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is it better to submit a paper to a journal "normal" issue, or wait 4 months and send it to a more focused "special section" of the same journal? | there's another alternative. you can submit to the special issue early. usually journals don't have "easier" submission to a special issue or section. most journals try to have the same review and editing criteria for such contributions as they do for other articles. (consider that having different criteria makes it h... | comparison |
is university teaching better than high school teaching experience in applying for teaching-funded phds? | if there is an option definitely university teaching is more valuable as it is at the same level as the teaching you will experience while doing your degree. however, you should consider that phd is a research-based degree and teaching obligation is not primary concern. so you might get the position without having any ... | comparison |
is it better to go to class, or watch the recorded lectures? | just go to the class. in class you can ask questions for things you do not understand or answer the instructor's questions as well. moreover, you also have the chance to interact and get to know your co-students and coordinate assignments (for group assignments) or reading sessions. if this was a concert of your favor... | comparison |
what advantages and disadvantages should i consider in deciding whether to publish my academic book traditionally or self-publish? | should i publish it traditionally or self-publish? why do you want to publish at all? you answered i write the book to store down my research results and to spread my new knowledge. to make money is not the main aim, but it would be nice. given that: the answer is that you should certainly not self-publish ... | comparison |
the book suggested for a class has bad reviews, should i use it or another? | first, note that a course on oop is probably not the same as a course just on c++. the c++ language was designed by stroustrup to support the developer in multiple styles of programming, including oo. c++ today has become such a huge and complex language, moreover one for which which professional programming style has... | comparison |
1-year professional masters at excellent school or 2-year research-oriented masters at great school? | one year course based ms degree programs are typically "terminal degrees" designed for students who want to work in industry and not pursue a phd and an academic career. if you want to work in industry and are prepared to give up on any hope of an academic career, then you should seriously consider the one year ms pro... | comparison |
should those more interested in research choose a postdoc or teaching position? | in my discipline, mathematics, there is a huge range of tenure track positions, from very strongly research oriented positions to positions that are entirely oriented towards teaching. most new phd's would prefer to end up in a more research oriented position, but most tenure track faculty positions are not at that en... | comparison |
which one is more beneficial, working independently or collaborating with other researchers? | i'm trying to coin a phrase: interior point maximum. well, the phrase already exists: it means that the function you are trying to maximize which is defined on some closed, bounded interval [a,b] does not have its maximum value at either a or b but rather at some point c somewhere strictly in between. most function... | comparison |
what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing a postdoc in singapore and uk? | to put the following into context, i teach at a uk university and have delivered courses at a singapore partner university for many years. in support of many of the above comments, you need have no concerns about the academic establishment in singapore, at any level, from primary through to university. education is to... | comparison |
what's more important in choosing a phd program, advisor or institution? | obviously one needs a competent advisor with whom one is compatible. but assuming that both professors qualify, i think what matters most is the quality of the students who will be your peers. you need to surround yourself with students who, from day 1, expect nothing less of themselves than to produce novel scientific... | comparison |
what is the difference between a teaching assistant and an instructor? | no, there really is no universal definition of the terms; i have been a "teaching assistant" and an "instructor" at the same school for basically the same position. the only thing that i would say is that the term "teaching assistant" tends to imply a position that does not have significant lecturing responsibilities,... | comparison |
is it better to negotiate a faculty offer by email or phone? | negotiating the conditions of any future employment is an important conversation. most of human communication is non-verbal. we communicate a lot through our voice tone and body language. some people avoid face-to-face, or telephone conversations, as they find the interaction awkward. ask yourself:- if you were the ... | comparison |
should i take a tutor job or a research job in a company before going to grad school? | personally i would choose the company position: prior experience in the private sector (outside of teaching) is a big advantage if you decide to look for a non-academic job later. python is a popular programming tool to use. might as well learn now. data analysis is a big part of doing a physics phd. you will for... | comparison |
doing ms in cs from low ranked university versus applying again next year? | please don't rely only on a ranking to figure out if a particular university is the right place for you. here is what you can look at instead: course offerings at the candidate university schedule of classes for next fall and spring -- this is important, because some institutions list mouth-watering courses which ... | comparison |
is it better to have just two good letters of recommendation, or two good letters and one bad letter, if three are expected? | is it better to have 2 good letters or recommendation or 2 good and 1 bad letter? definitely, it's better to have two good letters. a bad letter is a very, very bad thing. they're not counting -- they're reading for understanding. | comparison |
what is the difference between mba and masters in a business subject, and which is better for a future researcher? | an mba is a professional degree designed for students who will go to work in industry and not pursue further graduate study or research. students in mba programs typically all take the same courses in lock step with very few electives or options. it generally isn't possible to specialize in a particular area in an mb... | comparison |
what is the difference between research assistantship and teaching assistantship? | at my university, ras are paid for 20 hours of nominal work a week, usually through grant funds, to work on a research proejct. tas are paid for 10 hours per week per course with departmental or university funds to assist the professor of a course. their duties may include: teaching so-called recitation sections of the... | comparison |
is it better to repeat a caption or reference an identical caption? | it depends on several factors: can you expect readers to read this part of the caption only once and remember everything important for the rest of the reading? or do you expect that readers need to constantly consult the caption to understand your figure? do you expect figures to be read in order? or is it likely t... | comparison |
why is there less funding or scholarship opportunity for business students compared to other background students? | it may be useful to take a slightly larger perspective, rather than comparing just business vs. stem. while there is a great degree of variation around the world and from program to program, most higher-level degree funding can be clustered into three general categories: doctoral degrees in stem fields are generall... | comparison |
what is the difference between a "i" or "ii" after a job title? | in a job title, "i" or "ii" usually denotes the level of experience. you will also see "assistant", "senior" and similar adjectives used. the idea is that employees can be hired at one of several levels of experience and that employees can advance through these levels as they gain experience. someone hired as a "a... | comparison |
should i be a visiting student rather than a non-degree seeking graduate student? | enrolling as a non-degree-seeking graduate student in a u.s. mathematics graduate program is almost never a good idea, and this is in no way a mainstream option. (i'm talking about not seeking a degree anywhere. for comparison, it's not uncommon to be officially seeking a degree at university x but visiting universit... | comparison |
is it more common to refer to subplots as a "frame" or a "panel"? | i can't recall having seen the word frame or panel used to refer to a subplot. more commonly: in the text, e.g., figure 1(a) shows [...]; figure 1(b), instead, shows [...]. in the caption, e.g., figure 1. comparison among blah blah: (a) function f [...]; (b) function g [...] | comparison |
are masters programs generally easier to get into than phd? | not every stem master's program is going to be easier to get into than every phd program, but on the whole they are easier. universities are much more likely to take you if you're paying your own way (aka. a masters) than if they have to fund you. in the us it's common for students who didn't do so well in undergrad o... | comparison |
should i get a bsc at a top-ranked university or a mcomp at a lower-ranked university? | if you can attend a top university, do so. having other excellent students around can provide a much better learning environment--to the point that in three years at a top place you may learn as much as in four years at a more mediocre institution. if you do well, you can always do another one or two years of graduat... | comparison |
is it better to do undergraduate research in the summer, or during the school year? | i think the main question is a false dichotomy. most students don't have a choice between either doing research over the summer or doing it during the year. as long as it doesn't interfere with your grades or other activities, more research is always a good thing, no matter when it happens. that said, in my experience... | comparison |
which is better, a paper with pedantic vocabularies or a paper easy to read? | there is a third way: be pedantic about your vocabulary in the right way to make your paper more readable. using established, clear, and consistent vocabulary and defining it when necessary is the best way to ensure that you are not misunderstood. the main advantage of “simple and easy words” is that they do not need... | comparison |
phd programme dilemma: doing it in a good faculty with strong supervisor or weaker supervisor but more interesting project? | based on what you've said i like option a. but of course you know more about this situation than can be conveyed in a post, and there is more information you can find out, to help make the right decision. for context, i am a math phd student just about to graduate. some points for option a: in my opinion, the most ... | comparison |
better to give a poor/unfinished talk at a conference or cancel it? | when this happens to me, i just describe it as "work in progress" or a "research attempt" and present what i can with what i've got. what's wrong with that? that's how research works. "...hasn't panned out like i hoped it would when i accepted the talk." you can say this during your talk, and explain why it didn't ... | comparison |
is co-first author or co-corresponding author better for a postdoc's job prospects? | i would say co-first author: first authorship is more important: if a professor both led the work and made the biggest contribution to the paper, they will generally choose first authorship rather than last authorship. early in your career, making a big contribution to the research itself is likely to be most impor... | comparison |
what is the distinction between "graduate school" and "professional school"? | at least in my geographic region (texas, or the us southern states), a professional school implies a curriculum that targets specific skills for a particular vocation. in effect, this is akin to my awkward bastardization of several concepts: "teach a man to fish and he can become a fisherman ... help him learn ... | comparison |
is it better to focus on relearning mathematics fundamentals or learn material as needed to understand research papers? | why not both? if you aren't explicitly a mathematician but there is a lot of math used as a tool in your field to solve problems (this is often the case with my field), it is understood that some people are stronger in the math than others. the whole point of having a field where people of different educational backg... | comparison |
which is more important to get into top cs phd program: high gpa or industry r&d project experience? | neither. top cs phd progams are looking for strong evidence of future potential as an independent researcher. everything else is secondary. recommendation letters that speak directly to your research potential, in personal, technical, and credible detail, with direct comparisons with other students they have mentored... | comparison |
in case of admission of international students, do the us,canadian universities prefer more on toefl than ielts? | in most cases, there is no preference. the vast majority of graduate programs in the us accept both ielts and toefl. a program that does have a preference will say so in its admission instructions. for example, bu engineering prefers toefl: in addition to the required credentials for applications, international stu... | comparison |
when would polling for events be better than using observer pattern? | imagine you want to get notified about every engine cycle, e.g. to display an rpm measurement to the driver. observer pattern: the engine publishes an "engine cycle" event to all observers for each cycle. create a listener that counts events and updates the rpm display. polling: the rpm display asks the engine at reg... | comparison |
is razor or xslt better for my project? | i have successfully used xslt as a web presentation tier... in 1999. in the last 12 years, much better options have come along. do yourself a big favor, and use razor. it's a pleasure. | comparison |
is it better to develop apps using a platform specific technology or web technologies? | the big shift toward html5/js came recently with the introduction of hardware acceleration in ie9 and now other browsers. before, you just couldn't get the performance out of html that you could with silverlight and flash. they had access to hardware and html didn't. the vast majority of mobile browsers support html... | comparison |
slf4j vs log4j which one to prefer? | slf4j is basically an abstraction layer. it is not a logging implementation. it means that if you're writing a library and you use slf4j, you can give that library to someone else to use and they can choose which logging implementation to use with slf4j e.g. log4j or the java logging api. it helps prevent projects from... | comparison |
for user defined data, is it better to use a table of tables or dynamically created tables? | a generic database design limits the proliferation of new tables as the number of forms and data elements grows. on the other hand even the simplest query involved 3 tables, in our case. queries indeed got very mind boggling. after 3 years of this i became of the opinion that explicit tables was better. i'd rather de... | comparison |
what does svn do better than git? | subversion is a central repository while many people will want to have distributed repositories for the obvious benefits of speed and multiple copies, there are situations where a central repository is more desirable. for example, if you've got some critical piece of code that you don't want anyone to access, you'd pr... | comparison |
is it better to use pre-existing bad practices, or good practices that don't fit well with old code? | you should choose better design if: you are going to be taking over a large part of future coding better design isn't more expensive to the client in the long run. for instance, i have witnessed multi-month "refactorings" for projects that were discontinued by the end of the year. you should choose "same bad sty... | comparison |
which is a better practice - helper methods as instance or static? | this really depends. if the values your helpers operate on are primitives, then static methods are a good choice, as péter pointed out. if they are complex, then solid applies, more specifically the s, the i and the d. example: class cookiejar { function takecookies(count:int):array<cookie> { ... } fun... | comparison |
is it better to return null or empty values from functions/methods where the return value is not present? | stackoverflow has a good discussion about this exact topic in this q&a. in the top rated question, kronoz notes: returning null is usually the best idea if you intend to indicate that no data is available. an empty object implies data has been returned, whereas returning null clearly indicates that nothing ha... | comparison |
trial/free & full version vs. free app + in-app billing? | it's one code only in either case, you are just using either compile-time or run-time conditionals in it. unfortunately java lacks compile-time conditionals, so you have to be creative there (java can optimize away if(static_final_variable), so you will just have two versions of one source defining that variable). t... | comparison |
is it better to use preprocessor directive or if(constant) statement? | i think there is one advantage of using a #define that you didn't mention, and that is the fact that you can set the value on the command line (thus, set it from your one-step build script). other than that, it is generally better to avoid macros. they don't respect any scoping and that can cause problems. only very ... | comparison |
java web frameworks (jsf vs wicket) third-party component suites in wicket? | mostly the jsf hate blogs belong to 2009 and before, jsf 2.0 fixed many of the issues. i don't think it is popular just because of it's standard, remember that ejb 2.x was the standard then spring came up. there are many web frameworks but jsf is still very popular. also recent jsf specs starting with 2.0 is designed a... | comparison |
in what types of programming environments is reactive management better than proactive management? | logic would suggest that there is some benefit to reactive management there is, it's cheaper* consider the following: you find corrupted data in the system how you find the edge case that is causing and error? you need to first think of the edge case and\or go through all the code looking for possible edge... | comparison |
is it better to target ios 5 and arc or an earlier version with mrc? | worrying about memory management arc is a godsend: it doesn't solve every problem, but it's much better than having to do it all yourself or the short detour into garbage collection with mac os x. there are two things to keep in mind with it: it's a compiler feature: xcode provides arc support for building to ios... | comparison |
what are the relative advantages of dictionaries versus databases? | if you want to know whether there is a performance advantage, the best thing to do is measure it yourself. the performance depends a lot on the type of data, the language, the amount of data, etc. it's impossible to give a blanket statement as to when dictionaries are better than databases. again, it depends on the d... | comparison |
javascript client - which is likely to be better serverside? wcf or mvc3 controller with restful messages? | if the use case is pretty simple and you've already got to support a mvc site then i think mvc is a pretty good choice. i'd also generally agree that standard wcf is perhaps a bit too much ceremony and boilerplate and difficult to ioc in a sane and rational manner. all that said, you might want to check out the wcf w... | comparison |
what are graph datastores better at doing than other datastores and why? | highly connected graphs are not easy to model or query using relational databases. think about social graphs - bob is a friend to alice, alice is a friend to carol. how many friends of friends does bob have? modelling and querying this kind of data is what graph datastores are good at. another example - think abou... | comparison |
is it better to use assert or illegalargumentexception for required method parameters? | beware! assertions are removed at runtime unless you explicitly specify to "enable assertions" when compiling your code. java assertions are not to be used on production code and should be restricted to private methods (see exception vs assertion), since private methods are expected to be known and used only by the d... | comparison |
which one is a better practice a static factory method of the same class or a separate factory class with methods? | the second one; the separate class. that separate class should also have an interface. the reason is that this is the option that allows swapping the factory most easily, which is good for lowering coupling and for testability. | comparison |
is it better to build html code string on the server or on the client side? | server-side pros: more controllable, easier to debug, less dependent on client's browser cons: more server load, higher network traffic and latency client-side cons: depends on decent js/dom implementation in the browser. pros: performance, performance, performance. less server load (thus faster server resp... | comparison |
is it better to learn the dom or jquery first? | learn the dom. by doing that, you will have a better understanding and appreciation for what libraries like jquery do for you. this also means you'll be better suited in the long run if you must change tools. the dom will always be there, and is common ground for understanding the fundamental design choices for any giv... | comparison |
is it better to use a database or a data structure for network stack? | if you can fit everything into available memory why not use one of the many hash map libraries/templates available for c/c++. you will get a massive performance boost (no disks, no io, no parsing no .....) and most of the apis available are pretty simple to use. have a look at this comparison to see which one would b... | comparison |
is it better to spend resources on a skilled team or good process practice? | if your team isn't skilled (as in your definition), you will get nothing done at all. in this case the process doesn't matter. not skilled in the sense of not much experience would be another matter. if your people are talented, but have not much experience with projects, then a good process may help avoid problems. t... | comparison |
which is a better design pattern for a database wrapper: save as you go or save when you're done? | if you need transactions in your application, you will need to offer some kind of explicit "save" option. if the applications don't need transactions, using a database (as opposed to, say, a nosql technology) may be redundant. this also means that the "save" operation should not be a method called on the mutated obj... | comparison |
is onerror handler better than exceptions? | i agree with paul equis's answer that exceptions should be preferred, but with a caveat. one major feature of exceptions is that they break control flow. this is usually desirable, but if it isn't then some other pattern might be useful for augmenting the exception system. for example, suppose you're writing a compi... | comparison |
what does c++ do better than d? | most of the things c++ "does" better than d are meta things: c++ has better compilers, better tools, more mature libraries, more bindings, more experts, more tutorials etc. basically it has more and better of all the external things that you would expect from a more mature language. this is inarguable. as for the lan... | comparison |
how to better start learning programming - with imperative or declarative languages? | i used to teach prolog as a first language to freshmen (followed by scheme and java in the next semesters) . it was great for some of them, and apparently completely impenetrable for many others. logic programming may be very close to mathematical logic, but many people are not, in fact very good at formal logic - it's... | comparison |
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