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Newbie > Newbie: Applying Algorithmic Design

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This blog post will discuss some important considerations when designing your programs. Despite computers getting more powerful, it is up to us programmers to choose the most efficient way to solve the problem in front of us. Efficient programming will minimize the time necessary to achieve the desired tasks and make the best use of resources. To be efficient, we must fully understand the task required and the data structures we will be working with. The amount of memory, storage and type, CPU, and even time are all examples of resources. Some may be more costly based on their sparsity. A data structure is composed of the type of data and its structure or relationship to other data within itself.  Primitives and non-primitives are sub-components of data structures. Examples of primitives are integer, real, character, and boolean. These define the data piece of the data structure. Some examples of non-primitive structures are linear and non-linear. Arrays, lists, stacks, and que...
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System.out.println("Java Installation // Object-Oriented Principles")

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 Java is an object-oriented programming language that takes little time to install and begin simple programming.  It is also complex enough to handle all tasks.  "Object-oriented programming is a methodology or paradigm to design a program using classes and objects"  ( Java OOPs Concepts - Javatpoint , 2011) .  To begin programming with Java, you need two primary components.  Java development kit and an IDE or integrated development environment.  I was able to get started on my W10 PC following the "getting started" link here .  Below are some of the key components and concepts of Java and object-oriented programming.   Once you have Java installed and functioning, you may want to read some sources that provide different takes on the components above.  I have always found it helpful to read multiple references to get a better understanding of concepts and two that I found helpful are listed below. Java Concepts Java OOP Concepts Bel...
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Tech Topic - Manufacturing

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 Technology in Manufacturing The tech topic I am interested in is technology in manufacturing.  The office I work supports a manufacturing plant, and I have witnessed many changes in processes as technology has improved.  Some of these improvements lead to requiring fewer people to complete the same tasks, but more often than not, these improvements have provided opportunities that wouldn't have been available otherwise. Fundamentals Early manufacturing tools could be considered using binary, 1's, and 0's.  Manually switching a lever that releases steam is an example of a switch.  Later on, relays took the place of manually flipping switches and could be used to perform these simple tasks.  Programmable logic controllers, PLCs, replaced relays and allowed building more complex results accepting more input and output.  As technology has become less expensive tablets have become more popular using USB connections for input and output on Windows-based dev...
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Traveling a Network

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Traveling a Network using Ping and Tracert Ping In this post, I will review some things that the tools ping and tracert can assist in network troubleshooting. The outcomes of ping tell you a couple things right away. 1) DNS resolution. Before ping can even determine what, it is connecting to, it needs to know where it is going. When you run “ping google.com,” the very first line returns the IP of google.com based on your DNS server's query. 2) The replies measure the response time to get the reply from sending x bytes to the destination along with the packet size sent and TTL. Packet size can be adjusted for testing networks where jumbo frames are in use. 32 bytes is the default all networks support. The TTL tells you how many routers your packet went thru to get to the final endpoint. if a packet's TTL gets to 0, the router will drop the packet. TTLs function is to help keep the network clean from traffic getting caught in a loop. 3) Statistics. This tells you that based on se...
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Network Security - IT'S IMPORTANT!

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Information – Individuals and Organizations Information is critical, and its importance is relative to the individual or organization. Ex. You may not be concerned with your BMI, but your employer's insurance may be looking for ways to offset their costs by increasing employee's deductible. Since obese individuals tend to have more costly medical needs, individuals may be penalized with a higher deductible. Individuals also need to be concerned with their online presence. Everything we do online is tracked and recorded, so do not put anything online that you want to keep private. Individuals also need to be aware of app requirements. Applications require you to give them permission to access your data, including your contacts, activity level, weight, food intake, location, or access to online social media sites. Users need to be wary of what they give access to as this information is often sold to other 3rd parties. Organizations also need to be careful about protectin...
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Computers in the Workplace

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Computers at Work     In this post I've chosen to discuss the manufacturing industry and computers at work because I have supported computer systems in this field for the last 25 years. During my tenure, I have seen many advancements utilizing computers, increasing output dramatically. As recently as 15 years ago, we would build inventory up in the winter to provide goods to OEMs when their production ramps up in the spring. Keeping inventory is a thing of the past, and now the focus is on quantities of one. One such process involves roll-forming. This is where you take metal coil stock, a big roll of thin metal, and pass it through rollers on a mill, which bends and folds it to make a shape. This shape is then cut to length as it comes off the mill. The sizes are downloaded to a controller where the operator punches in crucial information based on customer, color, and due date. The criteria entered then queries a MySQL database for all the quantities and lengths for the cu...
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Mobile App Review

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Mobile App Review - USA Rest Stops      In this post, I will be reviewing the mobile app "USA Rest Stops" by Innovative Software Technology, LLC.   Per the description of the application, you can "Quickly find all the rest areas in the U.S."   The categories it is grouped within the Google Play store are Travel and Local.   The application has a 3.6-star rating and has been downloaded over 100K times.   Innovative Software Technology is a small mobile app company that has published one application and worked on another. Usability      The application has a straightforward interface, and when opened, it uses your location to identify the closet rest stops.  As you can see from above, there are only four tabs on the bottom, and it is easily identified that they contain.  The home always lists the rest stops sorted by distance from you, the direction and uses icons to provide a listing of services at each rest stop as well as ra...
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