Paul Mrozik

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since Feb 10, 2013
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Recent posts by Paul Mrozik

Ron McLeod wrote:Where are the image files loaded from - local file system, network server?

Do you need to load all the images at start-up, or can you lazily load them as required?



The images are loaded locally.

I probably could load after the user starts a new game. Each image is a letter and I think it would take about a second to each word.

10 years ago
I'm working on a simple game and when the game starts it preloads the following:

1. A serialized object containing a HashMap, about 8MB in size
2. About 260 png files, each one about 10-15k in size

I am running this on a 1.25Ghz G4 PowerBook and OpenJDK7 (interpreted mode) so I realize it's not going to be super fast, but it takes about three minutes before the main box appears.

I read somewhere that what I could do is put those png files into one big png file and then just chew off a part of it when necessary, and I did read that this made a substantial difference. As for the HashMap, it's basically a word dictionary. Once loaded it's quite fast, but it still takes way too long to load.

What can I do to improve performance? I should have a much faster PC (AMD Athlon X2 64 ) up and running within the next two weeks, but I will probably still need to optimize the loading.

Thanks in advance.
10 years ago

Tim Holloway wrote:There is an entire subsystem for Java development for Emacs, including auto-suggestion and debugging. As far as I know, vim never got that ambitious.

It's nowhere near as convenient as a true GUI, but for a while I was using a 200MHz Pentium system to do some of my development work using this framework.



Thank you Tim, JDEE is exactly what I was looking for.

10 years ago
I'm on a PowerBook G4 with Ubuntu, so it's not the fastest computer in the world.

IDEs are too resource heavy. What should I use? vim? emacs? I know there's a war between the two, but I'm just looking for possibilities. If not an IDE, what would you/do you use? What's the fastest way to automate compilations?

Thanks a lot.



10 years ago

Maneesh Godbole wrote:

Paul Mrozik wrote:I have had first hand experience with this company and I strongly advise those of you considering the position to think everything through.

Having been in a dire financial situation at the time I first saw this offer, I went for it. In fact, I dropped everything I'd been doing up to that point in my personal business venture and went for it.

I spent about three weeks or so studying, then taking tests, then taking more tests, and then taking even more tests. After I thought I'd qualified, someone from somewhere requested that I take yet another one, and I admit I just winged it and was quite irritated at that point. Given excellent results on the previous ones, I believe I should have at the very least have been given a chance to prove myself as there's a probationary period anyway. Unfortunately, I strongly feel that I'd done some of their work for free.

They also reel you in by promising a nice sum upon successful completion of the lessons/tests.

It's your choice guys, but do think this through. The company looks and sounds legit and everything is rather well organized, but I have a hunch they're getting some of their work done for free. You should also note that everything is done remotely and the company is based in Australia, so you may want to also consider the legal implications should you not get paid.


Based on your experience, can you tell us if you ever paid any money to this company to get work?



No, never. I wouldn't have even remotely considered it had there been a payment request.
10 years ago

Jayesh A Lalwani wrote:2 course short of a degree? Is that an software engineering/comput3er science related degree? Why don't you just try to finish the degree before you move abroad?



I think it was a bit too long ago and AFAIK I'd have to start all over again here, meaning whatever grades I had don't count. I would be willing to finish it abroad, but there's no way I'm going back to school here. I was raised in the U.S. and then moved back to Poland right after finishing high school. I found it difficult to adjust but bit the bullet so to speak.

Anyway, if a degree is what's needed, I'll just take any job and work on my degree while abroad, hopefully making enough to cover tuition expenses.







10 years ago

Henry Wong wrote:

Paul Mrozik wrote:Thanks for your input.

Ideally I would like to get into software development as a Junior Java Developer and again, ideally, this would be an awesome project. I have already started looking and found some interesting positions, but I feel that my resume may be a bit weak given no commercial experience.

I can perform, I can adopt, and I get things done. I have moved around quite a bit over the course of my life. I know what I'm good at and I also know my weaknesses.

I have exactly 40 days before I leave, and I need to make the most of them.




As a side note, first, we don't know what country you are currently in -- except that you don't want anything from there, and that you will be leaving in about 40 days. Second, we don't know what country you are moving to either. Except that, you will not be able to attend any interviews for about 40 days.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to provide the countries -- as there may be country specific advice that your fellow ranchers may be able to provide.

Henry



I'm currently in Poland, will be moving to Ireland, but if I fail to find anything there, I'll look in the UK as well.
10 years ago
Thanks for your input.

Ideally I would like to get into software development as a Junior Java Developer and again, ideally, this would be an awesome project. I have already started looking and found some interesting positions, but I feel that my resume may be a bit weak given no commercial experience.

I can perform, I can adopt, and I get things done. I have moved around quite a bit over the course of my life. I know what I'm good at and I also know my weaknesses.

I have exactly 40 days before I leave, and I need to make the most of them.






10 years ago
Hi All,

I need to land an IT job, in about 1.5 months as that's when I'm moving countries.

A bit of background: I've been into IT ever since I got my first computer, which was around 13. I still have my Visual C++ 1.5 book, which I'd asked for along with the whole Visual C++ package for my 14th birthday. I've done BASIC, AppleScript, Visual Basic, C, C++, and some shell scripting. I also went to college, but fell two subjects short of getting my degree.

After (not finishing) college, or even at the very end I decided to start teaching English, then I also started translating. I still tinkered around with computing whenever I got a chance, but it's really been a while. Tools have changed, the world has moved forward.

Due to some personal decisions I'd made and the circumstances surrounding them which I have no influence on, I'm working in survival mode now. In fact, it's been that way for the past four years. In January of this year I hit the books again. This past June I had my first interview behind me, and I completed my first working project. I thought I could get a job where I live now, but again due to circumstances I decided that the only way to improve things was to leave the country so I haven't even applied for any more jobs locally.

As I said, I have a month and a half before I leave. I'll take whatever job comes along if necessary, but I would prefer a software developer position. Now, aside from the project I'm working on now (a completely new version of the old project I'd mentioned earlier), what else would you recommend I do to further improve my programming skills, which would prove valuable to potential employers? I know I can get things done and I know that I can do them well, but I don't have the knowledge of an experienced Java Developer. Plus the lack of a degree could be a deal breaker.

Now I need to plot a course for myself and I'd like to find out from developers and employers what I could do today to maximize my chances of landing a job. If not now, maybe in six months, but I just need a strong focus. I though about taking OCJP at the beginning of October, but upon leaving my country I'll be living off of savings so I'd rather not spend that money on an exam if there's no job.

I thought about doing one of two things:

1. Finding an internship (paid or unpaid) here before I leave
2. Helping with open source development

Any other ideas?
























10 years ago
I have had first hand experience with this company and I strongly advise those of you considering the position to think everything through.

Having been in a dire financial situation at the time I first saw this offer, I went for it. In fact, I dropped everything I'd been doing up to that point in my personal business venture and went for it.

I spent about three weeks or so studying, then taking tests, then taking more tests, and then taking even more tests. After I thought I'd qualified, someone from somewhere requested that I take yet another one, and I admit I just winged it and was quite irritated at that point. Given excellent results on the previous ones, I believe I should have at the very least have been given a chance to prove myself as there's a probationary period anyway. Unfortunately, I strongly feel that I'd done some of their work for free.

They also reel you in by promising a nice sum upon successful completion of the lessons/tests.

It's your choice guys, but do think this through. The company looks and sounds legit and everything is rather well organized, but I have a hunch they're getting some of their work done for free. You should also note that everything is done remotely and the company is based in Australia, so you may want to also consider the legal implications should you not get paid.



10 years ago

Now the problem comes in when those log files, if they haven't been read before and are over a certain size (around 20Mb). Smaller files don't seem to have any issues, and I am a little confused as to what is going on, as when I look at the length of either the String or StringBuffer they are around the 13 million character mark. When I do a StringBuffer.toString(), it is as if nothing is passed, and from what information I can find, I am well below any limits of maximum characters for a String, (but maybe I am).



What do you mean it is as if nothing is passed? Perhaps you should try to send the result of the toString() to a file to see what happens. If it comes up empty then you'll know where to look for the problem.

Overall I must admit I am a bit confused about what you're trying to do as you haven't provided any example code and so the whole process is very blurry to me, but let's work through this to figure things out.

Oh, and do you need thread synchronization? If not, I would suggest replacing StringBuffer with StringBuilder.
10 years ago
Please fix your code as it doesn't compile. What error message are you getting?
10 years ago
Hi Ashish,

I have had the same dilemma and I think I might be in the same spot as you. I would like to first finish my Swing-based application before I proceed further, but my goal is to find a job in the industry and it seems that web applications are why Java flourished. I have just started Beginning JSP, JSF and Tomcat: Java Web Development by Giulo Zambon and I think it's a step in the right direction.

10 years ago

Piet Souris wrote:I don't know MigLayout, but GridLayout makes all components equal in size.

I've tried your code, and since your scrollpane is 529 pixels high, the buttonpanel gets a height of 529 too. making the frame getting a height of about 1100 pixels. That's bigger than my screensize.



You're right, that's exactly what happens.


You could do the following:


and



I've tried it, and it works!

Greetz,
Piet



It certainly does, works like a charm with MigLayout as well. Thank you Piet!
10 years ago

Maneesh Godbole wrote:Could be the layout then. Please post your SSCCE (<=link, please read) so we can take a look



Okay, I tried to make it as SSCCE as possible and I'm pasting the code below. The only thing that makes this a bit nonstandard is the MigLayout package, available here. I'm also adding a GridLayout example if you want to compile right away, which I haven't tuned, and although the buttons show up, the rest of the window slides under the taskbar as well.[/url]

First MigLayout:



And GridLayout:



In both cases, the bottom of the window slides under the taskbar.


10 years ago