coding-style

After using a lot of Arel that Rails provides for sugar code, I am having problems when dealing with large and complex SQLs queries that I couldn't do it very well with Arel methods. I like Arel for little things, but when it get messy I prefer separate the code. So, is there any advice on how should I be treating my large SQLs inside models? Like, when should I create SQL Views for that (as I seen Rails do not provide very well, I have to create a migration for that) or create any separate classes in some folder "sqls" and then call from there. I know that some people use the <<-SQL

From this web page : http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/abs-guide.html It's mentioned the usage of the if bracket then convention which need a space after the semicolon : ; Command separator [semicolon]. Permits putting two or more commands on the same line. echo hello; echo there if [ -x "$filename" ]; then # Note the space after the semicolon. #+ ^^ echo "File $filename exists."; cp $filename $filename.bak else # ^^ echo "File $filename not found."; touch $filename fi; echo "File test complete." Note that the ";" sometimes needs to be escaped. Does anyone know where is this coming from and if this

Detailed ChangeLog entry usually tell who, when and what function changed and for why this change done. And this for every separate function in the source code tree! As I understand ChangeLog come from past when there were no good VCS. So traditional ChangeLog doesn't need at all as you can get it all from: $ svn log . $ hg log . $ git log . $ bzr log . Only one possible needs for ChangeLog for short summary between product versions and intended for user only (for example, when new version come, developer prepare ChangeLog describe notable/visible changes). Or I am wrong? From http:/

I understand that there are very few differences between structs and classes in c++ (two?). Be that as it may, I've been instructed to use structs to define simple little things like nodes that might not need member functions (despite the fact that I could technically include include member functions). For instance I might define a node as a private member of a linked list class as follows: class LinkedList { struct Node { MyObject *data; Node *next; }; Node *list; }; In this case, however, is it possible to create a new instance of this struct on the heap, or would I need to define a

I'm trying to change a TextView style based on its state. My styles.xml contains: <style name="text_normal_ops"> <item name="android:gravity">left</item> <item name="android:textColor">@color/text_usual_color</item> <item name="android:textStyle">bold</item> </style> <style name="text_normal_ops_pressed"> <item name="android:gravity">left</item> <item name="android:textColor">@color/text_pressed</item> <item name="android:textStyle">bold</item> </style> My selector ( text_ops.xml )is defined as: <selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"> <item android:state_pressed=

Where I work, people mostly think that objects are best initialised using C++-style construction (with parentheses), whereas primitive types should be initialised with the = operator: std::string strFoo( "Foo" ); int nBar = 5; Nobody seems to be able to explain why they prefer things this way, though. I can see that std::string = "Foo"; would be inefficient because it would involve an extra copy, but what's wrong with just banishing the = operator altogether and using parentheses everywhere? Is it a common convention? What's the thinking behind it? Unless you've proven that it matters with