the community.
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
> When we introduced the accept rate stuff we were careful not to add too much of a value statement. On hover we **do not say** "horrible user, never accepts answers".
>
>
> Going forward I would much prefer that we retired accept rate in favor of a more general metric that covers a variety of "citizenship" metrics that do not result in rep.
>
>
> * Does the user vote?
> * Does the user accept answers?
> * Does the user answer questions?
> * Does the user edit or suggest edits on questions?
> * Does the user flag stuff?
>
>
> I don't know, perhaps we should go the other way and show a *tagline of honor* for the top N percent of users.
>
>
>
Rather than removing accept rate, I propose replacing it with a citizenship percentage or level, based on the above criteria. This would be a powerful motivator for better sites, and gives much more useful context for the question.
It is not that displaying accept rate was bad, so much as *incomplete*. I always had plans to circle back and improve it to be a citizenship level.
Displaying this metric on questions might help participants think of the game at a bit higher level. **What is more useful to the longer term health of a community: a single OK question, or an engaged community member who assists and participates — as a citizen, not just another drive by hit and run?** | 2013/01/26 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/165179",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/1/"
] | >
> When we introduced the accept rate stuff we were careful not to add too much of a value statement.
>
>
>
100% == complete. < 100% == incomplete. Without any *on-page* guidance as to what was acceptable, this is how the number was actually interpreted.
While I like the idea of a general-purpose "citizenship" metric in theory, watering it down with stuff like flagging just makes it harder to interpret. The best idea we could come up with ended up being sort of a parallel reputation system that increased whenever you did *something* positive on the site - while interesting, I'm not convinced this would do much to encourage *specific* forms interaction the way accept rate did.
>
> I don't know, perhaps we should go the other way and show a tagline of honor for the top N percent of users.
>
>
>
I like this idea more; fits with the old "praise in public, criticize in private" advice.
What if, when posting a question, folks who accept answers to *most* of their questions (say, over 70%) got a little "responsive asker" indicator below their name?
We could even expand this to other metrics without watering anything down:
* Neophyte editors whose recent edits have been 100% approved get an indicator of this in the suggested edits queue.
* Flaggers whose recent flags have been helpful get an indicator in the flag queues.
* Answerers whose past answers are seen as helpful (up-voted / accepted) get an indicator on their new answers. (Kinda uneasy about this though; could unfairly skew voting)
Displaying only *positive* indicators in situations where they actually *matter* gives folks something to work toward, without encouraging public witch-hunts.
### Chiding in private
Another suggestion for modifying the accept rate display was to display it *only to the author* - this avoids some of the public shaming, without actually making this obvious to the asker. If this number also linked directly to [a list of questions that lacked an accepted answer](https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=user%3Ame+hasaccepted%3Ano+answers%3A1+wiki%3Ano), it'd also give them specific action items to improve that number, without requiring them to dig up documentation on what it actually pertained to.
Frankly, doing this alone might be enough to provide most of the *benefits* of accept rate, without the noisy comment harassment. | I would be fine with some nebulous klout-like calculation of global SE "kudos" that would apply across all your activities on the network, and would hopefully be constantly made more sophisticated in terms of measuring in a rich, deep and vivid way, of your role within the community -- it might be related to the quality of particular activities and contributions (but would be weighted towards those actions and contributions that are for whatever reason "most wanted" by the community.)
To some degree reputation accomplishes half of this -- it can function more like a global reputation exchange, which gives a certain kind of raw quantitative scale. But the problem is that it becomes purely vertical. I'd definitely welcome a recognition of more "horizontal" civic SE effort -- maybe something like a 0-1k "karma credit" score. |
165,179 | I see that accept rate has now been [removed from display on questions](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/164654). I think this is not a great solution for [reasons that waffles explained well](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/104371). Take it away waffles!
>
> On one hand accept rate bothers me a lot, it is a **one-dimensional** metric that does not really give me enough information about how upstanding a user is in the community. It is used frequently to **bully** users and leaves a horrible taste.
>
>
> On the other hand, introducing accept rates **heavily increased the amount of accepted answers** in the system. Which in turn helps close loops and motivate the community.
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
> When we introduced the accept rate stuff we were careful not to add too much of a value statement. On hover we **do not say** "horrible user, never accepts answers".
>
>
> Going forward I would much prefer that we retired accept rate in favor of a more general metric that covers a variety of "citizenship" metrics that do not result in rep.
>
>
> * Does the user vote?
> * Does the user accept answers?
> * Does the user answer questions?
> * Does the user edit or suggest edits on questions?
> * Does the user flag stuff?
>
>
> I don't know, perhaps we should go the other way and show a *tagline of honor* for the top N percent of users.
>
>
>
Rather than removing accept rate, I propose replacing it with a citizenship percentage or level, based on the above criteria. This would be a powerful motivator for better sites, and gives much more useful context for the question.
It is not that displaying accept rate was bad, so much as *incomplete*. I always had plans to circle back and improve it to be a citizenship level.
Displaying this metric on questions might help participants think of the game at a bit higher level. **What is more useful to the longer term health of a community: a single OK question, or an engaged community member who assists and participates — as a citizen, not just another drive by hit and run?** | 2013/01/26 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/165179",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/1/"
] | This sounds good at first: a citizenship "score" could become an integral part of your profile, maybe on the same level with reputation. It could be a way to award those who put a lot of time and effort in cleanup / quality control in their tags instead of just accumulating rep.
However, looking at how even the prospect of getting a fricking *badge* leads to widespread abuse of the system ([voting](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/149621/the-current-review-system-encourages-fake-reviews-some-people-upvote-everything), [editing](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/155561/the-robo-approvers-are-killing-my-will-to-review-edits)), it's a very real danger that this would become just another number you can increase through harmful actions like random voting, or approving BS edits.
I'm sure [Rosinante's approach](https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/165198/138112) is shared by many community members: we often already check out users before we answer a question. How invested is this user in the community? Did they bother to register a user name? What kind of contributions do they make? Do they answer questions as well? I tend to be *much* more willing to help fix an imperfect question when the OP has a track record of answering questions, or shows a real interest in the community. **How about instead of creating another metric, making the existing ones easier for us to look up in the user's profile?**
Maybe even in a separate "citizenship" tab, designed in infographic style.
We could display....
Definitely:
* Successful close votes (ie. votes cast that lead to a closing)
* Helpful flags
* Question / Answer ratio, or maybe even better: answer upvotes
* Number of comments
* Some of the "hard" badges, maybe those that are displayed in the [pre-election stats](http://elections.stackexchange.com/)
* Meta participation
Maybe (I'm unsure about these because they are so easy to game):
* Voting
* Edits
That would show us all we need, but without the problems of a new metric. | I agree that there should be an alternate metric, but most of your general citizenship idea is not useful since this site is mainly a Q/A website. So, the primary purpose of a new metric should be to improve answer quality, and to promote wise allocation of time in answering questions. Since everyone's time is limited, spending it on less useful questions implies that you have given up the opportunity of answering questions that you could answer better. Therefore, when you design a new metric, it should try to match the right people to the right questions!
From this point of view, I think the following metric would be useful:
* **Reputation**: Quantifies how much work a person has put in this website
* **Activeness**: Quantifies how active they are in the last 30 days
* **Responsiveness**: Quantifies whether the OP takes care of their own question, using any form of response, including upvote, downvote (!), accept, or comment on the answers.
The last two metrics are very important motivation for me to give an answer here. Those two metric are not shown now, but **I know that the OP (@Jeff) must give me responses and in a short time and therefore I am writing my answer here**. There are already twenty answers here so most people will not read this answer. If the OP does not even read and give me any responses, there is no point for me write this answer, right? Even if I have good answer.
---
Let me elaborate why I think these metrics are helpful. The value of a question certainly is determined solely by the question itself. However, I will only spend a certain amount of time to read it, unless it is written by a reputable person (more likely to be valid), or a responsive person so that I can ask them to clarify.
As an answerer, if the question is very esoteric (and maybe useful) that only small group of people understand and have interest in it, I would consider to answer it only if the asker would give me a reply, since the OP might be the only audience that would read my answer! Another situation is old questions with answers. Even though the question itself are good and I know a better answer, I might answer it only if OP is active and will give me a reply. Otherwise, the question will pop up in the front page, the top rated answers get upvoted and the new answers at the bottom stay there without ever being seen, so pathetically.
As a learner, I would only read those answers that get a response, written by high rep user or with the clear answer in the first few lines.
Showing this data would allow us to decide how to spend our time answering questions. The removal of the accepted rate already prevents people from wasting time. Now you should give them information on how to allocate their time more wisely.
---
Some replies to other comments here:
>
> What is the desired effect of it. Say we have a broader metric visible to others. What should I do, or how should my behaviour change if I stumble upon someone who is not acting responsibly? ..." – @Bart
>
>
>
You should move on to the next question. Just don't waste your time commenting if the poster is not active anymore. If the OP is not responsible and there is a long list of answers, please don't add new answer because no one will see it.
>
> I don't mind having this, but it should not be displayed on questions. The quality of a question can be determined by reading it. Knowing more about the asker should not change your vote - @Manishearth
>
>
>
I agree that the quality of question is determined by itself, and extra information would not change my vote. But it would change the time I am willing to read it and answer it.
>
> What is more useful to the longer term health of a community: a single ok question, or an engaged community member who assists and participates - @Jeff
>
>
>
Both, but not all people are willing to participate in both of them. Also, most information does not help any questions and answers, which you consider the first class citizen, at all. I would also suggest you to remove those blade counts because it is already correlated with reputation, the details blade are important though. I am in favor of the information being put on their user page.
Remark: The Activeness and Responsiveness involves information that is not in public so it is much more helpful the user page. You can put a high rating on accepted answer to motivate them to accept more answers. |
165,179 | I see that accept rate has now been [removed from display on questions](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/164654). I think this is not a great solution for [reasons that waffles explained well](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/104371). Take it away waffles!
>
> On one hand accept rate bothers me a lot, it is a **one-dimensional** metric that does not really give me enough information about how upstanding a user is in the community. It is used frequently to **bully** users and leaves a horrible taste.
>
>
> On the other hand, introducing accept rates **heavily increased the amount of accepted answers** in the system. Which in turn helps close loops and motivate the community.
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
> When we introduced the accept rate stuff we were careful not to add too much of a value statement. On hover we **do not say** "horrible user, never accepts answers".
>
>
> Going forward I would much prefer that we retired accept rate in favor of a more general metric that covers a variety of "citizenship" metrics that do not result in rep.
>
>
> * Does the user vote?
> * Does the user accept answers?
> * Does the user answer questions?
> * Does the user edit or suggest edits on questions?
> * Does the user flag stuff?
>
>
> I don't know, perhaps we should go the other way and show a *tagline of honor* for the top N percent of users.
>
>
>
Rather than removing accept rate, I propose replacing it with a citizenship percentage or level, based on the above criteria. This would be a powerful motivator for better sites, and gives much more useful context for the question.
It is not that displaying accept rate was bad, so much as *incomplete*. I always had plans to circle back and improve it to be a citizenship level.
Displaying this metric on questions might help participants think of the game at a bit higher level. **What is more useful to the longer term health of a community: a single OK question, or an engaged community member who assists and participates — as a citizen, not just another drive by hit and run?** | 2013/01/26 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/165179",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/1/"
] | I think this a very good idea for the reason given; it promotes good behavior while at the same time aligning with (in my belief) basic psychology.
I like that whole altruistic notion that it's all about the question and if the question is good than it's reward enough to answer it and to contribute to the quality of the site. The problem is that I don't think it holds water. If I honestly look at myself, I answer questions for three reasons:
* The satisfaction of helping **another person** (samaritan)
* Increase my standing in the community (vanity)
* I enjoy the challenge (recreation)
Improving the quality of the SO and the value for future users does not motivate me one bit. Firstly, StackOverflow is an abstract concept, a thing, so I get no samaritan satisfaction in helping it. Secondly, **I have no stake in SO**. Increasing the overall value of the site and the repository of questions and knowledge gives nothing back to me and does not activate any of my basic motivators.
However, by giving me an arena (or a playing-field) where my motivators can be engaged, great value can be generated for the site. **But that is an effect of my behavior, not a primary motivation for it.**
Because of this, **the quality of the question is equally important to the perceived quality of the questioner.** If someone posed an interesting question but I perceived that person as a "bad member" or less deserving of my help, I might still answer the question just to get some community recognition (i.e. up-votes) but I would not put my best effort into it. I would get no samaritan satisfaction in helping someone "undeserving". A good question from a "good citizen" however hits all my motivators and triggers me to make a better contribution myself.
And I have a strong belief that my attitude is shared by a great portion of SO's users.
EDIT:
People are going to pass judgement on questioners regardless. The question is, does StackOverflow want to influence what they base their judgement on, or not? Take away all quantifiable information (e.g. answer history, past behavior etc), and judgement will be based on non-quantifiable (and/or possibly irrational) factors, like spelling, username and so on. And I think that would be worse, plus a missed opportunity to promote general behavior in a desired direction. | If the end goal is to increase the amount of accepted answers, the straightforward way of accomplishing that is to award points for accepting answers. |
165,179 | I see that accept rate has now been [removed from display on questions](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/164654). I think this is not a great solution for [reasons that waffles explained well](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/104371). Take it away waffles!
>
> On one hand accept rate bothers me a lot, it is a **one-dimensional** metric that does not really give me enough information about how upstanding a user is in the community. It is used frequently to **bully** users and leaves a horrible taste.
>
>
> On the other hand, introducing accept rates **heavily increased the amount of accepted answers** in the system. Which in turn helps close loops and motivate the community.
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
> When we introduced the accept rate stuff we were careful not to add too much of a value statement. On hover we **do not say** "horrible user, never accepts answers".
>
>
> Going forward I would much prefer that we retired accept rate in favor of a more general metric that covers a variety of "citizenship" metrics that do not result in rep.
>
>
> * Does the user vote?
> * Does the user accept answers?
> * Does the user answer questions?
> * Does the user edit or suggest edits on questions?
> * Does the user flag stuff?
>
>
> I don't know, perhaps we should go the other way and show a *tagline of honor* for the top N percent of users.
>
>
>
Rather than removing accept rate, I propose replacing it with a citizenship percentage or level, based on the above criteria. This would be a powerful motivator for better sites, and gives much more useful context for the question.
It is not that displaying accept rate was bad, so much as *incomplete*. I always had plans to circle back and improve it to be a citizenship level.
Displaying this metric on questions might help participants think of the game at a bit higher level. **What is more useful to the longer term health of a community: a single OK question, or an engaged community member who assists and participates — as a citizen, not just another drive by hit and run?** | 2013/01/26 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/165179",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/1/"
] | I don't mind having this, but *it should not be displayed on questions*. The quality of a question can be determined by reading it. Knowing more about the asker *should not change your vote* -- [Stack Exchange is about posts, not users](https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/130046/when-should-i-vote/130054#130054).
A user's rep/stats may help when determining the correctness of an *answer*. But for a *question*... there really isn't any positive change brought forth by it. It all boils down to this:
**What do you expect a user to use this newfound knowledge about the asker for?**
I myself don't see this newfound knowledge being used for good.
---
Instead of this, why not display some metric like this publicly on the user's profile? Or, if you feel that it may lead to a lot of complaining (similar to the whining brought forth by the public display of flag weight), then display it privately. | Two observations come to mind:
1. It appears as though active users that have higher accept rates, have them because the person asking the question will take the first response that unblocks them from the problem. So frequently the accepted answer tends to be very short and not frequently 100% correct.
2. The fully correct answer eventually boils to the top, but it is never marked as accepted. This could be months to years later when an authority on the subject - not someone terribly active - responds to a question. And then add the time it takes for the answer to be up voted.
So there are three problems as I see it that need to be addressed:
1. Not all answers were created equal. Partial answers are common. Authoritative answers are more rare. The person asking the question rarely goes back to mark the authoritative answer as the accepted answer.
2. Not all accepted answers are complete - they're only good enough to get a user unblocked with respect to their current problem. At the time the person asking the question gets their first answer, they don't have any perspective for what the realm of possible answers could be.
3. Not all people asking questions have the wherewithal to understand a correct answer vs. just the answer that will get them unblocked. Similarly, the user asking the question may not care about the health of the community.
The accepted rate has a few problems because it only rewards two of the three roles involved in answering and asking questions:
1. Asks questions - currently rewarded when marking a question as accepted
2. Answer a question quickly - currently rewarded when marking a question as accepted
3. Answer a question authoritatively after an answer has been accepted - And there's the rub
So here are my thoughts re: how to solve this particular problem, with the above as my frame of mind:
* Allow multiple answers to be marked as accepted, either by the community ("candidate answer") or the asker. "This is an answer, but not *the* answer." Up votes are free, but marking an answer as a "candidate answer" costs rep, like asking a question with a bounty.
* Setup a reminder to nag an asker to review partially accepted answers. If the reviewer doesn't mark the candidate question as a "viable answer," the users get their bounty back (an "abstain"). If the user has their question accepted, they get 2x the rep back, plus a "viable answer" tally. If an asker rejects a question, the user looses their rep.
* A different member of the community (not necessarily the respondent) can submit a response using their reputation.
* Interacting with "candidate questions" gives the asker some kind of rep bump for doing the right thing.
* Of "viable answers", there can be an "authoritative answer" flag that can be shifted around between "candidate answers."
* Askers should have the ability to delegate responsibility for what's a viable vs authoritative to the community.
re: that last point: maybe add a points per tag system. "I have N points for the PostgreSQL tag, therefore I can interact with questions tagged PostgreSQL, but I can't necessarily answer questions regarding Flash." It seems that this would solve a few problems.
As for the UI, it'd be nice if there was a mouse-over for a user's avatar that would show their authoritative/viable accept rates and the relevant tags for those answers (or a metagroup - database vs CSS vs ...)
Bottom line: the citizenship/activity level is currently already scored using rep. Accept rate, however, needs an extra dimension - hopefully the above is good food for thought.
Cheers. |
165,179 | I see that accept rate has now been [removed from display on questions](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/164654). I think this is not a great solution for [reasons that waffles explained well](//meta.stackexchange.com/a/104371). Take it away waffles!
>
> On one hand accept rate bothers me a lot, it is a **one-dimensional** metric that does not really give me enough information about how upstanding a user is in the community. It is used frequently to **bully** users and leaves a horrible taste.
>
>
> On the other hand, introducing accept rates **heavily increased the amount of accepted answers** in the system. Which in turn helps close loops and motivate the community.
>
>
>
>
> ---
>
>
> When we introduced the accept rate stuff we were careful not to add too much of a value statement. On hover we **do not say** "horrible user, never accepts answers".
>
>
> Going forward I would much prefer that we retired accept rate in favor of a more general metric that covers a variety of "citizenship" metrics that do not result in rep.
>
>
> * Does the user vote?
> * Does the user accept answers?
> * Does the user answer questions?
> * Does the user edit or suggest edits on questions?
> * Does the user flag stuff?
>
>
> I don't know, perhaps we should go the other way and show a *tagline of honor* for the top N percent of users.
>
>
>
Rather than removing accept rate, I propose replacing it with a citizenship percentage or level, based on the above criteria. This would be a powerful motivator for better sites, and gives much more useful context for the question.
It is not that displaying accept rate was bad, so much as *incomplete*. I always had plans to circle back and improve it to be a citizenship level.
Displaying this metric on questions might help participants think of the game at a bit higher level. **What is more useful to the longer term health of a community: a single OK question, or an engaged community member who assists and participates — as a citizen, not just another drive by hit and run?** | 2013/01/26 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/165179",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/1/"
] | At a first glance, we have a single-valued citizenship metric. It's called 'reputation'. We have a multidimensional citizenship assessment. It's called 'badges'. Given that the OP invented them, it is somewhat humorous that he would pose this question.
It seems to me that the problem comes in assessing people who don't have much rep or badge real estate. Is this because they are deadbeats? Or is it because they haven't been around very long?
However, I suspect that *any* metric will have this problem, unless it has a time axis, and, even then, it's dubious. If we say, 'rate of rep/badge gain', we penalize well-behaved people who stop in when they have a question or answer, and otherwise have lives.
One possible direction to go here is to observe that we measure signals of goodness but not badness (give or take downvotes) and so we don't get much discrimination between 'good but casual' and 'icky'. This might lead to consideration of making downvotes much more punishing. Thus, people who participate lightly will tend to have more rep than poor citizens.
The other way to look at it is to focus on the banning system. If the system is doing a good job of banning the truly awful, is it really that important to draw fine distinctions between the others?
I generally don't need rep, badges, *or* accept rate to get a good idea of what sort of OP I am dealing with. I simply apply ask the following questions -- and weigh the answers to *all of them*:
1. Have they registered and selected a user name? A few userXXXXs are worthwhile, but most are not.
2. If they have a user name, is it boastful, flakey, or otherwise cringe-inducing?
3. Does the question have an informative title? If not, chances are that the experience of reading the body will be a further letdown.
4. Is the question 'plz send me the codez', or a rant, or founded on counterfactual premises?
Somewhat like a questionnaire in a fluffy magazine, one can add up the results of these, and pretty easily make a decision whether to spend time. Thus, if I see a question that has bad premises but looks otherwise good, I might invest the time in comments or an answer to try to comb the thing out. If, on the other hand, I see some of the other hallmarks of badness, I won't do more than downvote or vote to close or both.
Finally, I am not really excited about the concept of acceptance as it plays out. Far too many questions get bad answers accepted, either due to the OP wandering away after the first answer, or due to the OP not knowing enough to judge. You can write 'the check only means that it helped the OP' as many times as you like, but readers will still view it as some sort of official endorsement. | I would be fine with some nebulous klout-like calculation of global SE "kudos" that would apply across all your activities on the network, and would hopefully be constantly made more sophisticated in terms of measuring in a rich, deep and vivid way, of your role within the community -- it might be related to the quality of particular activities and contributions (but would be weighted towards those actions and contributions that are for whatever reason "most wanted" by the community.)
To some degree reputation accomplishes half of this -- it can function more like a global reputation exchange, which gives a certain kind of raw quantitative scale. But the problem is that it becomes purely vertical. I'd definitely welcome a recognition of more "horizontal" civic SE effort -- maybe something like a 0-1k "karma credit" score. |
7,053 | I am negotiating a contract where the customer wants an exclusiveness option. The project is about development of software and exclusiveness means that I am not allowed to resell it to third parties later.
What coefficient should I apply to value this exclusiveness in the contract ?
---
It is worth to know that this piece of software is indeed reusable by others as such or with minor adaptations. | 2017/07/26 | [
"https://freelancing.stackexchange.com/questions/7053",
"https://freelancing.stackexchange.com",
"https://freelancing.stackexchange.com/users/4521/"
] | Although I have never signed contract for the purpose you state, a friend of my how is a game developer and has his team, does this often.
They charge their time for one price and as the output give you ONLY the game. A client does not get access to the source code.
If a client want the source code, they treat this as if they have built some generic platform which can produce more games with a different theme and charge 5 times more.
You may try to think about a similar way for charging the exclusiveness they seek. | You won't find a coefficient that you can apply, as there are many factors to consider:
* How much work is involved?
* Do you charge per hour or fixed price for the software?
* Can you reuse some of the code in other applications?
* Will you also be given the same exclusiveness regarding maintenance of the application? (i.e. the guarantee that you and you alone can do the maintenance)
* Is this a product with an annual license fee or do they just pay for the software and that's it?
In short: if you just make the software, no license fees, no maintenance,fixed price, and you can't reuse any of the code in other applications I'd be putting a very big premium on the total price.
But it really depends. In the end you'll just have to crunch the numbers and decide on a price that makes it worth the effort for you.
I would recommend to add some recurrent revenue to the contract (e.g. maintenance or yearly license fee). |
184,663 | Situation
---------
Lore Bard, level 10, Magical Secrets choices are *Bigby's Hand* and *Wall of Force.*
Known opponents include giants (Frost and Hill). We are in mountainous terrain. I suspect that we'll have some battles where cliffs and ledges factor in tactically, so I am trying to prepare.
### What I wish I could do
I have (Lore Bard) expertise in Athletics (+8). I had thought I could apply that to a Bigby's Hand's shove, giving +14, but, after closer study I see that the spell uses the Hand's statistics for the shove. I can't, I believe, apply my expertise to the Hand's shove. (If I can, please explain how that works).
### What I'd like to do: lend the Hand a helping hand
Help (Chapter 9, PHB)
>
> You can lend your aid to another creature in the completion of a task. When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn.
>
>
>
On the second round, since the Hand's shove feature can be activated as *a bonus action*, I want to use my Action to Help the Hand so that it's shove will have advantage against a Large or Huge creature. The Hand, as written, has advantage on the shove if the creature is Medium or smaller. Help, as an action, provides advantage.
>
> **Forceful Hand**. The hand attempts to push a creature within 5 feet of it in a direction you choose. Make a check with the hand’s Strength contested by the Strength (Athletics) check of the target. If the target is Medium or smaller, you have advantage on the check. If you succeed, the hand pushes the target up to 5 feet plus a number of feet equal to five times your spellcasting ability modifier {25' in my case}. The hand moves with the target to remain within 5 feet of it.
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1pBPA.jpg)
>
>
>
Does the Hand qualify as someone I can help? That's the crux of the biscuit.
### Objective: shove a giant off of a cliff
**Round 1** (when cast with my action) Clenched Fist. Punch the Giant for 4d8 Force Damage, or, just shove Giant to keep it away from me. Giants hit hard, and I only have AC of 15.
**Round 2** (Hand's shove is a bonus action) Shove giant off of the cliff with my help. It may not slay them, but it takes a giant out of the fight for a few rounds.
### Does this work?
I think that it does, but if it doesn't I'd like to know why before I bring this up to my DM. Two embedded concerns that I have are:
1. Can I help the hand? *It has statistics*, like a creature does (AC,
HP, STR and DEX scores) but I am not sure that it can be treated as a creature for a case like this.
2. Do I need to be Large to help with a shove of a huge creature? If
so, the Warlock/Sorcerer in the party would need to enlarge me for
this. The Shove/Grapple rules indicate that you need to be within
one size of the target of the shove. Giant is Huge, Bard is Medium.
---
### Our other option
Ask the Warlock to cast Hex on that giant with STR as the ability score to hamper, so that the Hand's shove is opposed by a a creature with disadvantage on its roll. I'd like to be self sufficient, but if I can't be that is important to know for our tactical planning. | 2021/05/03 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/184663",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/22566/"
] | ### You can not Help your Bigby's Hand: it is an object, not a creature.
The description of the [spell](https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/bigbys-hand) says (emphasisi mine):
>
> [...] **The hand is an object** that has AC 20 and hit points equal to your hit point maximum. If it drops to 0 hit points, the spell ends. It has a Strength of 26 (+8) and a Dexterity of 10 (+0). The hand doesn't fill its space.
>
>
>
while the [Help](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/phb/combat#Help) action states, as you reported (emphasis mine):
>
> You can lend your aid to **another creature** in the completion of a task. When you take the Help action, the creature you aid gains advantage on the next ability check it makes to perform the task you are helping with, provided that it makes the check before the start of your next turn.
>
>
> Alternatively, you can aid a **friendly creature** in attacking a creature within 5 feet of you. You feint, distract the target, or in some other way team up to make your ally's attack more effective. If your ally attacks the target before your next turn, the first attack roll is made with advantage.
>
>
>
The Bibgy's hand hence does not qualify for the Help action. | Use Cutting Words
-----------------
Beside the matter of the Hand being an object, not a creature, [per Eddymage's excellent answer](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/184667/22566), Cutting Words as an option is a similar but different way to peel this onion. This complement to the Hand's shove costs a resource, unlike Help, and does not involve rolling two dice and choosing the better result.
>
> **Cutting Words**
>
> When a creature that you can see within 60 feet of you makes an attack
> roll, *an ability check,* or a damage roll, you can use your reaction to
> expend one of your uses of Bardic Inspiration, rolling a Bardic
> Inspiration die and subtracting the number rolled from the creature’s
> roll. (PHB, Bard, College of Lore)
>
>
>
The Hand's shove is an opposed ability check.
At your level, Lore Bard 10, a 1d10 is subtracted from the Giant's roll for an average of -5.5 to their roll. The modification to the Giant's die roll will be a value from -10 to -1. This approach has both more risk, and more reward, than Help (if that was applicable - which it isn't).
You can ask your Warlock to cast *Hex* (per your other option) if are out of Bardic Inspiration(BI) when this situation comes up. Plan ahead: keep a BI or two handy if this tactical situation is looming.
### Double down: combine Cutting Words with *Hex*
If you really need that Giant to fall off of that cliff, combine your Cutting Words with the Warlock's *Hex* so that the giant has disadvantage and subracts 1d10 from the result.
Thanks to @NautArch for the conversation where this came up. |
176,658 | I've searched a lot and can't quite find what how to solve this one. I installed an ecobee smart thermostat, which didn't work with 5 wire connection so I switched to their PEK module with only 4 wires. With this wiring the heat is working fine, but the cooling doesn't (the compressor doesn't kick in, and the fan is blowing ambient air). Anyhow, I tried to map my wiring and this is what I have. Looks wired to me that the Rc is jumped with the common. Any ideas how to fix it? [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/98bdj.jpg) | 2019/10/17 | [
"https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/176658",
"https://diy.stackexchange.com",
"https://diy.stackexchange.com/users/108188/"
] | I think it is the thermostat switch. They fail when they age and can be replaced. They have a bimetal plate in there and sense the temperature with a long tiny pipe which transfers the temperature from the cooling elements. Normally there are two for each area of the fridge. | A few things to check:
* Does the outlet always have power? If connected to a light switch, that could be a problem.
* Is the refrigerator level?
* Does it have an ice-maker or water cooler, that could be causing an issue (e.g. overflowing and/or freezing)?
* Are there separate temperature controls for freezer and refrigerator that need to be set?
* Is there airflow around the condenser coils? |
1,855,422 | I'm wondering, are there any guidelines or best practices on when to use sessions and cookies?
What should and what should'nt be stored in them? Thanks! | 2009/12/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/1855422",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/133127/"
] | These documents are a good read on security problems with session cookies, and how to get around them.
* [Secure Session Management With Cookies for Web Applications](https://crypto.stanford.edu/cs142/papers/web-session-management.pdf)
* [Hardened Stateless Session Cookies](http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~sjm217/papers/protocols08cookies.pdf)
In summary, you keep a secret key on the server. With this key you can calculate a secure hash over the secret key, a time stamp, and any data you want in the cookie. You include the secure hash, the time stamp and the data in the cookie.
When you receive a request you can validate that you get the signature expected. So nobody have tampered with the cookie contents. | Only data that identify the session and non-security-sensitive user preferences.
A primary rule of writing secure apps is that a hostile party can easily modify data before returning it to you. Therefore you should not assume that any values submitted from a client are safe to use without validation. A standard technique is to hold data on the server and only exchange a key, constructed in a way that you can check for modification. (I.e. don't use the user ID or account number, as a hostile client could systematically manipulate such a value to try to retrieve data from other users or sessions.) |
199,587 | I have come across similar questions like [Can I swap my cantrips known for new ones from scrolls?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/107974/can-i-swap-my-cantrips-known-for-new-ones-from-scrolls), and [Can a spellbook contain cantrips?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/50076/can-a-spellbook-contain-cantrips), but I noticed that the questions predate Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and only one answer makes a reference to the optional 3rd level rule.
For reference (P.75):
>
> **Cantrip Formulas:** You have scribed a set of arcane formulas in your spellbook that you
> can use to formulate a cantrip in your mind. Whenever you finish a
> long rest and consult those formulas in your spellbook, you can
> replace one wizard cantrip you know with another cantrip from the
> wizard spell list.
>
>
>
and:
>
> Copying a Spell into the Book. When you find a wizard spell of 1st
> level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell
> level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and
> copy it.
>
>
> Copying that spell into your spellbook involves reproducing the basic
> form of the spell, then deciphering the unique system of notation used
> by the wizard who wrote it. You must practice the spell until you
> understand the sounds or gestures required, then transcribe it into
> your spellbook using your own notation.
>
>
>
What I would like to know is if this creates the opening for wizards to increase their cantrips known through spell scrolls with the same methods and rules as would apply to other wizard spells, or if there is some reference I missed negating such a concept. I understand that it refers to first-level spells or higher, though from what I understood, this was because until Tasha's Cauldron of Everything was released, cantrips were actually not written down in spell books at all, only memorized. But now the Cantrips Formula seems to have changed that bit of lore. | 2022/06/30 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/199587",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/52781/"
] | ### The number of cantrips you know at any given time is the number found in the "Cantrips Known" column of the Wizard table.
[The Wizard Table](https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/wizard#TheWizardTable) found at the beginning of the wizard class description tells you how many cantrips you know at a given level:
>
> **Cantrips**
>
> At 1st level, you know three cantrips of your choice from the wizard spell list. You learn additional wizard cantrips of your choice at higher levels, as shown in the Cantrips Known column of the Wizard table.
>
>
>
The Cantrip Formulas optional feature does not interact with this number in any way.1 The Cantrip Formulas feature simply allows you to swap out one cantrip you currently know with a different one from the Wizard spell list at the end of a long rest. If you are a 9th level Wizard, you know four cantrips. If you use the Cantrip Formulas feature to change one of them, afterwards you still know four cantrips.
### You already have all the cantrip formulas in your spellbook.
An important thing to note is that Cantrip Formulas states:
>
> you can replace one wizard cantrip you know with another cantrip from the wizard spell list.
>
>
>
If you are using the Cantrip Formulas feature, *you are automatically able to select any cantrip from the wizard spell list*. There is no need to find and record new cantrip formulas. The "set of arcane formulas" is *all* of the cantrips on the wizard spell list.
Nothing in the Cantrip Formulas feature changes this rule from the "Your Spellbook" sidebar in the wizard class description:
>
> ***Copying a Spell into the Book.*** When you find a wizard spell of 1st level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it.
>
>
>
There is just nothing in the feature description that indicates it interacts with this rule in any way. So no, cantrip formulas doesn't allow you to add cantrips to your spellbook to increase your cantrips known, because it just doesn't say anything like that.
---
1 Feats, Multiclassing, and certain racial traits can change the number of cantrips you know, but Cantrip Formulas only interacts with your wizard cantrips. | ### If Cantrip Formulas was meant to allow cantrip spell scrolls to be scribed into the Wizard's spellbook, this would be explicitly stated
The Wizard's [Spellbook](https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/wizard#Spellcasting-410) states (emphasis mine):
>
> [...] When you find a wizard spell **of 1st level or higher**, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it. [...]
>
>
>
If Cantrip Formulas was intended to allow us to add cantrip spell scrolls into our spellbook, this would need to be explicitly stated because this is not something a Wizard can ordinarily do. Furthermore, even if Cantrip Formulas *did* somehow let us scribe cantrips into our spellbook, this would violate the "Cantrips Known" column of the Wizard Table. Without an explicit exception to both of these rules (and we have neither), the Cantrip Formulas feature does not let us scribe cantrip spell scrolls into our spellbook. |
199,587 | I have come across similar questions like [Can I swap my cantrips known for new ones from scrolls?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/107974/can-i-swap-my-cantrips-known-for-new-ones-from-scrolls), and [Can a spellbook contain cantrips?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/50076/can-a-spellbook-contain-cantrips), but I noticed that the questions predate Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, and only one answer makes a reference to the optional 3rd level rule.
For reference (P.75):
>
> **Cantrip Formulas:** You have scribed a set of arcane formulas in your spellbook that you
> can use to formulate a cantrip in your mind. Whenever you finish a
> long rest and consult those formulas in your spellbook, you can
> replace one wizard cantrip you know with another cantrip from the
> wizard spell list.
>
>
>
and:
>
> Copying a Spell into the Book. When you find a wizard spell of 1st
> level or higher, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell
> level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and
> copy it.
>
>
> Copying that spell into your spellbook involves reproducing the basic
> form of the spell, then deciphering the unique system of notation used
> by the wizard who wrote it. You must practice the spell until you
> understand the sounds or gestures required, then transcribe it into
> your spellbook using your own notation.
>
>
>
What I would like to know is if this creates the opening for wizards to increase their cantrips known through spell scrolls with the same methods and rules as would apply to other wizard spells, or if there is some reference I missed negating such a concept. I understand that it refers to first-level spells or higher, though from what I understood, this was because until Tasha's Cauldron of Everything was released, cantrips were actually not written down in spell books at all, only memorized. But now the Cantrips Formula seems to have changed that bit of lore. | 2022/06/30 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/199587",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/52781/"
] | You may be mixing up the ideas of 'cantrips known' and 'formulas in the spellbook'.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is no need to scribe cantrips; the "Cantrip Formulas" feature gives you access to the entire list of Wizard cantrips automatically. You can "replace one wizard cantrip you know with another cantrip from the wizard spell list" -- that's from the spell list, not from a smaller set that's in your spellbook. You always have *all* of the wizard cantrips available to swap into your known list (but only one change per day).
The "Cantrip Formulas" feature does not change how many cantrips you "know" at a time, though. You're still limited by the number of Cantrips Known as listed in the Wizard class.
So at 1st level, a wizard knows 3 cantrips and that number can't change, but each morning, they can swap out one of those for any other wizard cantrip, and they don't have to do anything to have all the cantrips available for swapping.
From the feature's description, it sounds like you don't have like "acid splash" and "message" in your spellbook anywhere; instead you have a page of formulae (like, say, math equations), and when you put them together one way, you get an *acid splash*, but if you put them together another way you get *message*. So you aren't looking at a list of distinct cantrips and memorizing them, the way you do with leveled spells; instead you're reading the list of formulae and deciding which specific combinations you want to keep in mind for quick casting. (But the flavor text is easily replaced, you can describe how this works any way you want to, from actual recorded mini-spells to some kind of runes that you can keep in your mind.) | ### If Cantrip Formulas was meant to allow cantrip spell scrolls to be scribed into the Wizard's spellbook, this would be explicitly stated
The Wizard's [Spellbook](https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/wizard#Spellcasting-410) states (emphasis mine):
>
> [...] When you find a wizard spell **of 1st level or higher**, you can add it to your spellbook if it is of a spell level you can prepare and if you can spare the time to decipher and copy it. [...]
>
>
>
If Cantrip Formulas was intended to allow us to add cantrip spell scrolls into our spellbook, this would need to be explicitly stated because this is not something a Wizard can ordinarily do. Furthermore, even if Cantrip Formulas *did* somehow let us scribe cantrips into our spellbook, this would violate the "Cantrips Known" column of the Wizard Table. Without an explicit exception to both of these rules (and we have neither), the Cantrip Formulas feature does not let us scribe cantrip spell scrolls into our spellbook. |
62,837,419 | I'm trying to set up goroot in wls2 Goland,but ut something went wrong:
"The selected directory is not a valid home for Go SDK"
What should I do | 2020/07/10 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/62837419",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/13906703/"
] | At the moment, as of 2020.1.3, you cannot. See [the issue that tracks this request](https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/GO-4377) and vote/watch it for updates. | **October 2021 update.**
Go SDK under WSL2 is supported in GoLand since 2021.3 (it reaches [Early Access Program](https://www.jetbrains.com/go/nextversion/) at the moment). GoLand suggests selecting Go SDK on WSL2 mount if the location of the project is on WSL2 as well.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xleHl.png) |
62,837,419 | I'm trying to set up goroot in wls2 Goland,but ut something went wrong:
"The selected directory is not a valid home for Go SDK"
What should I do | 2020/07/10 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/62837419",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/13906703/"
] | At the moment, as of 2020.1.3, you cannot. See [the issue that tracks this request](https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/GO-4377) and vote/watch it for updates. | I found out my issue was having the go source code in c:\ drive. It must be in WSL2 mnt to work correctly. Tested on GoLand 2021.3.1 |
62,837,419 | I'm trying to set up goroot in wls2 Goland,but ut something went wrong:
"The selected directory is not a valid home for Go SDK"
What should I do | 2020/07/10 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/62837419",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/13906703/"
] | **October 2021 update.**
Go SDK under WSL2 is supported in GoLand since 2021.3 (it reaches [Early Access Program](https://www.jetbrains.com/go/nextversion/) at the moment). GoLand suggests selecting Go SDK on WSL2 mount if the location of the project is on WSL2 as well.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xleHl.png) | I found out my issue was having the go source code in c:\ drive. It must be in WSL2 mnt to work correctly. Tested on GoLand 2021.3.1 |
9,356 | Twice in the books Daenerys has been in situations where it is reasonable to expect that she would have been burned to death, or at least seriously injured, yet has come out unharmed.
The first time was when she stepped into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, which resulted in her dragon eggs hatching. The second time is in *A Dance with Dragons*, when she is exposed to Drogon's fire.
In both instances, all that happens to her is her hair is burned away.
I can't be certain, but I believe there may have been references in the first book to her touching burning coals and other hot materials, as well.
Is this a trait shared by other Targaryens? Her brother certainly wasn't immune to molten gold, and while a number of Targaryens were fascinated with fire (Aerion Targaryen died from drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon), I don't recall seeing mention of any Targaryen shrugging off fire.
Is Daenerys' apparent immunity explained anywhere? | 2012/01/19 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1359/"
] | As of the end of *A Dance with Dragons* the Targaryen immunity to fire is intentionally left ambiguous; As is most of the dogma behind dragons. She is obviously highly resistant to fire and heat at the very least.
*A Dance with Dragons* introduces other characters who believe they have Targaryens blood. It is inferred by those characters that they should be immune to fire.
According to [A Wiki of Ice and Fire](http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/House_Targaryen):
>
> The phrase "blood of the dragon" refers to a number of typical
> Targaryen features: silvery-gold (or platinum) hair and violet eyes.
> Some Targaryens also have a high tolerance of heat, though they are by
> no means immune to fire.
>
>
> | Unfortunately I'm still in the middle of Dance of the Dragons so can't comment on the second, but I came away from the first incident with the distinct impression that the magic of the dragons themselves were protecting her. In other words, she didn't have an inherent immunity but in the dragons' immediate presence she is effectively immune. |
9,356 | Twice in the books Daenerys has been in situations where it is reasonable to expect that she would have been burned to death, or at least seriously injured, yet has come out unharmed.
The first time was when she stepped into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, which resulted in her dragon eggs hatching. The second time is in *A Dance with Dragons*, when she is exposed to Drogon's fire.
In both instances, all that happens to her is her hair is burned away.
I can't be certain, but I believe there may have been references in the first book to her touching burning coals and other hot materials, as well.
Is this a trait shared by other Targaryens? Her brother certainly wasn't immune to molten gold, and while a number of Targaryens were fascinated with fire (Aerion Targaryen died from drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon), I don't recall seeing mention of any Targaryen shrugging off fire.
Is Daenerys' apparent immunity explained anywhere? | 2012/01/19 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1359/"
] | Official Word of God says:
>
> Lastly, some fans are reading too much into the scene in GAME OF THRONES where the dragons are born -- which is to say, it was never the case that all Targaryens are immune to all fire at all times.
>
>
> Source: [The Citadel: So Spake Martin - Egg and the Targaryens](http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/945/)
>
>
>
Also this:
>
> **Granny**: Do Targaryens become immune to fire once they "bond" to their dragons?
>
>
> **George RR Martin**: Granny, thanks for asking that. It gives me a chance to clear up a common misconception. TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE! The birth of Dany's dragons was unique, magical, wonderous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived. But her brother sure as hell wasn't immune to that molten gold.
>
>
> **Revanshe**: So she won't be able to do it again?
>
>
> **George RR Martin**: Probably not.
> Source: [A question about Daenerys Targaryen in a Song of Ice and Fire (spoilers) - Forum - DakkaDakka](http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/449541.page?userfilterid=33891)
>
>
> | Unfortunately I'm still in the middle of Dance of the Dragons so can't comment on the second, but I came away from the first incident with the distinct impression that the magic of the dragons themselves were protecting her. In other words, she didn't have an inherent immunity but in the dragons' immediate presence she is effectively immune. |
9,356 | Twice in the books Daenerys has been in situations where it is reasonable to expect that she would have been burned to death, or at least seriously injured, yet has come out unharmed.
The first time was when she stepped into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, which resulted in her dragon eggs hatching. The second time is in *A Dance with Dragons*, when she is exposed to Drogon's fire.
In both instances, all that happens to her is her hair is burned away.
I can't be certain, but I believe there may have been references in the first book to her touching burning coals and other hot materials, as well.
Is this a trait shared by other Targaryens? Her brother certainly wasn't immune to molten gold, and while a number of Targaryens were fascinated with fire (Aerion Targaryen died from drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon), I don't recall seeing mention of any Targaryen shrugging off fire.
Is Daenerys' apparent immunity explained anywhere? | 2012/01/19 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1359/"
] | It does seem to be a regressive genetic trait, if it is a genetic trait, as it is not shared by all Targaryens. There are a few allusions to her apparent heat resistant qualities before the funeral pyre and the hatching of the dragons: most clear is the scene where she picks up the dragon egg that she had placed in the coals in her tent. Her hands are untouched while her handmaiden burns hers after a much shorter contact. In the book, but not in the tv series, it is mentioned she likes her bath to be hotter than most people would find tolerable.
The other explanation is that it is Magic (add tinkly music) - the first instance when she is clearly fireproof is the funeral pyre scene. This is meant to be a magical event, though no spells are read out nor is there magic lightning effects. Magic in the world of GoT is purposefully ambiguous, not unlike Tolkien's world - there is no neat explanation anywhere what it does and does not do or how many kilojoules of willpower are needed for an effect of magnitude X. However it has been alluded that the re-emergence of dragons has made magic a more potent force everywhere
So it is largely open to interpretation my the reader/watcher, I would guess it is a bit of both. Daenerys is heat resistant by her blood heritage, but the effect is magnified by her magical link to the dragons. | While it is left somewhat ambiguous as to whether her family is inherently immune to fire, she certainly seems to be that way. While the second time she is 'burned' mentions pink and tender skin as well as sores, she herself later reflects that only her hair burned away, just like the first time. She even goes so far to try and make a hat to cover up her head.
Is she truly immune to fire? Perhaps, perhaps not. She had sores and tender flesh, but those might have been friction burns. She claims to have lost her whip somewhere along the way, if it got ripped out of her hands that would explain the sores.
What remains certain is that she was subjected to fire **hot enough to burn away her hair** and come away unharmed. If that is not total immunity to fire, it's quite possibly the closest thing you're going to get.
While I don't doubt that at one point Martin might have intended it to be a one-time deal, it clearly is not. Also, there are more hints that Targaryen blood has power in it. Ben Plumm is quite liked by the dragons. One of them even goes so far as to land on his shoulder from time to time, something they only seem to do with Daenerys. So yes, I do think Targaryen blood has some sort of dragon-affinity and Daenerys herself has an immunity to fire. |
9,356 | Twice in the books Daenerys has been in situations where it is reasonable to expect that she would have been burned to death, or at least seriously injured, yet has come out unharmed.
The first time was when she stepped into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, which resulted in her dragon eggs hatching. The second time is in *A Dance with Dragons*, when she is exposed to Drogon's fire.
In both instances, all that happens to her is her hair is burned away.
I can't be certain, but I believe there may have been references in the first book to her touching burning coals and other hot materials, as well.
Is this a trait shared by other Targaryens? Her brother certainly wasn't immune to molten gold, and while a number of Targaryens were fascinated with fire (Aerion Targaryen died from drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon), I don't recall seeing mention of any Targaryen shrugging off fire.
Is Daenerys' apparent immunity explained anywhere? | 2012/01/19 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1359/"
] | Official Word of God says:
>
> Lastly, some fans are reading too much into the scene in GAME OF THRONES where the dragons are born -- which is to say, it was never the case that all Targaryens are immune to all fire at all times.
>
>
> Source: [The Citadel: So Spake Martin - Egg and the Targaryens](http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/945/)
>
>
>
Also this:
>
> **Granny**: Do Targaryens become immune to fire once they "bond" to their dragons?
>
>
> **George RR Martin**: Granny, thanks for asking that. It gives me a chance to clear up a common misconception. TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE! The birth of Dany's dragons was unique, magical, wonderous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived. But her brother sure as hell wasn't immune to that molten gold.
>
>
> **Revanshe**: So she won't be able to do it again?
>
>
> **George RR Martin**: Probably not.
> Source: [A question about Daenerys Targaryen in a Song of Ice and Fire (spoilers) - Forum - DakkaDakka](http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/449541.page?userfilterid=33891)
>
>
> | It does seem to be a regressive genetic trait, if it is a genetic trait, as it is not shared by all Targaryens. There are a few allusions to her apparent heat resistant qualities before the funeral pyre and the hatching of the dragons: most clear is the scene where she picks up the dragon egg that she had placed in the coals in her tent. Her hands are untouched while her handmaiden burns hers after a much shorter contact. In the book, but not in the tv series, it is mentioned she likes her bath to be hotter than most people would find tolerable.
The other explanation is that it is Magic (add tinkly music) - the first instance when she is clearly fireproof is the funeral pyre scene. This is meant to be a magical event, though no spells are read out nor is there magic lightning effects. Magic in the world of GoT is purposefully ambiguous, not unlike Tolkien's world - there is no neat explanation anywhere what it does and does not do or how many kilojoules of willpower are needed for an effect of magnitude X. However it has been alluded that the re-emergence of dragons has made magic a more potent force everywhere
So it is largely open to interpretation my the reader/watcher, I would guess it is a bit of both. Daenerys is heat resistant by her blood heritage, but the effect is magnified by her magical link to the dragons. |
9,356 | Twice in the books Daenerys has been in situations where it is reasonable to expect that she would have been burned to death, or at least seriously injured, yet has come out unharmed.
The first time was when she stepped into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, which resulted in her dragon eggs hatching. The second time is in *A Dance with Dragons*, when she is exposed to Drogon's fire.
In both instances, all that happens to her is her hair is burned away.
I can't be certain, but I believe there may have been references in the first book to her touching burning coals and other hot materials, as well.
Is this a trait shared by other Targaryens? Her brother certainly wasn't immune to molten gold, and while a number of Targaryens were fascinated with fire (Aerion Targaryen died from drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon), I don't recall seeing mention of any Targaryen shrugging off fire.
Is Daenerys' apparent immunity explained anywhere? | 2012/01/19 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1359/"
] | From the last chapter
Dany can be burned.
>
> Her skin was pink and tender, and a pale milky fluid was leaking from
> her cracked palms, but her burns were healing.
>
>
> | Unfortunately I'm still in the middle of Dance of the Dragons so can't comment on the second, but I came away from the first incident with the distinct impression that the magic of the dragons themselves were protecting her. In other words, she didn't have an inherent immunity but in the dragons' immediate presence she is effectively immune. |
9,356 | Twice in the books Daenerys has been in situations where it is reasonable to expect that she would have been burned to death, or at least seriously injured, yet has come out unharmed.
The first time was when she stepped into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, which resulted in her dragon eggs hatching. The second time is in *A Dance with Dragons*, when she is exposed to Drogon's fire.
In both instances, all that happens to her is her hair is burned away.
I can't be certain, but I believe there may have been references in the first book to her touching burning coals and other hot materials, as well.
Is this a trait shared by other Targaryens? Her brother certainly wasn't immune to molten gold, and while a number of Targaryens were fascinated with fire (Aerion Targaryen died from drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon), I don't recall seeing mention of any Targaryen shrugging off fire.
Is Daenerys' apparent immunity explained anywhere? | 2012/01/19 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1359/"
] | Official Word of God says:
>
> Lastly, some fans are reading too much into the scene in GAME OF THRONES where the dragons are born -- which is to say, it was never the case that all Targaryens are immune to all fire at all times.
>
>
> Source: [The Citadel: So Spake Martin - Egg and the Targaryens](http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/945/)
>
>
>
Also this:
>
> **Granny**: Do Targaryens become immune to fire once they "bond" to their dragons?
>
>
> **George RR Martin**: Granny, thanks for asking that. It gives me a chance to clear up a common misconception. TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE! The birth of Dany's dragons was unique, magical, wonderous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived. But her brother sure as hell wasn't immune to that molten gold.
>
>
> **Revanshe**: So she won't be able to do it again?
>
>
> **George RR Martin**: Probably not.
> Source: [A question about Daenerys Targaryen in a Song of Ice and Fire (spoilers) - Forum - DakkaDakka](http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/449541.page?userfilterid=33891)
>
>
> | While it is left somewhat ambiguous as to whether her family is inherently immune to fire, she certainly seems to be that way. While the second time she is 'burned' mentions pink and tender skin as well as sores, she herself later reflects that only her hair burned away, just like the first time. She even goes so far to try and make a hat to cover up her head.
Is she truly immune to fire? Perhaps, perhaps not. She had sores and tender flesh, but those might have been friction burns. She claims to have lost her whip somewhere along the way, if it got ripped out of her hands that would explain the sores.
What remains certain is that she was subjected to fire **hot enough to burn away her hair** and come away unharmed. If that is not total immunity to fire, it's quite possibly the closest thing you're going to get.
While I don't doubt that at one point Martin might have intended it to be a one-time deal, it clearly is not. Also, there are more hints that Targaryen blood has power in it. Ben Plumm is quite liked by the dragons. One of them even goes so far as to land on his shoulder from time to time, something they only seem to do with Daenerys. So yes, I do think Targaryen blood has some sort of dragon-affinity and Daenerys herself has an immunity to fire. |
9,356 | Twice in the books Daenerys has been in situations where it is reasonable to expect that she would have been burned to death, or at least seriously injured, yet has come out unharmed.
The first time was when she stepped into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, which resulted in her dragon eggs hatching. The second time is in *A Dance with Dragons*, when she is exposed to Drogon's fire.
In both instances, all that happens to her is her hair is burned away.
I can't be certain, but I believe there may have been references in the first book to her touching burning coals and other hot materials, as well.
Is this a trait shared by other Targaryens? Her brother certainly wasn't immune to molten gold, and while a number of Targaryens were fascinated with fire (Aerion Targaryen died from drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon), I don't recall seeing mention of any Targaryen shrugging off fire.
Is Daenerys' apparent immunity explained anywhere? | 2012/01/19 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1359/"
] | From the last chapter
Dany can be burned.
>
> Her skin was pink and tender, and a pale milky fluid was leaking from
> her cracked palms, but her burns were healing.
>
>
> | During the funeral pyre incident the witch who was burned alive was chanting a spell, that may have been intended to confer fire protection onto the witch, but ended up being misdirected onto Dany.
As has been stated by Beofett, she ducked Drogon's Fire.
The other two cases of her 'heat' resistance where the higher than normally comfortable temperature of her bath, and her touching the dragon eggs after they were heated to the point when another would be burned. These indicate she has some inherent heat resistance.
Some people criticise the show for making more of her heat/fire resistance than the novels; but since the author has been closely involved in the show, I don't see that as being a 'mistake' on the part of the show. |
9,356 | Twice in the books Daenerys has been in situations where it is reasonable to expect that she would have been burned to death, or at least seriously injured, yet has come out unharmed.
The first time was when she stepped into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, which resulted in her dragon eggs hatching. The second time is in *A Dance with Dragons*, when she is exposed to Drogon's fire.
In both instances, all that happens to her is her hair is burned away.
I can't be certain, but I believe there may have been references in the first book to her touching burning coals and other hot materials, as well.
Is this a trait shared by other Targaryens? Her brother certainly wasn't immune to molten gold, and while a number of Targaryens were fascinated with fire (Aerion Targaryen died from drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon), I don't recall seeing mention of any Targaryen shrugging off fire.
Is Daenerys' apparent immunity explained anywhere? | 2012/01/19 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1359/"
] | It does seem to be a regressive genetic trait, if it is a genetic trait, as it is not shared by all Targaryens. There are a few allusions to her apparent heat resistant qualities before the funeral pyre and the hatching of the dragons: most clear is the scene where she picks up the dragon egg that she had placed in the coals in her tent. Her hands are untouched while her handmaiden burns hers after a much shorter contact. In the book, but not in the tv series, it is mentioned she likes her bath to be hotter than most people would find tolerable.
The other explanation is that it is Magic (add tinkly music) - the first instance when she is clearly fireproof is the funeral pyre scene. This is meant to be a magical event, though no spells are read out nor is there magic lightning effects. Magic in the world of GoT is purposefully ambiguous, not unlike Tolkien's world - there is no neat explanation anywhere what it does and does not do or how many kilojoules of willpower are needed for an effect of magnitude X. However it has been alluded that the re-emergence of dragons has made magic a more potent force everywhere
So it is largely open to interpretation my the reader/watcher, I would guess it is a bit of both. Daenerys is heat resistant by her blood heritage, but the effect is magnified by her magical link to the dragons. | Unfortunately I'm still in the middle of Dance of the Dragons so can't comment on the second, but I came away from the first incident with the distinct impression that the magic of the dragons themselves were protecting her. In other words, she didn't have an inherent immunity but in the dragons' immediate presence she is effectively immune. |
9,356 | Twice in the books Daenerys has been in situations where it is reasonable to expect that she would have been burned to death, or at least seriously injured, yet has come out unharmed.
The first time was when she stepped into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, which resulted in her dragon eggs hatching. The second time is in *A Dance with Dragons*, when she is exposed to Drogon's fire.
In both instances, all that happens to her is her hair is burned away.
I can't be certain, but I believe there may have been references in the first book to her touching burning coals and other hot materials, as well.
Is this a trait shared by other Targaryens? Her brother certainly wasn't immune to molten gold, and while a number of Targaryens were fascinated with fire (Aerion Targaryen died from drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon), I don't recall seeing mention of any Targaryen shrugging off fire.
Is Daenerys' apparent immunity explained anywhere? | 2012/01/19 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1359/"
] | Official Word of God says:
>
> Lastly, some fans are reading too much into the scene in GAME OF THRONES where the dragons are born -- which is to say, it was never the case that all Targaryens are immune to all fire at all times.
>
>
> Source: [The Citadel: So Spake Martin - Egg and the Targaryens](http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/945/)
>
>
>
Also this:
>
> **Granny**: Do Targaryens become immune to fire once they "bond" to their dragons?
>
>
> **George RR Martin**: Granny, thanks for asking that. It gives me a chance to clear up a common misconception. TARGARYENS ARE NOT IMMUNE TO FIRE! The birth of Dany's dragons was unique, magical, wonderous, a miracle. She is called The Unburnt because she walked into the flames and lived. But her brother sure as hell wasn't immune to that molten gold.
>
>
> **Revanshe**: So she won't be able to do it again?
>
>
> **George RR Martin**: Probably not.
> Source: [A question about Daenerys Targaryen in a Song of Ice and Fire (spoilers) - Forum - DakkaDakka](http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/449541.page?userfilterid=33891)
>
>
> | From the last chapter
Dany can be burned.
>
> Her skin was pink and tender, and a pale milky fluid was leaking from
> her cracked palms, but her burns were healing.
>
>
> |
9,356 | Twice in the books Daenerys has been in situations where it is reasonable to expect that she would have been burned to death, or at least seriously injured, yet has come out unharmed.
The first time was when she stepped into the funeral pyre of Khal Drogo, which resulted in her dragon eggs hatching. The second time is in *A Dance with Dragons*, when she is exposed to Drogon's fire.
In both instances, all that happens to her is her hair is burned away.
I can't be certain, but I believe there may have been references in the first book to her touching burning coals and other hot materials, as well.
Is this a trait shared by other Targaryens? Her brother certainly wasn't immune to molten gold, and while a number of Targaryens were fascinated with fire (Aerion Targaryen died from drinking wildfire, believing it would turn him into a dragon), I don't recall seeing mention of any Targaryen shrugging off fire.
Is Daenerys' apparent immunity explained anywhere? | 2012/01/19 | [
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/9356",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com",
"https://scifi.stackexchange.com/users/1359/"
] | As of the end of *A Dance with Dragons* the Targaryen immunity to fire is intentionally left ambiguous; As is most of the dogma behind dragons. She is obviously highly resistant to fire and heat at the very least.
*A Dance with Dragons* introduces other characters who believe they have Targaryens blood. It is inferred by those characters that they should be immune to fire.
According to [A Wiki of Ice and Fire](http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/House_Targaryen):
>
> The phrase "blood of the dragon" refers to a number of typical
> Targaryen features: silvery-gold (or platinum) hair and violet eyes.
> Some Targaryens also have a high tolerance of heat, though they are by
> no means immune to fire.
>
>
> | While it is left somewhat ambiguous as to whether her family is inherently immune to fire, she certainly seems to be that way. While the second time she is 'burned' mentions pink and tender skin as well as sores, she herself later reflects that only her hair burned away, just like the first time. She even goes so far to try and make a hat to cover up her head.
Is she truly immune to fire? Perhaps, perhaps not. She had sores and tender flesh, but those might have been friction burns. She claims to have lost her whip somewhere along the way, if it got ripped out of her hands that would explain the sores.
What remains certain is that she was subjected to fire **hot enough to burn away her hair** and come away unharmed. If that is not total immunity to fire, it's quite possibly the closest thing you're going to get.
While I don't doubt that at one point Martin might have intended it to be a one-time deal, it clearly is not. Also, there are more hints that Targaryen blood has power in it. Ben Plumm is quite liked by the dragons. One of them even goes so far as to land on his shoulder from time to time, something they only seem to do with Daenerys. So yes, I do think Targaryen blood has some sort of dragon-affinity and Daenerys herself has an immunity to fire. |
34,810,571 | A POST to a specific end point allows to upload an image except if the image is too large, so I want to return the appropiate http status code response in that case.
A http status code 400 response it does not seem to fit well in this case.
>
> 400 Bad Request: "The server cannot or will not process the request due
> to something that is perceived to be a client error (e.g., malformed
> request syntax, invalid request message framing, or deceptive request
> routing).
>
>
>
I think that the image being too large it does not imply that the request is malformed or syntactically incorrect.
Any suggestions? | 2016/01/15 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/34810571",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/722983/"
] | You can use 420 or even 422, but I would avoid that until you have really good reason to have separate code for it. Usually is better to keep number of different status codes rather small. Check top 10 on that list: <http://www.restapitutorial.com/httpstatuscodes.html>
You should avoid using more than 10 codes, because your API will become too complex.
So my answer is: use **400** with proper error message returned to the client like: **"Image too large, you can upload files up to XX MB"** | This seems like it would be an ideal candidate for 413 Payload Too Large. From [Section 6.5.11 of RFC 7231](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7231#section-6.5.11):
>
> The 413 (Payload Too Large) status code indicates that the server is
> refusing to process a request because the request payload is larger
> than the server is willing or able to process.
>
>
> |
264,368 | I wish to distinguish between items that are preferred and items that are good, but not necessarily preferred. Is there a word to describe the latter? | 2015/08/02 | [
"https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/264368",
"https://english.stackexchange.com",
"https://english.stackexchange.com/users/17902/"
] | I would go with "[acceptable](http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/acceptable)".
>
> good enough to be used for a particular purpose or to be considered satisfactory
>
>
>
So, a sentence might read:
>
> The preferred option is "Solution A" but "Solution B" is *acceptable*.
>
>
> | Perhaps "tolerable."
"I'd prefer X, but Y is tolerable." |
264,368 | I wish to distinguish between items that are preferred and items that are good, but not necessarily preferred. Is there a word to describe the latter? | 2015/08/02 | [
"https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/264368",
"https://english.stackexchange.com",
"https://english.stackexchange.com/users/17902/"
] | I would go with "[acceptable](http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/acceptable)".
>
> good enough to be used for a particular purpose or to be considered satisfactory
>
>
>
So, a sentence might read:
>
> The preferred option is "Solution A" but "Solution B" is *acceptable*.
>
>
> | Here's a suggestion--**suboptimal**. From **Collins**:
**suboptimal** (sʌbˈɒptɪməl) or suboptimum (sʌbˈɒptɪməm)
adjective not as good as possible, not quite optimal
Crossword puzzle bloggers reviewing puzzles that could be better often say that the puzzle contains **suboptimal fill**. |
9,924,687 | I have a home headless server for dev+testing.For small projects my workflow is just drag throught sftp several files to a temp folder on my workmachine and then upload them to the "production" server. But now I face a big project that dapends on the release files has no changes. Production server is a shared hosting with apache. I don't want to waste time neither bandwidth. Seems that a revision control software could suit the purpose. But i can't install software above apache. What could the workflow be? Is there any "subversion","git", (...) for web deployement?Any other solution?
Thanks in advance | 2012/03/29 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/9924687",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1300612/"
] | You need ssh (or direct) access to do this(svn or git deploy) but you can use phing deployment and composer for the dependencies.
<https://github.com/composer/composer>
<http://www.phing.info/trac/> | You can use rsync the same way you use sftp (obviusly, the server has to support it) and is instantaneos for something like 65000 files (wen only maybe 2 have changed).
Something like GIT or SVN can be much better, and have other features, but if you want something simple, and you are a single dev, you can use a backup system + rsync + a diff tool like Meld or WinMerge.
Possible workflow:
* You develop in workstation A, in folder "dev/".
* You review changes, and transfer changes with diff/winmerge to folder "rc/".
* You upload "rc/" to "public\_html/" in the public server with rsync.
Wen you copy changes from "dev/" to "rc/" you re-read then, and check if make sense, only transfering the changes that make sense and don't make rc/ unstable. If all changes are safe, you can do it just a single button.
This is a inferior system to using something based on git/svn. |
9,924,687 | I have a home headless server for dev+testing.For small projects my workflow is just drag throught sftp several files to a temp folder on my workmachine and then upload them to the "production" server. But now I face a big project that dapends on the release files has no changes. Production server is a shared hosting with apache. I don't want to waste time neither bandwidth. Seems that a revision control software could suit the purpose. But i can't install software above apache. What could the workflow be? Is there any "subversion","git", (...) for web deployement?Any other solution?
Thanks in advance | 2012/03/29 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/9924687",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1300612/"
] | You need ssh (or direct) access to do this(svn or git deploy) but you can use phing deployment and composer for the dependencies.
<https://github.com/composer/composer>
<http://www.phing.info/trac/> | *VCS-systems* and *Deploy-systems* are, really, different classes for different jobs and tasks. You have to ask, "How to deploy web application", I think.
Phing already was recommended, from other side you can (using tools of your SCM, if any used) export changed files after each changeset and transfer on shared hosting using any available transport. Can't see problem here.
>
> For small projects my workflow is just drag throught sftp several
> files to a temp folder on my workmachine and then upload them to the
> "production" server
>
>
>
is perfectly applicable to big projects also |
28,312 | Look at this
I've found a skeleton riding a spider in my world, could it be a hidden monster ?
It was very bugging jumping up and down from the spider when the spider died quickly from another monster around.
Any explanation ? | 2011/08/19 | [
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/28312",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com",
"https://gaming.stackexchange.com/users/11188/"
] | [Spider jockeys](http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Spider_Jockey) have been in the game since seecret update 8 of Alpha. They are extremely rare, but not unknown or undiscovered. | As the answer by Dave McClelland says, its a spider jockey. A spider Jockey possesses the power to climb and run quickly like a spider but can shoot arrows like a skeleton, making it difficult to defeat. of all the spiders that spawn in minecraft theres only a 1% chance that it will be a spider jockey. |
42,652,747 | The test codes are written using SimpleTest framework, and I am looking for a tool or an open source solution to perform Code Coverage. | 2017/03/07 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/42652747",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/7673379/"
] | Use SimpleTest's Coverage extension:
<https://github.com/simpletest/simpletest/tree/master/extensions/coverage> | You can use **phpunit**
Read about it, mostly used.
<http://phpunit.de> -- page is in english
Git: <https://github.com/sebastianbergmann/phpunit>
CodeCoverage: <http://phpunit.de/manual/current/en/code-coverage-analysis.html> |
222,592 | Basicall I have installed a few desktop environments. And if you are familiar with Unity, you know that the way switching works, is you get this sort of drop-down with all the environments installed, you then high-light the desired option and click "ok". So my problem is that I have quite a few installed, and OK button is outside of the screen, and I cannot find any way to scroll down? So in turn, I cannot switch my DE as a result.. any way around this? | 2012/11/27 | [
"https://askubuntu.com/questions/222592",
"https://askubuntu.com",
"https://askubuntu.com/users/101064/"
] | I think the problem is that Nemo doesn't start automatically.
To check this, as soon as you log in open "system monitor" and control if "Nemo" is one of the active processes.
If not you should go to "Applications boot", or something similar, and add an entry, call it "Nemo" and fill in as a command "nemo". | Make sure the Advanced Settings/ Gnome Tweak tool is installed . There is a new version in 12.10 for Gnome 3.6 .I don't know if it would have been replaced during the upgrade since I did a clean installation . That is where the desktop icons and nautilus control desktop settings are.
<http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2073978#2> |
222,592 | Basicall I have installed a few desktop environments. And if you are familiar with Unity, you know that the way switching works, is you get this sort of drop-down with all the environments installed, you then high-light the desired option and click "ok". So my problem is that I have quite a few installed, and OK button is outside of the screen, and I cannot find any way to scroll down? So in turn, I cannot switch my DE as a result.. any way around this? | 2012/11/27 | [
"https://askubuntu.com/questions/222592",
"https://askubuntu.com",
"https://askubuntu.com/users/101064/"
] | I think the problem is that Nemo doesn't start automatically.
To check this, as soon as you log in open "system monitor" and control if "Nemo" is one of the active processes.
If not you should go to "Applications boot", or something similar, and add an entry, call it "Nemo" and fill in as a command "nemo". | Under your system settings you could find default applications settings . there you can change your file manger from nautilus to nemo .
then re login .
hope that helps . |
1,037,812 | I connected my PC to my 40" LG TV and the starting screen came up but when it gets to the screen with the icons on the side it goes black and says invalid format. | 2016/02/10 | [
"https://superuser.com/questions/1037812",
"https://superuser.com",
"https://superuser.com/users/556219/"
] | I found the issue! I deleted the drivers for the mouse and keyboard, then restarted the machine. It no longer locks up. Previously, i had only checked for updates, and made sure they didn't have the yellow warning symbol, I did not think to remove them entirely until today. | I would suspect an issue with the USB ports. The first think I would try is to connect another USB device to another port and see if that stops working also.
The kbd has its own power so if there r any LEDs on it they may not go out, but if u see an LED on the mouse when it is working, does it go out when it stops. That would indicate a power problem with the ports. U could also try a wired kbd to see if the LEDs go out when it stops. |
2,271 | I'm exclusively breastfeeding my baby, and occasionally give him pumped bottles. I generally try to warm them up before giving them to him, at least to room temperature. (I was once told as a tip to get babies used to room-temperature bottles right away, just in case sometime you don't have a way to heat it up...) Sometimes, though, he is frantically crying as I'm trying to warm up the bottle... Is it ok to give him a cold bottle? He doesn't seem to mind, and drinks the whole thing. Are there any problems with feeding a 2-3 month old a cold bottle? | 2011/07/13 | [
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/2271",
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com",
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com/users/1131/"
] | The biggest risk is that the baby won't drink it. If your baby is content to drink cold milk, then it is perfectly fine.
I couldn't find any online resources from medical professionals discussing it, but I did find that [you are not alone](http://community.babycenter.com/post/a9440535/feeding_baby_cold_breast_milk) in your situation :) Lots of other mothers have had this same dilemma, and many in that discussion shared that they have not run into any problems (aside from some babies simply not liking their milk cold).
**Edit: I found [this link](http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/breastfeeding/while-working/storing-transporting-breast-milk) which references a chart that indicates how long breast milk can be stored at room temperature. Depending upon your pumping schedule, you may be able to simply keep a bottle out for that "I need food *NOW*" moment.** | Yes, you can feed your baby a **room-temperature** bottle.
No, you should not feed your baby a **fridge-temperature** bottle.
The reason is that infants are very small bodies, so temperature differences are more significant to them than to older kids or adults.
Infants can't handle a steaming hot cup of tea, just like they can't handle milk that's just a few degrees above freezing. The closer to the natural body-temperature their food is, the easier they can handle it.
By the way, the same idea applies to bath water. (For bathing, not drinking!) |
2,271 | I'm exclusively breastfeeding my baby, and occasionally give him pumped bottles. I generally try to warm them up before giving them to him, at least to room temperature. (I was once told as a tip to get babies used to room-temperature bottles right away, just in case sometime you don't have a way to heat it up...) Sometimes, though, he is frantically crying as I'm trying to warm up the bottle... Is it ok to give him a cold bottle? He doesn't seem to mind, and drinks the whole thing. Are there any problems with feeding a 2-3 month old a cold bottle? | 2011/07/13 | [
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/2271",
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com",
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com/users/1131/"
] | The biggest risk is that the baby won't drink it. If your baby is content to drink cold milk, then it is perfectly fine.
I couldn't find any online resources from medical professionals discussing it, but I did find that [you are not alone](http://community.babycenter.com/post/a9440535/feeding_baby_cold_breast_milk) in your situation :) Lots of other mothers have had this same dilemma, and many in that discussion shared that they have not run into any problems (aside from some babies simply not liking their milk cold).
**Edit: I found [this link](http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/breastfeeding/while-working/storing-transporting-breast-milk) which references a chart that indicates how long breast milk can be stored at room temperature. Depending upon your pumping schedule, you may be able to simply keep a bottle out for that "I need food *NOW*" moment.** | I did find research on the effect of milk temperature on preterm infants at <http://milkbank.com/pdf/Stanford_Study_milk_feeding_temperature.pdf>
A summary of the results included the following statement: The infants in this study had a similar tolerance (as measured by gastric residuals) to both cool temperature milk (10°C) and room temperature milk (24°C). Based on these data, there appears to be no advantage to warming frozen or refrigerated milk to room temperature.
The study did reveal better tolerance for warmed milk for these fragile infants. |
2,271 | I'm exclusively breastfeeding my baby, and occasionally give him pumped bottles. I generally try to warm them up before giving them to him, at least to room temperature. (I was once told as a tip to get babies used to room-temperature bottles right away, just in case sometime you don't have a way to heat it up...) Sometimes, though, he is frantically crying as I'm trying to warm up the bottle... Is it ok to give him a cold bottle? He doesn't seem to mind, and drinks the whole thing. Are there any problems with feeding a 2-3 month old a cold bottle? | 2011/07/13 | [
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com/questions/2271",
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com",
"https://parenting.stackexchange.com/users/1131/"
] | The biggest risk is that the baby won't drink it. If your baby is content to drink cold milk, then it is perfectly fine.
I couldn't find any online resources from medical professionals discussing it, but I did find that [you are not alone](http://community.babycenter.com/post/a9440535/feeding_baby_cold_breast_milk) in your situation :) Lots of other mothers have had this same dilemma, and many in that discussion shared that they have not run into any problems (aside from some babies simply not liking their milk cold).
**Edit: I found [this link](http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/breastfeeding/while-working/storing-transporting-breast-milk) which references a chart that indicates how long breast milk can be stored at room temperature. Depending upon your pumping schedule, you may be able to simply keep a bottle out for that "I need food *NOW*" moment.** | I can't provide any supporting evidence, but I can tell you that at my very first pediatrician appointment with my first son, I had this exact conversation with my pediatrician.
I live in Southern California (a warm climate anyway) and my son was born in the summer, so the weather was quite warm. My son started fussing a bit, and I was having typical new mom anxiety because I didn't have anyway to warm his bottle (I wasn't good enough at breastfeeding to do that in public yet). I asked my pediatrician if they had some way I could warm the bottle, and his response "Would you want to drink something warm when it is this hot outside? I bet your son would also prefer his drinks cold."
That was the last time I heated any bottle for either of my kids. |
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