Top 9 Challenges Site for Programmers

1. Top Coder

This is the biggest competitive software development community in the world. It has members from over 200 countries and the number of members spread over 200,000. You can find contests in Java, C# and C++.

2. Codechef

This website originates in India and has over 25,000 members. It gets membership from all over the world though and hosts events, contest and training for them.

3. Apps for Development

This is a website by the World Bank, inviting developers to create innovative tools and apps by making use of the data that it has collected through its Open Data Initiative.

4. Facebook Engineering Puzzles

Facebook's Engineering Puzzles are available on the company's careers page. It can be a good opportunity for you to land a job at the world's biggest social network, which has been known to have one of the best work environments.

5. HTML5Contest

This website hosts monthly contests. It has been created by a gaming company looking to promote HTML5 mobile games using these contests.

6. Al Zimmermann’s Programming Contests

This website hosts two programming contests every year. Interestingly, it doesn't ask you for the code that you have written and you just have to come up with the solution. Hence, a programmer can use any tool that they want to solve the problems

7. Programming Paraxis

This website contains a number of programming problems that can be solved using various programming languages.

8. Project Euler

This is a well known website amongst programmers, which hosts challenges in computer and mathematics.

9. Python challenge

As evident from the name, this website hosts challenges to be solved using the Python programming language.

Original Source: http://efytimes.com/e1/fullnews.asp?edid=132115

Photoshop: Automate Save As JPEG

Since I was doing lots of photo editing these few weeks, I found out that Save As JPEG in Photoshop taking too much time. At first I was trying to use the Photoshop Action to automate the Save As process, but Photoshop Action does not support Save As with the current filename. Instead, it always save on a fixed filename that you use during the Action recording.

After a quick research, I remembered that a third party freeware called AutoHotkey that could help me to automate the Save As process. The problem with the Save As process is you need to select JPEG and there is another dialog box for the JPEG Quality Settings. By using AutoHotkey, I have been able with a single click to do all this selection.

Below is my AutoHotkey Script:

Convert WinForm to WPF Metro Style

With the launch of Windows 8, everybody is moving to Metro Style application development. Even myself I have a couple of application for personal and office use. I want to convert these Windows Form (WinForm) applications to Metro Style.

* Source Code / Visual Studio Project file available at the end of the post.

Before you can continue, you might need the following:

1. Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Desktop
2. Basic C# Programming Skill
3. Active Internet Connection

Android Sample Code: Battery Status

Here I want to share Battery Status Application that output as below:

Before I share my source code for Battery Status Application for Android. Below are the tools that you need to develop an Android Application or Widget:

1. Android Development Environment - eclipse
2. Android SDK
3. Android Virtual Device Manager

*For details on how to do the installation, you may refer to Android Developers page.

For this Battery Status Application, below is the general outline:

• The layout is using ListView as the main and TextView for the individual row.
• Upon starting the application, a thread will be created to pull the battery info in 1-second interval. The battery info is being pulled using the BroadcastReceiver.

Android App Development

Recently I got an Android Phone so I think why not I try to develop Android Apps. Right now I managed to run simple app to display battery level and voltage. I'll be posting more soon on this.

Stay Tuned.

:: aerobrainTech ::