Archive for August, 2009

Computer Software Engineer – a Top Career

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Anyone looking at a career in this field must have strong investigative and analytical talent. They must also be able to work well as a team member, with other staff, and relate to clientele. They often deal with several tasks at the same time (multi-tasking), they must also be able to focus on detail. A video game programmer is a computer programmer who primarily builds video games or associated software (such as flight simulators for the government). Video programming has a lot of the same functions that a regular computer programmer uses but the graphic interface is the biggest difference. The design of the programs that create these video games can be a rewarding and money-making endeavor. Why is that? Well, the video game market has been a real growth industry for most of the last decade. If you know nothing to very little about programming or game programming, just go to this web site: GameDev dot net. You will find a great beginning reference for anyone that wants to get into the business of programming games. It answers many fundamental questions about how to start and where to get more information about game programming.

The question of whether video games improve brain function has never been clinically tested with any degree of scientific certainty. However the empirical evidence leads one to answer yes and from my personal experience I agree that video games do improve brain function. My children grew up playing video games from the time they were three years old. When the first video games started production around 1978 I introduced them to my three kids and we played games and learned to write programs. When the observation that children are better at technological things than adults is made I related this to the familiarity with using a computer for gaming. I also observed that use made the hand to eye coordination of my children superior to that of their peers.

The military uses video flight simulators for training and they have greatly improved real flight performance from a tactical perspective. The military does this for a very good reason, because it is extremely cost affective. The military use of video games is also being used to teach situational tactics of combat. Video games like the Nintendo Wii give realism to the game that has to be experienced to be appreciated. The graphics associated with one of the standards Wii games although not photographically perfect is extremely well done and actually replicates the background terrain of real places.

Most professional video game programmers started programming when they were very young. Many of them had computers at home and they spent a lot of time behind a monitor “hacking” programs. You will also find most potential programmers more interested in reading a research paper than a comic book. Some of them take computer-related courses in High School but end up with a post graduate degree in a Computer Software Engineer related field. The middle fifty percent of computer software engineers earned between $67,000 and $105,000 in 2006. Those in the lowest ten percent of the group earned less than $53,000 per year, whereas the highest paid ten percent made more than $126,000 per year. The number of computer software engineer jobs is anticipated to increase much faster than the average, as companies look for additional ways to get in front of the competition and make operations the most proficient. Another factor driving the interest in this group is the problems with cyber security. However, job growth in this field may not be as rapid as it has been the last two decades as some of work is outsourced to foreign countries.

The Best Open Source Gadgets

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Open source gadgets mean any software whose source code is made available for use or modification for users or developers.

The advantages of the open source gadgets are evident: since everyone can modify the source they are improved continually by software communities and the vast majority of open source programs are free.
Being free is a huge advantage sometimes you, the computer owner want to do simple, one job, like editing a document or a picture, and you don’t want to spend a small fortune doing it, so the free open source programs are your best friends.

The most of the open source gadgets were initially created for Linux owners, but in the last period of time more and more open source gadgets were developed for Windows. And in this article I’m going to tell you about the best gadgets for Windows users.
The free and open-source software that you should use are: web browsing – Mozilla Firefox, video player and video podcasting: Miro, instant messaging: Pidgin, e-mail – Mozilla Thunderbird, RSS: RSSOwl, peer-to-peer filesharing: Cabos, video player – Media Player Classic, DVD ripping and video conversion – Media Coder, word processing suites – OpenOffice.org, podcasting: Juice, sound recording: Audacity, photo editing Paint.NET, FTP – Filezilla.
I’m currently using: OpenOffice.org to write and manage documents, Filezilla for FTP connections, Paint.NET to work with graphics and Thunderbird to read and write emails.

Don’t aspect the open source gadgets to have as many features as the paid ones, after all you get them for free.
Well known are the open source Google Desktop Gadgets like: Google-battery (Never lose track of your power. Always tell you how much battery power is left) Google-calculator (Calculator gadget for Google Desktop), Google-cricket-news (Displays cricket news headlines and images), Google-cricket-videos (the same like the previous only it displays videos on your desktop), Google-desktop-sdk (Complete examples of using the Google Desktop Gadget APIs) Google-digital-clock (is one of my favorite desktop gadgets, it is obviously what it does: it shows time, but in a beautiful manner ),Google-flower-pot (It is a Virtual Flower Pot which will grow to full bloom right before your eyes if you give the flowers some water using your mouse like the old Tamagoci games), Google-moon-phase (Displays the moon’s current phase) and Google-timezone (Find what the time is in different locations).
For now the most used software’s are the paid ones, but the free open source ones come fast from behind. Each day communities of developers work on them for us to have a better experience and free programs.

Save Millions in Lost Revenue, You Need Data Quality Software

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Data cleansing or data scrubbing ensures that the stored data is delivered absolutely accurately. While the process of data cleansing is in operation, records are continuously checked to verify its accuracy and consistency. If necessary, the outdated and incorrect information can be deleted as well. This system operates within a single set of record or between multiple data sets requiring merging or which may be working in unison.

Data cleansing ought to be an essential process in any organization that keeps consumer data. It allows the highest data quality by de-duping, and suppressing and also appending key details which are personal too. The accuracy of a consumer data base will erode at a frightening rate. Data cleaning identifies movers, duplicating records and enhances personal details. In its simplest form, the software would be like a singular person or more than one person who reads the set of records to verify their accuracy.

The typing and spelling errors can be rectified while the data which is improperly filed, labeled, incomplete or even missing can be completed through this software package. Data cleansing can also be performed by computer programming. A more complex data cleansing program might also be able to fill in a missing city based on correct zip code or convert prices of items in the data base to Euros instead of US dollars. This software is ideally suited for developing an updated mailing list which can be sent to clients for promoting / selling various products. The process is very important for the efficient management of data dependent business.

In case the clients have not recorded the correct phone numbers or the client’s e-mail addresses have not been formatted accurately, the automated e-mail system is unable to send information on the latest special deals or coupons. The software based data cleansing ensures that all the data recorded within a system is up-to-date and accurate so that product details can be forwarded to the proper destination.

In areas where two data systems are working together, data cleansing is more effective. In case a manufacturing company has multiple branches, but may be dealing with the same customers, the data in each branch has to be complete, accurate and similar. When customers update their phone numbers within one branch, the data at the other branches need to have the same set of information ensuring that all the branches have identical data bank. In such cases the software based data cleansing also guarantee updated, accurate and consistent data between different records.

Often when storing a huge data base, errors are bound to creep into the system. The objective of data cleansing is to minimize or eliminate such errors and to make the data base appear as meaningful and useful as possible. In the business world the pivotal rule is that incorrect data base could be damaging and detrimental to the company’s commercial activities. Hence, data cleansing should be a mandatory operation of any business set-up to maximize profits and ensure their message gets out to the intended recipients.