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120,952 | ### My previous employer wants me to fix a bug in the code I wrote while I was working for them. Should I provide assistance to them—on contract (paid) or for free—despite the fact I am no longer working for them?
**Background:**
Last summer I worked as an intern for a large manufacturing company. The duration of my contract was fixed to 3 months. I was paid an hourly rate for my work. My job responsibilities entailed IT support and software development. The software project that I worked on was a fairly simple server application. I worked on the project exclusively. Initially the project seemed to be a success, the software was working as intended. Before my contract concluded and I left the company, I made sure to leave extensive documentation on how to use the program and how to edit the source code should they need to.
I did not sign a contract specifically pertaining to this software project and any post deployment assistance it may require.
Since then I have started working for a different company as a full-time software developer in a different country.
**Problem:**
I have recently been contacted by my previous employer (this is over a year after my contract ended with them), saying that there is a small bug with the software that I previously wrote, and that they need my help to fix said problem. As previously mentioned I now work full-time in a different country. This means that going back there in person is out of the question. Though I do believe it will be possible to fix the bug remotely. If I were to help fix this bug it would require me to devote my free time (evenings/weekends) to assist them.
It is in my best interest to fix this bug so that I can still use the previous employer as a reference for future employment. I do not want them to be on bad terms with me.
**Question:**
Should I negotiate a new contract with my previous employer and charge them money for this additional assistance that I would be providing them in my spare time? Or should I provide the assistance for free since it is my moral responsibility, even though I am not contractually obligated to?
**Important update:** My current employer has given me permission to work for the previous employer, provided that certain criteria is met:
* I provide them with regular updates on the progression and estimated duration of the project.
* I manage my time such that this additional work does not negativley impact my current work for them i.e. do not work late into the night before a work day.
* I keep silence to anybody else of the works I currently do for my current employer. | 2018/10/17 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/120952",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/92732/"
] | ### Fixing the bug is not your responsibility.
>
> should I provide the assistance for free since it is my morale responsibility
>
>
>
No. It is *not* your moral or legal responsibility to provide free help. You are not their employee anymore.
>
> I made sure to leave extensive documentation on how to use the program and how to edit the source code should they need to.
>
>
>
Good! You've already done what you need to do to help out. They are aware of the bug and have the resources to fix it themselves. They are expected to fix it, not you.
There are also several strong reasons why you should not do the work for free:
* You're a professional now. Performing unpaid work does not benefit you.
* You are currently employed by a new company. Performing after-hours work for your old company may be considered a conflict of interest or breach of contract.
* It's been at least a year since you left the old company, and their systems may have changed. You have no idea how long this fix will take to complete.
### How should you respond to their request?
Option A is to politely refuse, and direct them to the documentation that you left behind.
>
> Should I negotiate a new contract with my previous employer and charge them money for this additional assistance that I would be providing them in my spare time?
>
>
>
Option B is to discuss this with your current employer. Maybe you can negotiate a temporary contract to help out the old company, but you must get your current employer's permission first. Also be sure to ask how much time they (the old company) expect from you. | Don't even respond to them. Any amount of money you could charge them isn't worth the trouble it will cause. They're looking for someone to do some work for them who they can manage to not pay. Let me tell you how this works. First, they just have "a small change - I'm sure you can do this in fifteen minutes". Then it's "while we've got your attention, could you make one more change for us. With your great skills this won't take you any time at all". Pretty soon you're spending all your free time, evenings, and weekends working for this company in FarAwayLandistan. And when time for payment comes? ......... (*crickets*)
Do yourself a favor, save yourself some time and annoyance, and ignore them. If they want this work done they'll find someone local to do it. |
120,952 | ### My previous employer wants me to fix a bug in the code I wrote while I was working for them. Should I provide assistance to them—on contract (paid) or for free—despite the fact I am no longer working for them?
**Background:**
Last summer I worked as an intern for a large manufacturing company. The duration of my contract was fixed to 3 months. I was paid an hourly rate for my work. My job responsibilities entailed IT support and software development. The software project that I worked on was a fairly simple server application. I worked on the project exclusively. Initially the project seemed to be a success, the software was working as intended. Before my contract concluded and I left the company, I made sure to leave extensive documentation on how to use the program and how to edit the source code should they need to.
I did not sign a contract specifically pertaining to this software project and any post deployment assistance it may require.
Since then I have started working for a different company as a full-time software developer in a different country.
**Problem:**
I have recently been contacted by my previous employer (this is over a year after my contract ended with them), saying that there is a small bug with the software that I previously wrote, and that they need my help to fix said problem. As previously mentioned I now work full-time in a different country. This means that going back there in person is out of the question. Though I do believe it will be possible to fix the bug remotely. If I were to help fix this bug it would require me to devote my free time (evenings/weekends) to assist them.
It is in my best interest to fix this bug so that I can still use the previous employer as a reference for future employment. I do not want them to be on bad terms with me.
**Question:**
Should I negotiate a new contract with my previous employer and charge them money for this additional assistance that I would be providing them in my spare time? Or should I provide the assistance for free since it is my moral responsibility, even though I am not contractually obligated to?
**Important update:** My current employer has given me permission to work for the previous employer, provided that certain criteria is met:
* I provide them with regular updates on the progression and estimated duration of the project.
* I manage my time such that this additional work does not negativley impact my current work for them i.e. do not work late into the night before a work day.
* I keep silence to anybody else of the works I currently do for my current employer. | 2018/10/17 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/120952",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/92732/"
] | I had a former employer do this with me once. Here are your basic options:
1. Do it for free.
2. Tell them to go fish.
3. Send them your time estimate and hourly rate. Offer to fix it for a price.
This is a nice way to put it on them; you're not saying no, and willing to work with them, but you're not a chump.
I'd avoid (2), which pretty much burns the bridge, and recommend either (1) or (3).
If the reference/relationship is very important to you, then maybe do it for free this time, but if they ask for another favor, quote them a time and cost.
If you work for free, they lose respect for you.
I chose (3). They said no. | Don't even respond to them. Any amount of money you could charge them isn't worth the trouble it will cause. They're looking for someone to do some work for them who they can manage to not pay. Let me tell you how this works. First, they just have "a small change - I'm sure you can do this in fifteen minutes". Then it's "while we've got your attention, could you make one more change for us. With your great skills this won't take you any time at all". Pretty soon you're spending all your free time, evenings, and weekends working for this company in FarAwayLandistan. And when time for payment comes? ......... (*crickets*)
Do yourself a favor, save yourself some time and annoyance, and ignore them. If they want this work done they'll find someone local to do it. |
120,952 | ### My previous employer wants me to fix a bug in the code I wrote while I was working for them. Should I provide assistance to them—on contract (paid) or for free—despite the fact I am no longer working for them?
**Background:**
Last summer I worked as an intern for a large manufacturing company. The duration of my contract was fixed to 3 months. I was paid an hourly rate for my work. My job responsibilities entailed IT support and software development. The software project that I worked on was a fairly simple server application. I worked on the project exclusively. Initially the project seemed to be a success, the software was working as intended. Before my contract concluded and I left the company, I made sure to leave extensive documentation on how to use the program and how to edit the source code should they need to.
I did not sign a contract specifically pertaining to this software project and any post deployment assistance it may require.
Since then I have started working for a different company as a full-time software developer in a different country.
**Problem:**
I have recently been contacted by my previous employer (this is over a year after my contract ended with them), saying that there is a small bug with the software that I previously wrote, and that they need my help to fix said problem. As previously mentioned I now work full-time in a different country. This means that going back there in person is out of the question. Though I do believe it will be possible to fix the bug remotely. If I were to help fix this bug it would require me to devote my free time (evenings/weekends) to assist them.
It is in my best interest to fix this bug so that I can still use the previous employer as a reference for future employment. I do not want them to be on bad terms with me.
**Question:**
Should I negotiate a new contract with my previous employer and charge them money for this additional assistance that I would be providing them in my spare time? Or should I provide the assistance for free since it is my moral responsibility, even though I am not contractually obligated to?
**Important update:** My current employer has given me permission to work for the previous employer, provided that certain criteria is met:
* I provide them with regular updates on the progression and estimated duration of the project.
* I manage my time such that this additional work does not negativley impact my current work for them i.e. do not work late into the night before a work day.
* I keep silence to anybody else of the works I currently do for my current employer. | 2018/10/17 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/120952",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/92732/"
] | >
> Should I negotiate a new contract with my previous employer and charge
> them money for this additional assistance that I would be providing
> them in my spare time? Or should I provide the assistance for free
> since it is my morale responsibility, even though I am not
> contractually obligated to?
>
>
>
There are no moral obligations in business.
You were paid by the hour, not by the result. And from what you described the company is seeking your assistance from a neutral position, they are not angry or threatening you.
Most likely, they already did a quick guestimate and believe that asking you to fix the bug will be faster, cheaper and possibly less likely to introduce other bugs than hiring someone new who is unfamiliar with the code.
Their request is an absolutely rational one. The person who wrote the code is usually the best person to fix a bug. Reaching out to you with a request for help is an obvious solution. Most likely, they will not be surprised by you asking for payment, and most likely they would not be losing sleep if you refused.
So **yes**, if you wish to, you can offer them to fix the bug at an hourly rate that you find justified. You should detail everything you mentioned above - that you are full-time employed, would complete this work in your spare time (important for an estimate of deadlines!) and that you can only do the work remotely.
And **yes**, you should ask for compensation for your time. Why would you do this for free? Why would you assume they expect you do it for free? Would they do something for free for you?
And that is all there is to it. I would abstain from the philosophical musings of some other answers. Why they found the bug now, whether or not they read your documentation, if they already tried fixing the bug with in-house people - all of that is of no consequence to your question.
Don't overthink simple things. | I am surprised none of the answers until now mention you were a "intern".
The reality is that they abused your presence as an intern to do production quality work and now are asking if you still support their operations. Bottom line: the internship has ended, and you do not owe them anything. An intern is an intern, after all. E.g., You should have had a mentor at the time guiding you and being familiar with the work you left behind, and it is not your responsibility that has not happened.
It is however, a good idea to keep to not burn that bridge.
If you are still willing to assist them to, I would try to have a rough estimate of the time it would take to do it, or just to be on the safe side quote yourself as working between 100-200 Euros per hour with a minimum down payment of 3-4 hours.
Otherwise the money won't be worth the disruption it creates in your professional and private life.
As others say, be also very aware of your local tax laws. I refused work/short gigs in the past that on paper looked very good, however after taxes they were not worth it, for several reasons that are not relevant to your question.
P.S. Be also aware of exception/precedence laws. We have one exception for a couple of years that does not demand much paperwork, however if we burn that opportunity with work of a couple of hundred euros, we cannot benefit from it if another opportunity arises. |
120,952 | ### My previous employer wants me to fix a bug in the code I wrote while I was working for them. Should I provide assistance to them—on contract (paid) or for free—despite the fact I am no longer working for them?
**Background:**
Last summer I worked as an intern for a large manufacturing company. The duration of my contract was fixed to 3 months. I was paid an hourly rate for my work. My job responsibilities entailed IT support and software development. The software project that I worked on was a fairly simple server application. I worked on the project exclusively. Initially the project seemed to be a success, the software was working as intended. Before my contract concluded and I left the company, I made sure to leave extensive documentation on how to use the program and how to edit the source code should they need to.
I did not sign a contract specifically pertaining to this software project and any post deployment assistance it may require.
Since then I have started working for a different company as a full-time software developer in a different country.
**Problem:**
I have recently been contacted by my previous employer (this is over a year after my contract ended with them), saying that there is a small bug with the software that I previously wrote, and that they need my help to fix said problem. As previously mentioned I now work full-time in a different country. This means that going back there in person is out of the question. Though I do believe it will be possible to fix the bug remotely. If I were to help fix this bug it would require me to devote my free time (evenings/weekends) to assist them.
It is in my best interest to fix this bug so that I can still use the previous employer as a reference for future employment. I do not want them to be on bad terms with me.
**Question:**
Should I negotiate a new contract with my previous employer and charge them money for this additional assistance that I would be providing them in my spare time? Or should I provide the assistance for free since it is my moral responsibility, even though I am not contractually obligated to?
**Important update:** My current employer has given me permission to work for the previous employer, provided that certain criteria is met:
* I provide them with regular updates on the progression and estimated duration of the project.
* I manage my time such that this additional work does not negativley impact my current work for them i.e. do not work late into the night before a work day.
* I keep silence to anybody else of the works I currently do for my current employer. | 2018/10/17 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/120952",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/92732/"
] | It is fairly normal for developers to do freelance work on the side. If you want to do it, just make sure there are no conflicts, legal or practical, between your full-time and part-time work arrangements. Ensure that both parties are crystal clear on what you are and are not agreeing to do for them, including time commitment. Research setting up your own corporation to protect yourself. Don't work without a fair, duly ***written*** and **signed** contract.
But based on your description, this is not, actually, "a bug in **your** code". It is a bug in **their** code, and you don't work for them any more. If you don't want to take the new contract, you don't have to. Simple as that.
More likely than not, in the absence of such a contract, you would not be *allowed* to fix, or even access, the code. And therefore, you could not possibly be responsible for it. | Of course you 'can' do this. As others have stated you should check with you current employer before doing this.
I would ask yourself several questions:
* What would happen if they have find another 'bug' in the future? Would you do the same thing the next time? The time after that?
* Would you do the same for your current employer if you move on from your current position?
I have had something this happen to me. I was the SME (subject matter expert) on several systems when I was laid off 28 months ago. I got some calls months after my position was eliminated - several from users and the rest from operations folks (both had my cell). I kindly explained that I no longer worked there (not my choice) and their best course of action was to contact my old manager (responsible for the systems). He could assign to the developer now assigned to the system.
And no - you don't have a moral obligation to your old employer. |
120,952 | ### My previous employer wants me to fix a bug in the code I wrote while I was working for them. Should I provide assistance to them—on contract (paid) or for free—despite the fact I am no longer working for them?
**Background:**
Last summer I worked as an intern for a large manufacturing company. The duration of my contract was fixed to 3 months. I was paid an hourly rate for my work. My job responsibilities entailed IT support and software development. The software project that I worked on was a fairly simple server application. I worked on the project exclusively. Initially the project seemed to be a success, the software was working as intended. Before my contract concluded and I left the company, I made sure to leave extensive documentation on how to use the program and how to edit the source code should they need to.
I did not sign a contract specifically pertaining to this software project and any post deployment assistance it may require.
Since then I have started working for a different company as a full-time software developer in a different country.
**Problem:**
I have recently been contacted by my previous employer (this is over a year after my contract ended with them), saying that there is a small bug with the software that I previously wrote, and that they need my help to fix said problem. As previously mentioned I now work full-time in a different country. This means that going back there in person is out of the question. Though I do believe it will be possible to fix the bug remotely. If I were to help fix this bug it would require me to devote my free time (evenings/weekends) to assist them.
It is in my best interest to fix this bug so that I can still use the previous employer as a reference for future employment. I do not want them to be on bad terms with me.
**Question:**
Should I negotiate a new contract with my previous employer and charge them money for this additional assistance that I would be providing them in my spare time? Or should I provide the assistance for free since it is my moral responsibility, even though I am not contractually obligated to?
**Important update:** My current employer has given me permission to work for the previous employer, provided that certain criteria is met:
* I provide them with regular updates on the progression and estimated duration of the project.
* I manage my time such that this additional work does not negativley impact my current work for them i.e. do not work late into the night before a work day.
* I keep silence to anybody else of the works I currently do for my current employer. | 2018/10/17 | [
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/120952",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com",
"https://workplace.stackexchange.com/users/92732/"
] | >
> Should I negotiate a new contract with my previous employer and charge
> them money for this additional assistance that I would be providing
> them in my spare time? Or should I provide the assistance for free
> since it is my morale responsibility, even though I am not
> contractually obligated to?
>
>
>
That depends on how you view your moral responsibility, how much you value your relationship with them, how long you think the bug fix will take, and how much you value this time.
You could just indicate you are too busy and thereby refuse to help fix the bug.
You could offer to take a quick look at the issue, then give them an estimate of how much time and at what rate it would take to fix the problem.
Or you could just agree to jump in and help fix it.
If it were me, and I didn't think it would take up too much of my spare time, I'd just do the latter.
In fact I have helped out previous employers. Many times.
I once left a Systems Administrator position. My replacement ended up deleting critical system files on a main drive and inadvertently deleting their only backup in the process. Although I had nothing to do with the cause, I worked with my replacement overnight all night long to rebuilt the operating system drive and create a viable backup, then went in to my regular work in the morning. I got a nice "Thank you" letter in return. To me, it was just the right thing to do. | IANAL.
Assuming that helping the previous company does not constitute a breach of contract or conflict of interest under your current contract (check this first!):
1. **You should not do the work for free.** Presumably this company still creates software. Presumably they have developers on staff. Presumably those developers are more experienced than some bottom-tier intern who worked there for 3 months (not to say you are bottom-tier now, but yourself at that time was probably less experienced than their full-time staff today). They can pay their employees to do it, or you can do it for them. What they're hoping to do is for you to do the work for less than they would have to pay their employees to do it. What this means presumably is:
Firstly, their people have not maintained your code in a year. They haven't read your documentation, made updates, adjustments, etc. That's their problem, not yours. "Your" code is actually "their" code, and they don't know their own code base, so the cost of them having to learn their own codebase is factored into their calculation.
Secondly and conversely, you know the code. Therefore, you should be able to take less time to fix the bug (or so they believe). Therefore, they can pay you less to fix it (because time = money and less time = less money, or so they believe), or nothing at all if they appeal to your sense of responsibility.
So, the thing you should do is to quote them an exorbitant fee to fix the code. The calculation you should go by is, if you expect it will take you X hours to fix it and you estimate it will take them Y hours to learn it, and they pay $Z/hr to their employees (you should have a rough idea of Z if you worked there as an intern, or at least if you know the market in the area), you should ask for (X + Y) \* Z to fix the bug (or ((X + Y) \* Z) / X hourly). That is the cost that you estimate they will pay their own employees to fix the bug, and you shouldn't short-change yourself.
2. **You should make it clear to them that this work will be done on your schedule, not on theirs, because you have a full-time job elsewhere and you will be doing this work for them after-hours.** This is to set expectations. They should understand that after a full day of working 9-5, you are not interested in working a 5-1 job, and that you will only be working on it for a couple hours per day. They need to understand this, because otherwise it will be trouble for you.
3. **You should make it clear to them that this is a one-time-deal only, and after this is done, they shouldn't count on you to maintain this code for them forever.** You provided documentation (good job!) on the code you wrote, and that's really where your responsibility should end, but you are providing this service out of the goodness of your heart, and they shouldn't push their luck. Once again, setting expectations.
4. And this is the most important part so it's in bold and italics: ***Get this in writing.*** Draw up and sign a contract. Don't just make it willy nilly he-said-she-said, because that's how you get screwed out of your work. You probably (IANAL) shouldn't need a lawyer to do this for you; a simple statement of the above terms (and whatever other terms you want) in an email, with an "acknowledged" or "confirmed" response from them should be good enough (IANAL). |
77,831 | I am thinking about buying solar panels for my roof.
Solar technology has not really matured yet and every newer generation is more effective and less expensive.
In April, for example, Tesla will start selling its brand new solar tiles, Elon Musk is quoted as saying "It's looking quite promising that a solar roof will actually cost less than a normal roof before you even take the value of electricity into account".
Suppose I buy these solar tiles in April. It will still be quite an investment. The next generation of this technology will most likely be even cheaper and more efficient, so do I wait for that one? How about the one after that? Or the one after that?
How do I decide when to buy into an emerging technology? Do I just guess when the best time is or is there an actual theory behind this sort of decision? | 2017/03/27 | [
"https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/77831",
"https://money.stackexchange.com",
"https://money.stackexchange.com/users/40740/"
] | The short answer is that it's never the right time to buy an emerging technology. As long as the technology is emerging, you should expect that newer revisions will be both better and less expensive.
With solar, specifically, there are some tax credits to help the early adopters that may help you on the cost/benefit analysis, but in the end, you still have to decide whether the benefits outweigh the costs now, and if not, whether that will change in the near future. For me, part of the solar benefit is the ability to generate electricity when the power goes out. That option does require local battery storage, however.
One of the benefits of using Musk's solar tiles instead of actual slate is the weight of the quartz tiles which is much lower than the weight of real slate. In many cases a slate roof is heavy enough to require major reinforcement of the roof trusses before installation. The lower weight also saves significantly on shipping costs. This is where Musk can lower costs enough to be competitive to some of the materials he hope to compete with. | As you said, the next generation will be cheaper and more efficient. Same for the generation after that.
From a financial standpoint, there isn't a steadfast theory that supports when to buy the technology. It comes down to primarily personal issues.
* Do you want to have the latest and greatest?
* Do you want a tech that's been properly "road-tested"?
* Do you need to replace what you currently have soon, or can you wait?
* Are there enough financial incentives to making an investment now? (i.e. will your current situation improve enough?)
As far as I know, Musk's claims about the cost were relating to a traditional slate roof, not a traditional asphalt shingle roof. I can't recall if he explicitly said one way or the other, but I have yet to see any math that supports a comparison to asphalt shingles. If you look at all of the demos and marketing material, it's comparisons to various styles of tile roofing, which is already more expensive than asphalt shingles.
Do you feel it's worth it to invest now, or do you think it would be more worth it to invest later when the costs are lower? A new roof will last 10-20 years (if not longer...I'm not a roof expert). Do you need a new roof yet? Are your electricity bills high enough that the cost of going solar will offset it enough? Can you sell unused power back to your power company? I could go on, but I think you get the point.
It's entirely a personal decision, and not one that will have a definitive answer. If you keep waiting to make a purchase because you're worried that the next generation will be cheaper and more efficient, then you're never going to make the purchase. |
77,831 | I am thinking about buying solar panels for my roof.
Solar technology has not really matured yet and every newer generation is more effective and less expensive.
In April, for example, Tesla will start selling its brand new solar tiles, Elon Musk is quoted as saying "It's looking quite promising that a solar roof will actually cost less than a normal roof before you even take the value of electricity into account".
Suppose I buy these solar tiles in April. It will still be quite an investment. The next generation of this technology will most likely be even cheaper and more efficient, so do I wait for that one? How about the one after that? Or the one after that?
How do I decide when to buy into an emerging technology? Do I just guess when the best time is or is there an actual theory behind this sort of decision? | 2017/03/27 | [
"https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/77831",
"https://money.stackexchange.com",
"https://money.stackexchange.com/users/40740/"
] | >
> When is the right time to buy a new/emerging technology?
>
>
>
When it's trading at a discount that allows you to make your money back and then some.
The way you presented it, it is of course impossible to say. You have to look at exactly how much cheaper and efficient it will be, and how long that will take. Time too has a cost, and being invested has opportunity cost, so the returns must not only arrive in expected quantity but also arrive on time.
Since you tagged this `investing`, you should look at the financial forecasts of the business, likely future price trajectories, growth opportunity and so on, and buy if you expect a return commensurate with the risk, and if the risk is tolerable to you. If you are new to investment, I would say avoid Musk, there's too much hype and speculation and their valuations are off the charts. You can't make any sensible analysis with so much emotion running wild. Find a more obscure, boring company that has a sound business plan and a good product you think is worth a try. If you read about it on mainstream news every day you can be sure it's sucker bait.
Also, my impression that these panels are actually really expensive and have a snowball's chance in Arizona (heh) in a free market. Recently the market has been manipulated through green energy subsidies of a government with a strong environmentalist voter base. This has recently changed, in case you haven't heard. So the future of solar panels is looking a bit uncertain.
>
> I am thinking about buying solar panels for my roof.
>
>
>
That's not an investment question, it's a shopping question.
Do you actually need a new roof? If no, I'd say don't bother. Last I checked the payoff is very small and it takes over a decade to break even, unless you live in a desert next to the Mexican border. Many places never break even. Electricity is cheap in the United States.
If you need a new roof anyway, I suppose look at the difference. If it's about the same you might as well, although it's guaranteed to be more hassle for you with the panels. Waiting makes no sense if you need a new roof, because who knows how long that will take and you need a roof now.
If a solar roof appeals to you and you would enjoy having one for the price available, go ahead and get one. Don't do it for the money because there's just too much uncertainty there, and it doesn't scale at all. If you do end up making money, good for you, but that's just a small, unexpected bonus on top of the utility of the product itself. | As you said, the next generation will be cheaper and more efficient. Same for the generation after that.
From a financial standpoint, there isn't a steadfast theory that supports when to buy the technology. It comes down to primarily personal issues.
* Do you want to have the latest and greatest?
* Do you want a tech that's been properly "road-tested"?
* Do you need to replace what you currently have soon, or can you wait?
* Are there enough financial incentives to making an investment now? (i.e. will your current situation improve enough?)
As far as I know, Musk's claims about the cost were relating to a traditional slate roof, not a traditional asphalt shingle roof. I can't recall if he explicitly said one way or the other, but I have yet to see any math that supports a comparison to asphalt shingles. If you look at all of the demos and marketing material, it's comparisons to various styles of tile roofing, which is already more expensive than asphalt shingles.
Do you feel it's worth it to invest now, or do you think it would be more worth it to invest later when the costs are lower? A new roof will last 10-20 years (if not longer...I'm not a roof expert). Do you need a new roof yet? Are your electricity bills high enough that the cost of going solar will offset it enough? Can you sell unused power back to your power company? I could go on, but I think you get the point.
It's entirely a personal decision, and not one that will have a definitive answer. If you keep waiting to make a purchase because you're worried that the next generation will be cheaper and more efficient, then you're never going to make the purchase. |
37,594 | I sometimes see questions where the author is clearly only working in C, yet the C++ tag is included anyways. I then see people offering C++-style solutions to the problem, only to have them ignored or rejected. In such cases, is it correct to remove the C++ tag from the question? | 2010/01/30 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/37594",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/142599/"
] | If an answer using C++-specific features would not be suitable or appropriate, then yes. However, most C programmers these days use a C++ compiler, as there are performance and efficiency improvements to be found there, so it does get to be a bit of a grey area. | In my opinion if the problem can occur in C++ too (and being a superset and all, it can) you shouldn't remove it. Maybe someone else with the same problem coming to the question with google is using C++, and can therefore use the C++ solutions that have been rejected by the OP. |
37,594 | I sometimes see questions where the author is clearly only working in C, yet the C++ tag is included anyways. I then see people offering C++-style solutions to the problem, only to have them ignored or rejected. In such cases, is it correct to remove the C++ tag from the question? | 2010/01/30 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/37594",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/142599/"
] | I think a lot of people using C are genuinely confused about the differences between the languages. And most C questions are in fact C++ questions too in that almost all C89 features are subsumed in C++. The only real issue occurs when you suggest using a"real" C++ feature like std::string rather than an array of char, but this doesn't seem to be much of a problem. So I would leave the tags alone, unless it is very, very obvious the question is solely about C. | If an answer using C++-specific features would not be suitable or appropriate, then yes. However, most C programmers these days use a C++ compiler, as there are performance and efficiency improvements to be found there, so it does get to be a bit of a grey area. |
37,594 | I sometimes see questions where the author is clearly only working in C, yet the C++ tag is included anyways. I then see people offering C++-style solutions to the problem, only to have them ignored or rejected. In such cases, is it correct to remove the C++ tag from the question? | 2010/01/30 | [
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/37594",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com",
"https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/142599/"
] | I think a lot of people using C are genuinely confused about the differences between the languages. And most C questions are in fact C++ questions too in that almost all C89 features are subsumed in C++. The only real issue occurs when you suggest using a"real" C++ feature like std::string rather than an array of char, but this doesn't seem to be much of a problem. So I would leave the tags alone, unless it is very, very obvious the question is solely about C. | In my opinion if the problem can occur in C++ too (and being a superset and all, it can) you shouldn't remove it. Maybe someone else with the same problem coming to the question with google is using C++, and can therefore use the C++ solutions that have been rejected by the OP. |
34,204,816 | In MySQL you create your database with the neccesary indexes before using it, but since mongodb creates the database on inserting, i was wondering where i have to put my index creation?
In which part of the code? Once in an initalization part? After each insert? Before a query?
Thanks for the advice!
Ruben | 2015/12/10 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/34204816",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/4016395/"
] | >
> In MySQL you create your database with the neccesary indexes before using it
>
>
>
So, how do you add new indexes to MySQL? I don't think that statement holds true. In fact I tend to make the database schema and application code up and then add indexes depending on how I query the data. You only know what indexes you need after using the database.
Same is true for MongoDB.
MongoDB indexes only need to be created once.
As to when to make them: the best time would probably be after you have completed your code development but before you deploy to public.
You can add it to your application code but normally I do index management separately since they work separately to the application in many cases, especially when you start getting into the more advanced features of MongoDB such as replication. | why you do not use GUI to control the indexes and tables[collections] . I use Rockmongo.
use this url , copy it on a directory and use it as phpmyadmin
<http://rockmongo.com/>
one of the abilities is indexes :) |
5,783 | When writing papers, is there a standard style that should be used for citing ArcGIS, specifically ArcMap?
In particular, how do you reference a specific tool that you used in your analysis. I'm not referring to the citation style being used specifically in the paper.
Esri [mention](http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2010/12/03/using-and-citing-esri-data.aspx) how to cite data produced from them, but I could not find any advice regarding citing the software. | 2011/02/03 | [
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5783",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/users/803/"
] | There are formats for citing software, see for example [this question](https://superuser.com/questions/8743/how-to-cite-software-in-latex) on tex.SE. Whether you should cite them depends on the publication venue, but particularly where the specific implementation is non-obvious it is a helpful thing to include. In this case, the citation would look something like:
>
> ESRI 2011. ArcGIS Desktop: Release 10.
> Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems
> Research Institute.
>
>
> | I might be misunderstanding your question but, I don't think you should cite ArcGIS or any of the tools used in any analysis. Citation is used for authoritative sources. Data citation should be included in the metadata of your data source. The tool you use for analysis is not an authoritative source, the person using the tool is. E. g. you cite the author of an article or book, not the pen it was written with. |
5,783 | When writing papers, is there a standard style that should be used for citing ArcGIS, specifically ArcMap?
In particular, how do you reference a specific tool that you used in your analysis. I'm not referring to the citation style being used specifically in the paper.
Esri [mention](http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2010/12/03/using-and-citing-esri-data.aspx) how to cite data produced from them, but I could not find any advice regarding citing the software. | 2011/02/03 | [
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5783",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/users/803/"
] | There are formats for citing software, see for example [this question](https://superuser.com/questions/8743/how-to-cite-software-in-latex) on tex.SE. Whether you should cite them depends on the publication venue, but particularly where the specific implementation is non-obvious it is a helpful thing to include. In this case, the citation would look something like:
>
> ESRI 2011. ArcGIS Desktop: Release 10.
> Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems
> Research Institute.
>
>
> | Although I am not a researcher using ArcGIS myself, I must disagree with [@DonMeltz's answer](https://gis.stackexchange.com/a/5791/115), based on my experience with editing archaeological research. When researchers use GIS software in an analysis, they always cite the name and version of the software used and describe how it was used. In one recent paper, ArcGIS was used in concert with statistics software to predict where certain clays used in making pots could have been sourced. Because clay is too heavy to be moved long distances, the analysis could indicate where a pot was made. The method is in its infancy, so the researchers were careful to be specific about the software and potential issues in its use. |
5,783 | When writing papers, is there a standard style that should be used for citing ArcGIS, specifically ArcMap?
In particular, how do you reference a specific tool that you used in your analysis. I'm not referring to the citation style being used specifically in the paper.
Esri [mention](http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2010/12/03/using-and-citing-esri-data.aspx) how to cite data produced from them, but I could not find any advice regarding citing the software. | 2011/02/03 | [
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5783",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/users/803/"
] | Although I am not a researcher using ArcGIS myself, I must disagree with [@DonMeltz's answer](https://gis.stackexchange.com/a/5791/115), based on my experience with editing archaeological research. When researchers use GIS software in an analysis, they always cite the name and version of the software used and describe how it was used. In one recent paper, ArcGIS was used in concert with statistics software to predict where certain clays used in making pots could have been sourced. Because clay is too heavy to be moved long distances, the analysis could indicate where a pot was made. The method is in its infancy, so the researchers were careful to be specific about the software and potential issues in its use. | I believe that there is no reason to cite any software used for the analyses. It is necessary to cite the source of the method/algorithm. Help system of decent programs always includes references that describe the methods. Implementation in a specific program is not important if there is no bug present.
It is however crucial to establish reproducible research practice everywhere, including in spatial analyses. Publishing code and data to reproduce the analyses if more important than information what version of ArcMap/QGIS/... was used. |
5,783 | When writing papers, is there a standard style that should be used for citing ArcGIS, specifically ArcMap?
In particular, how do you reference a specific tool that you used in your analysis. I'm not referring to the citation style being used specifically in the paper.
Esri [mention](http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2010/12/03/using-and-citing-esri-data.aspx) how to cite data produced from them, but I could not find any advice regarding citing the software. | 2011/02/03 | [
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5783",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/users/803/"
] | In order for another scientist to replicate your work in an independent manner, you need to specify the algorithm you use at least and preferably provide a link to a publicly inspectable source code repository. Imagine if chemists wrote papers saying you must get your reagents from X Supply House to repeat this. | It will largely depend on the journal. Many will have guidelines for citing software and how to do it, and if they don't you might find older papers in the journal with references to software - then at least you know they've accepted that form in the past. |
5,783 | When writing papers, is there a standard style that should be used for citing ArcGIS, specifically ArcMap?
In particular, how do you reference a specific tool that you used in your analysis. I'm not referring to the citation style being used specifically in the paper.
Esri [mention](http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2010/12/03/using-and-citing-esri-data.aspx) how to cite data produced from them, but I could not find any advice regarding citing the software. | 2011/02/03 | [
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5783",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/users/803/"
] | I might be misunderstanding your question but, I don't think you should cite ArcGIS or any of the tools used in any analysis. Citation is used for authoritative sources. Data citation should be included in the metadata of your data source. The tool you use for analysis is not an authoritative source, the person using the tool is. E. g. you cite the author of an article or book, not the pen it was written with. | It will largely depend on the journal. Many will have guidelines for citing software and how to do it, and if they don't you might find older papers in the journal with references to software - then at least you know they've accepted that form in the past. |
5,783 | When writing papers, is there a standard style that should be used for citing ArcGIS, specifically ArcMap?
In particular, how do you reference a specific tool that you used in your analysis. I'm not referring to the citation style being used specifically in the paper.
Esri [mention](http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2010/12/03/using-and-citing-esri-data.aspx) how to cite data produced from them, but I could not find any advice regarding citing the software. | 2011/02/03 | [
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5783",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/users/803/"
] | It will largely depend on the journal. Many will have guidelines for citing software and how to do it, and if they don't you might find older papers in the journal with references to software - then at least you know they've accepted that form in the past. | I believe that there is no reason to cite any software used for the analyses. It is necessary to cite the source of the method/algorithm. Help system of decent programs always includes references that describe the methods. Implementation in a specific program is not important if there is no bug present.
It is however crucial to establish reproducible research practice everywhere, including in spatial analyses. Publishing code and data to reproduce the analyses if more important than information what version of ArcMap/QGIS/... was used. |
5,783 | When writing papers, is there a standard style that should be used for citing ArcGIS, specifically ArcMap?
In particular, how do you reference a specific tool that you used in your analysis. I'm not referring to the citation style being used specifically in the paper.
Esri [mention](http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2010/12/03/using-and-citing-esri-data.aspx) how to cite data produced from them, but I could not find any advice regarding citing the software. | 2011/02/03 | [
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5783",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/users/803/"
] | I might be misunderstanding your question but, I don't think you should cite ArcGIS or any of the tools used in any analysis. Citation is used for authoritative sources. Data citation should be included in the metadata of your data source. The tool you use for analysis is not an authoritative source, the person using the tool is. E. g. you cite the author of an article or book, not the pen it was written with. | Although I am not a researcher using ArcGIS myself, I must disagree with [@DonMeltz's answer](https://gis.stackexchange.com/a/5791/115), based on my experience with editing archaeological research. When researchers use GIS software in an analysis, they always cite the name and version of the software used and describe how it was used. In one recent paper, ArcGIS was used in concert with statistics software to predict where certain clays used in making pots could have been sourced. Because clay is too heavy to be moved long distances, the analysis could indicate where a pot was made. The method is in its infancy, so the researchers were careful to be specific about the software and potential issues in its use. |
5,783 | When writing papers, is there a standard style that should be used for citing ArcGIS, specifically ArcMap?
In particular, how do you reference a specific tool that you used in your analysis. I'm not referring to the citation style being used specifically in the paper.
Esri [mention](http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2010/12/03/using-and-citing-esri-data.aspx) how to cite data produced from them, but I could not find any advice regarding citing the software. | 2011/02/03 | [
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5783",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/users/803/"
] | There are formats for citing software, see for example [this question](https://superuser.com/questions/8743/how-to-cite-software-in-latex) on tex.SE. Whether you should cite them depends on the publication venue, but particularly where the specific implementation is non-obvious it is a helpful thing to include. In this case, the citation would look something like:
>
> ESRI 2011. ArcGIS Desktop: Release 10.
> Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems
> Research Institute.
>
>
> | It will largely depend on the journal. Many will have guidelines for citing software and how to do it, and if they don't you might find older papers in the journal with references to software - then at least you know they've accepted that form in the past. |
5,783 | When writing papers, is there a standard style that should be used for citing ArcGIS, specifically ArcMap?
In particular, how do you reference a specific tool that you used in your analysis. I'm not referring to the citation style being used specifically in the paper.
Esri [mention](http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2010/12/03/using-and-citing-esri-data.aspx) how to cite data produced from them, but I could not find any advice regarding citing the software. | 2011/02/03 | [
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5783",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/users/803/"
] | There are formats for citing software, see for example [this question](https://superuser.com/questions/8743/how-to-cite-software-in-latex) on tex.SE. Whether you should cite them depends on the publication venue, but particularly where the specific implementation is non-obvious it is a helpful thing to include. In this case, the citation would look something like:
>
> ESRI 2011. ArcGIS Desktop: Release 10.
> Redlands, CA: Environmental Systems
> Research Institute.
>
>
> | I believe that there is no reason to cite any software used for the analyses. It is necessary to cite the source of the method/algorithm. Help system of decent programs always includes references that describe the methods. Implementation in a specific program is not important if there is no bug present.
It is however crucial to establish reproducible research practice everywhere, including in spatial analyses. Publishing code and data to reproduce the analyses if more important than information what version of ArcMap/QGIS/... was used. |
5,783 | When writing papers, is there a standard style that should be used for citing ArcGIS, specifically ArcMap?
In particular, how do you reference a specific tool that you used in your analysis. I'm not referring to the citation style being used specifically in the paper.
Esri [mention](http://blogs.esri.com/Support/blogs/mappingcenter/archive/2010/12/03/using-and-citing-esri-data.aspx) how to cite data produced from them, but I could not find any advice regarding citing the software. | 2011/02/03 | [
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/5783",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com",
"https://gis.stackexchange.com/users/803/"
] | In order for another scientist to replicate your work in an independent manner, you need to specify the algorithm you use at least and preferably provide a link to a publicly inspectable source code repository. Imagine if chemists wrote papers saying you must get your reagents from X Supply House to repeat this. | I believe that there is no reason to cite any software used for the analyses. It is necessary to cite the source of the method/algorithm. Help system of decent programs always includes references that describe the methods. Implementation in a specific program is not important if there is no bug present.
It is however crucial to establish reproducible research practice everywhere, including in spatial analyses. Publishing code and data to reproduce the analyses if more important than information what version of ArcMap/QGIS/... was used. |
28,947 | The recent question about the most prolific collaboration interested me. How about this question in the opposite direction, then: can anyone beat, amongst contemporary mathematicians, the example of Christopher Hooley, who has written 91 papers and has yet to coauthor a single one (at least if one discounts an obituary written in 1986)? | 2010/06/21 | [
"https://mathoverflow.net/questions/28947",
"https://mathoverflow.net",
"https://mathoverflow.net/users/5575/"
] | Lucien Godeaux wrote more than 600 papers and not one of them is a joint paper. He cowrote a textbook in projective geometry. Mathscinet records only 15 citations to all these papers! But there is something called Godeaux surfaces which is mentioned in the literature. This is about the weirdest example I know.
<http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/search/author.html?mrauthid=241534> | I always like William Veech (57 papers) although it's unlikely, he will catch up. But his citation count is higher (after mathscinet). |
28,947 | The recent question about the most prolific collaboration interested me. How about this question in the opposite direction, then: can anyone beat, amongst contemporary mathematicians, the example of Christopher Hooley, who has written 91 papers and has yet to coauthor a single one (at least if one discounts an obituary written in 1986)? | 2010/06/21 | [
"https://mathoverflow.net/questions/28947",
"https://mathoverflow.net",
"https://mathoverflow.net/users/5575/"
] | I think amongst the Field medal laureates, [Atle Selberg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atle_Selberg) would be a good candidate: He wrote 48 articles, and only one is a collaboration (with S. Chowla), see [this link](http://publications.ias.edu/sites/default/files/BIBL.pdf). | Here is what Zentralblatt (which now includes Jahrbuch der Mathematik) says about
Godeaux, Lucien.
[https://zbmath.org/authors/?s=0&c=100&q=Godeaux%2C+L](https://zbmath.org/authors/?s=0&c=100&q=Godeaux%2C%20L)
Author-ID: godeaux.lucien
Published as: Godeaux, L.; Godeaux, Lucien
Documents indexed: 1213 Publications since 1906, including 28 Books
Co-Authors
1 Brocard, H.
1 Errera, Alfred
1 Mineur, Adolphe
1 Plakhowo, N.
1 Rozet, Octave
And about
Vietoris, Leopold
Author-ID: vietoris.leopold
Published as: Vietoris, Leopold; Vietoris, L.
Documents indexed: 80 Publications since 1916, including 1 Book
Co-Authors
1 Tietze, Heinrich |
28,947 | The recent question about the most prolific collaboration interested me. How about this question in the opposite direction, then: can anyone beat, amongst contemporary mathematicians, the example of Christopher Hooley, who has written 91 papers and has yet to coauthor a single one (at least if one discounts an obituary written in 1986)? | 2010/06/21 | [
"https://mathoverflow.net/questions/28947",
"https://mathoverflow.net",
"https://mathoverflow.net/users/5575/"
] | Leopold Vietoris (1891-2002) wrote more than 70 papers, only one of them with a coauthor see
[here](http://www.ams.org/notices/200210/fea-vietoris.pdf). | Wilfrid Norman Bailey (1893--1961), a British mathematician primarily known for Bailey's lemma (Bailey pairs, Bailey chains) in the theory of basic hypergeometric series, has authored 75 papers and one book.
Only one of his papers is joint, with John Macnaghten Whittaker (the son of famous Whittaker from Whittaker--Watson --- notice the order of authors); it is one page long and places Bailey second on the authors' list!
More about him can be found in my semi-historical review "Hypergeometric heritage of W.N. Bailey. With an appendix: Bailey's letters to F. Dyson"
(<http://arxiv.org/abs/1611.08806>, published version <https://doi.org/10.4310/ICCM.2019.v7.n2.a4>). |
28,947 | The recent question about the most prolific collaboration interested me. How about this question in the opposite direction, then: can anyone beat, amongst contemporary mathematicians, the example of Christopher Hooley, who has written 91 papers and has yet to coauthor a single one (at least if one discounts an obituary written in 1986)? | 2010/06/21 | [
"https://mathoverflow.net/questions/28947",
"https://mathoverflow.net",
"https://mathoverflow.net/users/5575/"
] | Until well into the 20th century, collaboration was more the exception than the rule among mathematicians. As an example, define the Betti number as the distance to Enrico Betti in the collaboration graph. Well, it seems that your Betti number is infinite (unless you are Enrico Betti): indeed, according to the link below, Betti is an isolated point in the collaboration graph:
<http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=umhistmath&idno=AAN8909> | Leopold Vietoris (1891-2002) wrote more than 70 papers, only one of them with a coauthor see
[here](http://www.ams.org/notices/200210/fea-vietoris.pdf). |
28,947 | The recent question about the most prolific collaboration interested me. How about this question in the opposite direction, then: can anyone beat, amongst contemporary mathematicians, the example of Christopher Hooley, who has written 91 papers and has yet to coauthor a single one (at least if one discounts an obituary written in 1986)? | 2010/06/21 | [
"https://mathoverflow.net/questions/28947",
"https://mathoverflow.net",
"https://mathoverflow.net/users/5575/"
] | I always like William Veech (57 papers) although it's unlikely, he will catch up. But his citation count is higher (after mathscinet). | I've checked the complete list of works of Isaac Newton and it does not look as if he ever had a co-author for a single one of his works (I didn't check the entire thing though as it includes over 1500 items).
I think this meets the criteria in terms of highest number of most significant works produced by one single author and no collaborations with anyone. |
28,947 | The recent question about the most prolific collaboration interested me. How about this question in the opposite direction, then: can anyone beat, amongst contemporary mathematicians, the example of Christopher Hooley, who has written 91 papers and has yet to coauthor a single one (at least if one discounts an obituary written in 1986)? | 2010/06/21 | [
"https://mathoverflow.net/questions/28947",
"https://mathoverflow.net",
"https://mathoverflow.net/users/5575/"
] | Until well into the 20th century, collaboration was more the exception than the rule among mathematicians. As an example, define the Betti number as the distance to Enrico Betti in the collaboration graph. Well, it seems that your Betti number is infinite (unless you are Enrico Betti): indeed, according to the link below, Betti is an isolated point in the collaboration graph:
<http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=umhistmath&idno=AAN8909> | Wilfrid Norman Bailey (1893--1961), a British mathematician primarily known for Bailey's lemma (Bailey pairs, Bailey chains) in the theory of basic hypergeometric series, has authored 75 papers and one book.
Only one of his papers is joint, with John Macnaghten Whittaker (the son of famous Whittaker from Whittaker--Watson --- notice the order of authors); it is one page long and places Bailey second on the authors' list!
More about him can be found in my semi-historical review "Hypergeometric heritage of W.N. Bailey. With an appendix: Bailey's letters to F. Dyson"
(<http://arxiv.org/abs/1611.08806>, published version <https://doi.org/10.4310/ICCM.2019.v7.n2.a4>). |
7,983,281 | I have all the QueryDSL jars referenced from the all directory in my libraries. My problem NetBeans is not seeing the "Q"objects. They are generated to the same directory as all the other JPA entity objects with "\_". Secondly if I use a "Q" object it does compile, but the editor itself does not see it and thinks it is an error.
Anyone have any ideas? I tried editing the Ant file but I failed at that as well. It does not seem that I need to edit it specifically for generation. The main problem appears to be linking to the NetBeans editor.
BTW I did look at this link and I already did this! [How to setup classpath in Netbeans?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7598623/how-to-setup-classpath-in-netbeans)
Also I have this problem on both Mac OSX and Ubuntu Netbeans.
Help is appreciated!! | 2011/11/02 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/7983281",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/598878/"
] | Best fix that is consistent is to go to project properties and add the build/generated-sources as a Source package Folder in Sources. | I had the same problem. I did a clean & Build, on the project and that did it for me. I could clearly see the java files being generated, and the class files are not getting in the path. Clean did the trick for me. |
26,445,342 | I want to know your suggestions about a good back-end to use with AngularJS as a front-end.
Why is your suggested back-end good and is it easy to use, or easy to learn? | 2014/10/18 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/26445342",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1873613/"
] | (disclaimer: I'm Ruby on Rails developer)
I believe Ruby on Rails is pretty good to use as json backend.
You can easily found a lot of materials and screencast about integrating it with angular, like:
* <http://railscasts.com/episodes/405-angularjs>
* <http://angular-rails.com/bootstrap.html>
And building proper JSON api with Rails can be helpful for creating mobile app etc, there also very good material about crafting good Rails RESTful Api, f.e.:
* <https://www.codeschool.com/courses/surviving-apis-with-rails> | The back-end is up to you to choose, all back-ends should interact the same with Angular JS its more about what you are comfortable or more experienced with.
You have plenty of choices to look into:
Python: Flask and Django
Javascript: Node JS
Ruby: Ruby on Rails
PHP
Each will have their learning curves and pitfalls. |
26,445,342 | I want to know your suggestions about a good back-end to use with AngularJS as a front-end.
Why is your suggested back-end good and is it easy to use, or easy to learn? | 2014/10/18 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/26445342",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1873613/"
] | There is considerable risk in this question for opinion-based answers, so I suggest a more critical evaluation:
Restful server-side implemenations
----------------------------------
... Will make working with angular considerably easier and less painful as well as being true to the HTTP spec with all the good things that entails. In any language that you choose ensure that the framework allows for the minimum of effort in doing this.
In my experience:
**PHP**:
Vanilla PHP and Codeigniter are capable but poor at doing this, I suggest avoiding them. I cannot speak for Symfony and the larger ORM-based frameworks, but I understand the learning-curve to be non-trivial. I strongly suggest staying away from CMS applications like wordpress and drupal as this kind of thing is not their purpose.
I understand that Laravel may offer a reasonably low learning curve and is has the understanding of [RESTFul interfaces baked in](http://laravel.com/docs/4.2/controllers#restful-resource-controllers).
**NodeJS**
NodeJS offers a very large number of frameworks for the server-side with Express and its variants being the apparent base for many of them. Express offers the flexibility to create RESTful interfaces, but does not do this by default. For more syntactic sugar it is usually necessary to wire up your own middleware.
**Ruby on Rails**
From what I understand there is considerable support for [RESTful apis with rails](https://www.codeschool.com/courses/surviving-apis-with-rails).
Database support
----------------
**PHP**
Vanilla PHP mysqli Support for databases works, but is too low-level for use. CodeIgnighter, Symfony, Lavel and other frameworks all offer the necessary abstraction and security for working with the database to varying degrees. Differentiating between them on this is largely a matter of taste. PHP frameworks may struggle for support for NoSQL type newer databases.
**NodeJS**
Express Supports all major forms of databases with appropriate middleware with literally thousands of options from the NPM repositories. As usual, you will have to wire them up to express yourself with varying degrees of difficulty.
**Ruby on Rails**
Rails supports the active-record pattern which offers both security and ease of use out of the box. This supports the majority of popular standard relational databases. I cannot speak for its integration for NoSQL databases however.
Learning curve
--------------
This is too subjective for me to say much other than a few pitfalls: the NodeJS community expects a fairly high degree of skill to get started and the [callback hell](http://callbackhell.com/) problem is sufficiently large to be a serious barrier to learner server-side development.
Security
--------
**PHP**
Vanilla PHP offers little security and is not recommended. Codeigniter, Laravel and the other frameworks offer some protection with string-escaping and protection against SQL injection attacks at least.
**NodeJS**
Express doesn't offer too many security features out-of the box but can be hardened with modules like [helmet](https://www.npmjs.org/package/helmet). This is not a deficiency so much as a reflection of the unopinionated nature of the application.
**Rails**
I understand Rails offers basic SQL injection protection through Active Record and CSRF protection among other features out [of the box](http://guides.rubyonrails.org/security.html).
Personally: I use Koa (an application to supersede express) for my own server-side dev in working with angular. My legacy projects use CodeIgnighter. | The back-end is up to you to choose, all back-ends should interact the same with Angular JS its more about what you are comfortable or more experienced with.
You have plenty of choices to look into:
Python: Flask and Django
Javascript: Node JS
Ruby: Ruby on Rails
PHP
Each will have their learning curves and pitfalls. |
26,445,342 | I want to know your suggestions about a good back-end to use with AngularJS as a front-end.
Why is your suggested back-end good and is it easy to use, or easy to learn? | 2014/10/18 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/26445342",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1873613/"
] | There is considerable risk in this question for opinion-based answers, so I suggest a more critical evaluation:
Restful server-side implemenations
----------------------------------
... Will make working with angular considerably easier and less painful as well as being true to the HTTP spec with all the good things that entails. In any language that you choose ensure that the framework allows for the minimum of effort in doing this.
In my experience:
**PHP**:
Vanilla PHP and Codeigniter are capable but poor at doing this, I suggest avoiding them. I cannot speak for Symfony and the larger ORM-based frameworks, but I understand the learning-curve to be non-trivial. I strongly suggest staying away from CMS applications like wordpress and drupal as this kind of thing is not their purpose.
I understand that Laravel may offer a reasonably low learning curve and is has the understanding of [RESTFul interfaces baked in](http://laravel.com/docs/4.2/controllers#restful-resource-controllers).
**NodeJS**
NodeJS offers a very large number of frameworks for the server-side with Express and its variants being the apparent base for many of them. Express offers the flexibility to create RESTful interfaces, but does not do this by default. For more syntactic sugar it is usually necessary to wire up your own middleware.
**Ruby on Rails**
From what I understand there is considerable support for [RESTful apis with rails](https://www.codeschool.com/courses/surviving-apis-with-rails).
Database support
----------------
**PHP**
Vanilla PHP mysqli Support for databases works, but is too low-level for use. CodeIgnighter, Symfony, Lavel and other frameworks all offer the necessary abstraction and security for working with the database to varying degrees. Differentiating between them on this is largely a matter of taste. PHP frameworks may struggle for support for NoSQL type newer databases.
**NodeJS**
Express Supports all major forms of databases with appropriate middleware with literally thousands of options from the NPM repositories. As usual, you will have to wire them up to express yourself with varying degrees of difficulty.
**Ruby on Rails**
Rails supports the active-record pattern which offers both security and ease of use out of the box. This supports the majority of popular standard relational databases. I cannot speak for its integration for NoSQL databases however.
Learning curve
--------------
This is too subjective for me to say much other than a few pitfalls: the NodeJS community expects a fairly high degree of skill to get started and the [callback hell](http://callbackhell.com/) problem is sufficiently large to be a serious barrier to learner server-side development.
Security
--------
**PHP**
Vanilla PHP offers little security and is not recommended. Codeigniter, Laravel and the other frameworks offer some protection with string-escaping and protection against SQL injection attacks at least.
**NodeJS**
Express doesn't offer too many security features out-of the box but can be hardened with modules like [helmet](https://www.npmjs.org/package/helmet). This is not a deficiency so much as a reflection of the unopinionated nature of the application.
**Rails**
I understand Rails offers basic SQL injection protection through Active Record and CSRF protection among other features out [of the box](http://guides.rubyonrails.org/security.html).
Personally: I use Koa (an application to supersede express) for my own server-side dev in working with angular. My legacy projects use CodeIgnighter. | (disclaimer: I'm Ruby on Rails developer)
I believe Ruby on Rails is pretty good to use as json backend.
You can easily found a lot of materials and screencast about integrating it with angular, like:
* <http://railscasts.com/episodes/405-angularjs>
* <http://angular-rails.com/bootstrap.html>
And building proper JSON api with Rails can be helpful for creating mobile app etc, there also very good material about crafting good Rails RESTful Api, f.e.:
* <https://www.codeschool.com/courses/surviving-apis-with-rails> |
26,445,342 | I want to know your suggestions about a good back-end to use with AngularJS as a front-end.
Why is your suggested back-end good and is it easy to use, or easy to learn? | 2014/10/18 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/26445342",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1873613/"
] | (disclaimer: I'm Ruby on Rails developer)
I believe Ruby on Rails is pretty good to use as json backend.
You can easily found a lot of materials and screencast about integrating it with angular, like:
* <http://railscasts.com/episodes/405-angularjs>
* <http://angular-rails.com/bootstrap.html>
And building proper JSON api with Rails can be helpful for creating mobile app etc, there also very good material about crafting good Rails RESTful Api, f.e.:
* <https://www.codeschool.com/courses/surviving-apis-with-rails> | I'm biased and I recommend Go because it is able to handle huge amounts of concurrent requests and fast (5000 and up) without consuming too many resources.
However jumping between 2 languages can be painful but in the end will give you a broader understanding of programming. So if you'd like not to switch languages remain with the express framework and node.js since that's where also all the tutorials are, MEAN stack for instance (mean.io) |
26,445,342 | I want to know your suggestions about a good back-end to use with AngularJS as a front-end.
Why is your suggested back-end good and is it easy to use, or easy to learn? | 2014/10/18 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/26445342",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1873613/"
] | There is considerable risk in this question for opinion-based answers, so I suggest a more critical evaluation:
Restful server-side implemenations
----------------------------------
... Will make working with angular considerably easier and less painful as well as being true to the HTTP spec with all the good things that entails. In any language that you choose ensure that the framework allows for the minimum of effort in doing this.
In my experience:
**PHP**:
Vanilla PHP and Codeigniter are capable but poor at doing this, I suggest avoiding them. I cannot speak for Symfony and the larger ORM-based frameworks, but I understand the learning-curve to be non-trivial. I strongly suggest staying away from CMS applications like wordpress and drupal as this kind of thing is not their purpose.
I understand that Laravel may offer a reasonably low learning curve and is has the understanding of [RESTFul interfaces baked in](http://laravel.com/docs/4.2/controllers#restful-resource-controllers).
**NodeJS**
NodeJS offers a very large number of frameworks for the server-side with Express and its variants being the apparent base for many of them. Express offers the flexibility to create RESTful interfaces, but does not do this by default. For more syntactic sugar it is usually necessary to wire up your own middleware.
**Ruby on Rails**
From what I understand there is considerable support for [RESTful apis with rails](https://www.codeschool.com/courses/surviving-apis-with-rails).
Database support
----------------
**PHP**
Vanilla PHP mysqli Support for databases works, but is too low-level for use. CodeIgnighter, Symfony, Lavel and other frameworks all offer the necessary abstraction and security for working with the database to varying degrees. Differentiating between them on this is largely a matter of taste. PHP frameworks may struggle for support for NoSQL type newer databases.
**NodeJS**
Express Supports all major forms of databases with appropriate middleware with literally thousands of options from the NPM repositories. As usual, you will have to wire them up to express yourself with varying degrees of difficulty.
**Ruby on Rails**
Rails supports the active-record pattern which offers both security and ease of use out of the box. This supports the majority of popular standard relational databases. I cannot speak for its integration for NoSQL databases however.
Learning curve
--------------
This is too subjective for me to say much other than a few pitfalls: the NodeJS community expects a fairly high degree of skill to get started and the [callback hell](http://callbackhell.com/) problem is sufficiently large to be a serious barrier to learner server-side development.
Security
--------
**PHP**
Vanilla PHP offers little security and is not recommended. Codeigniter, Laravel and the other frameworks offer some protection with string-escaping and protection against SQL injection attacks at least.
**NodeJS**
Express doesn't offer too many security features out-of the box but can be hardened with modules like [helmet](https://www.npmjs.org/package/helmet). This is not a deficiency so much as a reflection of the unopinionated nature of the application.
**Rails**
I understand Rails offers basic SQL injection protection through Active Record and CSRF protection among other features out [of the box](http://guides.rubyonrails.org/security.html).
Personally: I use Koa (an application to supersede express) for my own server-side dev in working with angular. My legacy projects use CodeIgnighter. | I'm biased and I recommend Go because it is able to handle huge amounts of concurrent requests and fast (5000 and up) without consuming too many resources.
However jumping between 2 languages can be painful but in the end will give you a broader understanding of programming. So if you'd like not to switch languages remain with the express framework and node.js since that's where also all the tutorials are, MEAN stack for instance (mean.io) |
36,551 | On windows, I can use Fireshot with FireFox to take screenshots, ufortuately, its works only on Windows... how can I do the same on Ubuntu?
The main features I will need are:
* Take full scrolling web page screenshot
* Work with Flash/Silverlight content - some screen capture will display these as black boxes or something
* If possible, have an API so I can develop scripts to make use of it | 2011/04/23 | [
"https://askubuntu.com/questions/36551",
"https://askubuntu.com",
"https://askubuntu.com/users/14782/"
] | Try [Abduction](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/abduction/).
It allows you to take whole pages/selections, though I'm not sure about scripting (this should be possible though. | What you could also do is use a Website Screenshot API from the Internet.
[ScreenshotAPI.net](https://screenshotapi.net) is such an example! |
42,200 | Am I correct that in not having our private keys written in paper or otherwise backed up we are implicitly trusting the wallet developers to keep publishing wallet versions that are capable of reading and deciphering our password-phrase? Nobody else can decypher that phrase and give us access to the bitcoins, correct?
I recently had a bad experience with Mycellium wallet: i lost my Android mobile and the backup of my wallet was in a 1-year-old format (encrypted private key in paper, QR format) that the new desktop app, amazingly, would not recognise. In the meanwhile, I had moved to iPhone, where no Mycelium was available. Eventually i solved the issue by installing Mycelium in a friend's Android. Fortunately, the Android version did recognize the old encryption after scanning the QR with the camera, so I could send the money to another wallet. But this made me realise that we absolutely rely on the developers if we do not keep the private keys written somewhere, unencrypted.
In other words: What happens if a wallet app is discontinued and we find ourselves in 2020 with no way to install that old wallet in the 2020 standard devices?
Or am i missing something here?
Thanks in advance | 2016/01/06 | [
"https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/42200",
"https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com",
"https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/users/31547/"
] | It is important to be able to recover your private keys using only tools you fully control. That protects you against failure of infrastructure you would otherwise need to transfer your funds. There are lots of stories of corrupted backups, unreadable backups, and backups that didn't actually include the private keys.
Storing your private keys unencrypted on paper is one way of doing this. They can also be stored electronically in encrypted form, so long as you have reliable access to the encryption key and decryption tool. | It may be safe the assume that the most popular mobile wallet applications will still be around, or if the app does become unavailable, a user will recreate the encryption logic so you can recover your private key in the future using your passphrase.
That being said, in most circumstances it's a good idea to have a well-hidden physical backup of your private key just in case. Printing your private key on paper and hiding it in a safe place would eliminate the risk you mentioned and only introduce the small risk (assuming you hid the paper in an adequately private place) that a malicious party finds your private key and knows what to do with it. |
42,200 | Am I correct that in not having our private keys written in paper or otherwise backed up we are implicitly trusting the wallet developers to keep publishing wallet versions that are capable of reading and deciphering our password-phrase? Nobody else can decypher that phrase and give us access to the bitcoins, correct?
I recently had a bad experience with Mycellium wallet: i lost my Android mobile and the backup of my wallet was in a 1-year-old format (encrypted private key in paper, QR format) that the new desktop app, amazingly, would not recognise. In the meanwhile, I had moved to iPhone, where no Mycelium was available. Eventually i solved the issue by installing Mycelium in a friend's Android. Fortunately, the Android version did recognize the old encryption after scanning the QR with the camera, so I could send the money to another wallet. But this made me realise that we absolutely rely on the developers if we do not keep the private keys written somewhere, unencrypted.
In other words: What happens if a wallet app is discontinued and we find ourselves in 2020 with no way to install that old wallet in the 2020 standard devices?
Or am i missing something here?
Thanks in advance | 2016/01/06 | [
"https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/42200",
"https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com",
"https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/users/31547/"
] | You are correct. However, in all open source wallets that follow the proper Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) people will be able to replicate the encryption logic so you can use your passphrase to get access to your private keys again.
Still, I would recommend, for the majority of your bitcoins, to store them to a paper wallet with the private key encrypted (encrypted private keys starts with 6P...).
You can use something like <https://www.bitaddress.org> to generate bitcoin addresses and optionally encrypt them with a passphrase. Then hide those paper wallets... even if they get stolen people will not be able to access your bitcoins without the passphrase. However, you can decrypt the private key with any BIP38 compatible wallet/software.
For extra security, you could download (Save as...) the website page (www.bitaddress.org) locally. Then disconnect from the internet and load the page locally in your browser to create your new encrypted paper wallet offline. | It may be safe the assume that the most popular mobile wallet applications will still be around, or if the app does become unavailable, a user will recreate the encryption logic so you can recover your private key in the future using your passphrase.
That being said, in most circumstances it's a good idea to have a well-hidden physical backup of your private key just in case. Printing your private key on paper and hiding it in a safe place would eliminate the risk you mentioned and only introduce the small risk (assuming you hid the paper in an adequately private place) that a malicious party finds your private key and knows what to do with it. |
121,383 | I have read through other topics on partial dependence plots and most of them are on how you actually plot them with different packages, not how you can accurately interpret them, So:
I have been reading into and creating a fair amount of partial dependence plots. I know they measure the marginal effect of a variable χs on the function ƒS (χS ) with the average affect of all other variables (χc) from my model. Higher y values mean they have a greater influence on accurately predicting my class. However, I'm not satisfied with this qualitative interpretation.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/UEu6F.png)
My model (random forest) is predicting two discreet classes. "Yes trees" and "No trees". TRI is a variable that has proven to be a good variable for this.
What I began to think is the Y value is showing a probability for correct classification.
Example:
y(0.2) is showing that TRI values of > ~30 have a 20% chance of correctly identifying a True Positive classification.
Where conversely
y(-0.2) is showing that TRI values of < ~15 have a 20% chance of correctly identifying a True Negative classification.
General interpretations that are made in the literature would sound like this "Values greater than TRI 30 begin to have a positive influence for classification in your model" and that's it. It sounds so vague and pointless for a plot that can potentially speak so much about your data.
Also, all of my plots cap out at -1 to 1 in range for the y axis. I have seen other plots that are -10 to 10 etc. Is this a function of how many classes you are trying to predict?
I was wondering if anyone can speak to this problem. Maybe show me how I should be interpreting these plots or some literature that can help me out. Maybe I am reading too far into this?
I have read very thoroughly The elements of statistical learning: data mining, inference and prediction and it has been a great starting point but that's about it. | 2014/10/24 | [
"https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/121383",
"https://stats.stackexchange.com",
"https://stats.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | Each point on the partial dependence plot is the average vote percentage in favor of the "Yes trees" class across all observations, given a fixed level of TRI.
It's not a probability of correct classification. It has absolutely nothing to do with accuracy, true negatives, and true positives.
When you see the phrase
>
> Values greater than TRI 30 begin to have a positive influence for classification in your model
>
>
>
is an puffed-up way of saying
>
> Values greater than TRI 30 begin to predict "Yes trees" more strongly than values lower than TRI 30
>
>
> | The partial dependence function basically gives you the "average" trend of that
variable (integrating out all others in the model). It's the shape of
that trend that is "important". You may interpret the relative range of
these plots from different predictor variables, but not the absolute
range. Hope that helps. |
121,383 | I have read through other topics on partial dependence plots and most of them are on how you actually plot them with different packages, not how you can accurately interpret them, So:
I have been reading into and creating a fair amount of partial dependence plots. I know they measure the marginal effect of a variable χs on the function ƒS (χS ) with the average affect of all other variables (χc) from my model. Higher y values mean they have a greater influence on accurately predicting my class. However, I'm not satisfied with this qualitative interpretation.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/UEu6F.png)
My model (random forest) is predicting two discreet classes. "Yes trees" and "No trees". TRI is a variable that has proven to be a good variable for this.
What I began to think is the Y value is showing a probability for correct classification.
Example:
y(0.2) is showing that TRI values of > ~30 have a 20% chance of correctly identifying a True Positive classification.
Where conversely
y(-0.2) is showing that TRI values of < ~15 have a 20% chance of correctly identifying a True Negative classification.
General interpretations that are made in the literature would sound like this "Values greater than TRI 30 begin to have a positive influence for classification in your model" and that's it. It sounds so vague and pointless for a plot that can potentially speak so much about your data.
Also, all of my plots cap out at -1 to 1 in range for the y axis. I have seen other plots that are -10 to 10 etc. Is this a function of how many classes you are trying to predict?
I was wondering if anyone can speak to this problem. Maybe show me how I should be interpreting these plots or some literature that can help me out. Maybe I am reading too far into this?
I have read very thoroughly The elements of statistical learning: data mining, inference and prediction and it has been a great starting point but that's about it. | 2014/10/24 | [
"https://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/121383",
"https://stats.stackexchange.com",
"https://stats.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] | Each point on the partial dependence plot is the average vote percentage in favor of the "Yes trees" class across all observations, given a fixed level of TRI.
It's not a probability of correct classification. It has absolutely nothing to do with accuracy, true negatives, and true positives.
When you see the phrase
>
> Values greater than TRI 30 begin to have a positive influence for classification in your model
>
>
>
is an puffed-up way of saying
>
> Values greater than TRI 30 begin to predict "Yes trees" more strongly than values lower than TRI 30
>
>
> | A way to look at y axis values is that they are relative to each other in the other plots. When that number is higher than in the other plots in absolute values, it means it is more important cause the impact of that variable on the output is larger.
If you are interested in the math behind partial dependence plots and how that number is estimates, you can find it here: <http://statweb.stanford.edu/~jhf/ftp/RuleFit.pdf> section 8.1 |
348,328 | I recently upgraded to Eclipse Ganymede from Europa and now I'm finding that when I'm editing JSP files the IDE crawls when editing HTML attributes (but not JSP attributes).
Has anyone experienced this, or have any suggestions?
Also if you can point me to a better place to ask Eclipse related questions, do tell.
Thanks! | 2008/12/07 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/348328",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34859/"
] | Try closing the overview tab | Using the eclipse update site I had previously installed Eclipse Web Developer Tools.
It seems something included in this makes the JSP editor extremely slow.
I un-installed this and installed the Web Page Editor which also includes the JSP editor and does not have the same slow issue |
348,328 | I recently upgraded to Eclipse Ganymede from Europa and now I'm finding that when I'm editing JSP files the IDE crawls when editing HTML attributes (but not JSP attributes).
Has anyone experienced this, or have any suggestions?
Also if you can point me to a better place to ask Eclipse related questions, do tell.
Thanks! | 2008/12/07 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/348328",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34859/"
] | For Eclipse Ganymede: You can use the following menu to disable HTML validation all together or parts of it by project.
Right Click on the project | Project Properties | Validation | Enable Project Specific Settings.
Then you can disable HTML Validation.
Or, from Project Properties, click open Validation and select HTML Validation. Select Enable Project Specific Settings and set any of the ten element checks to "Ignore."
You can also turn these settings off for the entire workspace using the Windows (Eclipse) Preferences | Validation settings. | Using the eclipse update site I had previously installed Eclipse Web Developer Tools.
It seems something included in this makes the JSP editor extremely slow.
I un-installed this and installed the Web Page Editor which also includes the JSP editor and does not have the same slow issue |
348,328 | I recently upgraded to Eclipse Ganymede from Europa and now I'm finding that when I'm editing JSP files the IDE crawls when editing HTML attributes (but not JSP attributes).
Has anyone experienced this, or have any suggestions?
Also if you can point me to a better place to ask Eclipse related questions, do tell.
Thanks! | 2008/12/07 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/348328",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34859/"
] | The visual editors in Eclipse are slow. I have no idea why that is; other graphics frameworks achieve mindboggling effects in Java in real time so they shouldn't be that slow.
I suggest you open a bug report against Eclipse. This way, you can give them feedback and see what they think about it plus you can track any progress if they accept it.
As for asking Eclipse questions, [go to the newsgroups](http://www.eclipse.org/newsgroups/). There are also mailing lists but those are only for developers working *on* Eclipse (not those who work *with* it). So they are only an option should you choose to work on this bug :) | Here they say **Eclipse Kepler** will overcome this issue: [Is Eclipse Too Slow Switching Tabs?](http://softwareprole.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/is-eclipse-too-slow-switching-tabs/). Unfortunately patch link for Eclipse Juno is now broken... so I'll wait for Kepler. |
348,328 | I recently upgraded to Eclipse Ganymede from Europa and now I'm finding that when I'm editing JSP files the IDE crawls when editing HTML attributes (but not JSP attributes).
Has anyone experienced this, or have any suggestions?
Also if you can point me to a better place to ask Eclipse related questions, do tell.
Thanks! | 2008/12/07 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/348328",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34859/"
] | For Eclipse Ganymede: You can use the following menu to disable HTML validation all together or parts of it by project.
Right Click on the project | Project Properties | Validation | Enable Project Specific Settings.
Then you can disable HTML Validation.
Or, from Project Properties, click open Validation and select HTML Validation. Select Enable Project Specific Settings and set any of the ten element checks to "Ignore."
You can also turn these settings off for the entire workspace using the Windows (Eclipse) Preferences | Validation settings. | Try closing the overview tab |
348,328 | I recently upgraded to Eclipse Ganymede from Europa and now I'm finding that when I'm editing JSP files the IDE crawls when editing HTML attributes (but not JSP attributes).
Has anyone experienced this, or have any suggestions?
Also if you can point me to a better place to ask Eclipse related questions, do tell.
Thanks! | 2008/12/07 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/348328",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34859/"
] | Try closing the overview tab | Here they say **Eclipse Kepler** will overcome this issue: [Is Eclipse Too Slow Switching Tabs?](http://softwareprole.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/is-eclipse-too-slow-switching-tabs/). Unfortunately patch link for Eclipse Juno is now broken... so I'll wait for Kepler. |
348,328 | I recently upgraded to Eclipse Ganymede from Europa and now I'm finding that when I'm editing JSP files the IDE crawls when editing HTML attributes (but not JSP attributes).
Has anyone experienced this, or have any suggestions?
Also if you can point me to a better place to ask Eclipse related questions, do tell.
Thanks! | 2008/12/07 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/348328",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/34859/"
] | untick Enable folding in Preferences > General > Editors > Structured Text Editors | Using the eclipse update site I had previously installed Eclipse Web Developer Tools.
It seems something included in this makes the JSP editor extremely slow.
I un-installed this and installed the Web Page Editor which also includes the JSP editor and does not have the same slow issue |
63,057 | I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that's exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I'm asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I'm working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple "No". So I'm convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I'll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you're curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric. | 2014/08/14 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/63057",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/46454/"
] | >
> What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct
> button?
>
>
>
Well from a users point of view - **bad, slow, inefficient, time wasting, buggy software**. Software that never receives updates or fixes because the developer is in denial that their software has bugs in the first place. This piece of software constantly loses the users work, corrupts files, but realistically is the only available piece of software on the market that this user can make use of - either due to there being no competition, file type compatibility between other users, etc.
Now this self destruct button could be a legal requirement for software developers to include. After a certain amount of frustration (crashes, lost work, lack of fixes in the required time, or other criteria defined by the legal body that lay this law down) this feature i.e. self destruction, could present itself and become available to the user. The user now has the legal right to use this based on the fact it only appears after all the above criteria is met by the software.
>
> And finally, and most importantly, what would it do?
>
>
>
Now what could it do? Well it could completely **wipe all traces of this software** from the users computer, automatically **refund all costs** of the software to the user and also log that this software was given the self destruction treatment on some kind of governmental website that tracks which software has had the most self destructions. A **name and shame** type list. The downside to the user would be they would never be able to install this software on their machine again (to prevent multiple self destructions) - but why would they want to if they nuked it in the first place?
>
> How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing
> the self destruct button?
>
>
>
I haven't thought about this yet but it would be fun to have a stab at some workflows and designs :). Also I like the idea of a physical button! not sure how this would work. maybe a peripheral that comes with new pc's that flashes saying "you now have the right to nuke Ad\*\*e Pho\*\*\*\*0p" | I imagine that the criminal community is far ahead of us all on this topic.
*What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button?*
Being British, I imagine that many of the issues that came up (rightly or wrongly) in the recent phone hacking trial / News Of The World enquiry
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24894403>
might be addresed here: digital copies of incriminating phone hacks, e-mails concerning and/or authorizing those hacks, and unrelated people hiding computers so the police couldn't see their collection of porn. So there are a lots of possible demands for such a button.
*How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button?*
The ownwers would have to adhere to a strict file-naming and filing system. As most of items stored are illegal or anti-social, it would be important for the owner or user not to be incriminated. The UX professional would therefore go about their task by making the self-destruct button look like something the clever investigator would want to click on, rather than hiding the button. A folder called "Personal emails - confidential", or "My favourite girls", or some other item that an over-eager PC (of the Plod variety) might rush in to. Of course, a phone hacker might have to use the "my favourite girls" folder and the pornmeister the "personal calls" to avoid finger-pointing and general suspicion.
The complete destruction of the files contained (or whole computer, if required) would thus lead to the investigator getting the blame and the suspect being wholly innocent.
Conversions/success would be measured by the number of days and size of the legal bills in the resulting public enquiry as to how incompetent the investigation was, and in the number of recommendations for future legal processes in the future. |
63,057 | I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that's exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I'm asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I'm working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple "No". So I'm convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I'll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you're curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric. | 2014/08/14 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/63057",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/46454/"
] | If self destruction is a key requirement, I wouldn't leave it in the hands of the user. Instead, I'd go the route ala "this message will self destruct..." | It all depends, I think, on what 'platform' you're going to be using this self-destruct button. Is it a digital destruction interface or is it necessary to have a personal self-destruct button on your person at all times?
If you're going digital, how much does this button need to affect? To be a successful self-destruct button, it has to do what it promises to do, otherwise your users are going to go to another destruction company and set them onto you. Problem. So if I was implementing this button, I'd give it a small scope. It should only affect one computer (or one website, possibly. Or one app. Or one database. You get the point.) This way, your button can't be help liable for not causing the correct destruction. If your users want to cause widespread destruction, perhaps you should consider creating a destroyers' network - like a social network, but event-focused: people could create destruction events which other owners of this button could sign up to, thus linking their button and widening the scope for more destruction.
Why would users want this button in the first place? Simple. Users get angry. Once a user is angry, you risk them leaving your product/system - unless you can provide some internal method of venting that anger. This is where the self destruct button comes into play. So, perhaps instead of being its own application, this button should be a key component of all user interfaces - perhaps a small "Annoyed with us? Click here" at the top of every screen to take users to the main button.
Of course, if you want a physical button, there are other concerns. What are you destroying? Is it the object of a user's anger such as a computer or phone? If so, all you need is a crusher. Are you trying to take over the world? You might want a rather strong virus instead.
And then, of course, come in the implications for your company. How do you prevent your company becoming involved in all the legal ramifications of providing people with such potent gadgets without proper training? I believe that's a corporate offence here in the UK. I can't answer that in great detail because I'm not a lawyer - if you really want to investigate, there are plenty of legal communities on the Internet who might be able to help you.
So, a self-destruct button? My advice: keep it simple, make it effective. |
63,057 | I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that's exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I'm asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I'm working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple "No". So I'm convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I'll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you're curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric. | 2014/08/14 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/63057",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/46454/"
] | There seems to be a heated debate about business goal of the self-destruct button in question. So, I will try to contribute to this side of the argument. I am currently working on an MDM (\*\*M\*\*obile \*\*D\*\*evice \*\*M\*\*anagement) project and we have a requirement that enables the administrator to create a *device-wipe* rule based on a status or event. (i.e device leaves a user-specified geofence) But, this is (1) being done by all the MDM products on the market and (2) requires the device to be connected to the internet for the wipe to take place. We were trying to find an alternative and your question has given me a great idea (by the way many thanks, Johnny) and here is a solid, real-life business goal of the self-destruct button/switch/sequence:
-the mobile device under management could be stolen, compromised, or fallen victim to corporate espionage
-the captor might be clever enough so that s/he could cut the internet connection or worse shut down the device immediately, so there could be no way of getting in touch with the device
-...(for the sake of the argument)
With the above conditions, the device must emit an SOS message to the internet immediately after it has booted (if shutdown) or sensed an anomaly. If this SOS message is not responded properly, the device must initiate the self destruct process.
I might have got a little bit out of topic by introducing the automation to self-destruction but it is a real-life answer to a hypothetical question so please don't come at me with sticks and stones. | I imagine that the criminal community is far ahead of us all on this topic.
*What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button?*
Being British, I imagine that many of the issues that came up (rightly or wrongly) in the recent phone hacking trial / News Of The World enquiry
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24894403>
might be addresed here: digital copies of incriminating phone hacks, e-mails concerning and/or authorizing those hacks, and unrelated people hiding computers so the police couldn't see their collection of porn. So there are a lots of possible demands for such a button.
*How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button?*
The ownwers would have to adhere to a strict file-naming and filing system. As most of items stored are illegal or anti-social, it would be important for the owner or user not to be incriminated. The UX professional would therefore go about their task by making the self-destruct button look like something the clever investigator would want to click on, rather than hiding the button. A folder called "Personal emails - confidential", or "My favourite girls", or some other item that an over-eager PC (of the Plod variety) might rush in to. Of course, a phone hacker might have to use the "my favourite girls" folder and the pornmeister the "personal calls" to avoid finger-pointing and general suspicion.
The complete destruction of the files contained (or whole computer, if required) would thus lead to the investigator getting the blame and the suspect being wholly innocent.
Conversions/success would be measured by the number of days and size of the legal bills in the resulting public enquiry as to how incompetent the investigation was, and in the number of recommendations for future legal processes in the future. |
63,057 | I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that's exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I'm asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I'm working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple "No". So I'm convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I'll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you're curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric. | 2014/08/14 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/63057",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/46454/"
] | There seems to be a heated debate about business goal of the self-destruct button in question. So, I will try to contribute to this side of the argument. I am currently working on an MDM (\*\*M\*\*obile \*\*D\*\*evice \*\*M\*\*anagement) project and we have a requirement that enables the administrator to create a *device-wipe* rule based on a status or event. (i.e device leaves a user-specified geofence) But, this is (1) being done by all the MDM products on the market and (2) requires the device to be connected to the internet for the wipe to take place. We were trying to find an alternative and your question has given me a great idea (by the way many thanks, Johnny) and here is a solid, real-life business goal of the self-destruct button/switch/sequence:
-the mobile device under management could be stolen, compromised, or fallen victim to corporate espionage
-the captor might be clever enough so that s/he could cut the internet connection or worse shut down the device immediately, so there could be no way of getting in touch with the device
-...(for the sake of the argument)
With the above conditions, the device must emit an SOS message to the internet immediately after it has booted (if shutdown) or sensed an anomaly. If this SOS message is not responded properly, the device must initiate the self destruct process.
I might have got a little bit out of topic by introducing the automation to self-destruction but it is a real-life answer to a hypothetical question so please don't come at me with sticks and stones. | The self destruct button should be available in both software and hardware formats. I will focus on the software side for this answer, perhaps someone else more proficient in nuclear reactor meltdowns can fill in the hardware side.
The self destruct button need to balance the functionality with the urgent need for speed of deletion - something that deletes too much too fast or in an obvious way can be undesirable at times, but at the same time if the wrong person enters the office, it needs to be able to be executed quickly.
The self destruct button should be able to delete any incriminating data, regardless of if the user has access to it or not, because the proper user may already have been arrested.
The self destruct button should allow for selective deletion of data, in order to maximize the amount of "wild-goose-chases" caused by incomplete or inaccurate dummy data.
The self destruct button should be completely anonymous, such that the person who destroyed the data can never be found nor held accountable for such an act.
The self destruct needs to have an "emergency" mode that deletes all the data in case a user does not have the time to configure what to delete, but also allow surgical precision as to which records should be removed.
The self destruct needs to be able to remove data without alerting anyone, such that it can finish its work without arousing any suspicions.
This button is needed by the NSA so that they can destroy more evidence before a court asks for it - a perfectly reasonable (if not legal) business requirement.
Taking all the above into account, I believe that the best way would be to have an "emergency" switch on the underside of each keyboard that wipes all the data, and also a more fine-grained "purge" that is based off of a regex match saved as a "draft" email, which is then promptly scanned, read, and deleted by the mail server, and causing the missing data to be delete. This could then be applied to individual computers by specifying their machine name, and support replacing critical files with malicious files that can cripple the device. |
63,057 | I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that's exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I'm asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I'm working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple "No". So I'm convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I'll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you're curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric. | 2014/08/14 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/63057",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/46454/"
] | What is the business goal of the Self-Destruct button? UX is all about balancing business needs with user goals. So, let's say the business goal is to sell more computers. The user goal is to disable their computer so that they can open an IT ticket, have IT investigate, and eventually replace their computer, having found nothing wrong. Let's talk to some users and validate our hypothesis!
**What is their biggest pain point when it comes to constant uptime and reliability of their computer? How have they tried to fix the problem themselves?** We call 180 users, interview 40, and learn that their biggest pain point is that their company has increased the length of time a computer is expected to be in service from 2 years to an agonizingly lengthy 5 years. Johnny won't get a new computer for 5 years. Or if he inherited an old computer from a recently-departed employee, he may be saddled with the crusty thing for a long time. Meanwhile, technology marches on, and tools get cooler, lighter, faster, shinier. Johnny is sad. He tries dropping his laptop, but it continues to function! He needs a stealthy self-destruct button, and we are going to make it for him. We create a set of Personas based on the 40 people we spoke with.
**Let's design a prototype of the self-destruct button!** We need some requirements. We surmise from our interviews that the self-destruct button must be hidden and difficult to invoke accidentally. Once invoked, it must disappear without a trace so that IT cannot detect the reason for the outage. We also learned that some users said they might want to hit the button to take an unplanned half-day off, because having a disabled computer would mean they are unable to work. In this case, being able to recover from the self-destruct mode would be a desired feature. The product owner feels this feature is not part of Minimum Viable Product, and pushes back hard, calling us The Scope Creep. The first release of the Self Destruct button will be completely unrecoverable and untraceable. So saith the Product Owner.
**As UXers, we wonder, how would Johnny find out about this feature without IT also learning about it.** We need to figure out how to provision this feature selectively, only to the end-user, not the corporate IT person.
We study the workflow for provisioning new users at major companies and learn that many IT folks sign in as Admin users, while end-users are denied admin rights unless they are developers. We recommend launching the self-destruct button only on end-user logins, not admin.
Then we prototype the provisioning workflow and prepare for user testing. We design a slick little Coach Marks treatment that walks the user through the self-destruction process.
Then we test on users who fit the Johnny persona.
We find that users are dismayed that there is no way to recover from self-destruction.
We use our negotiating and presentation skills to make the product owner aware that the first release must be recoverable or the product will fail.
I could go on... but enough fun for one day. | The self destruct button should be available in both software and hardware formats. I will focus on the software side for this answer, perhaps someone else more proficient in nuclear reactor meltdowns can fill in the hardware side.
The self destruct button need to balance the functionality with the urgent need for speed of deletion - something that deletes too much too fast or in an obvious way can be undesirable at times, but at the same time if the wrong person enters the office, it needs to be able to be executed quickly.
The self destruct button should be able to delete any incriminating data, regardless of if the user has access to it or not, because the proper user may already have been arrested.
The self destruct button should allow for selective deletion of data, in order to maximize the amount of "wild-goose-chases" caused by incomplete or inaccurate dummy data.
The self destruct button should be completely anonymous, such that the person who destroyed the data can never be found nor held accountable for such an act.
The self destruct needs to have an "emergency" mode that deletes all the data in case a user does not have the time to configure what to delete, but also allow surgical precision as to which records should be removed.
The self destruct needs to be able to remove data without alerting anyone, such that it can finish its work without arousing any suspicions.
This button is needed by the NSA so that they can destroy more evidence before a court asks for it - a perfectly reasonable (if not legal) business requirement.
Taking all the above into account, I believe that the best way would be to have an "emergency" switch on the underside of each keyboard that wipes all the data, and also a more fine-grained "purge" that is based off of a regex match saved as a "draft" email, which is then promptly scanned, read, and deleted by the mail server, and causing the missing data to be delete. This could then be applied to individual computers by specifying their machine name, and support replacing critical files with malicious files that can cripple the device. |
63,057 | I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that's exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I'm asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I'm working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple "No". So I'm convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I'll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you're curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric. | 2014/08/14 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/63057",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/46454/"
] | What is the business goal of the Self-Destruct button? UX is all about balancing business needs with user goals. So, let's say the business goal is to sell more computers. The user goal is to disable their computer so that they can open an IT ticket, have IT investigate, and eventually replace their computer, having found nothing wrong. Let's talk to some users and validate our hypothesis!
**What is their biggest pain point when it comes to constant uptime and reliability of their computer? How have they tried to fix the problem themselves?** We call 180 users, interview 40, and learn that their biggest pain point is that their company has increased the length of time a computer is expected to be in service from 2 years to an agonizingly lengthy 5 years. Johnny won't get a new computer for 5 years. Or if he inherited an old computer from a recently-departed employee, he may be saddled with the crusty thing for a long time. Meanwhile, technology marches on, and tools get cooler, lighter, faster, shinier. Johnny is sad. He tries dropping his laptop, but it continues to function! He needs a stealthy self-destruct button, and we are going to make it for him. We create a set of Personas based on the 40 people we spoke with.
**Let's design a prototype of the self-destruct button!** We need some requirements. We surmise from our interviews that the self-destruct button must be hidden and difficult to invoke accidentally. Once invoked, it must disappear without a trace so that IT cannot detect the reason for the outage. We also learned that some users said they might want to hit the button to take an unplanned half-day off, because having a disabled computer would mean they are unable to work. In this case, being able to recover from the self-destruct mode would be a desired feature. The product owner feels this feature is not part of Minimum Viable Product, and pushes back hard, calling us The Scope Creep. The first release of the Self Destruct button will be completely unrecoverable and untraceable. So saith the Product Owner.
**As UXers, we wonder, how would Johnny find out about this feature without IT also learning about it.** We need to figure out how to provision this feature selectively, only to the end-user, not the corporate IT person.
We study the workflow for provisioning new users at major companies and learn that many IT folks sign in as Admin users, while end-users are denied admin rights unless they are developers. We recommend launching the self-destruct button only on end-user logins, not admin.
Then we prototype the provisioning workflow and prepare for user testing. We design a slick little Coach Marks treatment that walks the user through the self-destruction process.
Then we test on users who fit the Johnny persona.
We find that users are dismayed that there is no way to recover from self-destruction.
We use our negotiating and presentation skills to make the product owner aware that the first release must be recoverable or the product will fail.
I could go on... but enough fun for one day. | Design is meant to solve problems. In order to answer your question, we need to think of some hypothetical situations where a self-distruct button is needed.
We also have to consider that a "self-distruct button" could be abused by those who want to compromise your empire. By the simple fact that you put it there, you make it easier for them to bring to the ground your entire construct. All they have to do now is find a way to push it.
Besides Star Trek's Enterprise, I am thinking of the following scenario:
In the business environment, somebody has built a very powerful institution on an ethical ground. The founder of that NGO/company/cultural institution puts a lot of emphasis on the need of preserving the moral principles that turned his vision into a worldwide success and a very influential power tool. However, s/he is aware that this institution is larger than life, while s/he is eventually going to die.
That is why s/he fears that his/her legacy might fall into the wrong hands, causing as much trouble as the good it lead to while s/he was alive.
That is why the founder of the company comes up with a contingency plan where the whole system will be destroyed by the simple push of a button when certain clauses are broken by those who will be in control after his/her demise.
I know it sounds crazy, but so was the question. Anyway, fun theoretical challenge. Thanks for asking and stimulating our imagination. |
63,057 | I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that's exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I'm asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I'm working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple "No". So I'm convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I'll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you're curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric. | 2014/08/14 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/63057",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/46454/"
] | >
> What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct
> button?
>
>
>
Well from a users point of view - **bad, slow, inefficient, time wasting, buggy software**. Software that never receives updates or fixes because the developer is in denial that their software has bugs in the first place. This piece of software constantly loses the users work, corrupts files, but realistically is the only available piece of software on the market that this user can make use of - either due to there being no competition, file type compatibility between other users, etc.
Now this self destruct button could be a legal requirement for software developers to include. After a certain amount of frustration (crashes, lost work, lack of fixes in the required time, or other criteria defined by the legal body that lay this law down) this feature i.e. self destruction, could present itself and become available to the user. The user now has the legal right to use this based on the fact it only appears after all the above criteria is met by the software.
>
> And finally, and most importantly, what would it do?
>
>
>
Now what could it do? Well it could completely **wipe all traces of this software** from the users computer, automatically **refund all costs** of the software to the user and also log that this software was given the self destruction treatment on some kind of governmental website that tracks which software has had the most self destructions. A **name and shame** type list. The downside to the user would be they would never be able to install this software on their machine again (to prevent multiple self destructions) - but why would they want to if they nuked it in the first place?
>
> How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing
> the self destruct button?
>
>
>
I haven't thought about this yet but it would be fun to have a stab at some workflows and designs :). Also I like the idea of a physical button! not sure how this would work. maybe a peripheral that comes with new pc's that flashes saying "you now have the right to nuke Ad\*\*e Pho\*\*\*\*0p" | >
> What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct
> button? And finally, and most importantly, what would it do?
>
>
>
A self destruct button sounds like a perfect candidate for once and for all leaving a social network. It's so easy to sign-up but leaving can be a real pain (ever tried [leaving facebook](https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674)?).
>
> How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button?
>
>
>
How about a button on my profile page that reads 'Delete my account', and then without making you file a request (see above link) actually deletes all your data? |
63,057 | I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that's exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I'm asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I'm working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple "No". So I'm convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I'll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you're curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric. | 2014/08/14 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/63057",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/46454/"
] | There seems to be a heated debate about business goal of the self-destruct button in question. So, I will try to contribute to this side of the argument. I am currently working on an MDM (\*\*M\*\*obile \*\*D\*\*evice \*\*M\*\*anagement) project and we have a requirement that enables the administrator to create a *device-wipe* rule based on a status or event. (i.e device leaves a user-specified geofence) But, this is (1) being done by all the MDM products on the market and (2) requires the device to be connected to the internet for the wipe to take place. We were trying to find an alternative and your question has given me a great idea (by the way many thanks, Johnny) and here is a solid, real-life business goal of the self-destruct button/switch/sequence:
-the mobile device under management could be stolen, compromised, or fallen victim to corporate espionage
-the captor might be clever enough so that s/he could cut the internet connection or worse shut down the device immediately, so there could be no way of getting in touch with the device
-...(for the sake of the argument)
With the above conditions, the device must emit an SOS message to the internet immediately after it has booted (if shutdown) or sensed an anomaly. If this SOS message is not responded properly, the device must initiate the self destruct process.
I might have got a little bit out of topic by introducing the automation to self-destruction but it is a real-life answer to a hypothetical question so please don't come at me with sticks and stones. | >
> What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct
> button? And finally, and most importantly, what would it do?
>
>
>
A self destruct button sounds like a perfect candidate for once and for all leaving a social network. It's so easy to sign-up but leaving can be a real pain (ever tried [leaving facebook](https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674)?).
>
> How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button?
>
>
>
How about a button on my profile page that reads 'Delete my account', and then without making you file a request (see above link) actually deletes all your data? |
63,057 | I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that's exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I'm asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I'm working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple "No". So I'm convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I'll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you're curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric. | 2014/08/14 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/63057",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/46454/"
] | It all depends, I think, on what 'platform' you're going to be using this self-destruct button. Is it a digital destruction interface or is it necessary to have a personal self-destruct button on your person at all times?
If you're going digital, how much does this button need to affect? To be a successful self-destruct button, it has to do what it promises to do, otherwise your users are going to go to another destruction company and set them onto you. Problem. So if I was implementing this button, I'd give it a small scope. It should only affect one computer (or one website, possibly. Or one app. Or one database. You get the point.) This way, your button can't be help liable for not causing the correct destruction. If your users want to cause widespread destruction, perhaps you should consider creating a destroyers' network - like a social network, but event-focused: people could create destruction events which other owners of this button could sign up to, thus linking their button and widening the scope for more destruction.
Why would users want this button in the first place? Simple. Users get angry. Once a user is angry, you risk them leaving your product/system - unless you can provide some internal method of venting that anger. This is where the self destruct button comes into play. So, perhaps instead of being its own application, this button should be a key component of all user interfaces - perhaps a small "Annoyed with us? Click here" at the top of every screen to take users to the main button.
Of course, if you want a physical button, there are other concerns. What are you destroying? Is it the object of a user's anger such as a computer or phone? If so, all you need is a crusher. Are you trying to take over the world? You might want a rather strong virus instead.
And then, of course, come in the implications for your company. How do you prevent your company becoming involved in all the legal ramifications of providing people with such potent gadgets without proper training? I believe that's a corporate offence here in the UK. I can't answer that in great detail because I'm not a lawyer - if you really want to investigate, there are plenty of legal communities on the Internet who might be able to help you.
So, a self-destruct button? My advice: keep it simple, make it effective. | Design is meant to solve problems. In order to answer your question, we need to think of some hypothetical situations where a self-distruct button is needed.
We also have to consider that a "self-distruct button" could be abused by those who want to compromise your empire. By the simple fact that you put it there, you make it easier for them to bring to the ground your entire construct. All they have to do now is find a way to push it.
Besides Star Trek's Enterprise, I am thinking of the following scenario:
In the business environment, somebody has built a very powerful institution on an ethical ground. The founder of that NGO/company/cultural institution puts a lot of emphasis on the need of preserving the moral principles that turned his vision into a worldwide success and a very influential power tool. However, s/he is aware that this institution is larger than life, while s/he is eventually going to die.
That is why s/he fears that his/her legacy might fall into the wrong hands, causing as much trouble as the good it lead to while s/he was alive.
That is why the founder of the company comes up with a contingency plan where the whole system will be destroyed by the simple push of a button when certain clauses are broken by those who will be in control after his/her demise.
I know it sounds crazy, but so was the question. Anyway, fun theoretical challenge. Thanks for asking and stimulating our imagination. |
63,057 | I had an Adobe Flash instructor in college who told me a story about getting bored at work. He had some downtime and was looking for a way to pass the time. While looking at some Flash code, he discovered that if you created an executable file with a couple of lines of code you could create a program that would perpetually reboot the users computer. So, armed with his new found knowledge, that's exactly what he did and promptly asked one of his friends to try out this new program he created. My response was, “You created a self destruct button.”
Now, he did this just for fun. Just like I'm asking this question just for fun.
Ever since, and quite often, when I'm working with developers I ask them if they included a self destruct button. I will then get one of two responses, either a blank stare or a simple "No". So I'm convinced the only people I can turn to are UX professionals. Which brings me to my question, which I'll phrase from a UX standpoint.
What user scenario(s) could prompt the inclusion of self destruct button? How would you as a UX professional go about designing/implementing the self destruct button? Finally, and most importantly, what would it do? If you wanted to take it a step farther, how would you calculate conversions/success?
Remember this is purely theoretical and just for fun, so the answers can follow suit, but they should still have some basis in reality (just a little is good).
If we use the story as an example, the scenario that prompted the self destruct button was a developer with too much time on his hands. The design process was simple: create an executable with a line of code. We all know by this point what the executable file did. If you're curious, according to the story the implementation was a complete success and rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So, the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT would be the success metric. | 2014/08/14 | [
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/63057",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com",
"https://ux.stackexchange.com/users/46454/"
] | It's already been done on a vast scale. Since the success metric is
>
> rebooted the machine over a 100 times before being unplugged and summoning IT. So the 100 reboots would be the conversions and the calling of IT
>
>
>
I nominate [Windows update from Microsoft](http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/) because
* every Tuesday is causes at least one reboot, last time was 5 reboots
* the patches often enough break something necessitating a call to IT
The business case is a technical STOCKHOLM SYNDROME - the IT world could be even scarier if you weren't dependant :)
 | There seems to be a heated debate about business goal of the self-destruct button in question. So, I will try to contribute to this side of the argument. I am currently working on an MDM (\*\*M\*\*obile \*\*D\*\*evice \*\*M\*\*anagement) project and we have a requirement that enables the administrator to create a *device-wipe* rule based on a status or event. (i.e device leaves a user-specified geofence) But, this is (1) being done by all the MDM products on the market and (2) requires the device to be connected to the internet for the wipe to take place. We were trying to find an alternative and your question has given me a great idea (by the way many thanks, Johnny) and here is a solid, real-life business goal of the self-destruct button/switch/sequence:
-the mobile device under management could be stolen, compromised, or fallen victim to corporate espionage
-the captor might be clever enough so that s/he could cut the internet connection or worse shut down the device immediately, so there could be no way of getting in touch with the device
-...(for the sake of the argument)
With the above conditions, the device must emit an SOS message to the internet immediately after it has booted (if shutdown) or sensed an anomaly. If this SOS message is not responded properly, the device must initiate the self destruct process.
I might have got a little bit out of topic by introducing the automation to self-destruction but it is a real-life answer to a hypothetical question so please don't come at me with sticks and stones. |
472 | An assumed temperature takeoff intentionally requires a pilot to use more runway than would be normally required. Why would someone want to do that instead of getting off the runway in the minimum distance possible? | 2013/12/28 | [
"https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/472",
"https://aviation.stackexchange.com",
"https://aviation.stackexchange.com/users/69/"
] | Imagine you're doing a takeoff at a high density altitude. You need more runway to get up to speed because your engine is producing less power and you need to move faster to move the same amount of air over your wings as you would at a lower DA.
Aircraft can pretend the DA is higher by using a higher than normal temperature when calculating takeoff information. In jets with automated engine controllers, this setting -in a round about way- allows you to set the engines to produce only the minimum thrust required to get off the ground safely. Since that results in less thrust, there is less wear on the engine and that adds up significantly over time.
Your trade-off for this decreased wear is that you need more runway, which is usually readily available. If you suddenly need full power you just move the throttle to the Take-Off/Go-Around (TOGA) or emergency power setting (or push a TOGA button on the throttle), which overrides the temperature preset. | Airshow pilots will sometimes use more runway than necessary. They'll get the wheels off the ground but remain in ground effect (sometimes only a foot off the runway, which I count as "still using the runway") while accelerating. The extra speed will permit them to make a dramatic vertical climb that's a lot steeper than Vy or Vx would permit. |
472 | An assumed temperature takeoff intentionally requires a pilot to use more runway than would be normally required. Why would someone want to do that instead of getting off the runway in the minimum distance possible? | 2013/12/28 | [
"https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/472",
"https://aviation.stackexchange.com",
"https://aviation.stackexchange.com/users/69/"
] | Imagine you're doing a takeoff at a high density altitude. You need more runway to get up to speed because your engine is producing less power and you need to move faster to move the same amount of air over your wings as you would at a lower DA.
Aircraft can pretend the DA is higher by using a higher than normal temperature when calculating takeoff information. In jets with automated engine controllers, this setting -in a round about way- allows you to set the engines to produce only the minimum thrust required to get off the ground safely. Since that results in less thrust, there is less wear on the engine and that adds up significantly over time.
Your trade-off for this decreased wear is that you need more runway, which is usually readily available. If you suddenly need full power you just move the throttle to the Take-Off/Go-Around (TOGA) or emergency power setting (or push a TOGA button on the throttle), which overrides the temperature preset. | It's basically a question of economics. Derating your takeoff means using a lower thrust setting for the engine which means less wear and thus less money spent on maintenance. |
100,593 | I had a student in one of my courses that for every graded assignment would come to me and challenge the grade given, even though I provided a rubric to show exactly why the points where taken off.
For one of the last assignments, which was a class presentation, this student went off into another topic and for half of the presentation time essentially filled the time with an interesting topic, that unfortunately, although interesting, was not what the assignment for the presentation required. There were other problems with the presentation, which I outlined in the rubric, but twice the student came to me to challenge the grade, because they "worked so hard on the presentation," and that they "did cover what was required" and did not deserve a B (which in retrospect, should have been a C), I explained why again the student got the grade they deserved...and after a while the student saying that they did not agree, left.
But then on the following class, the student came to talk to me about their grade again and was even somewhat aggressive towards me, and very confrontational raising their tone of voice and won't give up on the point that s/he deserved an A. I said that I would be happy to grade the presentation again, but that I was often very lenient and that the grade could either improve/or decrease if I were to grade it again. The student then gave up, and said that s/he would focus then on the final paper and asked whether I give full points (100) in the final paper, to which I replied, "yes, if you exceed my expectations." (haven't graded this assignment yet).
Well, a week went by and then this student asks me for a letter of recommendation! Granted s/he currently have a A- in my course, but after the way the student spoke to me, with complete lack of respect, I was very surprised that s/he would ask for a letter.
...and at first the student did not want to waive their rights to the letter, claiming that we had to sign the page "together" whenever they would pick up the letter. I explained that the student could actually fill out the top part, if s/he wanted to waive the rights, and I would fill out the bottom part, include the form with the letter in a sealed envelope. But that if s/he did not want to waive the rights, that would be fine as well, and I would just sign the bottom part...then the student decided it would be best to waive their rights...
I am now in the process of writing the letter and was wondering if anyone was ever put in the same situation, and what did you do? This is a good student, however, clearly lacks respect for their professors. Any advice/guidance/help? How/Should I mentioned this in the letter? | 2017/12/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82629/"
] | Is there perhaps a cultural element to this situation?
I was once in the reverse situation: I was studying mathematics at an Australian university, but my professor was Russian. He marked all students very harshly, and we all lost a lot of marks for not spelling out things that any other lecturer would have accepted as obvious. But if we took our assignments back to him and argued about the marking, and showed that we did understand what we were doing, he'd give the marks back again. We're talking a *lot* of marks here; it's been a long time and I don't remember exact numbers, but I'd estimate about 30% of my final grade came from arguing with him after he'd scored assignments, and it would've been similar for other students.
Effectively it turned written assignments into an oral examination, which is very unusual in Australian academia but much more common in Russia. I found the process quite daunting - my professor was a big guy who would stand quite close and talk very loudly when we were arguing results, and it took quite a while to figure out that he wasn't actually angry.
If your student comes from the same sort of academic culture as my old lecturer, it's possible that she has been taught by previous experience that she needs to argue with her results and will be severely disadvantaged if she doesn't, and she may not realise that it's coming across as rudeness.
If something like that is going on, it may be a kindness to talk to her about behavioural norms and remind her that they differ from one place to another.
Edit: per undercat's comment on this post, perhaps my experience was more about an individual lecturer than Russian academic culture in general. Either way, I think it shows why a student might believe that regularly challenging results is normal behaviour. | When students ask me to write for them I tell them that although they may waive their right to see the letter, I haven't waived the right to show it to them, and that I will. If it's not likely to be a strong letter I tell them that in advance - they usually thank me and go elsewhere. I always write an honest letter, describing strengths and shortcomings (if any).
In this case you can say the student has earned an A-, and why. The argumentative part needn't be the most prominent part of your letter, unless you feel it should be.
If you do show the student a draft, s/he may ask you not to send it (if you offer her that option). |
100,593 | I had a student in one of my courses that for every graded assignment would come to me and challenge the grade given, even though I provided a rubric to show exactly why the points where taken off.
For one of the last assignments, which was a class presentation, this student went off into another topic and for half of the presentation time essentially filled the time with an interesting topic, that unfortunately, although interesting, was not what the assignment for the presentation required. There were other problems with the presentation, which I outlined in the rubric, but twice the student came to me to challenge the grade, because they "worked so hard on the presentation," and that they "did cover what was required" and did not deserve a B (which in retrospect, should have been a C), I explained why again the student got the grade they deserved...and after a while the student saying that they did not agree, left.
But then on the following class, the student came to talk to me about their grade again and was even somewhat aggressive towards me, and very confrontational raising their tone of voice and won't give up on the point that s/he deserved an A. I said that I would be happy to grade the presentation again, but that I was often very lenient and that the grade could either improve/or decrease if I were to grade it again. The student then gave up, and said that s/he would focus then on the final paper and asked whether I give full points (100) in the final paper, to which I replied, "yes, if you exceed my expectations." (haven't graded this assignment yet).
Well, a week went by and then this student asks me for a letter of recommendation! Granted s/he currently have a A- in my course, but after the way the student spoke to me, with complete lack of respect, I was very surprised that s/he would ask for a letter.
...and at first the student did not want to waive their rights to the letter, claiming that we had to sign the page "together" whenever they would pick up the letter. I explained that the student could actually fill out the top part, if s/he wanted to waive the rights, and I would fill out the bottom part, include the form with the letter in a sealed envelope. But that if s/he did not want to waive the rights, that would be fine as well, and I would just sign the bottom part...then the student decided it would be best to waive their rights...
I am now in the process of writing the letter and was wondering if anyone was ever put in the same situation, and what did you do? This is a good student, however, clearly lacks respect for their professors. Any advice/guidance/help? How/Should I mentioned this in the letter? | 2017/12/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82629/"
] | I'd happily write one!
**Many** "complicated" people are that complicated to us because they think so differently to how we do it. We tend to gather people around us who are alike. That's, by far, not always good.
I talk from my experiences in the corporate sector but these can surely also be applied to academia.
Those people causing us such trouble are a) very intelligent and b) very committed. We don't always understand their motives (like I said: different ways of thinking) but neither do they ours.
They will surely not be yea-sayers to every passing whim of ours. That makes them very valuable employees and co-workers. They will dare to stand up when all the others wouldn't. If you make a bad decision as a boss (be it in a business or in academia) 99% of the people won't even notice (they don't care enough) or won't dare to say anything. That's then when the "complicated" ones come into play. They might be wrong with their point of view as well - but sometimes the combination of the thoughts is better than what either of you thought on his own.
These peope are also very committed. The reason they do stand up way more often than really necessary is: they care! They don't want things to go wrong, they want the company to propser, they want the research project to succeed, etc.
They are surely no easy people to handle but once you learnt to get along with them (which will never be conflict-free, ever!), they are extremely valuable people to an institution.
By the way: The same also applies to reverse roles. If you have a boss of this type you just don't seem to get along, it might actually be a very fruitful collaboration, if both of you are willing to go that way.
**Update**
I would like to address some points brought up in the comments.
First I changed the wording in my second sentence: It's **many** people being complicated due to their intelligence, definitely **not all**
Secondly I'd like to address some points brought up in the comments:
Talking about the case of this very student the OP mentioned, we can see the actual intelligence, interest (in the topic) and commitment of the student by the way the presentation was delivered: More than expected, though, unfortunately, on the wrong topic. Here we have clearly much potential to make a great researcher! There is still some "shaping" needed when it comes to the character.
Many of these troublemakers don't lack the intelligence to realise that they are wrong - they lack the humility to admit so. They do know when they are wrong but they simply "can't be wrong", so they desperately try to find loopholes to be, at least, partially right.
There are also many people who had their intelligence denied either by being told the opposite or being hindered in using it when they were a child. This is especially for girls still the case in many places. So they don't argue about the actual problem. They feel threatened by somebody challenging their view as in: The other one challenges my view so he challenges my intelligence.
Dealing with such people is surely not easy. It requires great empathy and understanding on one hand and clarity (as in: transparency in grading, clear and understandable orders, etc.) and strictness on the other.
Very many of these people have a spledid future if they learn proper modesty - and the humility to admit being wrong when they are. | Would you write a reference letter for him/her? To answer this, ask yourself whether it's your job (probably yes), and, if so, whether you are up to the particular task (probably also yes). Proceed only if you are sure about two "yes" answers.
Assuming you proceed, do a separation of concerns. A student being disrespectful is one topic, but his/her performance is a different topic. He/she is fighting, while lots of others with the same grades are not. So, simply feel free to do this separation of concerns in your letter. |
100,593 | I had a student in one of my courses that for every graded assignment would come to me and challenge the grade given, even though I provided a rubric to show exactly why the points where taken off.
For one of the last assignments, which was a class presentation, this student went off into another topic and for half of the presentation time essentially filled the time with an interesting topic, that unfortunately, although interesting, was not what the assignment for the presentation required. There were other problems with the presentation, which I outlined in the rubric, but twice the student came to me to challenge the grade, because they "worked so hard on the presentation," and that they "did cover what was required" and did not deserve a B (which in retrospect, should have been a C), I explained why again the student got the grade they deserved...and after a while the student saying that they did not agree, left.
But then on the following class, the student came to talk to me about their grade again and was even somewhat aggressive towards me, and very confrontational raising their tone of voice and won't give up on the point that s/he deserved an A. I said that I would be happy to grade the presentation again, but that I was often very lenient and that the grade could either improve/or decrease if I were to grade it again. The student then gave up, and said that s/he would focus then on the final paper and asked whether I give full points (100) in the final paper, to which I replied, "yes, if you exceed my expectations." (haven't graded this assignment yet).
Well, a week went by and then this student asks me for a letter of recommendation! Granted s/he currently have a A- in my course, but after the way the student spoke to me, with complete lack of respect, I was very surprised that s/he would ask for a letter.
...and at first the student did not want to waive their rights to the letter, claiming that we had to sign the page "together" whenever they would pick up the letter. I explained that the student could actually fill out the top part, if s/he wanted to waive the rights, and I would fill out the bottom part, include the form with the letter in a sealed envelope. But that if s/he did not want to waive the rights, that would be fine as well, and I would just sign the bottom part...then the student decided it would be best to waive their rights...
I am now in the process of writing the letter and was wondering if anyone was ever put in the same situation, and what did you do? This is a good student, however, clearly lacks respect for their professors. Any advice/guidance/help? How/Should I mentioned this in the letter? | 2017/12/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82629/"
] | Would you write a reference letter for him/her? To answer this, ask yourself whether it's your job (probably yes), and, if so, whether you are up to the particular task (probably also yes). Proceed only if you are sure about two "yes" answers.
Assuming you proceed, do a separation of concerns. A student being disrespectful is one topic, but his/her performance is a different topic. He/she is fighting, while lots of others with the same grades are not. So, simply feel free to do this separation of concerns in your letter. | Tell them you'll mail the letter directly and then "forget" to mail the letter. Don't even bother wasting your time.
Although, in this case, we see only what we're looking for. You see the student's stubbornness and we could discern that you're a negative thinker. A positive thinker would see the student's unwillingness to accept anything less than the best which is a good thing from an employer perspective.
Then again there are way too many variables involved. It depends on the context of the situation and how the student channels that energy. If they're constantly being confrontational with the team and their supervisors that isn't a good thing because this student would get in the way, slow the team down and likely prevent the team from achieving goals.
I'm sure this student would make a good negotiator though if placed in the right context. |
100,593 | I had a student in one of my courses that for every graded assignment would come to me and challenge the grade given, even though I provided a rubric to show exactly why the points where taken off.
For one of the last assignments, which was a class presentation, this student went off into another topic and for half of the presentation time essentially filled the time with an interesting topic, that unfortunately, although interesting, was not what the assignment for the presentation required. There were other problems with the presentation, which I outlined in the rubric, but twice the student came to me to challenge the grade, because they "worked so hard on the presentation," and that they "did cover what was required" and did not deserve a B (which in retrospect, should have been a C), I explained why again the student got the grade they deserved...and after a while the student saying that they did not agree, left.
But then on the following class, the student came to talk to me about their grade again and was even somewhat aggressive towards me, and very confrontational raising their tone of voice and won't give up on the point that s/he deserved an A. I said that I would be happy to grade the presentation again, but that I was often very lenient and that the grade could either improve/or decrease if I were to grade it again. The student then gave up, and said that s/he would focus then on the final paper and asked whether I give full points (100) in the final paper, to which I replied, "yes, if you exceed my expectations." (haven't graded this assignment yet).
Well, a week went by and then this student asks me for a letter of recommendation! Granted s/he currently have a A- in my course, but after the way the student spoke to me, with complete lack of respect, I was very surprised that s/he would ask for a letter.
...and at first the student did not want to waive their rights to the letter, claiming that we had to sign the page "together" whenever they would pick up the letter. I explained that the student could actually fill out the top part, if s/he wanted to waive the rights, and I would fill out the bottom part, include the form with the letter in a sealed envelope. But that if s/he did not want to waive the rights, that would be fine as well, and I would just sign the bottom part...then the student decided it would be best to waive their rights...
I am now in the process of writing the letter and was wondering if anyone was ever put in the same situation, and what did you do? This is a good student, however, clearly lacks respect for their professors. Any advice/guidance/help? How/Should I mentioned this in the letter? | 2017/12/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82629/"
] | *I support Ethan's approach (show letter to student); Xavier's idea sounds intriguing (ask student to draft letter).*
**Student has been argumentative about assignment grades.**
I suggest you limit the amount of time you devote to listening to these efforts to change a grade.
Geoffrey's and Sophia's answers are interesting possible explanations of the arguing over grades. Here's another: I had a student from China on a scholarship who would argue and argue about his homework grade if he had gotten a 99 instead of a 100. He was anxious! It was anxiety! He was afraid those little -1's on some of his weekly homework assignments were going to stand in his way of remaining in the U.S. for his studies. Sure, it drove me nuts, and he wasn't my favorite person, and he would have been a slightly better student if he weren't wasting energy on nitpicking his homework scores.
**Student was aggressive and confrontational, raising their tone of voice.**
Please see <https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/99635/32436>. | Tell them you'll mail the letter directly and then "forget" to mail the letter. Don't even bother wasting your time.
Although, in this case, we see only what we're looking for. You see the student's stubbornness and we could discern that you're a negative thinker. A positive thinker would see the student's unwillingness to accept anything less than the best which is a good thing from an employer perspective.
Then again there are way too many variables involved. It depends on the context of the situation and how the student channels that energy. If they're constantly being confrontational with the team and their supervisors that isn't a good thing because this student would get in the way, slow the team down and likely prevent the team from achieving goals.
I'm sure this student would make a good negotiator though if placed in the right context. |
100,593 | I had a student in one of my courses that for every graded assignment would come to me and challenge the grade given, even though I provided a rubric to show exactly why the points where taken off.
For one of the last assignments, which was a class presentation, this student went off into another topic and for half of the presentation time essentially filled the time with an interesting topic, that unfortunately, although interesting, was not what the assignment for the presentation required. There were other problems with the presentation, which I outlined in the rubric, but twice the student came to me to challenge the grade, because they "worked so hard on the presentation," and that they "did cover what was required" and did not deserve a B (which in retrospect, should have been a C), I explained why again the student got the grade they deserved...and after a while the student saying that they did not agree, left.
But then on the following class, the student came to talk to me about their grade again and was even somewhat aggressive towards me, and very confrontational raising their tone of voice and won't give up on the point that s/he deserved an A. I said that I would be happy to grade the presentation again, but that I was often very lenient and that the grade could either improve/or decrease if I were to grade it again. The student then gave up, and said that s/he would focus then on the final paper and asked whether I give full points (100) in the final paper, to which I replied, "yes, if you exceed my expectations." (haven't graded this assignment yet).
Well, a week went by and then this student asks me for a letter of recommendation! Granted s/he currently have a A- in my course, but after the way the student spoke to me, with complete lack of respect, I was very surprised that s/he would ask for a letter.
...and at first the student did not want to waive their rights to the letter, claiming that we had to sign the page "together" whenever they would pick up the letter. I explained that the student could actually fill out the top part, if s/he wanted to waive the rights, and I would fill out the bottom part, include the form with the letter in a sealed envelope. But that if s/he did not want to waive the rights, that would be fine as well, and I would just sign the bottom part...then the student decided it would be best to waive their rights...
I am now in the process of writing the letter and was wondering if anyone was ever put in the same situation, and what did you do? This is a good student, however, clearly lacks respect for their professors. Any advice/guidance/help? How/Should I mentioned this in the letter? | 2017/12/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82629/"
] | Thinking of a statement 'to whom it may concern', turn the letter of *recommendation* into a letter of *evaluation* in which you portray the situation as you see it, in suitable and neutral words. The student will evaluate on his/her own its fit with his/her own view of the whole going --- perhaps eventually deciding not to use such a letter with his/her prospects and adopt/review the strategies used with you. We are talking of people of age after all.
Minimally, you might offer the student your availability to pass your contact details to his/her prospect readers at the point of need. And write nothing.
If you want to stimulate/challenge the student's self-evaluation skills, you could also propose him/her to write down a draft. I was often told to do so after asking for testimonials for some professional assignments. In a spoken conversation my answer was in the guise of *Thanks for helping me out; certainly I'll do it; would you please tell me on the fly what has been noteworthy in the time we worked together? I cannot decide this for you* --- in a written exchange I listed aspects that I wished to be mentioned and left the choice of adjectives and adverbs to the writer. Beyond my anecdotes, you will sense how open the student is to self-reflection and feedback, or whether he/she is manipulating your sense of duty.
You are still free to accompany any of these and other strategies with a conversation on the weaknesses and strengths that you have noticed, which might be the home stretch in your mission as educator.
Show integrity and be informative; it's what I would expect from anything you write (once it falls under my eyeballs, which is up to the student, and not to you). | Tell them you'll mail the letter directly and then "forget" to mail the letter. Don't even bother wasting your time.
Although, in this case, we see only what we're looking for. You see the student's stubbornness and we could discern that you're a negative thinker. A positive thinker would see the student's unwillingness to accept anything less than the best which is a good thing from an employer perspective.
Then again there are way too many variables involved. It depends on the context of the situation and how the student channels that energy. If they're constantly being confrontational with the team and their supervisors that isn't a good thing because this student would get in the way, slow the team down and likely prevent the team from achieving goals.
I'm sure this student would make a good negotiator though if placed in the right context. |
100,593 | I had a student in one of my courses that for every graded assignment would come to me and challenge the grade given, even though I provided a rubric to show exactly why the points where taken off.
For one of the last assignments, which was a class presentation, this student went off into another topic and for half of the presentation time essentially filled the time with an interesting topic, that unfortunately, although interesting, was not what the assignment for the presentation required. There were other problems with the presentation, which I outlined in the rubric, but twice the student came to me to challenge the grade, because they "worked so hard on the presentation," and that they "did cover what was required" and did not deserve a B (which in retrospect, should have been a C), I explained why again the student got the grade they deserved...and after a while the student saying that they did not agree, left.
But then on the following class, the student came to talk to me about their grade again and was even somewhat aggressive towards me, and very confrontational raising their tone of voice and won't give up on the point that s/he deserved an A. I said that I would be happy to grade the presentation again, but that I was often very lenient and that the grade could either improve/or decrease if I were to grade it again. The student then gave up, and said that s/he would focus then on the final paper and asked whether I give full points (100) in the final paper, to which I replied, "yes, if you exceed my expectations." (haven't graded this assignment yet).
Well, a week went by and then this student asks me for a letter of recommendation! Granted s/he currently have a A- in my course, but after the way the student spoke to me, with complete lack of respect, I was very surprised that s/he would ask for a letter.
...and at first the student did not want to waive their rights to the letter, claiming that we had to sign the page "together" whenever they would pick up the letter. I explained that the student could actually fill out the top part, if s/he wanted to waive the rights, and I would fill out the bottom part, include the form with the letter in a sealed envelope. But that if s/he did not want to waive the rights, that would be fine as well, and I would just sign the bottom part...then the student decided it would be best to waive their rights...
I am now in the process of writing the letter and was wondering if anyone was ever put in the same situation, and what did you do? This is a good student, however, clearly lacks respect for their professors. Any advice/guidance/help? How/Should I mentioned this in the letter? | 2017/12/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82629/"
] | Is there perhaps a cultural element to this situation?
I was once in the reverse situation: I was studying mathematics at an Australian university, but my professor was Russian. He marked all students very harshly, and we all lost a lot of marks for not spelling out things that any other lecturer would have accepted as obvious. But if we took our assignments back to him and argued about the marking, and showed that we did understand what we were doing, he'd give the marks back again. We're talking a *lot* of marks here; it's been a long time and I don't remember exact numbers, but I'd estimate about 30% of my final grade came from arguing with him after he'd scored assignments, and it would've been similar for other students.
Effectively it turned written assignments into an oral examination, which is very unusual in Australian academia but much more common in Russia. I found the process quite daunting - my professor was a big guy who would stand quite close and talk very loudly when we were arguing results, and it took quite a while to figure out that he wasn't actually angry.
If your student comes from the same sort of academic culture as my old lecturer, it's possible that she has been taught by previous experience that she needs to argue with her results and will be severely disadvantaged if she doesn't, and she may not realise that it's coming across as rudeness.
If something like that is going on, it may be a kindness to talk to her about behavioural norms and remind her that they differ from one place to another.
Edit: per undercat's comment on this post, perhaps my experience was more about an individual lecturer than Russian academic culture in general. Either way, I think it shows why a student might believe that regularly challenging results is normal behaviour. | People like that shouldn’t get their way because they will continue their behavior. We had a classmate in a two semester course, exactly like that, an annoying person. The first semester he did not earn an A so he nagged our professor to make him alone another final so he got an A. I also knew that he had a private tutor who did his assignments!! The next semester he did poorly on the final AGAIN with no excuse and wanted another final!
You shouldn’t write the letter. |
100,593 | I had a student in one of my courses that for every graded assignment would come to me and challenge the grade given, even though I provided a rubric to show exactly why the points where taken off.
For one of the last assignments, which was a class presentation, this student went off into another topic and for half of the presentation time essentially filled the time with an interesting topic, that unfortunately, although interesting, was not what the assignment for the presentation required. There were other problems with the presentation, which I outlined in the rubric, but twice the student came to me to challenge the grade, because they "worked so hard on the presentation," and that they "did cover what was required" and did not deserve a B (which in retrospect, should have been a C), I explained why again the student got the grade they deserved...and after a while the student saying that they did not agree, left.
But then on the following class, the student came to talk to me about their grade again and was even somewhat aggressive towards me, and very confrontational raising their tone of voice and won't give up on the point that s/he deserved an A. I said that I would be happy to grade the presentation again, but that I was often very lenient and that the grade could either improve/or decrease if I were to grade it again. The student then gave up, and said that s/he would focus then on the final paper and asked whether I give full points (100) in the final paper, to which I replied, "yes, if you exceed my expectations." (haven't graded this assignment yet).
Well, a week went by and then this student asks me for a letter of recommendation! Granted s/he currently have a A- in my course, but after the way the student spoke to me, with complete lack of respect, I was very surprised that s/he would ask for a letter.
...and at first the student did not want to waive their rights to the letter, claiming that we had to sign the page "together" whenever they would pick up the letter. I explained that the student could actually fill out the top part, if s/he wanted to waive the rights, and I would fill out the bottom part, include the form with the letter in a sealed envelope. But that if s/he did not want to waive the rights, that would be fine as well, and I would just sign the bottom part...then the student decided it would be best to waive their rights...
I am now in the process of writing the letter and was wondering if anyone was ever put in the same situation, and what did you do? This is a good student, however, clearly lacks respect for their professors. Any advice/guidance/help? How/Should I mentioned this in the letter? | 2017/12/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82629/"
] | I'd happily write one!
**Many** "complicated" people are that complicated to us because they think so differently to how we do it. We tend to gather people around us who are alike. That's, by far, not always good.
I talk from my experiences in the corporate sector but these can surely also be applied to academia.
Those people causing us such trouble are a) very intelligent and b) very committed. We don't always understand their motives (like I said: different ways of thinking) but neither do they ours.
They will surely not be yea-sayers to every passing whim of ours. That makes them very valuable employees and co-workers. They will dare to stand up when all the others wouldn't. If you make a bad decision as a boss (be it in a business or in academia) 99% of the people won't even notice (they don't care enough) or won't dare to say anything. That's then when the "complicated" ones come into play. They might be wrong with their point of view as well - but sometimes the combination of the thoughts is better than what either of you thought on his own.
These peope are also very committed. The reason they do stand up way more often than really necessary is: they care! They don't want things to go wrong, they want the company to propser, they want the research project to succeed, etc.
They are surely no easy people to handle but once you learnt to get along with them (which will never be conflict-free, ever!), they are extremely valuable people to an institution.
By the way: The same also applies to reverse roles. If you have a boss of this type you just don't seem to get along, it might actually be a very fruitful collaboration, if both of you are willing to go that way.
**Update**
I would like to address some points brought up in the comments.
First I changed the wording in my second sentence: It's **many** people being complicated due to their intelligence, definitely **not all**
Secondly I'd like to address some points brought up in the comments:
Talking about the case of this very student the OP mentioned, we can see the actual intelligence, interest (in the topic) and commitment of the student by the way the presentation was delivered: More than expected, though, unfortunately, on the wrong topic. Here we have clearly much potential to make a great researcher! There is still some "shaping" needed when it comes to the character.
Many of these troublemakers don't lack the intelligence to realise that they are wrong - they lack the humility to admit so. They do know when they are wrong but they simply "can't be wrong", so they desperately try to find loopholes to be, at least, partially right.
There are also many people who had their intelligence denied either by being told the opposite or being hindered in using it when they were a child. This is especially for girls still the case in many places. So they don't argue about the actual problem. They feel threatened by somebody challenging their view as in: The other one challenges my view so he challenges my intelligence.
Dealing with such people is surely not easy. It requires great empathy and understanding on one hand and clarity (as in: transparency in grading, clear and understandable orders, etc.) and strictness on the other.
Very many of these people have a spledid future if they learn proper modesty - and the humility to admit being wrong when they are. | *I support Ethan's approach (show letter to student); Xavier's idea sounds intriguing (ask student to draft letter).*
**Student has been argumentative about assignment grades.**
I suggest you limit the amount of time you devote to listening to these efforts to change a grade.
Geoffrey's and Sophia's answers are interesting possible explanations of the arguing over grades. Here's another: I had a student from China on a scholarship who would argue and argue about his homework grade if he had gotten a 99 instead of a 100. He was anxious! It was anxiety! He was afraid those little -1's on some of his weekly homework assignments were going to stand in his way of remaining in the U.S. for his studies. Sure, it drove me nuts, and he wasn't my favorite person, and he would have been a slightly better student if he weren't wasting energy on nitpicking his homework scores.
**Student was aggressive and confrontational, raising their tone of voice.**
Please see <https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/99635/32436>. |
100,593 | I had a student in one of my courses that for every graded assignment would come to me and challenge the grade given, even though I provided a rubric to show exactly why the points where taken off.
For one of the last assignments, which was a class presentation, this student went off into another topic and for half of the presentation time essentially filled the time with an interesting topic, that unfortunately, although interesting, was not what the assignment for the presentation required. There were other problems with the presentation, which I outlined in the rubric, but twice the student came to me to challenge the grade, because they "worked so hard on the presentation," and that they "did cover what was required" and did not deserve a B (which in retrospect, should have been a C), I explained why again the student got the grade they deserved...and after a while the student saying that they did not agree, left.
But then on the following class, the student came to talk to me about their grade again and was even somewhat aggressive towards me, and very confrontational raising their tone of voice and won't give up on the point that s/he deserved an A. I said that I would be happy to grade the presentation again, but that I was often very lenient and that the grade could either improve/or decrease if I were to grade it again. The student then gave up, and said that s/he would focus then on the final paper and asked whether I give full points (100) in the final paper, to which I replied, "yes, if you exceed my expectations." (haven't graded this assignment yet).
Well, a week went by and then this student asks me for a letter of recommendation! Granted s/he currently have a A- in my course, but after the way the student spoke to me, with complete lack of respect, I was very surprised that s/he would ask for a letter.
...and at first the student did not want to waive their rights to the letter, claiming that we had to sign the page "together" whenever they would pick up the letter. I explained that the student could actually fill out the top part, if s/he wanted to waive the rights, and I would fill out the bottom part, include the form with the letter in a sealed envelope. But that if s/he did not want to waive the rights, that would be fine as well, and I would just sign the bottom part...then the student decided it would be best to waive their rights...
I am now in the process of writing the letter and was wondering if anyone was ever put in the same situation, and what did you do? This is a good student, however, clearly lacks respect for their professors. Any advice/guidance/help? How/Should I mentioned this in the letter? | 2017/12/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82629/"
] | Is there perhaps a cultural element to this situation?
I was once in the reverse situation: I was studying mathematics at an Australian university, but my professor was Russian. He marked all students very harshly, and we all lost a lot of marks for not spelling out things that any other lecturer would have accepted as obvious. But if we took our assignments back to him and argued about the marking, and showed that we did understand what we were doing, he'd give the marks back again. We're talking a *lot* of marks here; it's been a long time and I don't remember exact numbers, but I'd estimate about 30% of my final grade came from arguing with him after he'd scored assignments, and it would've been similar for other students.
Effectively it turned written assignments into an oral examination, which is very unusual in Australian academia but much more common in Russia. I found the process quite daunting - my professor was a big guy who would stand quite close and talk very loudly when we were arguing results, and it took quite a while to figure out that he wasn't actually angry.
If your student comes from the same sort of academic culture as my old lecturer, it's possible that she has been taught by previous experience that she needs to argue with her results and will be severely disadvantaged if she doesn't, and she may not realise that it's coming across as rudeness.
If something like that is going on, it may be a kindness to talk to her about behavioural norms and remind her that they differ from one place to another.
Edit: per undercat's comment on this post, perhaps my experience was more about an individual lecturer than Russian academic culture in general. Either way, I think it shows why a student might believe that regularly challenging results is normal behaviour. | This is similar to the comment about culture differences but focused on the concept of different learning styles.
Some of the behaviors you describe are related to ADD such as.
1. Going off topic
2. Argumentative / Oppositional behavior
3. Fear of social rejection. Exhibited by their fear of you leaving a bad review.
Students with ADD are often have troubles with formal education due to these traits.
This student may hold great respect for you as a professor but showcase it by being extremely engaged and passionate about there impact in the class. This is in comparison to a student who may be very respectful but only due to a lack of interest or involvement.
From the information provided there is still a good chance your student is simply self interested and does not deserve a good review.
If you are still unsure I would meet with the student and conduct an interview with them. This can give you a deeper perspective into there motives for attending this class and asking for your recommendation. |
100,593 | I had a student in one of my courses that for every graded assignment would come to me and challenge the grade given, even though I provided a rubric to show exactly why the points where taken off.
For one of the last assignments, which was a class presentation, this student went off into another topic and for half of the presentation time essentially filled the time with an interesting topic, that unfortunately, although interesting, was not what the assignment for the presentation required. There were other problems with the presentation, which I outlined in the rubric, but twice the student came to me to challenge the grade, because they "worked so hard on the presentation," and that they "did cover what was required" and did not deserve a B (which in retrospect, should have been a C), I explained why again the student got the grade they deserved...and after a while the student saying that they did not agree, left.
But then on the following class, the student came to talk to me about their grade again and was even somewhat aggressive towards me, and very confrontational raising their tone of voice and won't give up on the point that s/he deserved an A. I said that I would be happy to grade the presentation again, but that I was often very lenient and that the grade could either improve/or decrease if I were to grade it again. The student then gave up, and said that s/he would focus then on the final paper and asked whether I give full points (100) in the final paper, to which I replied, "yes, if you exceed my expectations." (haven't graded this assignment yet).
Well, a week went by and then this student asks me for a letter of recommendation! Granted s/he currently have a A- in my course, but after the way the student spoke to me, with complete lack of respect, I was very surprised that s/he would ask for a letter.
...and at first the student did not want to waive their rights to the letter, claiming that we had to sign the page "together" whenever they would pick up the letter. I explained that the student could actually fill out the top part, if s/he wanted to waive the rights, and I would fill out the bottom part, include the form with the letter in a sealed envelope. But that if s/he did not want to waive the rights, that would be fine as well, and I would just sign the bottom part...then the student decided it would be best to waive their rights...
I am now in the process of writing the letter and was wondering if anyone was ever put in the same situation, and what did you do? This is a good student, however, clearly lacks respect for their professors. Any advice/guidance/help? How/Should I mentioned this in the letter? | 2017/12/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82629/"
] | Would you write a reference letter for him/her? To answer this, ask yourself whether it's your job (probably yes), and, if so, whether you are up to the particular task (probably also yes). Proceed only if you are sure about two "yes" answers.
Assuming you proceed, do a separation of concerns. A student being disrespectful is one topic, but his/her performance is a different topic. He/she is fighting, while lots of others with the same grades are not. So, simply feel free to do this separation of concerns in your letter. | People like that shouldn’t get their way because they will continue their behavior. We had a classmate in a two semester course, exactly like that, an annoying person. The first semester he did not earn an A so he nagged our professor to make him alone another final so he got an A. I also knew that he had a private tutor who did his assignments!! The next semester he did poorly on the final AGAIN with no excuse and wanted another final!
You shouldn’t write the letter. |
100,593 | I had a student in one of my courses that for every graded assignment would come to me and challenge the grade given, even though I provided a rubric to show exactly why the points where taken off.
For one of the last assignments, which was a class presentation, this student went off into another topic and for half of the presentation time essentially filled the time with an interesting topic, that unfortunately, although interesting, was not what the assignment for the presentation required. There were other problems with the presentation, which I outlined in the rubric, but twice the student came to me to challenge the grade, because they "worked so hard on the presentation," and that they "did cover what was required" and did not deserve a B (which in retrospect, should have been a C), I explained why again the student got the grade they deserved...and after a while the student saying that they did not agree, left.
But then on the following class, the student came to talk to me about their grade again and was even somewhat aggressive towards me, and very confrontational raising their tone of voice and won't give up on the point that s/he deserved an A. I said that I would be happy to grade the presentation again, but that I was often very lenient and that the grade could either improve/or decrease if I were to grade it again. The student then gave up, and said that s/he would focus then on the final paper and asked whether I give full points (100) in the final paper, to which I replied, "yes, if you exceed my expectations." (haven't graded this assignment yet).
Well, a week went by and then this student asks me for a letter of recommendation! Granted s/he currently have a A- in my course, but after the way the student spoke to me, with complete lack of respect, I was very surprised that s/he would ask for a letter.
...and at first the student did not want to waive their rights to the letter, claiming that we had to sign the page "together" whenever they would pick up the letter. I explained that the student could actually fill out the top part, if s/he wanted to waive the rights, and I would fill out the bottom part, include the form with the letter in a sealed envelope. But that if s/he did not want to waive the rights, that would be fine as well, and I would just sign the bottom part...then the student decided it would be best to waive their rights...
I am now in the process of writing the letter and was wondering if anyone was ever put in the same situation, and what did you do? This is a good student, however, clearly lacks respect for their professors. Any advice/guidance/help? How/Should I mentioned this in the letter? | 2017/12/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/100593",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82629/"
] | A letter of recommendation is usually a statement of how you feel about their work ethic and character. I feel they should only be done if you feel strongly positive about both that you would stake your own reputation if they get accepted. The fact that you're asking this question, let alone the stories and the tone of your post, gives the impression you are not enthusiastic to endorse this person.
Imagine you have a best friend who owns a company who hires this person based on your recommendation. Would you be excited to hear they got hired and are working for your best friend? Would you be like, "That's fantastic! My friend's in good company and hiring the right people. They'll do great things."
Or would you be worried about that person screwing up the work at your friend's company? Would you fear your friend might come back to you five months later with a story that they asked this person to add a new feature to their latest product and instead got a report about the effects of microwaving hamsters and when they were called out on it said that the instructions were unclear, but they worked really hard on that report and should get a raise and promotion.
If it's the latter, please don't write the letter of recommendation. Please don't reward belligerent and disrespectful people who think that a loud voice and talking over people makes them right. I don't want to work with people like that. | When students ask me to write for them I tell them that although they may waive their right to see the letter, I haven't waived the right to show it to them, and that I will. If it's not likely to be a strong letter I tell them that in advance - they usually thank me and go elsewhere. I always write an honest letter, describing strengths and shortcomings (if any).
In this case you can say the student has earned an A-, and why. The argumentative part needn't be the most prominent part of your letter, unless you feel it should be.
If you do show the student a draft, s/he may ask you not to send it (if you offer her that option). |
123,523 | [ʊ] is a short vowel sound, as in *good* or *wolf* or *bush*.
Is there at least one word which starts with it in English? | 2017/03/24 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/123523",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/51028/"
] | [Umlaut](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/umlaut):
>
> Pronunciation:
>
>
> (UK) IPA(key): /ˈʊm.laʊt/, /ˈʌm.laʊt/
>
>
> (US) IPA(key): /ˈʊm.laʊt/, /ˈum.laʊt/
>
>
> | [Oopsy-daisy](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/oopsy-daisy) (AmE) starts with /ʊ/. And I think it counts as a word—it's in the dictionary. |
27,541 | I have been asked to do a commercial shoot which will involve shooting interiors with a lot of tiled surfaces (bathrooms, receptions, leisure centres).
I will be on my own without the aid of an assistant. I have a Canon EOS 5D Mkii, 24-105mm lens and basic flash gun with a tilt head and a tripod.
I am more accustomed to shooting outdoors and would like some advice on how to go about this. I will be visiting multiple locations over one day so will be limited for time. Some of the locations will be busy with general public and I may not have access to a power supply.
Should I bring some sort of lighting with me and if so what is the best way to set up when I will be working with so many shiny surfaces? Alternatively would I be better trying to make the most of ambient light and using fill flash? | 2012/09/25 | [
"https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/27541",
"https://photo.stackexchange.com",
"https://photo.stackexchange.com/users/11755/"
] | Lighting off the camera is going to be a distinct help, but you probably should be aware of a few things in doing so:
1. Hotshoe flashes are small lights, so you want some diffusion if possible. This can be an umbrella or even your own homemade reflector that you point the flash at. Anything that softens and spreads the light so that the source is not concentrated.
2. You'll probably have mixed light, especially if the flash is more for fill (and that probably makes sense). This means that you might need to put a gel on the front of the flash in order to get proper white balance. So, for tungsten lighting, you might need a CTO (color temperature orange) gel and for flourescent, a plus green. I do note that is a case of you *might* need it, it depends on the ambient lighting. Either way, you can usually get these gels at decent camera stores.
3. Angle of incidence equals angle of reflection. You have shiny surfaces and you need to angle your light to avoid having it reflect directly back into your lens and blowing out the scene. Ever notice when you see eye glasses wiped out by flash? The way to avoid that is to raise (or lower) the flash so that the light is angled so that when it reflects, it reflects down and out rather than straight in to the lens. This well nigh impossible to pull off if the flash is mounted on your camera and pointed at the subject.
4. Kind of in line with item 2, get a gray card (or some other aid) to get correct white balance and shoot this card at every location. If you shoot raw, rather than JPEG, then you can use this get correct color and then mass apply that to all images at that location. Very handy and saves enourmous amounts of time.
That covers my thoughts... If I have more, I'll add them. | You really will want to use off camera flash. A simple stand and umbrella will make the shots much better. Cheap and very transportable.
The Strobist has tons of information on this. Read the Strobist 101 series. Especially <http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101-traveling-light.html> |
61,988 | I am reading a text about how literature can be used to shape moral behavior in kids. But I don't seem to understand the meaning of this segment. This part "...as having narrative meaning", what does it mean?
Here is the text:
>
> In addition, children acutely understand their own moral behavior as having narrative meaning, and moral stories provide a blueprint for the internalization of moral behavior
>
>
> | 2015/07/17 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/61988",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/21465/"
] | I had to dig up a copy of the article to be sure of this, it comes from a study called "The Hidden Virtues of Harry Potter: Using J.K. Rowling's Novels to Facilitate Character Education with Juvenile Delinquents"
The writer is saying that children see their own lives in the form of stories and equate their own behavior to that of characters in fiction. Narrative meaning here is the same as saying that they see their behavior as a component of the story that they place themselves in. | For a simple paraphrase, try
>
> children acutely understand that their own moral behavior (has)/(relates to)
> narrative meaning
>
>
>
or
>
> children acutely associate their own moral behavior with the meaning of the narrative
>
>
> |
61,988 | I am reading a text about how literature can be used to shape moral behavior in kids. But I don't seem to understand the meaning of this segment. This part "...as having narrative meaning", what does it mean?
Here is the text:
>
> In addition, children acutely understand their own moral behavior as having narrative meaning, and moral stories provide a blueprint for the internalization of moral behavior
>
>
> | 2015/07/17 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/61988",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/21465/"
] | If it's the sentence structure that you're unfamiliar with, here's how to think of it:
[The subject] understands [the object] as having [attributes] =
[The subject] understands that [the object] has [attributes]
If it's the content of the phrase that is the issue, PerryW successfully translated it for you.
This excerpt is a good example of "academese," the complicated and confusing language that most scholars use when they write. | I had to dig up a copy of the article to be sure of this, it comes from a study called "The Hidden Virtues of Harry Potter: Using J.K. Rowling's Novels to Facilitate Character Education with Juvenile Delinquents"
The writer is saying that children see their own lives in the form of stories and equate their own behavior to that of characters in fiction. Narrative meaning here is the same as saying that they see their behavior as a component of the story that they place themselves in. |
61,988 | I am reading a text about how literature can be used to shape moral behavior in kids. But I don't seem to understand the meaning of this segment. This part "...as having narrative meaning", what does it mean?
Here is the text:
>
> In addition, children acutely understand their own moral behavior as having narrative meaning, and moral stories provide a blueprint for the internalization of moral behavior
>
>
> | 2015/07/17 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/61988",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/21465/"
] | If it's the sentence structure that you're unfamiliar with, here's how to think of it:
[The subject] understands [the object] as having [attributes] =
[The subject] understands that [the object] has [attributes]
If it's the content of the phrase that is the issue, PerryW successfully translated it for you.
This excerpt is a good example of "academese," the complicated and confusing language that most scholars use when they write. | For a simple paraphrase, try
>
> children acutely understand that their own moral behavior (has)/(relates to)
> narrative meaning
>
>
>
or
>
> children acutely associate their own moral behavior with the meaning of the narrative
>
>
> |
325,693 | I made the mistake of thinking that the cables were dumb by default and the "smart" electronics were on the boards the cables plugged into.
I designed non USB compliant boards that used USB-C connectors and now my project doesn't work because all cables I find already have some circuitry inside.
Do simple 24 to 24 pin USB connector cables exist and how do I search for them? | 2017/08/24 | [
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/325693",
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com",
"https://electronics.stackexchange.com/users/43195/"
] | I am not sure about electronics inside the Type-C cable overmolds. Cables with electronics markers on CC lines are pretty hard to find yet.
However, no standard C-C cable has all 24 wires. At least the USB 2.0 D+/D- wires have only one pair of them across the cable, see this assembly table from Type-C specifications,
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/KoehN.png)
So, the standard C-C cables have at most 22 wires.
More, if someone wants to use the Type-C connector as a nice generic 24-pin connector for arbitrary set of signals, they would need to make their own cable assembly. The reason is that standard USB cables have 5 pairs of cable wires tightly coupled/twisted to form differential pair, and can't be used for individual signals due to horrible cross-talk.
ADDITION: I'll take it a bit back. Per USB Type-C specification, ALL full-featured C-C cables are required to have eMarkers in overmolds, regardless if it is 3-A rating, or 5-A rating. So the only full-featured cables without eMarkers would be illegal, uncertifiable cables. | Check Molex cables. Maybe they do not have any electronics inside.
<http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/ps/PS-68798-0001-001.pdf>
If yes - check on alibaba who makes them and ask for the "plain" cable only. I was ordering cables for my device (I have done silly mistake when was designing the pcb) with two cables swapped. But I could order 150cables for a very good money. |
24,548,593 | In a large VS 2008 solution we have different schema projects and mapping projects. The mapping projects reference the appropriate schema projects and this works fine overall.
However, recently I added a new schema project and it **consistently** gives the same problem. When I add a new schema to it, and I want to use that schema in a mapping project that already has a reference to the schema project, the map fails to validate with the message
>
> Cannot load source/destination schema [...]. Either the file/type does not exist, or if a project dependency exists, the dependent project is not built.
>
>
>
Fair enough, I'll just re-build the schema project and this should solve the error. But that is not enough with this particular schema project. I have to **remove** and **re-add** the schema project reference to make this error go away. It's pretty annoying and it works for other projects without this extra step, so what can I do? | 2014/07/03 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/24548593",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1313143/"
] | What you are experiencing is a will known issue with the BizTalk Server 2009 Project system.
That version had a number of frustrating designer issues. The later Service Packs alleviated many of them but not all.
The most common workaround for the problem you are facing is to flip the Copy Local property of the Reference. | I don't know how often you rebuild your schemas project, but it may be handy to reference the schemas DLL on disk instead of the schemas project in your solution.
Keep in mind though, that a change in the schemas, will need you to rebuild the schemas project again and afterwards the mappings project to take the new version into account. |
24,548,593 | In a large VS 2008 solution we have different schema projects and mapping projects. The mapping projects reference the appropriate schema projects and this works fine overall.
However, recently I added a new schema project and it **consistently** gives the same problem. When I add a new schema to it, and I want to use that schema in a mapping project that already has a reference to the schema project, the map fails to validate with the message
>
> Cannot load source/destination schema [...]. Either the file/type does not exist, or if a project dependency exists, the dependent project is not built.
>
>
>
Fair enough, I'll just re-build the schema project and this should solve the error. But that is not enough with this particular schema project. I have to **remove** and **re-add** the schema project reference to make this error go away. It's pretty annoying and it works for other projects without this extra step, so what can I do? | 2014/07/03 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/24548593",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1313143/"
] | I don't know how often you rebuild your schemas project, but it may be handy to reference the schemas DLL on disk instead of the schemas project in your solution.
Keep in mind though, that a change in the schemas, will need you to rebuild the schemas project again and afterwards the mappings project to take the new version into account. | This was probably not the best approach in general, but in case it helps someone, I received this error after...
1. Making a copy of an existing schema file and giving it a temporary file name. I wanted to keep the original around to reference while I completely rewrote this process.
2. Eventually I deleted the original file and renamed my copy to what the original file was named.
3. The map could no longer find the schema even though I clearly had a schema file named as such in my schema project. When asked to "pick a new schema," only the temp schema name was in the list.
The fix for me was that I needed to manually update the "Type Name" field in the properties on the schema to match the file name and rebuild. The "Type Name" was still set to the temp file name I had used while rewriting. |
24,548,593 | In a large VS 2008 solution we have different schema projects and mapping projects. The mapping projects reference the appropriate schema projects and this works fine overall.
However, recently I added a new schema project and it **consistently** gives the same problem. When I add a new schema to it, and I want to use that schema in a mapping project that already has a reference to the schema project, the map fails to validate with the message
>
> Cannot load source/destination schema [...]. Either the file/type does not exist, or if a project dependency exists, the dependent project is not built.
>
>
>
Fair enough, I'll just re-build the schema project and this should solve the error. But that is not enough with this particular schema project. I have to **remove** and **re-add** the schema project reference to make this error go away. It's pretty annoying and it works for other projects without this extra step, so what can I do? | 2014/07/03 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/24548593",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/1313143/"
] | What you are experiencing is a will known issue with the BizTalk Server 2009 Project system.
That version had a number of frustrating designer issues. The later Service Packs alleviated many of them but not all.
The most common workaround for the problem you are facing is to flip the Copy Local property of the Reference. | This was probably not the best approach in general, but in case it helps someone, I received this error after...
1. Making a copy of an existing schema file and giving it a temporary file name. I wanted to keep the original around to reference while I completely rewrote this process.
2. Eventually I deleted the original file and renamed my copy to what the original file was named.
3. The map could no longer find the schema even though I clearly had a schema file named as such in my schema project. When asked to "pick a new schema," only the temp schema name was in the list.
The fix for me was that I needed to manually update the "Type Name" field in the properties on the schema to match the file name and rebuild. The "Type Name" was still set to the temp file name I had used while rewriting. |
322,415 | Does "even" mean something here?
>
> Who the fuck? *Even*. *Was* this douche?
>
> Piper forced her chin up and followed the beast to the back
> of the bar—the bar which was essentially the size of her closet
> back in Bel-Air—and up a narrow staircase, Hannah in tow.
> God, he was freakishly big. Just to make it up the stairs, he had
> to bend down slightly, so his beanie-covered head wouldn’t hit
> the ceiling.
>
>
>
Tessa Bailey "It Happened One Summer" | 2022/09/06 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/322415",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/89835/"
] | The first one (I called to confirm) is past tense, so you must be talking about something that has already happened. The second one (I'm calling to confirm) is for something that's happening in that moment. For example:
>
> "Why did you call me before?"
>
>
> "I called to confirm..."
>
>
>
or you could have a conversation on the phone:
>
> "Why are you calling?"
>
>
> "I'm calling to confirm..."
>
>
>
I think both of your phrases are fine in informal English: spoken out loud, they would sound natural to me. In written English, I think 'confirm with you about' is not quite right, and I recommend "confirm with you *that* [something is happening]" rather than "confirm with you *about* something. If you wanted to use 'about', say 'talk to you about' instead. | Neither one is correct, in my opinion. I would say "I'm calling to confirm my dinner reservation with you on Friday," if you're calling a restaurant, or "I'm calling to confirm that you will be joining me for dinner on Friday," if you're calling a friend or acquaintance. |
322,415 | Does "even" mean something here?
>
> Who the fuck? *Even*. *Was* this douche?
>
> Piper forced her chin up and followed the beast to the back
> of the bar—the bar which was essentially the size of her closet
> back in Bel-Air—and up a narrow staircase, Hannah in tow.
> God, he was freakishly big. Just to make it up the stairs, he had
> to bend down slightly, so his beanie-covered head wouldn’t hit
> the ceiling.
>
>
>
Tessa Bailey "It Happened One Summer" | 2022/09/06 | [
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/322415",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com",
"https://ell.stackexchange.com/users/89835/"
] | The first one (I called to confirm) is past tense, so you must be talking about something that has already happened. The second one (I'm calling to confirm) is for something that's happening in that moment. For example:
>
> "Why did you call me before?"
>
>
> "I called to confirm..."
>
>
>
or you could have a conversation on the phone:
>
> "Why are you calling?"
>
>
> "I'm calling to confirm..."
>
>
>
I think both of your phrases are fine in informal English: spoken out loud, they would sound natural to me. In written English, I think 'confirm with you about' is not quite right, and I recommend "confirm with you *that* [something is happening]" rather than "confirm with you *about* something. If you wanted to use 'about', say 'talk to you about' instead. | "*I'm calling to confirm with you about dinner on Friday*" is 100% correct and natural.
The other one is in the simple past, so it means you called before, which cannot possibly refer to the current call.
Another possibility is "*I've called to confirm...*". This works because present perfect means the result of the past action is in the present. In this case, the past action is calling, and the present result is we're talking on the phone. |
153,560 | There is a unique longbow in the *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* module (p. 201), whose description includes:
>
> This unique weapon can be used only by a Medium or larger creature that has a Strength of 18 or higher. The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier...
>
>
>
However when looking at the PHB's section on "[Dexterity Attack Rolls and Damage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#DexterityAttackRollsandDamage)", I realized it states:
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon...
>
>
>
To me this means that unless a feature specifically tells you not to, you would add your Dexterity modifier to a ranged weapon's damage and attack rolls.
An example of such a prevention is [Two-Weapon Fighting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TwoWeaponFighting) which states:
>
> You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
>
>
>
Notably, [the NPC who owns it](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ziraj-the-hunter) has a +3 proficiency bonus, a +7 to attacks with the longbow and deals 2d6+4 damage. Unfortunately, their strength and dexterity modifiers are both +4 so I can't tell which is being added.
However, as @thedarkwanderer pointed out in a comment in the Q/A "[How can I shoot a bow using strength instead of dexterity?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153530)":
>
> NPCs use different rules than PC's
>
>
>
This leaves me uncertain and with the following question:
If a PC wields this unique longbow, what modifiers do they add to its attack and damage rolls? | 2019/08/15 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153560",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/36521/"
] | Specific trumps general
-----------------------
The general rule for Dexterity-based attacks is that you add your Dexterity modifier to the damage if you hit. The rules for [weapons](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/equipment#Weapons) list the basic damage for each, and you add your Strength or Dexterity bonus when applicable.
That specific longbow, however, states that the damage it does is 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier. That is a specific rule which overrides the general rule.
As such, you use Dexterity for the attack roll and Strength for the damage roll. | It's unclear from the text
==========================
Normally you'd use your Dexterity for the attack, but normally the damage roll uses the same modifier as the attack roll (implying that you should use Strength for the attack). It's not clear which of these rules should override the other one.
When the rules are unclear, we on StackExchange can't and shouldn't issue rulings for you. That's the job of your DM.
You'll have to ask your DM. : ) |
153,560 | There is a unique longbow in the *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* module (p. 201), whose description includes:
>
> This unique weapon can be used only by a Medium or larger creature that has a Strength of 18 or higher. The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier...
>
>
>
However when looking at the PHB's section on "[Dexterity Attack Rolls and Damage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#DexterityAttackRollsandDamage)", I realized it states:
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon...
>
>
>
To me this means that unless a feature specifically tells you not to, you would add your Dexterity modifier to a ranged weapon's damage and attack rolls.
An example of such a prevention is [Two-Weapon Fighting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TwoWeaponFighting) which states:
>
> You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
>
>
>
Notably, [the NPC who owns it](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ziraj-the-hunter) has a +3 proficiency bonus, a +7 to attacks with the longbow and deals 2d6+4 damage. Unfortunately, their strength and dexterity modifiers are both +4 so I can't tell which is being added.
However, as @thedarkwanderer pointed out in a comment in the Q/A "[How can I shoot a bow using strength instead of dexterity?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153530)":
>
> NPCs use different rules than PC's
>
>
>
This leaves me uncertain and with the following question:
If a PC wields this unique longbow, what modifiers do they add to its attack and damage rolls? | 2019/08/15 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153560",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/36521/"
] | When the text is unclear, look for examples
===========================================
Surprisingly this relies more on text interpretation than rule interpretation, which is probably where the confusion lies.
Normally a weapon description would list a die number (1d6, 2d6, 1d4, etc.) in a table for the damage numbers. From there it was on the player to know to add your ability modifier based on the attribute used for the attack roll (PHB 194). Unfortunately the damage for this weapon is described inline with the weapon description.
>
> The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier
>
>
>
has two possible interpretations:
1. 2d6 + STR is the weapon's *base damage* and you should add your Dexterity in addition to this
(if a weapon description said "...piercing damage equal to 1d10+1" then you would expect to add dexterity, after all)
2. 2d6 + STR replaces the *final damage* value of a normal bow attack: 2d6 + DEX.
Both of which are valid. In this case the confusion lies in the flavorful wording mixed with attribute modifiers being unusual for weapon damage descriptions.
Use the NPC as an example of the intended usage
-----------------------------------------------
The NPC using this bow is an example straight from the designers about how this bow should work and can help us at this impasse. You cite that they are listed as having attacks from the bow with damage equal to 2d6+4, and they have a Strength and Dexterity modifier of +4. Because it is not a +8, we can infer that the bow is intended to use STR *instead of* DEX and not STR *in addition to* DEX in the hands of a player. A more accurate version of the text might read:
>
> Attacks made with this bow deal 2d6 piercing damage and adds the wielder's Strength modifier instead of their Dexterity modifier.
>
>
>
---
The Attack Roll
---------------
The PHB(194) has this to say about the ability modifier for Attack Rolls:
>
> The ability modifier used for a melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a ranged weapon attack is Dexterity. Weapons that
> have the finesse or thrown property break this rule.
>
>
>
However there is some debate surrounding page 196 where, while talking about Damage Rolls, the PHB says:
>
> When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability modifier--the same modifier used for the attack roll--to the damage.
>
>
>
Where it could be implied that the ability modifier and the attack modifier must match. Because the former statement regarding the attribute-to-range assignment is explicit, directly under the heading regarding attack rolls, and specifically mentions exceptions to the rule, I don't consider the justification strong enough to imply that the weapon would use Strength as the attack modifier because of the excerpt on page 196. It appears to have been meant only to tell the reader that the damage roll attribute normally depends on the Attack roll attribute.
Neither the NPC description nor the weapon description mention explicitly a different attack attribute modifier, and there is no rule stating *explicitly* that attack attribute modifiers must correspond to the damage attribute modifier.
---
We are left with the following: The general rule for ranged weapon attack modifiers using Dexterity applies, with an intentional override changing the damage roll modifier from Dexterity (as would normally be inherited from the Attack Roll) to Strength. **The bow makes attack rolls adding Dexterity and damage rolls adding Strength.** | You use your Strength modifier for the attack roll and the damage roll
======================================================================
The section in the PHB on Damage Rolls states (***emphasis mine***):
>
> When attacking with a weapon you add your ability modifier - ***the same modifier used for the attack roll*** - to the damage.
>
>
>
So the general rule is that the damage roll uses the same ability modifier as the attack roll.
In this case we are given a modified damage modifier (ie it uses Strength instead of the normal Dexterity). In the absence of any other information to the contrary we should apply the above general rule that the damage modifier is the same as the attack modifier.
Thus, in the absence of any other information, by modifying the modifier for the damage roll, the item also modified the ability modifier for the attack roll.
Using this information and looking at the Stat Block of the Creature using the unique longbow provides the answers to your question:
>
> ***Oversized Longbow.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, range 150/600ft., one target. *Hit:* 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.
>
>
>
The +7 is the +4 strength modifier, combined with the creatures proficiency bonus (+3). the damage modifier is also their Strength modifier (+4).
### But there is a second general rule for ranged weapons that we are ignoring here...that ranged weapons use Dexterity for their attack rolls. Why are we disregarding this?
The wording of this item has put us into conflict betwen two general rules, with no clear way to resolve it. The general rules in question are:
Ranged Attack rolls use Dexterity as the to hit bonus (General 1):
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon [...]
>
>
>
Damage Rolls use the same modifier as the attack roll (General 2):
>
> When attacking with a weapon you add your ability modifier - ***the same modifier used for the attack roll*** - to the damage.
>
>
>
D&D is an exceptions based game, and the normal way to resolve this would be to use the specific beats general principle. However in this case we do not have enough information to do this effectively (hence the divided debate here!).
As written, the weapon just says damage is 2d6 + Strength. It doesn't say if this is due to the *attack modifier* having been changed (in the background as a specific exception to General 1) and the damage simply flowing through, or the damage modifier being changed *in isolation* (as a specific exception to General 1).
Thus we have two options:
***Interpretation A:*** The attack modifier is Dexterity, and the item description is a specific exception to General 2
***Interpretation B:*** The attack uses Strength because the item description is a specific exception to General 1
If we use *Interpretation A* then we arrive at @AllanMills answer.
If we use *Interpretation B* then we arrive at my answer.
The consequence of *Interpretation A* is that this unique longbow is significantly more difficult for the player and the DM to run and not make a mistake.
The consequence of *Interpretation B* is that the unique longbow is just as easy to run as a regular longbow, but with the ability modifier changed from Dexterity to Strength.
### But don't NPCs have different rules to PCs for weapons?
No they do not. In the DMG on page 278 the rules for weapons wielded by monsters are:
>
> If a monster wields a manufactured weapon, it deals damage appropriate to the weapon. For example, a greataxe in the hands of a Medium monster deals 1d12 slashing damage plus the monster's Strength modifier, as is normal for that weapon.
>
>
> Big monsters typically wield oversized weapons that deal extra dice of damage on a hit. Double the weapon dice if the creature is Large, triple the weapon dice if it's Huge, and quadruple the weapon dice if it's Gargantuan. For example, a Huge giant wielding an appropriately sized greataxe deals 3d12 slashing damage (plus its Strength bonus), instead of the normal 1d12.
>
>
> A creature has disadvantage on attack rolls with a weapon that is sized for a larger attacker. You can rule that a weapon sized for an attacker two or more sizes larger is too big for the creature to use at all.
>
>
>
From this we see, that if the NPC/Monster is medium size, they would use the normal weapon rules in the PHB. If the NPC is a Large or bigger creature, wielding an appropriately sized weapon for their size (Large creature => Large weapon, Huge creature => Huge weapon) then the damage dice for the oversized weapon are modified.
Should a creature wield a weapon that is too large for it, they either have disadvantage on the attack, or are unable to wield the weapon entirely (barring some feature that would enable them to). |
153,560 | There is a unique longbow in the *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* module (p. 201), whose description includes:
>
> This unique weapon can be used only by a Medium or larger creature that has a Strength of 18 or higher. The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier...
>
>
>
However when looking at the PHB's section on "[Dexterity Attack Rolls and Damage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#DexterityAttackRollsandDamage)", I realized it states:
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon...
>
>
>
To me this means that unless a feature specifically tells you not to, you would add your Dexterity modifier to a ranged weapon's damage and attack rolls.
An example of such a prevention is [Two-Weapon Fighting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TwoWeaponFighting) which states:
>
> You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
>
>
>
Notably, [the NPC who owns it](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ziraj-the-hunter) has a +3 proficiency bonus, a +7 to attacks with the longbow and deals 2d6+4 damage. Unfortunately, their strength and dexterity modifiers are both +4 so I can't tell which is being added.
However, as @thedarkwanderer pointed out in a comment in the Q/A "[How can I shoot a bow using strength instead of dexterity?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153530)":
>
> NPCs use different rules than PC's
>
>
>
This leaves me uncertain and with the following question:
If a PC wields this unique longbow, what modifiers do they add to its attack and damage rolls? | 2019/08/15 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153560",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/36521/"
] | When the text is unclear, look for examples
===========================================
Surprisingly this relies more on text interpretation than rule interpretation, which is probably where the confusion lies.
Normally a weapon description would list a die number (1d6, 2d6, 1d4, etc.) in a table for the damage numbers. From there it was on the player to know to add your ability modifier based on the attribute used for the attack roll (PHB 194). Unfortunately the damage for this weapon is described inline with the weapon description.
>
> The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier
>
>
>
has two possible interpretations:
1. 2d6 + STR is the weapon's *base damage* and you should add your Dexterity in addition to this
(if a weapon description said "...piercing damage equal to 1d10+1" then you would expect to add dexterity, after all)
2. 2d6 + STR replaces the *final damage* value of a normal bow attack: 2d6 + DEX.
Both of which are valid. In this case the confusion lies in the flavorful wording mixed with attribute modifiers being unusual for weapon damage descriptions.
Use the NPC as an example of the intended usage
-----------------------------------------------
The NPC using this bow is an example straight from the designers about how this bow should work and can help us at this impasse. You cite that they are listed as having attacks from the bow with damage equal to 2d6+4, and they have a Strength and Dexterity modifier of +4. Because it is not a +8, we can infer that the bow is intended to use STR *instead of* DEX and not STR *in addition to* DEX in the hands of a player. A more accurate version of the text might read:
>
> Attacks made with this bow deal 2d6 piercing damage and adds the wielder's Strength modifier instead of their Dexterity modifier.
>
>
>
---
The Attack Roll
---------------
The PHB(194) has this to say about the ability modifier for Attack Rolls:
>
> The ability modifier used for a melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a ranged weapon attack is Dexterity. Weapons that
> have the finesse or thrown property break this rule.
>
>
>
However there is some debate surrounding page 196 where, while talking about Damage Rolls, the PHB says:
>
> When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability modifier--the same modifier used for the attack roll--to the damage.
>
>
>
Where it could be implied that the ability modifier and the attack modifier must match. Because the former statement regarding the attribute-to-range assignment is explicit, directly under the heading regarding attack rolls, and specifically mentions exceptions to the rule, I don't consider the justification strong enough to imply that the weapon would use Strength as the attack modifier because of the excerpt on page 196. It appears to have been meant only to tell the reader that the damage roll attribute normally depends on the Attack roll attribute.
Neither the NPC description nor the weapon description mention explicitly a different attack attribute modifier, and there is no rule stating *explicitly* that attack attribute modifiers must correspond to the damage attribute modifier.
---
We are left with the following: The general rule for ranged weapon attack modifiers using Dexterity applies, with an intentional override changing the damage roll modifier from Dexterity (as would normally be inherited from the Attack Roll) to Strength. **The bow makes attack rolls adding Dexterity and damage rolls adding Strength.** | The weapons entry states that the weapon's damage is (2d6+STR) in the same way that a longbow's damage is (1d8). RaW the bow has no traits that would indicate it uses str to make attack rolls (as is explicit in the thrown property) so the attack roll uses dex. Total damage of the attack is a distinct element from a weapons damage rating.
A+B+C=D
A=(weapons damage)
B=(attackers relevant ability modifier)
C=(Misc modifiers such as magical bonuses)
D= Total Damage
Because the weapon says nothing explicit about what is presented being an alternative A+B+C with which to calculate D, then you have to take what's presented to be equivalent to what it is for other weapons (just the "A"). In this case, though, it looks a bit like Algebra, and the weapon's damage "rating" is explicit, specific, an exception- In other words, it trumps the norm that says a weapon damage rating has to be only made up of dice.
We plug in "2D6+STR" in for "A," yes because as written, it defines A and not A+B
(2D6+STR) + (Dex Ability Mod)+ (Misc other bonuses) = The attacks total damage
The monster's stat block shows us this wasn't likely the intention, but as is, it is the stat block that was incorrectly calculated intentions be damned. Something that should require errata, but until then = RaW. |
153,560 | There is a unique longbow in the *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* module (p. 201), whose description includes:
>
> This unique weapon can be used only by a Medium or larger creature that has a Strength of 18 or higher. The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier...
>
>
>
However when looking at the PHB's section on "[Dexterity Attack Rolls and Damage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#DexterityAttackRollsandDamage)", I realized it states:
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon...
>
>
>
To me this means that unless a feature specifically tells you not to, you would add your Dexterity modifier to a ranged weapon's damage and attack rolls.
An example of such a prevention is [Two-Weapon Fighting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TwoWeaponFighting) which states:
>
> You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
>
>
>
Notably, [the NPC who owns it](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ziraj-the-hunter) has a +3 proficiency bonus, a +7 to attacks with the longbow and deals 2d6+4 damage. Unfortunately, their strength and dexterity modifiers are both +4 so I can't tell which is being added.
However, as @thedarkwanderer pointed out in a comment in the Q/A "[How can I shoot a bow using strength instead of dexterity?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153530)":
>
> NPCs use different rules than PC's
>
>
>
This leaves me uncertain and with the following question:
If a PC wields this unique longbow, what modifiers do they add to its attack and damage rolls? | 2019/08/15 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153560",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/36521/"
] | You use your Strength modifier for the attack roll and the damage roll
======================================================================
The section in the PHB on Damage Rolls states (***emphasis mine***):
>
> When attacking with a weapon you add your ability modifier - ***the same modifier used for the attack roll*** - to the damage.
>
>
>
So the general rule is that the damage roll uses the same ability modifier as the attack roll.
In this case we are given a modified damage modifier (ie it uses Strength instead of the normal Dexterity). In the absence of any other information to the contrary we should apply the above general rule that the damage modifier is the same as the attack modifier.
Thus, in the absence of any other information, by modifying the modifier for the damage roll, the item also modified the ability modifier for the attack roll.
Using this information and looking at the Stat Block of the Creature using the unique longbow provides the answers to your question:
>
> ***Oversized Longbow.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, range 150/600ft., one target. *Hit:* 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.
>
>
>
The +7 is the +4 strength modifier, combined with the creatures proficiency bonus (+3). the damage modifier is also their Strength modifier (+4).
### But there is a second general rule for ranged weapons that we are ignoring here...that ranged weapons use Dexterity for their attack rolls. Why are we disregarding this?
The wording of this item has put us into conflict betwen two general rules, with no clear way to resolve it. The general rules in question are:
Ranged Attack rolls use Dexterity as the to hit bonus (General 1):
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon [...]
>
>
>
Damage Rolls use the same modifier as the attack roll (General 2):
>
> When attacking with a weapon you add your ability modifier - ***the same modifier used for the attack roll*** - to the damage.
>
>
>
D&D is an exceptions based game, and the normal way to resolve this would be to use the specific beats general principle. However in this case we do not have enough information to do this effectively (hence the divided debate here!).
As written, the weapon just says damage is 2d6 + Strength. It doesn't say if this is due to the *attack modifier* having been changed (in the background as a specific exception to General 1) and the damage simply flowing through, or the damage modifier being changed *in isolation* (as a specific exception to General 1).
Thus we have two options:
***Interpretation A:*** The attack modifier is Dexterity, and the item description is a specific exception to General 2
***Interpretation B:*** The attack uses Strength because the item description is a specific exception to General 1
If we use *Interpretation A* then we arrive at @AllanMills answer.
If we use *Interpretation B* then we arrive at my answer.
The consequence of *Interpretation A* is that this unique longbow is significantly more difficult for the player and the DM to run and not make a mistake.
The consequence of *Interpretation B* is that the unique longbow is just as easy to run as a regular longbow, but with the ability modifier changed from Dexterity to Strength.
### But don't NPCs have different rules to PCs for weapons?
No they do not. In the DMG on page 278 the rules for weapons wielded by monsters are:
>
> If a monster wields a manufactured weapon, it deals damage appropriate to the weapon. For example, a greataxe in the hands of a Medium monster deals 1d12 slashing damage plus the monster's Strength modifier, as is normal for that weapon.
>
>
> Big monsters typically wield oversized weapons that deal extra dice of damage on a hit. Double the weapon dice if the creature is Large, triple the weapon dice if it's Huge, and quadruple the weapon dice if it's Gargantuan. For example, a Huge giant wielding an appropriately sized greataxe deals 3d12 slashing damage (plus its Strength bonus), instead of the normal 1d12.
>
>
> A creature has disadvantage on attack rolls with a weapon that is sized for a larger attacker. You can rule that a weapon sized for an attacker two or more sizes larger is too big for the creature to use at all.
>
>
>
From this we see, that if the NPC/Monster is medium size, they would use the normal weapon rules in the PHB. If the NPC is a Large or bigger creature, wielding an appropriately sized weapon for their size (Large creature => Large weapon, Huge creature => Huge weapon) then the damage dice for the oversized weapon are modified.
Should a creature wield a weapon that is too large for it, they either have disadvantage on the attack, or are unable to wield the weapon entirely (barring some feature that would enable them to). | The weapons entry states that the weapon's damage is (2d6+STR) in the same way that a longbow's damage is (1d8). RaW the bow has no traits that would indicate it uses str to make attack rolls (as is explicit in the thrown property) so the attack roll uses dex. Total damage of the attack is a distinct element from a weapons damage rating.
A+B+C=D
A=(weapons damage)
B=(attackers relevant ability modifier)
C=(Misc modifiers such as magical bonuses)
D= Total Damage
Because the weapon says nothing explicit about what is presented being an alternative A+B+C with which to calculate D, then you have to take what's presented to be equivalent to what it is for other weapons (just the "A"). In this case, though, it looks a bit like Algebra, and the weapon's damage "rating" is explicit, specific, an exception- In other words, it trumps the norm that says a weapon damage rating has to be only made up of dice.
We plug in "2D6+STR" in for "A," yes because as written, it defines A and not A+B
(2D6+STR) + (Dex Ability Mod)+ (Misc other bonuses) = The attacks total damage
The monster's stat block shows us this wasn't likely the intention, but as is, it is the stat block that was incorrectly calculated intentions be damned. Something that should require errata, but until then = RaW. |
153,560 | There is a unique longbow in the *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* module (p. 201), whose description includes:
>
> This unique weapon can be used only by a Medium or larger creature that has a Strength of 18 or higher. The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier...
>
>
>
However when looking at the PHB's section on "[Dexterity Attack Rolls and Damage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#DexterityAttackRollsandDamage)", I realized it states:
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon...
>
>
>
To me this means that unless a feature specifically tells you not to, you would add your Dexterity modifier to a ranged weapon's damage and attack rolls.
An example of such a prevention is [Two-Weapon Fighting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TwoWeaponFighting) which states:
>
> You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
>
>
>
Notably, [the NPC who owns it](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ziraj-the-hunter) has a +3 proficiency bonus, a +7 to attacks with the longbow and deals 2d6+4 damage. Unfortunately, their strength and dexterity modifiers are both +4 so I can't tell which is being added.
However, as @thedarkwanderer pointed out in a comment in the Q/A "[How can I shoot a bow using strength instead of dexterity?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153530)":
>
> NPCs use different rules than PC's
>
>
>
This leaves me uncertain and with the following question:
If a PC wields this unique longbow, what modifiers do they add to its attack and damage rolls? | 2019/08/15 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153560",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/36521/"
] | You add your Dexterity to the attack roll, because the weapon doesn't say otherwise so the rules on Ranged Attacks still hold.
For the damage roll, however, it seems like you are supposed to add *both* Strength and Dexterity for the damage roll. Reading the item's unique features, you get to add your STR to the damage as an additional modifier, and then you can add DEX as normal from hitting a ranged weapon. Phb 196 on Damage Rolls supports this:
>
> You roll the damage die or dice, add any modifiers, and apply the damage to your target. Magic weapons, special abilities, and other factors can grant a bonus to damage.
>
>
>
So it's no different from adding fire damage from a magical weapon or any other bonus.
The feature would tell you if you add STR *instead of* DEX for damage. Features like Shillelagh say this explicitly:
>
> ... For the duration, you can use your spellcasting ability **instead of Strength** for the attack and damage rolls of melee attacks using that weapon
>
>
> | The weapons entry states that the weapon's damage is (2d6+STR) in the same way that a longbow's damage is (1d8). RaW the bow has no traits that would indicate it uses str to make attack rolls (as is explicit in the thrown property) so the attack roll uses dex. Total damage of the attack is a distinct element from a weapons damage rating.
A+B+C=D
A=(weapons damage)
B=(attackers relevant ability modifier)
C=(Misc modifiers such as magical bonuses)
D= Total Damage
Because the weapon says nothing explicit about what is presented being an alternative A+B+C with which to calculate D, then you have to take what's presented to be equivalent to what it is for other weapons (just the "A"). In this case, though, it looks a bit like Algebra, and the weapon's damage "rating" is explicit, specific, an exception- In other words, it trumps the norm that says a weapon damage rating has to be only made up of dice.
We plug in "2D6+STR" in for "A," yes because as written, it defines A and not A+B
(2D6+STR) + (Dex Ability Mod)+ (Misc other bonuses) = The attacks total damage
The monster's stat block shows us this wasn't likely the intention, but as is, it is the stat block that was incorrectly calculated intentions be damned. Something that should require errata, but until then = RaW. |
153,560 | There is a unique longbow in the *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* module (p. 201), whose description includes:
>
> This unique weapon can be used only by a Medium or larger creature that has a Strength of 18 or higher. The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier...
>
>
>
However when looking at the PHB's section on "[Dexterity Attack Rolls and Damage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#DexterityAttackRollsandDamage)", I realized it states:
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon...
>
>
>
To me this means that unless a feature specifically tells you not to, you would add your Dexterity modifier to a ranged weapon's damage and attack rolls.
An example of such a prevention is [Two-Weapon Fighting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TwoWeaponFighting) which states:
>
> You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
>
>
>
Notably, [the NPC who owns it](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ziraj-the-hunter) has a +3 proficiency bonus, a +7 to attacks with the longbow and deals 2d6+4 damage. Unfortunately, their strength and dexterity modifiers are both +4 so I can't tell which is being added.
However, as @thedarkwanderer pointed out in a comment in the Q/A "[How can I shoot a bow using strength instead of dexterity?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153530)":
>
> NPCs use different rules than PC's
>
>
>
This leaves me uncertain and with the following question:
If a PC wields this unique longbow, what modifiers do they add to its attack and damage rolls? | 2019/08/15 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153560",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/36521/"
] | When the text is unclear, look for examples
===========================================
Surprisingly this relies more on text interpretation than rule interpretation, which is probably where the confusion lies.
Normally a weapon description would list a die number (1d6, 2d6, 1d4, etc.) in a table for the damage numbers. From there it was on the player to know to add your ability modifier based on the attribute used for the attack roll (PHB 194). Unfortunately the damage for this weapon is described inline with the weapon description.
>
> The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier
>
>
>
has two possible interpretations:
1. 2d6 + STR is the weapon's *base damage* and you should add your Dexterity in addition to this
(if a weapon description said "...piercing damage equal to 1d10+1" then you would expect to add dexterity, after all)
2. 2d6 + STR replaces the *final damage* value of a normal bow attack: 2d6 + DEX.
Both of which are valid. In this case the confusion lies in the flavorful wording mixed with attribute modifiers being unusual for weapon damage descriptions.
Use the NPC as an example of the intended usage
-----------------------------------------------
The NPC using this bow is an example straight from the designers about how this bow should work and can help us at this impasse. You cite that they are listed as having attacks from the bow with damage equal to 2d6+4, and they have a Strength and Dexterity modifier of +4. Because it is not a +8, we can infer that the bow is intended to use STR *instead of* DEX and not STR *in addition to* DEX in the hands of a player. A more accurate version of the text might read:
>
> Attacks made with this bow deal 2d6 piercing damage and adds the wielder's Strength modifier instead of their Dexterity modifier.
>
>
>
---
The Attack Roll
---------------
The PHB(194) has this to say about the ability modifier for Attack Rolls:
>
> The ability modifier used for a melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a ranged weapon attack is Dexterity. Weapons that
> have the finesse or thrown property break this rule.
>
>
>
However there is some debate surrounding page 196 where, while talking about Damage Rolls, the PHB says:
>
> When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability modifier--the same modifier used for the attack roll--to the damage.
>
>
>
Where it could be implied that the ability modifier and the attack modifier must match. Because the former statement regarding the attribute-to-range assignment is explicit, directly under the heading regarding attack rolls, and specifically mentions exceptions to the rule, I don't consider the justification strong enough to imply that the weapon would use Strength as the attack modifier because of the excerpt on page 196. It appears to have been meant only to tell the reader that the damage roll attribute normally depends on the Attack roll attribute.
Neither the NPC description nor the weapon description mention explicitly a different attack attribute modifier, and there is no rule stating *explicitly* that attack attribute modifiers must correspond to the damage attribute modifier.
---
We are left with the following: The general rule for ranged weapon attack modifiers using Dexterity applies, with an intentional override changing the damage roll modifier from Dexterity (as would normally be inherited from the Attack Roll) to Strength. **The bow makes attack rolls adding Dexterity and damage rolls adding Strength.** | You add your Dexterity to the attack roll, because the weapon doesn't say otherwise so the rules on Ranged Attacks still hold.
For the damage roll, however, it seems like you are supposed to add *both* Strength and Dexterity for the damage roll. Reading the item's unique features, you get to add your STR to the damage as an additional modifier, and then you can add DEX as normal from hitting a ranged weapon. Phb 196 on Damage Rolls supports this:
>
> You roll the damage die or dice, add any modifiers, and apply the damage to your target. Magic weapons, special abilities, and other factors can grant a bonus to damage.
>
>
>
So it's no different from adding fire damage from a magical weapon or any other bonus.
The feature would tell you if you add STR *instead of* DEX for damage. Features like Shillelagh say this explicitly:
>
> ... For the duration, you can use your spellcasting ability **instead of Strength** for the attack and damage rolls of melee attacks using that weapon
>
>
> |
153,560 | There is a unique longbow in the *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* module (p. 201), whose description includes:
>
> This unique weapon can be used only by a Medium or larger creature that has a Strength of 18 or higher. The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier...
>
>
>
However when looking at the PHB's section on "[Dexterity Attack Rolls and Damage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#DexterityAttackRollsandDamage)", I realized it states:
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon...
>
>
>
To me this means that unless a feature specifically tells you not to, you would add your Dexterity modifier to a ranged weapon's damage and attack rolls.
An example of such a prevention is [Two-Weapon Fighting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TwoWeaponFighting) which states:
>
> You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
>
>
>
Notably, [the NPC who owns it](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ziraj-the-hunter) has a +3 proficiency bonus, a +7 to attacks with the longbow and deals 2d6+4 damage. Unfortunately, their strength and dexterity modifiers are both +4 so I can't tell which is being added.
However, as @thedarkwanderer pointed out in a comment in the Q/A "[How can I shoot a bow using strength instead of dexterity?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153530)":
>
> NPCs use different rules than PC's
>
>
>
This leaves me uncertain and with the following question:
If a PC wields this unique longbow, what modifiers do they add to its attack and damage rolls? | 2019/08/15 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153560",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/36521/"
] | It's unclear from the text
==========================
Normally you'd use your Dexterity for the attack, but normally the damage roll uses the same modifier as the attack roll (implying that you should use Strength for the attack). It's not clear which of these rules should override the other one.
When the rules are unclear, we on StackExchange can't and shouldn't issue rulings for you. That's the job of your DM.
You'll have to ask your DM. : ) | The weapons entry states that the weapon's damage is (2d6+STR) in the same way that a longbow's damage is (1d8). RaW the bow has no traits that would indicate it uses str to make attack rolls (as is explicit in the thrown property) so the attack roll uses dex. Total damage of the attack is a distinct element from a weapons damage rating.
A+B+C=D
A=(weapons damage)
B=(attackers relevant ability modifier)
C=(Misc modifiers such as magical bonuses)
D= Total Damage
Because the weapon says nothing explicit about what is presented being an alternative A+B+C with which to calculate D, then you have to take what's presented to be equivalent to what it is for other weapons (just the "A"). In this case, though, it looks a bit like Algebra, and the weapon's damage "rating" is explicit, specific, an exception- In other words, it trumps the norm that says a weapon damage rating has to be only made up of dice.
We plug in "2D6+STR" in for "A," yes because as written, it defines A and not A+B
(2D6+STR) + (Dex Ability Mod)+ (Misc other bonuses) = The attacks total damage
The monster's stat block shows us this wasn't likely the intention, but as is, it is the stat block that was incorrectly calculated intentions be damned. Something that should require errata, but until then = RaW. |
153,560 | There is a unique longbow in the *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* module (p. 201), whose description includes:
>
> This unique weapon can be used only by a Medium or larger creature that has a Strength of 18 or higher. The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier...
>
>
>
However when looking at the PHB's section on "[Dexterity Attack Rolls and Damage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#DexterityAttackRollsandDamage)", I realized it states:
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon...
>
>
>
To me this means that unless a feature specifically tells you not to, you would add your Dexterity modifier to a ranged weapon's damage and attack rolls.
An example of such a prevention is [Two-Weapon Fighting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TwoWeaponFighting) which states:
>
> You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
>
>
>
Notably, [the NPC who owns it](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ziraj-the-hunter) has a +3 proficiency bonus, a +7 to attacks with the longbow and deals 2d6+4 damage. Unfortunately, their strength and dexterity modifiers are both +4 so I can't tell which is being added.
However, as @thedarkwanderer pointed out in a comment in the Q/A "[How can I shoot a bow using strength instead of dexterity?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153530)":
>
> NPCs use different rules than PC's
>
>
>
This leaves me uncertain and with the following question:
If a PC wields this unique longbow, what modifiers do they add to its attack and damage rolls? | 2019/08/15 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153560",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/36521/"
] | When the text is unclear, look for examples
===========================================
Surprisingly this relies more on text interpretation than rule interpretation, which is probably where the confusion lies.
Normally a weapon description would list a die number (1d6, 2d6, 1d4, etc.) in a table for the damage numbers. From there it was on the player to know to add your ability modifier based on the attribute used for the attack roll (PHB 194). Unfortunately the damage for this weapon is described inline with the weapon description.
>
> The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier
>
>
>
has two possible interpretations:
1. 2d6 + STR is the weapon's *base damage* and you should add your Dexterity in addition to this
(if a weapon description said "...piercing damage equal to 1d10+1" then you would expect to add dexterity, after all)
2. 2d6 + STR replaces the *final damage* value of a normal bow attack: 2d6 + DEX.
Both of which are valid. In this case the confusion lies in the flavorful wording mixed with attribute modifiers being unusual for weapon damage descriptions.
Use the NPC as an example of the intended usage
-----------------------------------------------
The NPC using this bow is an example straight from the designers about how this bow should work and can help us at this impasse. You cite that they are listed as having attacks from the bow with damage equal to 2d6+4, and they have a Strength and Dexterity modifier of +4. Because it is not a +8, we can infer that the bow is intended to use STR *instead of* DEX and not STR *in addition to* DEX in the hands of a player. A more accurate version of the text might read:
>
> Attacks made with this bow deal 2d6 piercing damage and adds the wielder's Strength modifier instead of their Dexterity modifier.
>
>
>
---
The Attack Roll
---------------
The PHB(194) has this to say about the ability modifier for Attack Rolls:
>
> The ability modifier used for a melee weapon attack is Strength, and the ability modifier used for a ranged weapon attack is Dexterity. Weapons that
> have the finesse or thrown property break this rule.
>
>
>
However there is some debate surrounding page 196 where, while talking about Damage Rolls, the PHB says:
>
> When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability modifier--the same modifier used for the attack roll--to the damage.
>
>
>
Where it could be implied that the ability modifier and the attack modifier must match. Because the former statement regarding the attribute-to-range assignment is explicit, directly under the heading regarding attack rolls, and specifically mentions exceptions to the rule, I don't consider the justification strong enough to imply that the weapon would use Strength as the attack modifier because of the excerpt on page 196. It appears to have been meant only to tell the reader that the damage roll attribute normally depends on the Attack roll attribute.
Neither the NPC description nor the weapon description mention explicitly a different attack attribute modifier, and there is no rule stating *explicitly* that attack attribute modifiers must correspond to the damage attribute modifier.
---
We are left with the following: The general rule for ranged weapon attack modifiers using Dexterity applies, with an intentional override changing the damage roll modifier from Dexterity (as would normally be inherited from the Attack Roll) to Strength. **The bow makes attack rolls adding Dexterity and damage rolls adding Strength.** | It's unclear from the text
==========================
Normally you'd use your Dexterity for the attack, but normally the damage roll uses the same modifier as the attack roll (implying that you should use Strength for the attack). It's not clear which of these rules should override the other one.
When the rules are unclear, we on StackExchange can't and shouldn't issue rulings for you. That's the job of your DM.
You'll have to ask your DM. : ) |
153,560 | There is a unique longbow in the *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* module (p. 201), whose description includes:
>
> This unique weapon can be used only by a Medium or larger creature that has a Strength of 18 or higher. The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier...
>
>
>
However when looking at the PHB's section on "[Dexterity Attack Rolls and Damage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#DexterityAttackRollsandDamage)", I realized it states:
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon...
>
>
>
To me this means that unless a feature specifically tells you not to, you would add your Dexterity modifier to a ranged weapon's damage and attack rolls.
An example of such a prevention is [Two-Weapon Fighting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TwoWeaponFighting) which states:
>
> You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
>
>
>
Notably, [the NPC who owns it](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ziraj-the-hunter) has a +3 proficiency bonus, a +7 to attacks with the longbow and deals 2d6+4 damage. Unfortunately, their strength and dexterity modifiers are both +4 so I can't tell which is being added.
However, as @thedarkwanderer pointed out in a comment in the Q/A "[How can I shoot a bow using strength instead of dexterity?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153530)":
>
> NPCs use different rules than PC's
>
>
>
This leaves me uncertain and with the following question:
If a PC wields this unique longbow, what modifiers do they add to its attack and damage rolls? | 2019/08/15 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153560",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/36521/"
] | It's unclear from the text
==========================
Normally you'd use your Dexterity for the attack, but normally the damage roll uses the same modifier as the attack roll (implying that you should use Strength for the attack). It's not clear which of these rules should override the other one.
When the rules are unclear, we on StackExchange can't and shouldn't issue rulings for you. That's the job of your DM.
You'll have to ask your DM. : ) | You add your Dexterity to the attack roll, because the weapon doesn't say otherwise so the rules on Ranged Attacks still hold.
For the damage roll, however, it seems like you are supposed to add *both* Strength and Dexterity for the damage roll. Reading the item's unique features, you get to add your STR to the damage as an additional modifier, and then you can add DEX as normal from hitting a ranged weapon. Phb 196 on Damage Rolls supports this:
>
> You roll the damage die or dice, add any modifiers, and apply the damage to your target. Magic weapons, special abilities, and other factors can grant a bonus to damage.
>
>
>
So it's no different from adding fire damage from a magical weapon or any other bonus.
The feature would tell you if you add STR *instead of* DEX for damage. Features like Shillelagh say this explicitly:
>
> ... For the duration, you can use your spellcasting ability **instead of Strength** for the attack and damage rolls of melee attacks using that weapon
>
>
> |
153,560 | There is a unique longbow in the *Waterdeep: Dragon Heist* module (p. 201), whose description includes:
>
> This unique weapon can be used only by a Medium or larger creature that has a Strength of 18 or higher. The bow shoots oversized arrows that deal piercing damage equal to 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier...
>
>
>
However when looking at the PHB's section on "[Dexterity Attack Rolls and Damage](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#DexterityAttackRollsandDamage)", I realized it states:
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon...
>
>
>
To me this means that unless a feature specifically tells you not to, you would add your Dexterity modifier to a ranged weapon's damage and attack rolls.
An example of such a prevention is [Two-Weapon Fighting](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/combat#TwoWeaponFighting) which states:
>
> You don't add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative.
>
>
>
Notably, [the NPC who owns it](https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/ziraj-the-hunter) has a +3 proficiency bonus, a +7 to attacks with the longbow and deals 2d6+4 damage. Unfortunately, their strength and dexterity modifiers are both +4 so I can't tell which is being added.
However, as @thedarkwanderer pointed out in a comment in the Q/A "[How can I shoot a bow using strength instead of dexterity?](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153530)":
>
> NPCs use different rules than PC's
>
>
>
This leaves me uncertain and with the following question:
If a PC wields this unique longbow, what modifiers do they add to its attack and damage rolls? | 2019/08/15 | [
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/153560",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com",
"https://rpg.stackexchange.com/users/36521/"
] | Specific trumps general
-----------------------
The general rule for Dexterity-based attacks is that you add your Dexterity modifier to the damage if you hit. The rules for [weapons](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/equipment#Weapons) list the basic damage for each, and you add your Strength or Dexterity bonus when applicable.
That specific longbow, however, states that the damage it does is 2d6 + the wielder's Strength modifier. That is a specific rule which overrides the general rule.
As such, you use Dexterity for the attack roll and Strength for the damage roll. | You use your Strength modifier for the attack roll and the damage roll
======================================================================
The section in the PHB on Damage Rolls states (***emphasis mine***):
>
> When attacking with a weapon you add your ability modifier - ***the same modifier used for the attack roll*** - to the damage.
>
>
>
So the general rule is that the damage roll uses the same ability modifier as the attack roll.
In this case we are given a modified damage modifier (ie it uses Strength instead of the normal Dexterity). In the absence of any other information to the contrary we should apply the above general rule that the damage modifier is the same as the attack modifier.
Thus, in the absence of any other information, by modifying the modifier for the damage roll, the item also modified the ability modifier for the attack roll.
Using this information and looking at the Stat Block of the Creature using the unique longbow provides the answers to your question:
>
> ***Oversized Longbow.*** *Ranged Weapon Attack:* +7 to hit, range 150/600ft., one target. *Hit:* 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.
>
>
>
The +7 is the +4 strength modifier, combined with the creatures proficiency bonus (+3). the damage modifier is also their Strength modifier (+4).
### But there is a second general rule for ranged weapons that we are ignoring here...that ranged weapons use Dexterity for their attack rolls. Why are we disregarding this?
The wording of this item has put us into conflict betwen two general rules, with no clear way to resolve it. The general rules in question are:
Ranged Attack rolls use Dexterity as the to hit bonus (General 1):
>
> You add your Dexterity modifier to your attack roll and your damage roll when attacking with a ranged weapon [...]
>
>
>
Damage Rolls use the same modifier as the attack roll (General 2):
>
> When attacking with a weapon you add your ability modifier - ***the same modifier used for the attack roll*** - to the damage.
>
>
>
D&D is an exceptions based game, and the normal way to resolve this would be to use the specific beats general principle. However in this case we do not have enough information to do this effectively (hence the divided debate here!).
As written, the weapon just says damage is 2d6 + Strength. It doesn't say if this is due to the *attack modifier* having been changed (in the background as a specific exception to General 1) and the damage simply flowing through, or the damage modifier being changed *in isolation* (as a specific exception to General 1).
Thus we have two options:
***Interpretation A:*** The attack modifier is Dexterity, and the item description is a specific exception to General 2
***Interpretation B:*** The attack uses Strength because the item description is a specific exception to General 1
If we use *Interpretation A* then we arrive at @AllanMills answer.
If we use *Interpretation B* then we arrive at my answer.
The consequence of *Interpretation A* is that this unique longbow is significantly more difficult for the player and the DM to run and not make a mistake.
The consequence of *Interpretation B* is that the unique longbow is just as easy to run as a regular longbow, but with the ability modifier changed from Dexterity to Strength.
### But don't NPCs have different rules to PCs for weapons?
No they do not. In the DMG on page 278 the rules for weapons wielded by monsters are:
>
> If a monster wields a manufactured weapon, it deals damage appropriate to the weapon. For example, a greataxe in the hands of a Medium monster deals 1d12 slashing damage plus the monster's Strength modifier, as is normal for that weapon.
>
>
> Big monsters typically wield oversized weapons that deal extra dice of damage on a hit. Double the weapon dice if the creature is Large, triple the weapon dice if it's Huge, and quadruple the weapon dice if it's Gargantuan. For example, a Huge giant wielding an appropriately sized greataxe deals 3d12 slashing damage (plus its Strength bonus), instead of the normal 1d12.
>
>
> A creature has disadvantage on attack rolls with a weapon that is sized for a larger attacker. You can rule that a weapon sized for an attacker two or more sizes larger is too big for the creature to use at all.
>
>
>
From this we see, that if the NPC/Monster is medium size, they would use the normal weapon rules in the PHB. If the NPC is a Large or bigger creature, wielding an appropriately sized weapon for their size (Large creature => Large weapon, Huge creature => Huge weapon) then the damage dice for the oversized weapon are modified.
Should a creature wield a weapon that is too large for it, they either have disadvantage on the attack, or are unable to wield the weapon entirely (barring some feature that would enable them to). |
353,050 | Currently Apple Mail displays like the following.
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/amyMN.jpg)
I would like apple mail on my Apple Mail on 11.5 to display like the following similar to the Gmail web client. I would like a list view like the following image of an older version of Apple Mail.
How to I achieve this?
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/4cOJC.png) | 2019/03/05 | [
"https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/353050",
"https://apple.stackexchange.com",
"https://apple.stackexchange.com/users/12897/"
] | To get the Classic view back in Apple Mail:
* Go to **Preferences**
* Select **Viewing**
* Tick the **Use classic layout** checkbox
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0iPVy.png) | Under Monterey it's **View** > **Use Column Layout**
<https://support.apple.com/en-nz/guide/mail/mlhlc18e666f/mac>
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wwjek.png) |
43,256,227 | It is common to generate SSIS packages from BIML. But is there any way to generate BIML from SSIS packages? So we can reuse old SSIS packages without writing new BIML. | 2017/04/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/43256227",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5567957/"
] | There is a way to do this with [BimlOnline](http://bimlonline.com/) and its free. I have not personally tried it so I cannot speak to how well it works. Also, the service is in Beta so your mileage may vary. I found this out through Cathrine Wilhelmsen who wrote a [blog post](https://www.cathrinewilhelmsen.net/2015/11/17/get-started-with-bimlonline-beta/) about this on 11/17/2015. | The obvious (but most expensive) answer is to use BimlStudio (the very sparkly brand new version of Varigence Mist).
For those who are not aware, BimlStudio is the commercial integrated development platform for BIML. It does have some decent features, with one of the most useful being the ability to import packages and projects. Once they are in BimlStudio, Biml code is generated, which can be inspected/modified as required.
But, be warned - it doesn't handle everything with grace. I have had issues with converting script tasks, which required adding additional references within BimlStudio (I was using V4), compared to what was being used within Visual Studio (2015). |
43,256,227 | It is common to generate SSIS packages from BIML. But is there any way to generate BIML from SSIS packages? So we can reuse old SSIS packages without writing new BIML. | 2017/04/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/43256227",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5567957/"
] | There is a way to do this with [BimlOnline](http://bimlonline.com/) and its free. I have not personally tried it so I cannot speak to how well it works. Also, the service is in Beta so your mileage may vary. I found this out through Cathrine Wilhelmsen who wrote a [blog post](https://www.cathrinewilhelmsen.net/2015/11/17/get-started-with-bimlonline-beta/) about this on 11/17/2015. | You can now also download ["BIML Express" Visual Studio extension](https://varigence.com/bimlexpress).
This extension adds a right-click menu option to generate BIML from an DTSX file. There are also a couple of other source options (e.g. SSIS project file) but I haven't looked at them. |
43,256,227 | It is common to generate SSIS packages from BIML. But is there any way to generate BIML from SSIS packages? So we can reuse old SSIS packages without writing new BIML. | 2017/04/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/43256227",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5567957/"
] | There is a way to do this with [BimlOnline](http://bimlonline.com/) and its free. I have not personally tried it so I cannot speak to how well it works. Also, the service is in Beta so your mileage may vary. I found this out through Cathrine Wilhelmsen who wrote a [blog post](https://www.cathrinewilhelmsen.net/2015/11/17/get-started-with-bimlonline-beta/) about this on 11/17/2015. | You can download a trial version of BIMLStudio for 14 days.
Launch BIMLStudio -> go to Import tab -> Import Packages -> Select package under "Path" -> Select import.
It will convert the SSIS package as a BIML package. |
43,256,227 | It is common to generate SSIS packages from BIML. But is there any way to generate BIML from SSIS packages? So we can reuse old SSIS packages without writing new BIML. | 2017/04/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/43256227",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5567957/"
] | There is a way to do this with [BimlOnline](http://bimlonline.com/) and its free. I have not personally tried it so I cannot speak to how well it works. Also, the service is in Beta so your mileage may vary. I found this out through Cathrine Wilhelmsen who wrote a [blog post](https://www.cathrinewilhelmsen.net/2015/11/17/get-started-with-bimlonline-beta/) about this on 11/17/2015. | Yes, if your are on SSIS you can simply right click on the package and select
**Convert SSIS Packages to Biml**
You will get the converted file (.biml) in Miscellaneous. |
43,256,227 | It is common to generate SSIS packages from BIML. But is there any way to generate BIML from SSIS packages? So we can reuse old SSIS packages without writing new BIML. | 2017/04/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/43256227",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5567957/"
] | The obvious (but most expensive) answer is to use BimlStudio (the very sparkly brand new version of Varigence Mist).
For those who are not aware, BimlStudio is the commercial integrated development platform for BIML. It does have some decent features, with one of the most useful being the ability to import packages and projects. Once they are in BimlStudio, Biml code is generated, which can be inspected/modified as required.
But, be warned - it doesn't handle everything with grace. I have had issues with converting script tasks, which required adding additional references within BimlStudio (I was using V4), compared to what was being used within Visual Studio (2015). | You can download a trial version of BIMLStudio for 14 days.
Launch BIMLStudio -> go to Import tab -> Import Packages -> Select package under "Path" -> Select import.
It will convert the SSIS package as a BIML package. |
43,256,227 | It is common to generate SSIS packages from BIML. But is there any way to generate BIML from SSIS packages? So we can reuse old SSIS packages without writing new BIML. | 2017/04/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/43256227",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5567957/"
] | The obvious (but most expensive) answer is to use BimlStudio (the very sparkly brand new version of Varigence Mist).
For those who are not aware, BimlStudio is the commercial integrated development platform for BIML. It does have some decent features, with one of the most useful being the ability to import packages and projects. Once they are in BimlStudio, Biml code is generated, which can be inspected/modified as required.
But, be warned - it doesn't handle everything with grace. I have had issues with converting script tasks, which required adding additional references within BimlStudio (I was using V4), compared to what was being used within Visual Studio (2015). | Yes, if your are on SSIS you can simply right click on the package and select
**Convert SSIS Packages to Biml**
You will get the converted file (.biml) in Miscellaneous. |
43,256,227 | It is common to generate SSIS packages from BIML. But is there any way to generate BIML from SSIS packages? So we can reuse old SSIS packages without writing new BIML. | 2017/04/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/43256227",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5567957/"
] | You can now also download ["BIML Express" Visual Studio extension](https://varigence.com/bimlexpress).
This extension adds a right-click menu option to generate BIML from an DTSX file. There are also a couple of other source options (e.g. SSIS project file) but I haven't looked at them. | You can download a trial version of BIMLStudio for 14 days.
Launch BIMLStudio -> go to Import tab -> Import Packages -> Select package under "Path" -> Select import.
It will convert the SSIS package as a BIML package. |
43,256,227 | It is common to generate SSIS packages from BIML. But is there any way to generate BIML from SSIS packages? So we can reuse old SSIS packages without writing new BIML. | 2017/04/06 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/43256227",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/5567957/"
] | You can now also download ["BIML Express" Visual Studio extension](https://varigence.com/bimlexpress).
This extension adds a right-click menu option to generate BIML from an DTSX file. There are also a couple of other source options (e.g. SSIS project file) but I haven't looked at them. | Yes, if your are on SSIS you can simply right click on the package and select
**Convert SSIS Packages to Biml**
You will get the converted file (.biml) in Miscellaneous. |
29,687 | Given the scenario when you want to prepare yourself for hiring a new team, but without really knowing about the next project.
What's the ideal ratio between senior, medior and junior developers?
Having an ideal figure will help us to calibrate the recruiting process. If we would know that we need something like 1x1x1, then we would look for 2 senior developers, 2 medior developers and 2 juniors.
Can you also suggest alternatives if this doesn't feel the right approach? | 2020/05/14 | [
"https://pm.stackexchange.com/questions/29687",
"https://pm.stackexchange.com",
"https://pm.stackexchange.com/users/27375/"
] | I have seen highly effective teams full of junior developers and disastrous teams full of senior developers.
Rather than focusing on seniority and experience, I recommend:
* Hiring highly collaborative people
* Looking for a good mix of personality types (starters, completer-finishers, etc.)
* Hiring people with good leadership skills - willing to step up and lead discussions and help with facilitation
* Hiring people that value continuous improvement
* Hiring people with humility, that don't feel they know everything and are hungry to learn | Let me qualify my answer a little bit with this: I do not know if there are any theoretical constructs with Scrum that dictates team make-up so I am answering in a more general way around teams.
I like a lot the bullets that @Barnaby Golden (+1) provided in his answer; however, they are hard to identify during selection process and those things sort of evolve over time with some trial and error selected members. Definitely teaming objectives, but I think you achieve them through evolution and adaptation of your team over time.
A lot of these decisions are made long before you attempt to select individuals on the team because it goes to the size and cost of the team for your project. So you need to make decisions about the make-up early.
With practice and experience, you would expect capability to climb and I think it does to some degree. However, performance is not perfectly elastic and, after 10 or more years of experience, a large population of those practitioners remain mediocre in capability (Boyle, Aguinis, 2011, 2012). In contract, the marginal costs of practitioners generally climb in a more perfectly elastic way with time in seat. Therefore, stacking your team with more senior folks will cost you more but not necessarily, or likely, produce higher performance / output.
My approach, because of the Pareto distributed performance curve (I find this more credible than normal distribution of capability, YMMV), is to assume sub-average to average performance / output by the team and build a distribution that is triangularly shaped based on seniority / capability. I also do not consider a simple count of years as "seniority" so there's nuance to that. While hard to prove, I believe that structure minimizes my cost for that team and likely does not impact either favorably or unfavorably performance. |
378,909 | The Domain has the Domain Models.
The Infrastructure layer has Commands and Queries, forming CQRS.
Commands return Domain Models, and Queries return DTOs.
In any API, the DTOs are stored in the Application layer, never in the Domain, but if Queries return DTOs, must the DTOs be stored in the Domain? Is it a good idea? | 2018/09/24 | [
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/378909",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com",
"https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/users/316012/"
] | >
> Commands return Domain Models, and Queries return DTOs.
>
>
>
Actually, commands should produce side effects and ideally return nothing (which in some cases isn't practical). Queries should have no side effects and return some data. This is all before DTOs even enter the picture.
DTOs are then introduced to essentially "batch up what would be multiple remote calls into a single call" for performance reasons ([see Fowler's post](https://martinfowler.com/eaaCatalog/dataTransferObject.html)). Some relatively complex object structure is flattened in a single object that is serialized for transfer. That means that DTOs are what gets *passed* to the infrastructure code that implements the commands and the queries at the *boundary* of the application. Now, to control the dependencies between the layers, it is important to know which layer owns what (not where the objects are *stored*, but which layer defines and has the *ownership* of specific types). The same goes for the DTOs. So, whichever layer is the outermost one (while still being logically part of your application), and is calling (and thus is directly dependent) on the libraries/frameworks used to access the remote resource, will be the one that owns the DTOs.
P.S. BTW, note that the idea behind CQRS is to represent the domain in two different ways based on the access patterns, that is, to have *two* domain models - a Query Model and a Command Model. And these will make use of different sets of DTOs. But in either case, an outer, DTO-owning layer, will receive a request (command or a query) from an inner (higher level) layer, along with some input (maybe a domain object, maybe just some simple parameter set). In case of queries, although they will initially result in DTOs, the code in the inner layer that invoked the query will not get the data as DTOs (because it doesn't "see" the DTO types); instead, in the most general scenario, the outer layer will translate the DTOs into domain objects and return those.
*Unless* all that's really needed is to show the data on the screen, in which case the outer layer may *bypass* the inner ones and go straight to the presentation component (which it can do without violating the dependency structure, if it happens within the same "ring" - a layer as seen in clean/onion/hexagonal architecture). In fact, the view itself may bypass the innermost layers as well when issuing the query. And you can get rid of the Query Model entirely if there isn't enough useful behavior to warrant one. What remains may be some component that handles the responsibility of querying, but isn't a full blown model represented by a number of interacting objects. This then allows you to reduce the amount of translating from DTOs to other representations, or to avoid it completely. So you get this picture:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BrG0X.png)
P.P.S. Just to reduce the potential for confusion:
DTOs are, strictly speaking, about remote calls. However, people sometimes use a similar approach when passing data locally, between layers, and call these DTOs (which is arguably muddling the meaning of the term), but this practice should be used sparingly and with good justification, as writing and maintaining the code that translates between representations is a pain. See [this article](https://martinfowler.com/bliki/LocalDTO.html) for more info. In the same article, Martin Fowler gives an example of a scenario where this approach is worth considering (focus more on the *why*, and less on the where):
>
> One case where it is useful to use something like a DTO [in a local context] is when you have a significant mismatch between the model in your presentation layer and the underlying domain model. In this case it makes sense to make presentation specific facade/gateway that maps from the domain model and presents an interface that's convenient for the presentation.
>
>
> | [DTOs](https://martinfowler.com/eaaCatalog/dataTransferObject.html), and other messages that cross process boundaries, usually have a different life cycle than the components of the domain model. So what will often happen is that the domain model won't know about the DTO at all, but that there will be some glue code that understands both domain values and the DTO, and transforms from one to the other.
What you will find, in a lot of CQRS designs, is that the domain model really doesn't participate in the query code path at all. Instead, the query code path gets read only access to the values. This may be as simple as read access to the book of record, or it may be read access to a cache of data "projected" from the book of record. |
43,625,478 | So I've recently started using Angular 2 and have realized there are lots of different Material Design frameworks and I'm trying to get my head around the differences.
So I started using Angular Material 2 and found that the documentation and features were lacking because the project is still in beta. Angular Material 1 seems to be fully operational and they are re-writing it so that it is compatible with Angular 2.
So I'm wondering what makes Material so tightly coupled with Angular that it required a complete rewrite. I would've thought that underneath, Angular Material is similar to frameworks like Bootstrap where it is just a bunch of Javascript and CSS files that style the HTML in a certain way. Angular Material makes it easy by letting you use their built in directives instead of having to write the HTML referencing the right classes etc.
Given that Angular and Angular 2 at the end of the day is just spitting out HTML, couldn't you basically keep all of the underlying CSS and javascript code? Then all you'd need to do is write Angular 2 directives for the controls? I've been using Material Design Lite and there's an npm package called angular-mdl which basically just does the directive. How exactly does Angular Material work behind the scenes? | 2017/04/26 | [
"https://Stackoverflow.com/questions/43625478",
"https://Stackoverflow.com",
"https://Stackoverflow.com/users/279911/"
] | First of all, let's clear some terminology here. I think Google announced that there is no more Angular 2 as it is already Angular 4 now!
Here, officially, I am using **AngularJS** (1.x) and **Angular** (One framework).
Angular is completely rewritten and has nothing to do with AngularJS anymore. That is why Angular Material has to be rewritten.
There is already a lot of discussion here: [Angular vs Angular 2](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34114593/angular-vs-angular-2).
Here is official guide of how to upgrade your application from AngularJS: <https://angular.io/docs/ts/latest/guide/upgrade.html>
Angular Material actually is a set of Angular components, you can study its source code here: <https://github.com/angular/material2>
Actually, Google has another web component concept project - [Polymer](https://www.polymer-project.org/). That focuses on web component which refreshes your cognition of web. It is not fully supported by all browsers I believe.
Overall, Angular has a powerful ecosystem and sets of tools to help you build any small to large scale web application. It makes Javascript easy to code, maintain, and test. | >
> Given that Angular and Angular 2 at the end of the day is just spitting out HTML, couldn't you basically keep all of the underlying CSS and javascript code?
>
>
>
Angular has it's own "syntax" to bind the view to the model.
This syntax is entirely different between Angular and Angularjs.
HTML and CSS is split into components to make reusable building blocks.
The differences between Angular and Angularjs also results in components (and also directives and pipes) being structured quite differently between these frameworks, which also required HTML, CSS, and code to be structured differently.
Also animations work entirely different.
Angular users TypeScript (at least it's the most commonly used Angular variant) which allows to write more expressive code. This also requires quite different code to utilize Angulars full power.
The rest are tons of details that differ.
I assume they reused a lot of gained knowledge when they rebuilt Material components ;-) |
12,601 | Reading about the Star KIC 8462852, it has been said that the SETI project turned its radio telescopes towards the star to search for extra terrestrial radio signals as the star had strange fluctuations in light. How can we point from earth a radio telescope towards a star which is 1480 light years away whilst the earth is spinning at 1675 km/h and keep it focused or, in the case of a radio telescope, aligned in order to try and receive radio waves?? | 2015/11/23 | [
"https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/12601",
"https://astronomy.stackexchange.com",
"https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/users/1478/"
] | First you are talking about pointing the telescope at the source not focusing it on the source. Telescopes are generally focused at infinity, and there is no need to compensate for the Earth's rotation in the focusing.
The speed of motion of the telescopes location on the Earth is also not directly relevant, what is relevant is the apparent rotation of the sky around the projection of the Earth's axis onto the sky. That is (in the Northern hemisphere) the rotation of the sky about the pole star.
There are a number of ways of dealing with the earth rotation.
1. Actually use it to scan over the sources
2. Drive the telescope to keep it pointing in the direction of interest
3. Track the source (use multiple channels to measure the source error from boresight and drive the telescope to to null the error).
:
etc
This really has nothing to do with radio telescopes per se, but is common to all telescopes including optical. | Because the speed of light is so much faster than the speed of the telescope, the star looks like it is standing still in the sky so the telescope only needs to track it as it moves across the sky at 15-degrees per hour.
However, the speed of light isn't infinite, and there is a measurable effect there. When you're riding in a car while it is raining and the rain preferentially hits your windshield, to you it looks like the rain is coming from some location in front of you even though it is falling straight down, and because of this when you try to look directly at the source of the rain, you look tilt your head forward rather than look straight up. The same thing happens with light from stars. Because the Earth is going around in its orbit and spinning on its axis, light falling "straight down" on us looks like it is coming from a position a little ahead. This is called [stellar aberration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberration_of_light). It isn't a large effect, but it is large enough that if you're trying to figure out very precisely where the stars are, then you need to correct for it. |
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