software development

callback

piece of executable code that is passed as an argument to other code, which is expected to call back (execute) the argument at some convenient time.

left outer join

A left outer join retains all of the rows of the left table, regardless of whether there is a row that matches on the right table.

full outer join

The FULL OUTER JOIN keyword returns all rows from the left table (table1) and from the right table (table2). The FULL OUTER JOIN keyword combines the result of both LEFT and RIGHT joins.

cookie

A cookie is a small amount of data that is stored either in a text file on the client file system or in-memory in the client browser session. It contains site-specific information that the server sends to the client along with page output. Cookies can be temporary (with specific expiration times and dates) or persistent. You can use cookies to store information about a particular client, session, or application. The cookies are saved on the client device, and when the browser requests a page, the client sends the information in the cookie along with the request information. The server can read the cookie and extract its value. A typical use is to store a token (perhaps encrypted) indicating that the user has already been authenticated in your application.

delegate

A delegate is a type that references a method. Once a delegate is assigned a method, it behaves exactly like that method. The delegate method can be used like any other method, with parameters and a return value,

delegate

A delegate is a type that safely encapsulates a method, similar to a function pointer in C and C++. Unlike C function pointers, delegates are object-oriented, type safe, and secure. The type of a delegate is defined by the name of the delegate. A delegate object is normally constructed by providing the name of the method the delegate will wrap, or with an anonymous Method. Once a delegate is instantiated, a method call made to the delegate will be passed by the delegate to that method. The parameters passed to the delegate by the caller are passed to the method, and the return value, if any, from the method is returned to the caller by the delegate. This is known as invoking the delegate. An instantiated delegate can be invoked as if it were the wrapped method itself. public delegate void Del(string message); public static void DelegateMethod(string message) { System.Console.WriteLine(message); } Del handler = DelegateMethod; // Call the delegate. handler("Hello World");

referential integrity

A feature provided by relational database management systems (RDBMS's) that prevents users or applications from entering inconsistent data. Most RDBMS's have various referential integrity rules that you can apply when you create a relationship between two tables. For example, suppose Table B has a foreign key that points to a field in Table A. Referential integrity would prevent you from adding a record to Table B that cannot be linked to Table A. In addition, the referential integrity rules might also specify that whenever you delete a record from Table A, any records in Table B that are linked to the deleted record will also be deleted. This is called cascading delete. Finally, the referential integrity rules could specify that whenever you modify the value of a linked field in Table A, all records in Table B that are linked to it will also be modified accordingly. This is called cascading update.

secondary key

A given table may have more than just one choice for a primary key. Basically, there may be another column (or combination of columns for a multi-column primary key) that qualify as primary keys. Any combination of column(s) that may qualify to be a primary key are known as candidate keys. This is because they are considered candidates for the primary key. And the options that are not selected to be the primary key are known as secondary keys.

natural key

A natural key is a key composed of columns that actually have a logical relationship to other columns within a table. The reason it's called a natural key is because the columns that belong to the key are just naturally a part of the table and have a relationship with other columns in the table. So, a natural key already exists within a table - and columns do not need to be added just to create an "artificial" key.

polymorphism

A polymorphic type is a type whose operations can also be applied to values of some other type, or types.[2] There are several fundamentally different kinds of polymorphism: If a function denotes different and potentially heterogeneous implementations depending on a limited range of individually specified types and combinations, it is called ad hoc polymorphism. Ad hoc polymorphism is supported in many languages using function overloading. If the code is written without mention of any specific type and thus can be used transparently with any number of new types, it is called parametric polymorphism. In the object-oriented programming community, this is often known as generics or generic programming. In the functional programming community, this is often simply called polymorphism. Subtyping (or inclusion polymorphism) is a concept wherein a name may denote instances of many different classes as long as they are related by some common superclass.[3] In object-oriented programming, this is often referred to simply as polymorphism.

inheritance

A relationship between two classes in which one class ( the subclass) inherits all of the properties and capabilities of another ( the superclass)

right outer join

A right outer join is pretty much the same thing as a left outer join, except that the rows that are retained are from the right table.

static class

A static class is basically the same as a non-static class, but there is one difference: a static class cannot be instantiated. The following list provides the main features of a static class: Contains only static members. Cannot be instantiated. Is sealed. Cannot contain Instance Constructors.

string-named assembly

A strong name consists of the assembly's identity—its simple text name, version number, and culture information (if provided)—plus a public key and a digital signature. It is generated from an assembly file (the file that contains the assembly manifest, which in turn contains the names and hashes of all the files that make up the assembly), using the corresponding private key. Visual Studio can assign strong names to an assembly. Assemblies with the same strong name are expected to be identical. You can ensure that a name is globally unique by signing an assembly with a strong name. In particular, strong names satisfy the following requirements: Strong names guarantee name uniqueness by relying on unique key pairs. No one can generate the same assembly name that you can, because an assembly generated with one private key has a different name than an assembly generated with another private key. Strong names protect the version lineage of an assembly. A strong name can ensure that no one can produce a subsequent version of your assembly. Users can be sure that a version of the assembly they are loading comes from the same publisher that created the version the application was built with. Strong names provide a strong integrity check. Passing the .NET Framework security checks guarantees that the contents of the assembly have not been changed since it was built. Note, however, that strong names in and of themselves do not imply a level of trust like that provided, for example, by a digital signature and supporting certificate. When you reference a strong-named assembly, you expect to get certain benefits, such as versioning and naming protection. If the strong-named assembly then references an assembly with a simple name, which does not have these benefits, you lose the benefits you would derive from using a strong-named assembly and revert to DLL conflicts. Therefore, strong-named assemblies can only reference other strong-named assemblies.

Array vs List

An array does not dynamically resize. A List does. With it, you do not need to manage the size on your own. This type is ideal for linear collections not accessed by keys. List<> have a type while ArrayList don't. List<T> is a generic class. It supports storing values of a specific type without casting to or from object (which would have incurred boxing/unboxing overhead when T is a value type in the ArrayList case). ArrayList simply stores object references. As a generic collection, it implements the generic IEnumerable<T> interface and can be used easily in LINQ (without requiring any Cast or OfType call). ArrayList belongs to the days that C# didn't have generics. It's deprecated in favor of List<T>. You shouldn't use ArrayList in new code that targets .NET >= 2.0 unless you have to interface with an old API that uses it.

assembly

An assembly is a runtime unit consisting of types and other resources. All types in an assembly have the same version number. Often, one assembly has only one namespace and is used by one program. But it can span over several namespaces. Also, one namespace can spread over several assemblies. In large designs, an assembly may consist of multiple files that are held together by a manifest (i.e. a table of contents). In C#, an assembly is the smallest deployment unit used, and is a component in .NET. In Java, it is a JAR file.

encapsulation

An object-oriented technique in which the internal details of an object are "hidden" in order to simplify their use and reuse. Factory methods encapsulate the creation of objects. This can be useful if the creation process is very complex; for example, if it depends on settings in configuration files or on user input.

boxing

Boxing is the process of converting a value type to the type object or to any interface type implemented by this value type. When the CLR boxes a value type, it wraps the value inside a System.Object and stores it on the managed heap.

global assembly cache

Each computer where the common language runtime is installed has a machine-wide code cache called the global assembly cache. The global assembly cache stores assemblies specifically designated to be shared by several applications on the computer. You should share assemblies by installing them into the global assembly cache only when you need to. As a general guideline, keep assembly dependencies private, and locate assemblies in the application directory unless sharing an assembly is explicitly required. In addition, it is not necessary to install assemblies into the global assembly cache to make them accessible to COM interop or unmanaged code.

foreign key

Foreign keys are used to reference unique columns in another table. So, for example, a foreign key can be defined on one table A, and it can reference some unique column(s) in another table B. Why would you want a foreign key? Well, whenever it makes sense to have a relationship between columns in two different tables. it is a legitimate design decision for a foreign key relationship to be optional, and the way to represent that is by making the referencing end of the key optional, i.e. allowing NULLs. a foreign key can actually reference a key that is not the primary key of a table. But, a foreign key must reference a unique key.

char vs varchar

Generally pick CHAR if all rows will have close to the same length. Pick VARCHAR when the length varies significantly. CHAR may also be a bit faster because all the rows are of the same length. Bottom line is CHAR can be faster and more space efficient for data of relatively the same length (within two characters length difference).

interfaces vs abstract classes

If you anticipate creating multiple versions of your component,create an abstract class. Abstract classes provide a simple and easy way to version your components. By updating the base class, all inheriting classes are automatically updated with the change. Interfaces, on the other hand, cannot be changed once created. If a new version of an interface is required, you must create a whole new interface. If the functionality you are creating will be useful across a wide range of disparate objects, use an interface. Abstract classes should be used primarily for objects that are closely related, whereas interfaces are best suited for providing common functionality to unrelated classes. If you are designing small, concise bits of functionality, use interfaces. If you are designing large functional units, use an abstract class. If you want to provide common, implemented functionality among all implementations of your component, use an abstract class. Abstract classes allow you to partially implement your class, whereas interfaces contain no implementation for any members.

superkey

In SQL, the definition of a superkey is a set of columns in a table for which there are no two rows that will share the same combination of values. So, the superkey is unique for each and every row in the table. A superkey can also be just a single column.A minimal superkey is the minimum number of columns that can be used to uniquely identify a single row. In other words, the minimum number of columns, which when combined, will give a unique value for every row in the table.

unique key vs primary key

Primary Key and Unique Key are used for different things - understanding what they are for will help you decide when to use them. The primary key is used to identify a row of data in a table. It is used whenever you need to refer to a particular row, eg. in other tables or by application code etc. In order to identify a row, the values of a PK must be unique. Furthermore, they can't be null, because most dbms treat null as not equal to null (since null typically means "unknown"). A table can have only have one PK. All tables in your databse should have a PK (although this is not enforced by most dbms). PK can span multiple columns. Unique key constraints are used to ensure that data is not duplicated in two rows in the database. One row in the database is allowed to have null for the value of the unique key constraint. Although a table should have a PK, it need not have any additional unique keys. However, tables can have more than one unique key if that meets your needs. Like PKs, unique keys can span multiple columns. It is also worth knowing that, by default, many dbms index and physically order tables on disk using the PK. This means that looking up values by their PK is faster than using other values in a row. Typically, however, you can override this behaviour if required.

class vs struct

One of the basic design decisions every framework designer faces is whether to design a type as a class (a reference type) or as a struct (a value type). Good understanding of the differences in the behavior of reference types and value types is crucial in making this choice. The first difference between reference types and value types we will consider is that reference types are allocated on the heap and garbage-collected, whereas value types are allocated either on the stack or inline in containing types and deallocated when the stack unwinds or when their containing type gets deallocated. Therefore, allocations and deallocations of value types are in general cheaper than allocations and deallocations of reference types. Next, arrays of reference types are allocated out-of-line, meaning the array elements are just references to instances of the reference type residing on the heap. Value type arrays are allocated inline, meaning that the array elements are the actual instances of the value type. Therefore, allocations and deallocations of value type arrays are much cheaper than allocations and deallocations of reference type arrays. In addition, in a majority of cases value type arrays exhibit much better locality of reference. The next difference is related to memory usage. Value types get boxed when cast to a reference type or one of the interfaces they implement. They get unboxed when cast back to the value type. Because boxes are objects that are allocated on the heap and are garbage-collected, too much boxing and unboxing can have a negative impact on the heap, the garbage collector, and ultimately the performance of the application. In contrast, no such boxing occurs as reference types are cast. Next, reference type assignments copy the reference, whereas value type assignments copy the entire value. Therefore, assignments of large reference types are cheaper than assignments of large value types. Finally, reference types are passed by reference, whereas value types are passed by value. Changes to an instance of a reference type affect all references pointing to the instance. Value type instances are copied when they are passed by value. When an instance of a value type is changed, it of course does not affect any of its copies. Because the copies are not created explicitly by the user but are implicitly created when arguments are passed or return values are returned, value types that can be changed can be confusing to many users. Therefore, value types should be immutable. As a rule of thumb, the majority of types in a framework should be classes. There are, however, some situations in which the characteristics of a value type make it more appropriate to use structs. √ CONSIDER defining a struct instead of a class if instances of the type are small and commonly short-lived or are commonly embedded in other objects. X AVOID defining a struct unless the type has all of the following characteristics: It logically represents a single value, similar to primitive types (int, double, etc.). It has an instance size under 16 bytes. It is immutable. It will not have to be boxed frequently. In all other cases, you should define your types as classes.

bitmap index

Oracle has what are called bitmap indexes, which are meant to be used on lowcardinality columns. A low cardinality column just means that the column has relatively few unique values.

partial method

Partial methods allow the definition of a method to be located in one file and the body of the method to be optionally defined in another file. They can only be used in partial classes. Partial methods are especially useful in auto-generated code situations. A code generating tool might now that there are certain extension points that some users are going to be interested in customizing. For example, the objects created in LINQ to SQL have partial methods like OnLoaded, OnCreated, OnPropertyNameChanging, and OnPropertyNameChanged. The auto-generated code calls the OnCreated partial method from its constructor. If you want to run custom code when one of these objects is created you can create a partial class and define the body for the OnCreated partial method.

prevent sql injection

Prepared statements, also known as parameterized statements or parameterized SQL, can be thought of as a template for SQL statements. Prepared statements allow database engines to run SQL statements more efficiently because the same (or similar) SQL is used over and over again - we'll explain more about the details below. The key feature of a prepared statement is the fact that values can be plugged into the query after the query is "prepared", and ready to be executed. the reason that prepared statements help so much in preventing SQL injection is because of the fact that the values that will be inserted into a SQL query are sent to the SQL server after the actual query is sent to the server. In other words, the data input by a potential hacker is sent separately from the prepared query statement. This means that there is absolutely no way that the data input by a hacker can be interpreted as SQL, and there's no way that the hacker could run his own SQL on your application. Any input that comes in is only interpreted as data, and can not be interpreted as part of your own application's SQL code - which is exactly why prepared statements prevent SQL injection attacks.

reflection

Reflection is the ability of a managed code to read its own metadata for the purpose of finding assemblies, modules and type information at runtime. In other words, reflection provides objects that encapsulate assemblies, modules and types. A program reflects on itself by extracting metadata from its assembly and using that metadata either to inform the user or to modify its own behavior. Reflection is similar to C++ RTTI (Runtime Type Information), but much broader in scope and capability. By using Reflection in C#, one is able to find out details of an object, method, and create objects and invoke methods at runtime. The System.Reflection namespace contains classes and interfaces that provide a managed view of loaded types, methods, and fields, with the ability to dynamically create and invoke types. When writing a C# code that uses reflection, the coder can use the typeof operator to get the object's type or use the GetType() method to get the type of the current instance. The main value of Reflection is that it can be used to inspect assemblies, types, and members. It's a very powerful tool for determining the contents of an unknown assembly or object and can be used in a wide variety of cases. Opponents of Reflection will cite that it is slow, which is true when compared to static code execution--however Reflection is used throughout the .NET framework, and provided that it's not abused it can be a very powerful tool in the toolkit. Some useful applications: Determining dependencies of an assembly Location types which conform to an interface, derive from a base / abstract class, and searching for members by attributes (Smelly) testing - If you depend on a class which is untestable (ie it doesn't allow you to easily build a fake) you can use Reflection to inject fake values within the class--it's not pretty, and not recommended, but it can be a handy tool in a bind. Debugging - dumping out a list of the loaded assemblies, their references, current methods, etc...

ViewBag, ViewDate, TempData

SP.NET MVC offers us three options ViewData, VieBag and TempData for passing data from controller to view and in next request. ViewData and ViewBag are almost similar and TempData performs additional responsibility. Similarities between ViewBag & ViewData : Helps to maintain data when you move from controller to view. Used to pass data from controller to corresponding view. Short life means value becomes null when redirection occurs. This is because their goal is to provide a way to communicate between controllers and views. It's a communication mechanism within the server call. Difference between ViewBag & ViewData: ViewData is a dictionary of objects that is derived from ViewDataDictionary class and accessible using strings as keys. ViewBag is a dynamic property that takes advantage of the new dynamic features in C# 4.0. ViewData requires typecasting for complex data type and check for null values to avoid error. ViewBag doesn't require typecasting for complex data type. TempData is also a dictionary derived from TempDataDictionary class and stored in short lives session and it is a string key and object value. The difference is that the life cycle of the object. TempData keep the information for the time of an HTTP Request. This mean only from one page to another. This also work with a 302/303 redirection because it's in the same HTTP Request. Helps to maintain data when you move from one controller to other controller or from one action to other action. In other words when you redirect, "Tempdata" helps to maintain data between those redirects. It internally uses session variables. Temp data use during the current and subsequent request only means it is use when you are sure that next request will be redirecting to next view. It requires typecasting for complex data type and check for null values to avoid error. generally used to store only one time messages like error messages, validation messages.

surrogate key

Surrogate keys are usually just simple sequential numbers - where each number uniquely identifies a row. For example, Sybase and SQL Server both have what's called an identity column specifically meant to hold a unique sequential number for each row.

abstract class

The abstract keyword enables you to create classes and class members that are incomplete and must be implemented in a derived class. An abstract class cannot be instantiated. The purpose of an abstract class is to provide a common definition of a base class that multiple derived classes can share. For example, a class library may define an abstract class that is used as a parameter to many of its functions, and require programmers using that library to provide their own implementation of the class by creating a derived class. Abstract classes may also define abstract methods. Abstract methods have no implementation, so the method definition is followed by a semicolon instead of a normal method block. Derived classes of the abstract class must implement all abstract methods. When an abstract class inherits a virtual method from a base class, the abstract class can override the virtual method with an abstract method. public class D { public virtual void DoWork(int i) { // Original implementation. } } public abstract class E : D { public abstract override void DoWork(int i); } public class F : E { public override void DoWork(int i) { // New implementation. } }

key for table

The one thing that primary, unique, and foreign keys all have in common is the fact that each type of key can consist of more than just one column from a given table. In other words, foreign, primary, and unique keys are not restricted to having just one column from a given table - each type of key can cover multiple columns. So, that is one feature that all the different types of keys share - they can each be comprised of more than just one column, which is something that many people in software are not aware of.

override

The override modifier is required to extend or modify the abstract or virtual implementation of an inherited method, property, indexer, or event.

partial class

The biggest use of partial classes is make life easier on code generators / designers. Partial classes allow the generator to simply emit the code they need to emit and do not have to deal with user edits to the file. Users are likewise free to annotate the class with new members by having a second partial class. This provides a very clean framework for separation of concerns. A better way to look at it is to see how designers functioned before partial classes. The WinForms designer would spit out all of the code inside of a region with strongly worded comments about not modifying the code. It had to insert all sorts of heuristics to find the generated code for later processing. Now it can simply open the designer.cs file and have a high degree of confidence that it contains only code relative to the designer. When working on large projects, spreading a class over separate files enables multiple programmers to work on it at the same time. When working with automatically generated source, code can be added to the class without having to recreate the source file. They can be used to improve the readability of extremely large classes by partitioning related methods into separate files. (Of course, if your project has very large classes with thousands of lines of code you may want to consider refactoring that massive class into several smaller classes.) For shops using source code control with exclusive checkouts dividing a class into separate files can reduce the likelihood of one developer being blocked from working on a class until it is checked in by another developer. And even when using non-exclusive checkouts - which is usually the preferred method - having a class spread across multiple files reduces merges. Partial classes enable the code generator to generate code in one file while the developer who may need to extend the auto-generated logic can do so in a separate file, which eliminates the worry that the code generator might overwrite a developer's customizations.

inner join

The difference between an inner join and an outer join is that an inner join will return only the rows that actually match based on the join predicate.

thread safety

The lock (C#) statements can be used to ensure that a block of code runs to completion without interruption by other threads. This is accomplished by obtaining a mutual-exclusion lock for a given object for the duration of the code block. Using a lock or monitor is useful for preventing the simultaneous execution of thread-sensitive blocks of code, but these constructs do not allow one thread to communicate an event to another. This requires synchronization events, which are objects that have one of two states, signaled and un-signaled, that can be used to activate and suspend threads. Threads can be suspended by being made to wait on a synchronization event that is unsignaled, and can be activated by changing the event state to signaled. If a thread attempts to wait on an event that is already signaled, then the thread continues to execute without delay. A mutex is similar to a monitor; it prevents the simultaneous execution of a block of code by more than one thread at a time. In fact, the name "mutex" is a shortened form of the term "mutually exclusive." Unlike monitors, however, a mutex can be used to synchronize threads across processes. A mutex is represented by the Mutex class.

sealed

The sealed keyword enables you to prevent the inheritance of a class or certain class members that were previously marked virtual. A sealed class cannot be used as a base class. For this reason, it cannot also be an abstract class. Sealed classes prevent derivation. Because they can never be used as a base class, some run-time optimizations can make calling sealed class members slightly faster. A method, indexer, property, or event, on a derived class that is overriding a virtual member of the base class can declare that member as sealed. This negates the virtual aspect of the member for any further derived class. This is accomplished by putting the sealed keyword before the override keyword in the class member declaration. public class D : C { public sealed override void DoWork() { } }

virtual

The virtual keyword is used to modify a method, property, indexer, or event declaration and allow for it to be overridden in a derived class. For example, this method can be overridden by any class that inherits it. When a virtual method is invoked, the run-time type of the object is checked for an overriding member. The overriding member in the most derived class is called, which might be the original member, if no derived class has overridden the member. By default, methods are non-virtual. You cannot override a non-virtual method. You cannot use the virtual modifier with the static, abstract, private, or override modifiers.

sign assembly

To sign an assembly with a strong name, you must have a public/private key pair. This public and private cryptographic key pair is used during compilation to create a strong-named assembly. You can create a key pair using the Strong Name tool (Sn.exe). Key pair files usually have an .snk extension.

union vs union all

UNION removes duplicate records (where all columns in the results are the same), UNION ALL does not. There is a performance hit when using UNION vs UNION ALL, since the database server must do additional work to remove the duplicate rows, but usually you do not want the duplicates (especially when developing reports).

static

Use the static modifier to declare a static member, which belongs to the type itself rather than to a specific object. The static modifier can be used with classes, fields, methods, properties, operators, events, and constructors, but it cannot be used with indexers, destructors, or types other than classes.

cost of having index

Well, for one thing it takes up space - and the larger your table, the larger your index. Another performance hit with indexes is the fact that whenever you add, delete, or update rows in the corresponding table, the same operations will have to be done to your index. Remember that an index needs to contain the same up to the minute data as whatever is in the table column(s) that the index covers.

index

an index is a data structure (most commonly a B- tree) that stores the values for a specific column in a table. An index is created on a column of a table. So, the key points to remember are that an index consists of column values from one table, and that those values are stored in a data structure. database indexes also store pointers to the corresponding rows in the table. A pointer is just a reference to a place in memory where the row data is stored on disk.

clustered index

an index that causes the rows on data pages to be sorted according to the clustering key. A table can only have one of these

access modifier

public : Access is not restricted. protected : Access is limited to the containing class or types derived from the containing class. Internal : Access is limited to the current assembly. protected internal: Access is limited to the current assembly or types derived from the containing class. private : Access is limited to the containing type.

simple key

simple key is just a single attribute (which is just a column) that can uniquely identify a row. So, any single column in a table that can uniquely identify a row is a simple key. The reason it's called a simple key is because of the fact that it is simple in the sense that it's just composed of one column (as opposed to multiple columns) and that's it.

having vs where

the difference between the having and where clause in sql is that the where clause can not be used with aggregates, but the having clause can. One way to think of it is that the having clause is an additional filter to the where clause.the where clause doesn't work with aggregates - like sum, avg, max, etc.. Instead, what we will need to use is the having clause. The having clause was added to sql just so we could compare aggregates to other values - just how the 'where' clause can be used with non-aggregates.

Dependency Injection container

you need to manage a lot of different objects with a lot of dependencies, a Dependency Injection Container can be really helpful. A Dependency Injection Container is an object that knows how to instantiate and configure objects. And to be able to do its job, it needs to knows about the constructor arguments and the relationships between the objects.A Dependency Injection Container manages objects: from their instantiation to their configuration.

how to tune queries

you would want the predicate that eliminates the higher number of rows to be evaluated first by the optimizer. choose the most selective table first. indexes are used to make queries run faster by reducing the time taken to look up data. consider avoiding the inclusion of columns that are frequently updated in your index. create indexes with a high selectivity. A general rule of thumb is that indexes should have a selectivity that's higher than .33. Remember that indexes that are completely unique have a selectivity of 1.0, which is the highest possible selectivity value.