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Groovy Database Can Be a Powerful Tool There are coders all around the world right now working on some of the most challenging coding problems that are out there. They are all likely relying on using Groovy database at least to some extent as this is a major player in the industry. People from all over the world recognize the true power of Groovy database and all that it can provide to them from a coding perspective, but the fact that it is such a powerful tool should not be ignored. If you want to advance very far with Groovy database at all, you will need to make sure you have a firm grasp on what it is and why it is so useful to coders all around the world. How it Compares to Java Most people are familiar with Java and have likely used it in their coding adventures at some point. It is a primary tool that has helped with the coding of numerous projects that you are likely familiar with already. Java is a great place to get started, but it doesn't necessarily compare so well to Groovy when they go head to head. It depends on what you are trying to get done, but the use of Groovy trumps Java for most developers. The reason is that most developers prefer to work with a system that has been specifically created for them. Groovy is that system. Everything that it offers is crafted with the developer in mind, and most agree that it is more user-friendly from a developer's point of view. This means that you don't have to waste your time trying to figure out how to work the very system that you are just trying to make some progress on in the first place. Java users are frequently frustrated by their inability to get as much done as they might like to because they are constantly running into brick walls when it comes to how they develop the systems that they need to develop. Most people significantly prefer it if they are able to cut away everything else and simply get to the root of the problem that they are working on. Then, and only then, can they truly begin to formulate a strategy that will allow them to create something that the world will gravitate towards. I am a big fan of using SQL in java and C# software. I typically dislike the usage of ORM frameworks like Hibernate. I feel that ORMs tend to hide a lot of issues. They also tend to have a higher learning curve. I am not sure that the ROI on deeply learning an ORM is sufficient enough to use. However, there are a lot of pitfalls that come with being so close to the SQL. The largest of which is proper resource handling. If database connections are not closed properly, the application will soon become starved of available connections. This post contains a simple example of using Groovy Categories to help manage the resource management of database connections. There are a lot more robust solutions (ie: GORM), but sometimes you only need a quick implementation. To accomplish our goal, we will be using a static closure defined below. The OpenDatabase class is merely a container for the closure. I think the final implementation of the code reads nicely because of the name. OpenDatabase.groovy import groovy.sql.Sql class OpenDatabase { def static with = { DbConnection conn, Closure closure -> Sql sql try { sql = conn.getConnection() if (closure) { closure(sql) } } finally { sql.close() } } } The DbConnection class is a simple interface for creating the groovy.sql.Sql object. DbConnection.groovy import groovy.sql.Sql; public interface DbConnection { Sql getConnection(); } Below is the sample usage of these two classes. OpenDatabase.with(dbConnector) { sql -> sql.execute("insert into BLAH...") } The database connection will be closed after closure exits. Simple, easy resource handling. The groovy way. The original article can be found at http://www.greenmoonsoftware.com/2014/04/groovy-database-resource-handling/ Applying Mass Data to Problems One of the upsides to Groovy database handling is that you don't always hear about is the fact that you can apply massive amounts of data to the issues that you are attempting to take care of today. The beauty of this is the fact that much of that data will prove very useful to you as you work on trying to figure out exactly what it is that people want from your projects. The more data you have, and the more data that you can apply, the better the outcome will be for yourself and others. Groovy allows you to input all of the data that you require all at once so you aren't constantly left struggling to try to figure out which steps you need to take next and how you will get things done. Simply use Groovy to get the results that you need, and you will be all set. A large amount of data is always preferable to use because it will help you figure out what is truly going on within the scope of what you are working on. Any single piece of data could be an outlier, but when you have a major data dump to go through, you know that you are getting the most relevant information right away. Endless Possibilities Groovy has made it so much easier for developers to work out what they will do to get their code set up just right that it has truly performed an amazing service that we should all be grateful for. This is why we need to note that the possibilities are virtually endless when working with Groovy and the tools that this service has provided. It is a very big deal when you get your code to sync up just perfectly, and that is what you get when you use the Groovy system. There are now so many people working within the system that it has grown much larger than some of its competitors. That is why we anticipate that many interesting developments are going to come out of it. When you have that many people working that hard all within the same system, you are generally going to get some pretty outstanding results to come out of this. You need to account for that fact and understand that there are numerous upsides to using a system that works just like that. A Great Place for Starters Those who are just taking on the coding world for the first time need to look at Groovy as the kind of place where they can start to hone their skills. It is not necessarily the first area that people necessarily think of when they are looking over different coding programs to get started with, but it is where they should begin. The controls are so much more refined for the kind of person who is just getting started, and that means that it is the ideal training ground for someone who is truly eager to learn the system and get to work within it. People who are just starting their coding journey should be excited to have the resources available to them to get started in this way. It can all prove extremely useful in the long run.

Tracking open-source data users is harder than you think, but the Eclipse Foundation is trying to make it happen

While a lot of databases have been created listing information in a table format, the web isn't set up in a tabular style. Neither is plenty of data in a variety of formats that the web uses. However, many databases are still using tables, because many web developers feel that tables handle plenty of data better than any other structure. Others feel that the data tables known as RDB should be converted to RDF, a format used to gather an even wider array of metadata across the worldwide web. The ability to convert to RDF will be extremely beneficial as technology advances to Artificial Intelligence AI and beyond. What is an RDB? RDB stands for a Relational Database. An RDB is a collective set of multiple data sets organized by tables, columns, or records. An RDB establishes a well-defined relationship between database tables. The tables communicate to share information that makes it possible to search for data, organize, and report. RDB is derived from the mathematical function concept of mapping data sets as developed by Edgar R. Codd. RDBs use Structured Query Language, SQL.SQL is a standard user application that provides an easy programming interface for database interaction. RDBs organize data with each table known as a relation which contains columns. Each table row, or record, contains a unique data instance defined for a corresponding column category. The data and record characteristics relate to at least one record to form functional dependencies. RDB performs "select", "project" and "join" database operations, where select is used for data retrieval, identifying data attributes, and combining relations. Those who prefer to use RDBs do so because of the advantages, including easy extensibility or scalability, new technology performance, and data security. What is RDF? RDF is primarily used to provide information or metadata for data available on the Internet. RDF provides the methodology for specifying, structuring, and transferring metadata, and provides the basic XML syntax for software applications to exchange or use that information. The URI/URL provides the location of that data. RDF stands for Resource Description Framework and is a standard for describing web resources and data interchange, developed and standardized by the World Wide Web Consortium, W3C with Xtensible Markup Language (XML) and Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) serving as its distribution standards. Typically, RDF provides basic information and attributes about an Internet-based object, such as the name of the author, Web page keywords, object creation or editing data, or the sitemap. While there are many conventional tools for dealing with data and more specifically for dealing with the relationships between data, RDF is the easiest, most expressive, and most powerful standard to date. The overall informational value is much greater because context or intent can be inferred. RDF presents small chunks of information in a form that infers meaning. This can include rules about how the data should be interpreted. Resource Description Framework, RDF, is the standard for encoding metadata and other structured information on the Semantic Web. Semanticization Data With all the semantic standards and database-centered HTML5 APIs and a W3C standard that calls for implementations, this is an exciting time for data on the web. It's time to embrace RDF with the capacity to start pulling relational data into the semantic web! The Purpose of RDBMS The software used to store, manage, query, and retrieve data stored in a relational database is called a Relational Database Management System, or RDBMS. The RDBMS provides an interface between users and applications with the database. It also provides administrative functions for managing data storage, performance, and access. Semanticization, or giving meaning to, all data can be done in two stages. First, construct a web of meanings, not documents -- as Sir Tim Berners-Lee has always wanted, and as the RDF, Resource Description Framework seeks to do. Second, fit all tabular data into the web whether legitimately or not. This second step is less exciting than the first because plenty of tabular data is not ideally tabular. In these cases, the second step is rather backward-looking. However, it is no less necessary than the first for two reasons: Converting everything RDBMS to RDF is not even close to worth it Much data ought not to be converted to RDF All of this data still needs to talk to the web, which means it needs to be translated into a webby structure, ideally RDF. The easiest way to translate without conversion is, of course, just plain mapping. But mapping two rather different structures to one another is no small undertaking or trivial task. That's why there's a whole W3C Working Group devoted to devising a mapping language and actual mapping of relational data to RDF. Sir Tim offers this insight into the RDF-RDBMS relation, cutting through questions that might otherwise be couched in domain-inappropriate terms (like 'is the RDF model an entity-relationship model'): Relational database systems manage RDF data, but in a specialized way. In a table, there are many records with the same set of properties. An individual cell (which corresponds to an RDF property) is not often thought of on its own. SQL queries can join tables and extract data from tables, and the result is generally a table. So, the practical use for which RDB software is used is typically optimized for doing operations with a small number of tables, some of which may have a large number of elements. Because relational databases are species of the genus described by RDF, the basic mapping model is as follows: a record is an RDF node; the field (column) name is RDF propertyType; and the record field (table cell) is a value. So far, so straightforward. Of course, the implementations usually wander pretty far from the original concept. That's why mapping actual RDBMS to RDF takes a bit of dirty work. RDB2RDF Enter RDB2RDF. The RDB2RDF WG is doing the dirty work. Back in 2005, when the Group was still an Incubator, they published a detailed survey of then-current approaches to mapping relational databases to RDF. This survey served as the starting point for typically extensive discussion and debate, which culminated in two Candidate Recommendations: The RDB to RDF mapping language: R2RML The Relational-to-RDF mapping itself Many techniques and tools have been proposed to enable the publication of relational data on the web in RDF. RDB-to-RDF methods are one of the keys to populating the web of data by unlocking the huge amount of data stored in relational databases. Since producing RDF data with sufficiently rich semantics is often important in order to make the data usable, interoperable and linkable, there are various strategies developed to enrich data semantics. Turning RDB to RDF has proven to be of value when dealing with SQL databases. It offers a straightforward and practical system for relational database conversion into RDF. RDB2RDF and the Future Moving forward beyond RDB-to-RDF methods, it will become necessary to find a compromise between the expressiveness of RDB to RDF mapping languages and the need for updating relational data using protocols of the semantic web. Creating, updating, and deleting RDF data should only be made possible in a secure, reliable, trustworthy, and scalable way.

Child controls on Windows Smartphone 7 are a big deal to a lot of people. The amount of data, information, and even adult materials that a child could have access to if on an unsecured phone is beyond what most parents are willing to risk. The Silverlight application makes it easier to view a complete list of the various child controls that one may decide to add to their Windows phone to keep it safe. After all, you never know when your child may get their hands on your phone and see things that you don't want them to have access to. ListBox Allows Me to Display Child Controls Usually, I am using ListBox control in my Windows Phone 7 Silverlight applications to display a scrollable list of child controls. ListBox offers UI virtualization, which means that UI is loading ListBox items on demand to increase the performance and reduce memory allocation. One of the main keys to that is in using VirtualizingStackPanel as ItemsPanel Template for ListBox control. Lately in one of my Windows Phone 7 projects I had to replace ListBox with ItemsControl, but ItemsControl does not offer UI virtualization for child items by default, so I had to add the same VirtualizingStackPanel to ItemsPanelTemplate element. Also I have modified the Template element to be able to add and access ScrollViewer for ItemsControl. View Everything in One Space VirtualizingStackPanel makes it easier to see everything on one screen so you can rest assured that nothing is slipping through the cracks. You don't want to leave any open security holes on your phone that your child may figure out a way to exploit. Unfortunately, many children are quite good at getting around security features that you have set up for them, and that is why you need to use VirtualizingStackPanel to review everything on your phone and make sure it is locked down. Now, you need to understand that this feature is not only useful for creating child security locks on your phone, but for many other purposes as well. You might want to breeze through and review other settings on your phone to ensure that you have it all set up optimally. After all, you don't want to waste time dealing with a phone that is not set up in the best way possible. What Type of Child Controls Are Available Via ListBox for Windows 7 Phones? Concerned parents everywhere will ask themselves what kind of controls they can expect to have over their Windows 7 phone when setting it up for their children to use. On the one hand, they know that their children will want to use their phones, and they don’t want to deny them the ability to delight in the technology that so many of the rest of us also enjoy every day. On the other hand, they are concerned parents who worry about what kind of things their children could be exposed to. The Windows 7 phone has numerous options that allow a parent to filter out things that they don’t necessarily want their children to see. A few of the popular controls that parents often set up for their children include: A block on inappropriate/adult websites A block on online gaming websites A timer that limits how long the child may use the phone These are all key features of the Windows 7 parental controls that are worth paying attention to. The reason is that children may be exposed to more from the outside world than you ever intended. Not only could they see inappropriate content, but they could get hooked on some of the online games that exist today. Those games are meant to be highly addictive by nature so that people will continue playing. However, this also poses a risk to children who may get exposed to too many stimuli from these games too early in their life. If that happens, then it may not be easy to peel away from those games. You certainly don’t want to take a risk like that with your child, and that is why you need to put a limit on the amount of time that they are able to view your screen on your phone. They need to take some time away from those screens in order to develop as people, and it is a lot better to use a program that will automatically cut them off from the online games that just want them to keep playing. How Do You Get Around Child Locks for Yourself? The other thing to keep in mind when using the software programs that are available to you for creating child locks on your phone is that you will need to circumvent those locks for yourself. You will still want access to the websites that you want to go to when your child doesn’t have your phone. Thus, you should make sure you are well-versed in how the Silverlight application works before you go to install it on your phone. Many people jump the gun too fast and try to get a program like this on their phone because they are so worried about their children being on the Internet and what it could mean for their safety. It is noble that people want to keep their children safe, but it is also responsible to want to make sure your phone is protected from the possibility of not having access to the full Internet that you may require at some point. You can, and should, install a backup password that you can use to get around any and all child locks that you put in place. Doing so will put you in the best position to get around the child lock and temporarily disable it while you use your phone as you normally would. The only thing to keep in mind is that you will need to put the child locks back on your phone once you are done using it and before you give it to your child. Once the locks are disabled, they won’t go back up unless you instruct them to do so via your phone. Many people have used child locks to keep their children from being exposed to material that they don’t want them to see too early in life. You may feel the same way, and it may be time for you to take direct action to ensure that your children are subjected to material that you wholeheartedly disagree with them seeing.