Web applications often store dynamic data in folders together with the application. From WordPress to Magento, many open source apps default to intermingling the data with the application folder structure. Although this provides a simpler deployment and ease of installation for newcomers, it also provides a significant security loophole for exploit by hackers.
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One of the factors that has led to PayPal’s growth and ubiquity is their well-built API for payment processor integration. The API enables online stores to directly process credit card transactions on their websites, using PayPal as the back-end gateway for the transactions. Throughout the process, the users themselves are kept isolated from the fact that PayPal is used as the payment gateway through an intelligent and transparent API.
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YouTube offers a wealth of features for video publishing and manipulation. What makes the YouTube platform extremely powerful, however, is the ability for users to easily integrate video into any of their own, external, webpages. Through video integration, YouTube has transformed itself from simply a catalog of videos, into the largest video host on the Internet.
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In graphics applications, it is occasionally necessary to perform the same operation on a large number of files. Instead of performing the operations manually in Photoshop, the computer can often be used to automatically do the work through batch scripting. By leveraging a command-line program called ImageMagick, most batch photo operations can be scripted for automated processing.
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As the workhorse of data analytics and reporting, the SQL language enables both users and developers slice-and-dice a database for desired information. With a natural-language-based syntax, SQL is relatively easy for business analysts to learn for basic database analysis. As analysts become more comfortable with the language, however, they may require more advanced techniques, such as aggregates on subsets of data within a query. In these situations, correlated subqueries can bring new capability and virtually unlimited depth to a SQL statement.
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Augmented reality offers many exciting applications and the potential to change the way we interact with machines. Throughout industries as diverse as gaming, healthcare, education, search, and advertising, augmented reality is poised to create breakthroughs in human-computer interaction (HCI) over the next five to ten years.
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Based on the jQuery framework, jVectorMap provides a convenient top-level map plugin for websites. Although the plugin doesn’t have the full flexibility of Google Maps, it does provide a way to link countries or states to user interface actions. With a wide suite of available maps, the ready-built package can suffice for most purposes. On more advanced websites, however, it is sometimes necessary to create custom maps for additional geographic regions.
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Screen capture in DirectX is an inconspicuous element of the rendering pipeline that can provide many auxiliary benefits to 3D applications. Through creative use of the screen capture functionality, the operation can be extended to not just video creation, but also multi-stage graphics and post-processing. At its core is the code that enables capture of the current frame in the rendering process.
When programming screenshots, the most important element is placing the code at the correct point in the render loop. A poorly integrated screenshot function can cause instability and system crashes in the 3D application due to race conditions or memory overwrite.
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Memory leaks in .NET can be a challenging problem to both identify and solve. While C and C++ programs make memory management a constant concern during development, C# touts its garbage collector as the end to memory management and an easier way to program. Unfortunately, there are times when the C# garbage collector does not work as expected, resulting in applications that randomly crash after extended use.
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The C# preprocessor, although much less powerful than the C or C++ preprocessors, still provides the ability to enable or disable lines of code based on project-level flags. In addition, when combined with external PowerShell scripts, the C# preprocessor can be used to automatically spin custom C# solutions with subsets of the target code. This can be particularly useful when providing two versions of the source code, for instance a 32-bit and 64-bit version, or when creating custom source code adaptations for different applications.
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