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I've been using Phing at work (it was set up when I got there), and thinking of using it for some personal projects. One thing I haven't got my head around yet though is what the big appeal is?
What, if any, are the killer features of Phing or Ant? What are the big reasons people choose to use them instead of (for example) just a collection of bash scripts that execute their build actions? I'm sure I'm missing the obvious, hopefully someone can help me. While I understand that some people may prefer not to use phing/ant, I'm hoping to hear from people who do prefer them about why they prefer them. Just so I can make a more informed decision.
Thanks for any direction or links.
The main feature of Ant is to add frustration to your day, when you know you could achieve something in 30 seconds in a Makefile, but end up fighting with Ant for an hour :)
It was a fresh implementation without requiring a functional shell and all the other standard commands that you expect to be available with a shell. I think that's the real killer feature - you can use it on Windows OS.
Ant XML is far more structured and machine-readable - whereas Makefile+shell is essentially Turing complete and extremely generic. Your IDE has a hope of being able to understand Ant XML, the same can't be said in the general case for Makefiles.
Sadly, the reality after all this time seems to be that the IDEs don't make good use of this potential win. Case in point, opening build.xml in Eclipse just shows you XML.
Which I think just leaves the Windows OS rationale. If there was no Windows OS, probably there would be no Ant either.
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I don't even know how to ask this question, therefore I couldn't find anything that might help me.
I want to write some sort of script that downloads softwares, installs softwares(like eclipse), drivers, edit files(like configuration files) and more, so that a when a new developer comes to our company he will launch the script and he is set with all of our configurations.
What is the best way of doing it?
I am familiar with python, working on windows
Thank you very much!
I would say there a several options, but none of them are cheap:
Switch to VMs and setup a default VM for developers with everything they need one time and distribute the snapshot to new employees. If something changes, change the snapshot and distribute it again.
There are some options to do this on real hardware, but I have never done this and according to this https://superuser.com/questions/716494/creating-a-snapshot-of-a-windows-7-system it is not a common way to go
Script everything by hand, make a lot of mistakes and take a lot of time ;) A python script can certainly do a lot of things, also can powershell or batch files. But it is a long way to go and it is very time consuming when a operating system updates or all of the sudden some installers do not support unintended installations anymore. I used to automate some installations in my job when I was a student and it really took some time and effort to maintain this all.
After all, this is more of a superuser.com question than stackoverflow, but maybe I could help anyhow.
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I'm writing a compiler and there are certain things that I simply can't do without knowing where the user will have my compiler and its libraries installed such as including and referencing libraries that add built-in functionality like std I/O. Since this is my first venture into compilers I feel that it's appropriate to only target Linux distributions for the time being.
I notice that a lot of compilers (and software projects in general) include makefiles or perhaps an install.py file that move parts of the application across the user's file system and will ultimately leave the user with something like a new shell command to run the program, which, (in a compiler such as python's case) knows where the necessary libraries are and where the other necessary files have been placed in order to run the program properly.
How does this work? Is there some sort of guideline to follow when designing these install files?
I think the best guideline I can give you at a high level would be:
Don't do this yourself. Just don't.
Use something like the autotools or any of the dozen or so other build systems out there that handle much of the details involved here for you.
That being said they also add a certain amount of complexity when you are just starting out and that may or may not be worth the effort to start with but they will all pay off in the end assuming you use them appropriately and don't need anything too extensively specialized that they don't provide nicely.
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I'm a IT student in the university, been programming in Visual Basic for a great time. Learnt Java here and C# by myself(really analog to Java). I am also a music producer, and I want to start working on a large project, just for myself, for fun and for expanding my knownledge.
I want to make a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) like Cubase, Reaper or Fruity Loops. Starting from small things like a Sound Sequencer. I already have some flow diagrams made.
I want to start coding it as soon as possible, but Java is an interpreted language as SuperCollider and Python, making it slow for processing. Visual Basic is not an option, I loved starting with it, but I don't like it anymore. I don't know if I should use C#, I, as a Linux lover, don't want to marry with Windows just because I need to use Visual Studio. I know there is Mono.
What is a good language for me? Could it be something:
Fast processing, non interpreted if its possible
Able to make my software crossplatform. Without the need of rewriting all the code, maybe just implementing some methonds for different systems.
With good documentation.
I know my question may be a little complicated, even can be seen as inmature. But I need help choosing a new language to learn.
Thanks for taking your time reading this. Every answer is appreciated.
Take a look at Juce, which is written in C++.
I know that one very popular DAW is written with Juce. C++ has the added bonus that it is powerful and portable.
Extempore is fast and very cool. It's a pretty new project, but it's been used for some very cool things.
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I'm currently trying to write up some software specs for a large-ish project that I'd like to bid out on oDesk (maybe 3k-6k). I have a classical education in computer science, but minimal work experience and I've never worked in a corporate environment.
I've written up 15 pages of project specs for an API that I want to run on Google App Engine. I'm finding the subtleties difficult with issues such as: where to draw the line on what to specify and what not to; how to break the project up into pieces so that if one part goes wrong, other parts can still be used; where and how to set milestones; and how to screen for a candidate who has the skills to properly implement the specs.
I asked a friend what issues I should watch out for and he said:
Make sure specs do not have contradictory information
Make sure specs are not unnecessarily specific because this will turn off more skilled developers
What other pitfalls and common mistakes should I look out for while drawing up project specs?
While it is important to focus on the functionality of what you want to achieve, also keep in mind the non-functional requirements as well. Think about how you want it to perform, security considerations, etc.
One to add to the list
Make sure the specs are unambiguous. (Can only be interpreted one way...Hopefully)
I think these two links will help:
On Reqs And Specs: http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/topics/02/0204sj
Painless Functional Specifications - Part 2: What's a Spec?: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000035.html
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I am a CS student and I have a compiler project this year.
I want to know how to manage my project with my three partners.
I know that the compiler has many level and process, and I want to make use of these features to mange my project.
Thanks for any tips/pointers/resources you can provide for me to start.
You haven't really specified what it is that you are compiling, so it's a little difficult to make specific recommendations.
If you're doing something novel, I wrote a blog post a couple of weeks ago that has some specific things to consider:
http://www.plsadventures.com/2009/09/why-programming-language-design-is-hard.html
If it is a pre-existing language you are compiling, then I would work to generate a decent test corpus, and consider using test-driven development to manage your progress.
As you mentioned, there are some obvious components in most compilers that are relatively discrete. I would consider documenting the interfaces that connect these components. For example, if one person is writing the lexer and another is writing the parser, then ensure that you have a list of tokens written down somewhere. The format for your parse and/or abstract syntax trees should be defined and written down so that anybody working on optimisation or code generation is on the same page.
Above all, tests really help this kind of integration. You should be able to build these components separately and put them together, for the most part.
You should use a DCVS like Git or Mercurial, so each of you can develop individually while it's still easy to merge changes.
Next, you should define test cases to know which features you'll need and how you will know that a feature works.
That should help to figure out different areas of the project which don't overlap too much so each member of the team can work without stepping on each others toes.