10 bad technology decisions that can come back to haunt you

By Patrick Gray

As organizations build their tech roadmap for the years ahead, the wrong choices and strategies could have unfortunate repercussions. Here are some pitfalls to watch out for.

A bad strategic or tactical move can unleash an avalanche of negative effects on your organization, some lasting for years to come. Here are some of the worst of the worst -- and a few suggestions on how to avoid them.

1: Locking in to the wrong technology

Years ago, standardizing all IT around a single vendor made a lot of sense. You might be a Microsoft, SAP, or Oracle "shop" and could usually get beneficial pricing and reduced support and training costs. However, moving toward a monolithic architecture in the days of cloud computing should be carefully considered lest you end up with a significant investment in a platform that's expensive to maintain, inflexible, and no longer supported.

2: Investing in overpriced science projects

It's worth pursuing some experimental technologies and monitoring the pulse of where enterprise IT is headed. But investing heavily in untried technologies with unresponsive vendors often ends up being an unending "science project" in which you're tweaking components on a daily basis.

3: Driving users to mutiny

Once upon a time, IT could unilaterally deliver low quality systems and effectively tell users, "If you don't like it, leave." Now, users can mutiny with little more than a credit card and access to one of the myriad public cloud services.

4: Selecting an expensive "integrated" future

While no entity or company can accurately predict the future, the best technical architecture and vendor selection processes produce an IT infrastructure that's flexible and can accommodate future technologies ranging from mobile to social connectivity. Choose poorly and you're doomed to a custom integration (and potential science project) to take advantage of these technologies.

5: Viewing IT as separate from "the business"

Hearing references to "the business" makes me cringe, since the speaker has consciously or unconsciously adopted an attitude that technology and IT are somehow a separate and distinct from the rest of the company. Usually, a series of bad decisions has driven a wedge between IT and the rest of the company -- or IT has completely lost touch with the company as a whole. Neither is something that should exist or be tolerated in a successful IT organization.

6: Becoming seen and not heard

While being run out of town is the ultimate expression of dissatisfaction with bad technology decisions, the near alternative is not much better. After a series of bad decisions, IT can become marginalized and trusted for little more than infrastructure, completely isolated from anything that even vaguely resembles a strategic decision. In this scenario, IT is called in when all the key players have agreed on a course of action, and IT is left to implement and pick up the pieces.

7: Getting saddled with cost as your only metric

The ultimate expression of a low-value commodity is one that is evaluated primarily on cost. If your metrics and measures are gradually focusing solely on cost, this should be your first warning sign that IT has made some bad decisions and is headed for marginalization. The only way to resist is to cut your way to complete commoditization and face being run out of town or to shift the discussion to some of the high-value ways IT can enable and accelerate the company's strategic objectives.

8: Retaining "dead head" staff

No longer the exclusive domain of the technically savvy, there are unprecedented sources of information available to employees -- from competitive salary information to access to corporate news before most companies have a chance to break the news internally. Your staff are probably better informed than you realize and will sense an IT organization that's headed in the wrong direction. If they're sticking around, they may be overcompensated and underperforming or biding their time for a better opportunity. In either case, they've effectively become "dead heads" no longer contributing.

9: Developing abusive vendor relationships

Make a few bad decisions and have a costly failure or two, and you'll likely end up in an abusive relationship with some of your vendors. This might be to the vendor's advantage, where it holds your inflexible technology selection over your head in the form of high license and maintenance fees. Or you might have a vendor you've browbeaten into providing unfair pricing and unreasonable service terms due to size or scale. In either case, the injured party will often see the light and quit the relationship, leaving a painful separation process in their wake. If you're guilty of abusing your vendors, or rolling over and taking it when they offer their latest licensing increase, you're headed for trouble.

10: Being run out of town

Outsourcing entire IT departments is no longer unusual. While this used to be a complex, multi-year effort, now there are dozens of companies that can take over even the largest IT departments on the high end and cloud providers that will happily take over infrastructure and applications for even the smallest companies on the low end. Make enough bad decisions, and it's not all that difficult to "rip and replace" an entire corporate IT department.

5 Body Language Mistakes to Avoid in Interviews

Marissa Brassfield

Non-verbal cues can make or break an interview. This list of body language mistakes compiled by Jacquelyn Smith for Forbes will help you avoid unintentionally sending the wrong message.

1. Bad handshake. Ideally, your handshake should be firm yet not overbearing. "The secret to a great handshake is palm-to-palm contact," said body language expert Patti Wood to Forbes. "Slide your hand down into the web of theirs and make palm-to-palm contact. Lock thumbs with the hiring manager, and apply as much pressure as he or she does."
2. Close-talker. Respect your interviewer's personal space. Avoid standing too closely to him or her.
3. Defensive postures. Avoid crossing your arms at all costs. Instead, talk with your hands to engage your interviewer and convey your enthusiasm.
4. Fidgeting. Avoid bombarding your interviewer with distractions like asymmetrical body language, biting your nails or playing with your hair. Focus on making eye contact when your interviewer addresses you. "It's okay for the candidate to look away when he or she is talking," said Wood. "It's normal to look around when you're speaking because you're accessing different parts of the brain by moving your eyes. But be attentive and make eye contact when the interviewer is speaking."
5. Looking uninterested. Avoid checking your phone or watch during your interview. Pay close attention to your facial expressions, both while you talk and while you listen to others speak.

Do These 5 Things Before Your Next Interview and Get the Job

Jen Hubley Luckwaldt

Interview prep is tricky not because you don't know what to do to get ready, but because you know too much about what you could do. Before you get bogged down in endless practice interview questions, make sure you have these things checked off your pre-interview to-do list.

1. Research the company.

You probably know at least a little something about your prospective employer by the time you make it to the interview stage, or your resume and cover letter wouldn't have helped you snag the interview. Still, now's the time to make sure you have a full grasp of the company history, including its mission and founders, and are up-to-date on its latest news. Start with the corporate website and the organization's profile in PayScale's Research Center, and then do a Google News search, and take a look at the company's social media profiles. Know how long they've been around, what challenges they've faced, who their competitors are. Most importantly, figure out what their problems are -- especially the ones that hiring you would solve.

2. Investigate your role.

Look up the job title and find out what responsibilities typically go with that role. Think about your experience, and how it would fit. Take a salary survey to determine a salary range. Hopefully, you won't be asked to get into specifics, but if you are, have an idea of what you'd like to hear and what you'd accept.

3. Get to know the key people.

If possible, ask for the names of the people you'll be speaking with, so that you can look them up on LinkedIn before the interview. If you're interviewing with folks outside of HR, pay special attention to their background and experience. Note any points of commonality with your background.

4. Prepare for common questions.

Avoid giving canned answers to common interview questions by concentrating on demonstrating how your skills, experience, and passion can help the company solve its problems. Practice, but focus more on remembering your own best qualities than on memorizing pat replies.

5. Practice confident body language.

Sit up straight, make (just enough) eye contact, and shake hands firmly -- in short, practice looking like someone who deserves to get the job.

5 Reasons to Wake Up Earlier (and 2 Reasons to Skip It)

Jen Hubley Luckwaldt

Could you wake up two hours earlier every day? Rachel Gillett at Fast Company tried it for a week, rising at 6:30 a.m. and tallying up the ways in which it improved her productivity and happiness, both in her personal life and at work -- plus, a few of the challenges involved in resetting her daily clock.

First things first: waking up earlier won't work for everyone.

1. Experiments like these are easier if you're not a working parent.

"Many [parents] pointed out that they rarely have the luxury of sleeping until 6:30 a.m., which would make their wake-up time for this project much earlier," writes Gillett. "This seems implausible, though some have done it."

Her colleague Scott Thigpen, for example, regularly rises at 3:50 a.m., in order to have some peace and quiet before his two children wake up. He often meditates during his morning hours, which sometimes just consists of quietly enjoying a cup of coffee without interruption.

2. Not everyone's work and life rhythms are the same. 

If you're a morning person, waking up earlier buys you extra hours to create and think, but if you're a night person, you might just feel exhausted, as if you're tacking on more unproductive time long before your brain kicks in.

If you can get stuff done in the morning, however, there are rewards to getting up much earlier than usual, including:

1. Increased energy, especially if you, like Gillett, use the time to work out first thing in the morning.

2. Weight loss. Again, the early morning workouts might help, but so can having a bit more time to plan meals, eat slowly, and just generally reduce stress.

3. Improved punctuality. One reader tells Gillett that getting up earlier makes it easier for her to make early-morning meetings and flights.

4. More time to yourself. Want to train for a marathon, write a book, or pick up a hobby you abandoned years ago? Getting up earlier than everyone else is a great way to do it.

5. Less rushing around. Some stress is healthy, inspiring us to do our best work, strive for a goal, or improve ourselves. The pressure we feel when we're constantly just a few minutes behind isn't that healthy kind of stress. Get up earlier, and you start the day ahead, instead of behind.

 

Execute Sql Commands through Command Prompt

Here I am sharing that how can we execute SQL Commands through Command Prompt.

Using this command line utility, we can also fire queries and execute files, etc.

Sample Syntax:

SqlCmd -S servername -U "username" -P "password" -q "sql command"

 

Ex.

SqlCmd -E -S 192.168.0.1\Sql2008 -Q "BACKUP DATABASE Practice TO Disk='C:\dbbackups\db_Practice.bak';BACKUP LOG Practice TO Disk='C:\dbbackups\db_Practice.bak';"

 

SqlCmd -S 192.168.0.1\Sql2008 -U "sa" -P "sa@123" -q "RESTORE DATABASE Practice FROM DISK = 'e:\Backups\db_Practice.bak' WITH MOVE 'Practice' TO 'G:\DBBackups\Practice.mdf',MOVE 'Practice_log' TO 'G:\DBBackups\Practice.ldf';"

 

For more options check below detail:

 

sqlcmd 

   -a packet_size 

   -A (dedicated administrator connection)

   -b (terminate batch job if there is an error)

   -c batch_terminator 

   -C (trust the server certificate)

   -d db_name 

   -e (echo input)

   -E (use trusted connection)

   -f codepage | i:codepage[,o:codepage] | o:codepage[,i:codepage]

   -h rows_per_header 

   -H workstation_name 

   -i input_file 

   -I (enable quoted identifiers)

   -k[1 | 2] (remove or replace control characters)

   -K application_intent 

   -l login_timeout 

   -L[c] (list servers, optional clean output)

   -m error_level 

   -M multisubnet_failover 

   -N (encrypt connection)

   -o output_file 

   -p[1] (print statistics, optional colon format)

   -P password 

   -q "cmdline query" 

   -Q "cmdline query" (and exit)

   -r[0 | 1] (msgs to stderr)

   -R (use client regional settings)

   -s col_separator 

   -S [protocol:]server[\instance_name][,port]

   -t query_timeout 

   -u (unicode output file)

   -U login_id 

   -v var = "value" 

   -V error_severity_level 

   -w column_width 

   -W (remove trailing spaces)

   -x (disable variable substitution)

   -X[1] (disable commands, startup script, environment variables and optional exit)

   -y variable_length_type_display_width 

   -Y fixed_length_type_display_width 

   -z new_password  

   -Z new_password (and exit)

 

   -? (usage)

 

 

For Detail about "SqlCmd" Visit: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms162773.aspx

The four golden rules to be a better software developer.

Written by Alberto Gutierrez

• The research to become a better software developer is core to any good software developer. Being a better software developer reflects directly in the code you produce, the better software developer you are, the less bugs, easier to read and easier to maintain code you will produce.

  What follow are the four rules I use on my day to day work to help me become a better software developer.

  Rule number 1:  My code is crap.

  All code is crap, and that includes yours, (and mine, of course). No matter how brilliant a piece of code you think it is, there will be always better ways to implement it, and several programmers who will hate it.

  Even if you are sure your code happens to be good, force yourself into "my code is crap" mode, and ask around about improvements, be open minded and you will see soon how you will find issues in your code that you never have thought about.

  Rule number 2: Even if it's crap, I care about my code.

  It is not about creating the best code upfront, is about making it better every time you visit it. When you finish some functionality, you are not done, I haven't met any programmer that produces acceptable code on their first attempt, you need to polish it. Refactoring is then one of the main activities you should be performing.

  Rule number 3: My opinion about my own code is wrong.

  We are so egocentric that we end up believing that what we have produced, no matter how bad it is, is the best solution as possible. Never trust your own opinion, show your code to as much developers as possible and listen to them.

  Rule number 4: My manager doesn't care about my code, and he pays me.

  This rule regulates the other three, it is easy to forget that you actually get paid to get things done, your manager should also care about the code, but he is more focused in completing things on time with an acceptable quality, so be careful not to expend too much time just making sure your code is not that crap. The key is being able to balance getting things done and their quality.

  Bonus: A few tips to help you with these rules.

  Code reviews.
  Keep it simple.
  Test.
  Refactor.
  Non technical factors.

50 New Features of SQL Server 2008

This article explains you 50 new features of Microsoft SQL Server 2008. You can also read other popular article 22 New Features of Visual Studio 2008 for .NET Professionals

• Transparent Data Encryption

  Enable encryption of an entire database, data files, or log files, without the need for application changes. Benefits of this include: Search encrypted data using both range and fuzzy searches, search secure data from unauthorized users, and data encryption without any required changes in existing applications.

• Extensible Key Management

  SQL Server 2005 provides a comprehensive solution for encryption and key management. SQL Server 2008 delivers an excellent solution to this growing need by supporting third-party key management and HSM products.

• Auditing

  Create and manage auditing via DDL, while simplifying compliance by providing more comprehensive data auditing. This enables organizations to answer common questions, such as, "What data was retrieved?"

• Enhanced Database Mirroring

  SQL Server 2008 builds on SQL Server 2005 by providing a more reliable platform that has enhanced database mirroring, including automatic page repair, improved performance, and enhanced supportability.

• Automatic Recovery of Data Pages

  SQL Server 2008 enables the principal and mirror machines to transparently recover from 823/824 types of data page errors by requesting a fresh copy of the suspect page from the mirroring partner transparently to end users and applications.

• Log Stream Compression

  Database mirroring requires data transmissions between the participants of the mirroring implementations. With SQL Server 2008, compression of the outgoing log stream between the participants delivers optimal performance and minimizes the network bandwidth used by database mirroring.

• Resource Governor

  Provide a consistent and predictable response to end users with the introduction of Resource Governor, allowing organizations to define resource limits and priorities for different workloads, which enable concurrent workloads to provide consistent performance to their end users.

• Predictable Query Performance

  Enable greater query performance stability and predictability by providing functionality to lock down query plans, enabling organizations to promote stable query plans across hardware server replacements, server upgrades, and production deployments.

• Data Compression

  Enable data to be stored more effectively, and reduce the storage requirements for your data. Data compression also provides significant performance improvements for large I/O bound workloads, like data warehousing.

• Hot Add CPU

  Dynamically scale a database on demand by allowing CPU resources to be added to SQL Server 2008 on supported hardware platforms without forcing any downtime on applications. Note that SQL Server already supports the ability to add memory resources online.

• Policy-Based Management

  Policy-Based Management is a policy-based system for managing one or more instances of SQL Server 2008. Use this with SQL Server Management Studio to create policies that manage entities on the server, such as the instance of SQL Server, databases, and other SQL Server objects.

• Streamlined Installation

  SQL Server 2008 introduces significant improvements to the service life cycle for SQL Server through the re-engineering of the installation, setup, and configuration architecture. These improvements separate the installation of the physical bits on the hardware from the configuration of the SQL Server software, enabling organizations and software partners to provide recommended installation configurations.

• Performance Data Collection

  Performance tuning and troubleshooting are time-consuming tasks for the administrator. To provide actionable performance insights to administrators, SQL Server 2008 includes more extensive performance data collection, a new centralized data repository for storing performance data, and new tools for reporting and monitoring.

• Language Integrated Query (LINQ)

  Enable developers to issue queries against data, using a managed programming language, such as C# or VB.NET, instead of SQL statements. Enable seamless, strongly typed, set-oriented queries written in .NET languages to run against ADO.NET (LINQ to SQL), ADO.NET DataSets (LINQ to DataSets), the ADO.NET Entity Framework (LINQ to Entities), and to the Entity Data Service Mapping provider. Use the new LINQ to SQL provider that enables developers to use LINQ directly on SQL Server 2008 tables and columns.

• ADO.NET Data Services

  The Object Services layer of ADO.NET enables the materialization, change tracking, and persistence of data as CLR objects. Developers using the ADO.NET framework can program against a database, using CLR objects that are managed by ADO.NET. SQL Server 2008 introduces more efficient, optimized support that improves performance and simplifies development.

• DATE/TIME

  SQL Server 2008 introduces new date and time data types:

  • DATE—A date-only type

  • TIME—A time-only type

  • DATETIMEOFFSET—A time-zone-aware datetime type

  • DATETIME2—A datetime type with larger fractional seconds and year range than the existing DATETIME type

  The new data types enable applications to have separate data and time types while providing large data ranges or user defined precision for time values.

• HIERARCHY ID

  Enable database applications to model tree structures in a more efficient way than currently possible. New system type HierarchyId can store values that represent nodes in a hierarchy tree. This new type will be implemented as a CLR UDT, and will expose several efficient and useful built-in methods for creating and operating on hierarchy nodes with a flexible programming model.

• FILESTREAM Data

  Allow large binary data to be stored directly in an NTFS file system, while preserving an integral part of the database and maintaining transactional consistency. Enable the scale-out of large binary data traditionally managed by the database to be stored outside the database on more cost-effective storage without compromise.

• Integrated Full Text Search

  Integrated Full Text Search makes the transition between Text Search and relational data seamless, while enabling users to use the Text Indexes to perform high-speed text searches on large text columns.

• Sparse Columns

  NULL data consumes no physical space, providing a highly efficient way of managing empty data in a database. For example, Sparse Columns allows object models that typically have numerous null values to be stored in a SQL Server 2005 database without experiencing large space costs.

• Large User-Defined Types

  SQL Server 2008 eliminates the 8-KB limit for User-Defined Types (UDTs), allowing users to dramatically expand the size of their UDTs.

• Spatial Data Types

  Build spatial capabilities into your applications by using the support for spatial data.

  • Implement Round Earth solutions with the geography data type. Use latitude and longitude coordinates to define areas on the Earth's surface.

  • Implement Flat Earth solutions with the geometry data type. Store polygons, points, and lines that are associated with projected planar surfaces and naturally planar data, such as interior spaces.

• Backup Compression

  Keeping disk-based backups online is expensive and time-consuming. With SQL Server 2008 backup compression, less storage is required to keep backups online, and backups run significantly faster since less disk I/O is required.

• Partitioned Table Parallelism

  Partitions enable organizations to manage large growing tables more effectively by transparently breaking them into manageable blocks of data. SQL Server 2008 builds on the advances of partitioning in SQL Server 2005 by improving the performance on large partitioned tables.

• Star Join Query Optimizations

  SQL Server 2008 provides improved query performance for common data warehouse scenarios. Star Join Query optimizations reduce query response time by recognizing data warehouse join patterns.

• Grouping Sets

  Grouping Sets is an extension to the GROUP BY clause that lets users define multiple groupings in the same query. Grouping Sets produces a single result set that is equivalent to a UNION ALL of differently grouped rows, making aggregation querying and reporting easier and faster.

• Change Data Capture

  With Change Data Capture, changes are captured and placed in change tables. It captures complete content of changes, maintains cross-table consistency, and even works across schema changes. This enables organizations to integrate the latest information into the data warehouse.

• MERGE SQL Statement

  With the introduction of the MERGE SQL Statement, developers can more effectively handle common data warehousing scenarios, like checking whether a row exists, and then executing an insert or update.

• SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) Pipeline Improvements

  Data Integration packages can now scale more effectively, making use of available resources and managing the largest enterprise-scale workloads. The new design improves the scalability of runtime into multiple processors.

• SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) Persistent Lookups

  The need to perform lookups is one of the most common ETL operations. This is especially prevalent in data warehousing, where fact records need to use lookups to transform business keys to their corresponding surrogates. SSIS increases the performance of lookups to support the largest tables.

• Analysis Scale and Performance

  SQL Server 2008 drives broader analysis with enhanced analytical capabilities and with more complex computations and aggregations. New cube design tools help users streamline the development of the analysis infrastructure enabling them to build solutions for optimized performance.

• Block Computations

  Block Computations provides a significant improvement in processing performance enabling users to increase the depth of their hierarchies and complexity of the computations.

• Writeback

  New MOLAP enabled writeback capabilities in SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services removes the need to query ROLAP partitions. This provides users with enhanced writeback scenarios from within analytical applications without sacrificing the traditional OLAP performance.

• Enterprise Reporting Engine

  Reports can easily be delivered throughout the organization, both internally and externally, with simplified deployment and configuration. This enables users to easily create and share reports of any size and complexity.

• Internet Report Deployment

  Customers and suppliers can effortlessly be reached by deploying reports over the Internet.

• Manage Reporting Infrastructure

  Increase supportability and the ability to control server behaviour with memory management, infrastructure consolidation, and easier configuration through a centralized store and API for all configuration settings.

• Report Builder Enhancements

  Easily build ad-hoc and author reports with any structure through Report Designer.

• Forms Authentication Support

  Support for Forms authentication enables users to choose between Windows and Forms authentication.

• Report Server Application Embedding

  Report Server application embedding enables the URLs in reports and subscriptions to point back to front-end applications.

• Microsoft Office Integration

  SQL Server 2008 provides new Word rendering that enables users to consume reports directly from within Microsoft Office Word. In addition, the existing Excel renderer has been greatly enhanced to accommodate the support of features, like nested data regions, sub-reports, as well as merged cell improvements. This lets users maintain layout fidelity and improves the overall consumption of reports from Microsoft Office applications.

• Predictive Analysis

  SQL Server Analysis Services continues to deliver advanced data mining technologies. Better Time Series support extends forecasting capabilities. Enhanced Mining Structures deliver more flexibility to perform focused analysis through filtering as well as to deliver complete information in reports beyond the scope of the mining model. New cross-validation enables confirmation of both accuracy and stability for results that you can trust. Furthermore, the new features delivered with SQL Server 2008 Data Mining Add-ins for Office 2007 empower every user in the organization with even more actionable insight at the desktop.

How to Unprotect an excel sheet without password

This document will tel you how to unprotect an excel spread sheet without having the password

 

In case of a password protect worksheet you are unable to Edit the data on the Excel Sheet. If you do not Remember the Password or do not know the password to unprotect the sheet just follow the below simple steps.

Press ALT +  F11 or click on View Code in Developers Tabs

 

In the Above White Space Enter the below Code. Do not change the code just copy paste:

Sub PasswordBreaker()
    'Breaks worksheet password protection.
    Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer
    Dim l As Integer, m As Integer, n As Integer
    Dim i1 As Integer, i2 As Integer, i3 As Integer
    Dim i4 As Integer, i5 As Integer, i6 As Integer
    On Error Resume Next
    For i = 65 To 66: For j = 65 To 66: For k = 65 To 66
    For l = 65 To 66: For m = 65 To 66: For i1 = 65 To 66
    For i2 = 65 To 66: For i3 = 65 To 66: For i4 = 65 To 66
    For i5 = 65 To 66: For i6 = 65 To 66: For n = 32 To 126
    ActiveSheet.Unprotect Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & _
        Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & Chr(i3) & _
        Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)
    If ActiveSheet.ProtectContents = False Then
        MsgBox "One usable password is " & Chr(i) & Chr(j) & _
            Chr(k) & Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & _
            Chr(i3) & Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)
         Exit Sub
    End If
    Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next
    Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next
End Sub

Now Click on the Run Button or press F5:

 

And there you go the sheet is unprotected for you now. Also you would be getting a message in the pop up window.

This Message is contains the password which can be used to unprotect the other sheets in the same workbook.

 

 

Owner:	Marlee P.

Created:	2013-02-28 16:16 CDT	Updated:	2013-04-24 14:06 CDT

4 Benefits of Object-Relational Mapping (ORM)

Object-relational mapping, in the purest sense, is a programming technique that supports the conversion of incompatible types in object-oriented programming languages, specifically between a data store and programming objects. You can use an ORM framework to persist model objects to a relational database and retrieve them, and the ORM framework will take care of converting the data between the two otherwise incompatible states. Most ORM tools rely heavily on metadata about both the database and objects, so that the objects need to know nothing about the database and the database doesn't need to know anything about how the data is structured in the application. ORM provides a clean separation of concerns in a well-designed data application, and the database and application can each work with data in its native form.

TIP: Nicknames and acronyms used for "object-relational mapping" include ORM, OR/M, and O/R mapping. Although ORM seems to be the term most commonly used in the .NET world, you'll often see the others in books and articles. We'll stick with ORM, mostly because it is the easiest to type!

The key feature of ORM is the mapping it uses to bind an object to its data in the database. Mapping expresses how an object and its properties and behaviors are related to one or more tables and their fields in the database. An ORM uses this mapping information to manage the process of converting data between its database and object forms, and generating the SQL for a relational database to insert, update, and delete data in response to changes the application makes to data objects.

ORM performs the rather amazing task of managing the application's interactions with the database. Once you've used an ORM's tools to create mappings and objects for use in an application, those objects completely manage the application's data access needs. You won't have to write any other low-level data access code. Strictly speaking, you could still write low-level data access code to supplement the ORM data objects, but this adds a significant layer of complexity to an application that we've rarely found necessary when using a robust ORM tool. It is better to stick to one or the other and keep the application simpler and more maintainable.

There are a number of benefits to using an ORM for development of databased applications and here's four:

1. Productivity: The data access code is usually a significant portion of a typical application, and the time needed to write that code can be a significant portion of the overall development schedule. When using an ORM tool, the amount of code is unlikely to be reduced—in fact, it might even go up—but the ORM tool generates 100% of the data access code automatically based on the data model you define, in mere moments.
2. Application design: A good ORM tool designed by very experienced software architects will implement effective design patterns that almost force you to use good programming practices in an application. This can help support a clean separation of concerns and independent development that allows parallel, simultaneous development of application layers.
3. Code Reuse: If you create a class library to generate a separate DLL for the ORM-generated data access code, you can easily reuse the data objects in a variety of applications. This way, each of the applications that use the class library need have no data access code at all.
4. Application Maintainability: All of the code generated by the ORM is presumably well-tested, so you usually don't need to worry about testing it extensively. Obviously you need to make sure that the code does what you need, but a widely used ORM is likely to have code banged on by many developers at all skill levels. Over the long term, you can refactor the database schema or the model definition without affecting how the application uses the data objects.

One potential downside to using an ORM is performance. It is very likely that the data access code generated by the ORM is more complex than you'd typically write for an application. This is because most ORMs are designed to handle a wide variety of data-use scenarios, far more than any single application is ever likely to use. Complex code generally means slower performance, but a well-designed ORM is likely to generate well-tuned code that minimizes the performance impact. Besides, in all but the most data-intensive applications the time spent interacting with the database is a relatively small portion of the time the user spends using the application. Nevertheless, we've never found a case where the small performance hit wasn't worth the other benefits of using an ORM. You should certainly test it for your data and applications to make sure that the performance is acceptable.

There are a number of ORM tools available for .NET applications (see the "List of object-relational mapping software" topic in Wikipedia in the .NET section for an exhaustive list). Before Microsoft introduced Entity Framework, the open source NHibernate was probably the dominant ORM tool. NHibernate is ported from Hibernate, a Java ORM tool that has been available for years. But because Microsoft now bundles Entity Framework with the .NET Framework and incorporates extensive support for it in Visual Studio, Entity Framework has become the dominant ORM in the Microsoft development world.

From Learnnowonline - by Marty S.

Five diagnostic tools for your portable tech toolkit

By Jack Wallen

When you head out for a job, be sure you take this collection of handy go-anywhere troubleshooting tools.

The world of computer administration requires you to be on your toes and prepared for just about anything. Along with that, you need to have tools that can get you out of nearly any jam — and that includes a set of portable diagnostic tools to help you when you don't have the time or the ability to install (or track down) software to solve the problem at hand.

Thing is, there are many diagnostic tools available — so which ones should you select for your portable toolkit? Here are five portable tools everyone should consider as first options for solving the problems that plague your systems.

: Process Explorer

Process Explorer (Figure A) is the tool to use when you really need information about a process and what file or folder that process has open. This tool is a tremendous help in discovering what application has a file or folder locked — especially when you can't seem to eject an external drive.

Figure A

: Process Explorer

Process Explorer (Figure A) is the tool to use when you really need information about a process and what file or folder that process has open. This tool is a tremendous help in discovering what application has a file or folder locked — especially when you can't seem to eject an external drive.

Figure A

 

Process Explorer consists of two windows. The top window gives a real-time listing of active processes (and their owning accounts). The bottom window displays information based on the mode it's in. In handle mode, all handles that the selected process (from the top window) has opened will appear. In DLL mode, all DLLs and memory-mapped files that the selected process has opened will appear.

2: SystemRescueCd

SystemRescueCd (Figure B) is a bootable Linux disk (can be run from either CD or thumb drive) that offers a full kit of tools for administering or repairing your system and/or data after a crash. Included tools will help you work with drive partitions, files, networks, and much more.

Figure B

 

This tool is effectively a full-blown Linux distribution that you run as a portable platform. The only difference is that the software is focused on diagnosing and repairing problems. Tools include Sfdisk, Partimage, Testdisk, GParted, Grub, secure hard disk wipers, programming tools, antivirus, and CD burners.

3: CrystalDiskInfo

CrystalDiskInfo (Figure C) monitors hard disks and reports the state of their health. It gives you all the S.M.A.R.T. information and lets you know how many times the disk has been turned on and off. This tool supports both HDD and SSD and even some external drives.

Figure C

 

You can keep CrystalDiskInfo running and set it up to send email alerts if something goes wrong. Also included are Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM) and Advanced Power Management Control (APM). A resident alarm will alert you of temperature issues.

4: WinDirStat

WinDirStat (Figure D) is an invaluable tool when you need to find out what is taking up all that space on a drive. Simply download it, run it, select the drive to test, and wait for the results. Once the test is run, you will be offered a colorized map of every file type on the drive.

Figure D

 Locate a color that is taking up the largest amount of space, right-click that color, and open the folder to find out exactly what you're dealing with. If you ever run into a situation where a C Drive has filled up, this is the first tool you want to grab.

5: Console Portable

Console Portable (Figure E) is a console window enhancement that can be run from a portable drive. It also allows you to add your own custom scripts (placed in ConsolePortable\Data\Scripts). Features include multiple tabs, text editor-like text selection, different background types, alpha and color-key transparency, configurable font, and different window styles. If you do a lot of your diagnostics from the command line, you should have this customizable console along for the ride.

Figure E 

 

Ready to roll

Your diagnostic toolkit is one of the first things you should put in your pocket when you head out for a job. These five tools should be able to help you with numerous situations, from damaged data to virus infections — and everything in between.

 

Five things managers do that job candidates hate

By Toni Bowers

For managers, the hiring process is, admittedly, a bear. But it's also time-consuming and arduous for job candidates. Here are five things you can do to make the experience more pleasant for those who apply to your open positions.

The hiring process is, admittedly, a bear for managers. It's time-consuming and arduous. But enough about you. How do you think the job candidates feel? Because the process is all that for them too, as well as being pretty scary. Here are five things that job candidates wish you wouldn't do during the hiring process.

1.  Already having an internal candidate in mind

I've worked at some companies that have a policy that every job opening has to involve interviewing external candidates even if you already have an internal candidate in mind. I've also worked at jobs that require managers to open a job to internal candidates even if they have no intention of hiring someone internally.

I know that companies are just trying to make sure they open things up to all the people they can in the hopes that they get the best person, but this still rankles if you're someone looking for a job. You're playing with people's time and expectations.

2.  Waiting too long to let a job candidate know something

Waiting weeks and weeks for an answer is bad even if the answer is that you got the job. It's pretty devastating when you find out that, after all the waiting, you don't have the job.

Maybe you're with one of those companies whose deciders take all that time because they're striving with surgical precision to make the best possible decision. They want the best person and they also don't want to waste money with a bad hire.

But you know and I know that the most common reasons for keeping candidates waiting is that

1. You're waiting to see how your real first choice works out before you let the others off the hook completely
2. The decision to hire, and who to hire, has to go through corporate channels –a process that is slower than molasses in winter.

3.  Not letting a job candidate know if he or she did not get the position

If a job candidate doesn't hear from a company at all, he or she knows they don't have the job. But it's still disappointing and disconcerting not to hear anything. Is this just laziness or rudeness on your part?

I will allow that you may just want to avoid any kind of unpleasant experience. After all, it's not a lot of fun breaking that kind of news to someone.

Maybe you're also concerned that  if you go into some detail about why a candidate didn't get the job, you could be setting your company up for a lawsuit. I know of one instance when a woman applied for a job with several people from the company she presently worked for. The reply was that her qualifications were not up to par. Yet, that company hired several (male) employees who were a couple of levels below her at the current company and who were not as qualified as she was. She sued.

Still, there's a way around that. Just send out a general notice like: "Thank you for showing interest in the (POSITION) with (COMPANY). This letter is to let you know that we have identified our finalist and will not be moving forward with your candidacy." What's so hard about that?

4.  Vague, misleading job descriptions

From the looks of some want ads I see, it looks like some companies use a boilerplate job description and just adds a few IT-related terms. But it would save a lot of time if you would just come right out and be specific. For example, instead of saying you're seeking someone who has "experience with object-oriented JavaScript or programming," (which could, in some minds, mean a person who once watched someone create a desktop widget), be specific: "Extensive knowledge of DOM scripting with native JavaScript and familiarity with JS frameworks such as jQuery or Mootools." "Experience with..." is perhaps the vaguest, and most open to interpretation, phrase one could use. Try to avoid it.

5.  Interview process is too long

Is your company's interview process so long that job candidates could qualify for HR benefits? And I'm not talking about all-day get-grilled-by-the-team-then-four-VPs kind of interview. I'm talking about one process that includes a fifth or sixth interview. For the guy who actually gets the job in the end, this is forgivable. Sort of like birthing a baby. But for the people who go through that long process only to be told they don't have the job, it's confusing and makes them question everything about themselves.

I know you're seeking perfection, but I can tell you that there are some people who are just extremely good at interviewing and not doing the actual job. You'd like to think that by putting candidates through a process longer and more arduous than a Keeping up with the Kardashians marathon you'll be able to spot the perfect person. Unfortunately, the effort does not always end that way.

Hiring is a big deal and it's important to find the best candidate for a position. But there are things that you, as a manager, can do to make the process easier for those folks who are applying.

Five ways for IT pros to shine in 2014

By Joseph Parker

When you take stock of your career achievements and failures, be sure to also look ahead and consider forming these good habits.

In our ever-changing business environment, how do you stand out amongst your IT peers? Below are tips that I hope will help you get started down the right path. If you form these habits properly, they will transcend the workplace and flow into your personal life as well.

1. Evaluate your present position

In Robert Greene's book The 33 Strategies of War, he explains that "…seeing things as they are…" is a key component in any successful strategy. So, the first step in planning for the upcoming year is to assess yourself honestly and make a change where there is weakness, confusion, and self-doubt.

2. Give solutions, not complaints

There are always problems at work; fortunately, problems come with opportunities. You should focus on the problem rather than the hype and then map out solutions as a result of what you see, taking into account all of the circumstances that caused the issue (be sure to integrate tip #1 into this process). When you present your solutions, you'll be perceived as a problem-solver, and this could open more doors for you in the future.

3. Be strategic with project tasks

You should see every task as being part of a larger project or goal -- in short, look beyond your assignment and at the big picture. As you break down projects into manageable parts, try to foresee what could go wrong at each step. If something arises that was not accounted for, respond accordingly, taking into account the present situation and compensating/eliminating the emotional reaction. By seeing things as they are and not just how they appear, you'll separate yourself from those who panic.

4. Serve others

If you're a manager, you should serve employees who report to you by providing them with the resources they need to succeed. This can range from good communication and trust (the antithesis of micromanagement) to actual tools they use in their work. In doing so, you enable each one of them to successful, which in turn leads to your success.

The same concept applies to working with clients; you should serve them in their expectations, and be honest at each stage of their prospective campaigns. When you support others to whom you are dependent, you also empower them and support yourself in the process.

5. Create opportunities for yourself

Every industry has questions that need answering, so you find ways to answer them -- even if it means creating the project for yourself. This will show others where opportunities lie, and it will create a lasting competitive edge for yourself and the company. Contrary to popular, we are all responsible for what we do and don't do, the latter becoming a regret. You can create opportunities, even where none appear to exist.  

5 ways to boost innovation at work

 By: shivraman radhakrishnan

"Innovation distinguishes between a follower and a leader," Steve Jobs, the late co-founder of Apple had been known to say. In tough economic times, companies and teams need to innovate to survive. However, driving team members to innovate is not always an easy task for the modern-day manager. Shreya Roy speaks to a few managers on ways to get the best out of people.

 Be in tune with the market

 

The market is changing at a breakneck speed. Managers need to encourage their team members to be in touch with what is going on, not just within the organisation, but also outside. "In our team, everyone is expected to know what competition is doing to the industry," says Anil Warrier, director-talent acquisition, SAP.

 

Create thinking spaces

 

While some do well walking in a park, or sitting at their desk, it helps to have a room, or an area specifically designed and equipped with tools or technology that can help innovative thinking. Mindtree, for instance, has a dome, built specially for its product development team, with touch interface systems and a detached environment, to help spur innovative thinking.

 

Incentivise innovation

 

Incentivising innovation and giving people a designated outlet for expression help spur innovation. Pooja Gupta, VP for human resource, Myntra, says, "We have a programme called big ideas, where we encourage anyone to walk up and present an idea that helps solve a business problem." The best ideas are taken up by the company and employees are given rewards such as iPads, etc.

 

Include in key deliverables

 

Letyour leaders know that innovative thinking is not an added bonus, but an integral part of the requirement. Ravi Shankar, chief people officer, Mindtree, says, "We make driving innovation within teams a key deliverable of our leaders, and it is part of their KRA."

 

Give staff the freedom to err

 

People are not likely to innovate if they live in fear of severe consequences for going wrong. Allow people the freedom to make mistakes, learn from them, and build ownership, HR managers say.

5 Things You Didn't Know Your Android Smartphone Could Do

By Cory Gunther from Gotta Be Mobile

While smartphones still can't make my morning coffee or do any of those crazy things we see in futuristic movies, technology just keeps getting better, and we have more and more features than ever before.

When you think about a smartphone the general features or tricks come to mind. Playing games, browsing the web, taking photos, or even advanced things like learning the name of a song with Shazam or SoundHound. Those features are nice, but below we've decided to share five or so slightly more advanced things you probably didn't know an Android phone could do.

Nearly everyone these days has a smartphone of some sort. They have awesome features like doubling as a flashlight, to being your own personal WiFi network. Then there's things to make life easier and more convenient by opening your car doors, to even measuring the speed of moving objects. We cover those and more in the list below.

Become a Mobile Hotspot for WiFi

One feature that millions of users still don't know about is making a WiFi hotspot, or sharing the connection from your phone to nearby devices. Essentially you can use that fast AT&T or Verizon 4G LTE network to act as the internet connection on your Laptop, home PC, or even an iPad while out and about.

Read: How to Use the Galaxy Note 3 as a Personal Hotspot

If you head to settings > tethering & hotspot > and enable the hotspot feature your phone will share its connection with nearby devices. As a reminder, many carriers charge extra for this, so double check before you start streaming movies to your laptop.

Start Your Car

Home automation is pretty popular these days, but technology isn't stopping there are is also attacking the automotive world head on. These days we can actually use our Android or iPhone devices to actually start our car. That isn't all either. You can lock or unlock the doors from hundreds of miles and miles away, and even open the trunk or check vehicle status information. "Start, Control, or locate your car from virtually anywhere with your smartphone"

Viper SmartStart comes to mind, but other car and alarm groups are also diving in head first with this type of technology. The Android app needs a bit of work, but still works great for those using a newer Viper Alarm system.

For more details or to check it out yourself head to the Google Play Store.

Measure Speed & Distance

Have you ever wanted to measure the distance of a hole while golfing, or for other activities? Smart Tools is a group of Android apps that can measure the distance between two objects, and they even have an app to measure the speed of moving objects. Smart Distance will measure the distance, then once you know how far the Speed Gun app will give you the speed of any moving object.

 

Tape Measure or Bubble Level

If you've ever needed to measure something while on the go and only had a smartphone, or want to quickly level a frame while hanging a picture, we have that covered too. Smart Tools entire pack has a measure tool, or you can get the free measure tool app as well.

Bubble level apps are a dime a dozen, but getting one with multiple angles, locks, and alerts once you're level isn't as easy as you'd think. One simply titled Bubble Level is a good choice, as is iHandy Level Free. These are a few more simple apps that work as useful tools for a variety of uses.

Google Goggles

Instead of heading to Google search and typing in what you're looking for, imagine being able to search the entire web with an image. This isn't anything new, but Google Goggles is an app that will scan an object using a phones camera, then search Google for more details. I've tried searching wine bottles, landmarks, to even scanning and finding more details about a painting from an Art gallery.

This also doubles as a barcode and QR code scanner, and Goggles will even translate text from one language to another, which is extremely helpful if you're traveling abroad. Books, paintings, CDs, business cards and more can all be scanned and recognized. It's quite powerful and useful all at the same time. Get it from the Google Play Store.

Others

There's also tons and tons of health and fitness related advanced features our smartphones have. For one, you can use the camera or flash for a heart rate monitor. A feature that recently made the highlight list of the new Samsung Galaxy S5.

I personally use my phone to check and board flights with Google Now. Users can set their home DVR, control their BitTorrent downloads, ordering pizza, or even paying for my food and gas using Google Wallet or ISIS Mobile payments.

We'd love to hear what kind of advanced features or neat little tricks you do with your phone in regards to real-world tasks, so drop us a comment below.

A software to track how far emails have 'travelled' PTI | Feb 18, 2014, 07.02PM IST

A new system that uses Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to calculate the number of miles an email has 'travelled' before reaching an inbox has been developed. 

The system known as Email Miles, uses GPS and internet tracking to determine where a message was sent and where it was received. 

It then calculates the total distance between the two and displays it on the screen alongside a map. 

Inventor Jonah Brucker-Cohen, a design lecturer, said he hoped that it would remind people how quickly they can communicate in a digital world, The Times reported. 

The system also shows how indirect the route of many emails can be. 

An email sent from New York to Dakar, in Senegal demonstrates how the system works. It first travelled 790 miles (1,271 km) to a server in Chicago, Illinois, and then went 2,163 miles (3,481 km) to Mountain View, California; 1,699 miles (2,734 km) to Dallas, Texas; 4,745 miles (7,636 km) to London; and finally 2,718 miles (4,374 km) to its destination -- some 12,115 miles (19,497 km) in all. 

Brucker-Cohen said the system does all of its time and distance calculations using the internet and a coordinate mapping system. 

"When all of the mileage amounts are tallied, it adds them all and provides the user with a map, the countries, continents and miles the email travelled," Brucker-Cohen said.

How to be an effective project manager

By Srilagna Saha, TimesJobs.com Bureau

A number of young employees can graduate to the level of a project manager, but are all of them effective in their way of working? 

Eight out of ten project managers seem to not have the adequate skills to oversee a project or to take up challenging responsibilities. So, what makes a project manager effective? Is it his/her ability to manage people only or is it the combination of being a good task master and yet a patient mentor or is it the ability to look after scaling business? 

Can we actually say that 'A' is a better project manager than 'B'? 

According to experts, a project management team has certain people with the innate ability to do things better than others. Some people are able to apply their skills in whichever combination necessary - the combination doesn't matter, what matters is to move the project forward; while others simply cannot do this even if they have similar or superior set of skills. 

A lot of organisations pay attention towards project management certifications while recruiting. But can a certification really make a project manager effective? Not always. Sonia Agarwal, head PMO, STMicroelectronics, stated, "Certification is not everything. In my own experience I have seen many certified project managers, who are good for nothing and I have seen many who do not have required certifications, but know what they are responsible for and are efficient time managers." 

Certification or no certification, one needs to have the ability to sail through any given situation and have the courage to take charge or control of things. It's not just about finding the usual solutions, but to explore new possibilities or do things that no one has done before. One needs to challenge himself on a regular basis. "Certification is a way to show others what you are actually capable of - but this is not the only criteria to showcase how effective a project manager you can be," adds Agarwal. 

To be an effective project manager one needs to: 

· Be an effective time manager · Be organised · Have the ability to drive a team · Have the ability to push team members and encourage to explore new ideas · Prioritise · Be great at communicating with team members · Have multi-tasking ability · Be self-motivated