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SQL Formatter

Our DBA writes some mean SQL code, I can write some SQL that works :).  It’s not my strongest suit but certainly not my weakest so I handle most of my sql statements myself.  However, when I need his help I cringe at sending him my sql code because he freaks when he sees it.  To me SQL is a string variable, I use to not care how pretty the formatting is, what tab setting to use, when to carriage return a FROM and so on.  Well, he cares and makes sure I know about it.  I totally understand why but for me it was too time consuming to make sure I format something that in the end is a string variable…. Until I found SQLinForm.  I am now a religious sql formatter, because not only does SQLinForm does it for me but it also creates c#, vb.net, php, and whole slew of other string variables.  My SQL has never been prettier and I can finally ship sql to my dba.

 

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Written by Tim on July 9th, 2007 with 1 comment.
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18 Must Have Software Tools for the PC

For Christmas this year from work I got a DELL D820, Intel Core 2 T7400 @ 2.16Ghz, 2 Gigs of RAM and 100 Gig Hard Drive. It is sweet. Any how, I had to move computers which can be a pain. Here is the list of must have software tools I have installed. If you develop web applications, this is a must have list.

  1. CrapCleaner - A must have to easily keep your PC running smooothly and not letting crappy temp files cog your memory.

  2. HomeSite - My HTML/PHP editor of choice. I only wish Macromedia/Adobe had never bought them. Macromedia/Adobe have basically stopped development of this once fine product, but I haven’t found anything better.

  3. UltraEdit - My Text editor of choice. This thing can do almost anything and best of all it handles huge (over 100mb) text files without a problem.

  4. Visual Studio 2005 - I do all my .NET work out of here, I also just installed SP 1 and have found it to speed things up.

  5. SQL Server & Management Studio 2005 - It took a little bit to get use to it vs Query Anaylizer/Enterprise Manager but I like it now so much better.

  6. FireFox 2.0 - My default Web Browser for so many reasons (most of them are extensions listed below)

      7. Extensions for FireFox:

    • FasterFox - Speeds up FireFox by changing some default settings

    • FireBug - A must have for debugging web applicatons

    • iFox - My theme

    • ColorZilla - A great tool to get HEX values of colors.

  7. Proccess Tamer - This keeps any wild proccess under control

  8. Gaim - I have an AOL account but this thing is so much nicer and less resource intense

  9. SlickRun - My quick launcher of choice. I blow the font up so this thing is pretty big on my machine

  10. FireWorks - I’ve never found Photoshop to be intuitive, I much prefer FireWorks for web work in terms of how things are cut

  11. Navicat - A mysql admin tool. I have a lot of issues with Navicat (definitely a future post) but it does have its advantages, like its upload ability and user management set up.

  12. SSH Client- A must have for PC users that work on Unix boxes.

  13. Surround SCM - Our version control.

  14. TestTrack Studio - Our defect tracking and test case management tool.

  15. Zune Theme for XP - I have Vista as a dual boot but when I am in XP I prefer for it to look this way.

  16. Google Desktop - I’m finding I use this less and less by keeping my mail cleaner on a daily basis. I use it strictly for search, their sidebar stuff is god awful. This tool might be dropping off the list soon.

  17. FileZilla - Simple and clean FTP client.

  18. VNC - I manage MC OS X machines. OS X makes it easier to manage things thru their GUI sometimes. The same can not be said for any of the Linux builds.

Written by Tim on January 16th, 2007 with 9 comments.
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SlickRun

One tool I am finding out I can’t live without is SlickRun by Bayden System.

It is a great key word program, saving miles on your mouse. You assign keywords to it to open various programs… For example “vs” is mapped to Visual Studio application. I blow my font up to 46 pt and expand it. I get comments all the time at work like “Dude, your clock is way to big.” Once I explain it’s capabilities most are hooked. It’s a snap to set up new keywords with a drag and drop ability. Check it out.

Written by Tim on June 14th, 2006 with no comments.
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195 Free Online Programming Books

Update - Update.. This List has Grown to 345…

Update: - I will be updating this list very shortly, many of the links were taken from http://www.programmingebooks.tk/

How to Be a Programmer
http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.html
How to Design Programs
http://www.htdp.org/2002-09-22/Book/
Practical Theory of Programming
http://www.cs.toronto.edu/%7Ehehner/aPToP/
Software Engineering for Internet Applications
http://philip.greenspun.com/seia/
Structure and interpretation of computer programs
http://mitpress.mit.edu/SICP/
More programming books http://2020ok.com/3839.htm
The Programmers Stone
http://www.reciprocality.org/Reciprocality/r0/
Subversion Version Control: Using the Subversion Version Control System in Development Projects
http://www.phptr.com/promotions/promotion….84&redir=1&rl=1

Ada

Ada 95 Rational
http://www.adaic.org/standards/95rat/RATht…5-contents.html
Ada 95 Reference Manual
http://www.adahome.com/rm95/
Changes to Ada 1987 - 1995
http://www.oopweb.com/Ada/Documents/Change…lumeFrames.html
Ada 95: The Lovelace Tutorial
http://www.adahome.com/Tutorials/Lovelace/master.htm
The Big Online Book of Linux Ada Programming
http://www.pegasoft.ca/resources/boblap/book.html

Algorithms

Algorithms and Complexity
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/%7Ewilf/AlgComp.html
Programming Algorithms http://2020ok.com/3870.htm
Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms
http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itprnn/book.html

Assembly

Assembly Language Tutorial
http://www.oopweb.com/Assembly/Documents/a…lumeFrames.html
Programming From the Ground Up
http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/pgubook/
Assembly Language Programming http://2020ok.com/3954.htm
Ralph Brown's Interrupt List
http://www.oopweb.com/Assembly/Documents/I…lumeFrames.html
The Art of Assembly Language Programming
http://www.oopweb.com/Assembly/Documents/A…lumeFrames.html
The Assembly Language Database
http://www.oopweb.com/Assembly/Download/NortonGuide.zip
Win32 Programming for x86 Assembly Language Programmers
http://www.oopweb.com/Assembly/Documents/W…lumeFrames.html

C

A Tutorial on Pointers and Arrays in C
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/CPoint…lumeFrames.html
C Programming
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/CProgr…lumeFrames.html
Object Orientated Programming in ANSI-C
http://www.planetpdf.com/developer/article…?contentid=6635
The C Book
http://publications.gbdirect.co.uk/c_book/
Writing Bug-Free C Code
http://www.duckware.com/bugfreec/index.html
C - Elements of Style
http://www.computer-books.us/c_3.php
Learning GNU C
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/pro…nu_c/index.html

C++

An Overview Of The C++ Programming Langauge
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Download/crc.zip
C++ Annotations
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/CPPAnn…lumeFrames.html
C++ Annotations
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Download/cplusplus.zip
C++ Coding Standard
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/CodeSt…lumeFrames.html
C & C++ http://2020ok.com/3956.htm
C++ Course
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Download/CPPCourse.zip
C++ How To
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/CPPHOW…lumeFrames.html
C++ In Action
http://www.relisoft.com/book/index.htm
C++: A Dialog
http://www.steveheller.com/cppad/cppad.htm
How To Think Like A Computer Scientist with C++
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/ThinkC…lumeFrames.html
Introduction To OOP Using C++
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/Intro2…lumeFrames.html
Introduction To OOP Using C++
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Download/Intro2OOP.zip
Objects First
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/Object…lumeFrames.html
Optimizing C++
http://www.steveheller.com/opt/
STL Guide
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/STLGui…lumeFrames.html
STL Guide
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Download/stl.zip
The Function Pointer Tutorials
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/Functi…lumeFrames.html
The Standard Template Library Tutorial
http://www.oopweb.com/CPP/Documents/STL/VolumeFrames.html
Thinking in C++
http://www.planetpdf.com/developer/article…?ContentID=6634
Thinking in C++, Second Edition (Volumes 1 & 2)
http://mindview.net/Books/TICPP/ThinkingInCPP2e.html
An Introduction to C++ Programming
http://www.computer-books.us/cpp_1.php
Programming in C++ - Rules and Recommendations
http://www.computer-books.us/cpp_6.php
A Beginners C++ Book
http://www.uow.edu.au/~nabg/ABC/ABC.html

C++ GUI Programming with Qt 3
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1

C#

C# in Detail
http://www.computer-books.us/csharp_0005.php
C# - The Basics
http://www.computer-books.us/csharp_0004.php
C# Language Specification
http://www.computer-books.us/csharp_1.php
Data Structures and Algorithms with Object-Oriented Design Patterns in C#
http://www.computer-books.us/csharp_2.php
C# Programming http://2020ok.com/697342.htm
Dissecting a C# Application - Inside SharpDevelop
http://www.computer-books.us/csharp_3.php
C# tutorial (2 .pdf's)
http://www.ssw.uni-linz.ac.at/Teaching/Lec…Sharp/Tutorial/

CGI

CGI Programming on the World Wide Web
http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/cgi/
CGI Programming http://2020ok.com/4025.htm

COBOL

zingCOBOL - A Beginners Guide to COBOL Programming
http://www.computer-books.us/cobol_0006.php
Teach Yourself COBOL in 21 Days
http://www.computer-books.us/cobol_0005.php
WebSphere Studio COBOL for Windows - Language Reference
http://www.computer-books.us/cobol_1.php
COBOL Programming Course
http://www.computer-books.us/cobol_2.php
COBOL Programming http://2020ok.com/3969.htm
WebSphere Studio COBOL for Windows - Programming Guide
http://www.computer-books.us/cobol_3.php
HP COBOL II/XL Reference Manual
http://www.computer-books.us/cobol_4.php

Databases

MySQL Reference Manual
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/
Database http://2020ok.com/549646.htm
Oracle 10g Database Book and Documentation Library
http://wtcis.wtamu.edu/oracle/

Delphi/Pascal

Delphi 2005 Tutorial for Beginners
http://www.xcalibur.co.uk/training/Delphi2005/index.php
Delphi Training
http://www.xcalibur.co.uk/training/delphi/oldindex.html
Essential Delphi
http://marcocantu.com/edelphi/default.htm
Essential Pascal
http://marcocantu.com/epascal/default.htm
Delphi Language Guide - Delphi For The Microsoft .NET Framework
http://www.computer-books.us/delphi_2.php
Delphi Database Application Developers Guide
http://www.computer-books.us/delphi_1.php

Fortran

Numerical Recipes with Fortran 77
http://www.library.cornell.edu/nr/cbookfpdf.html
Numerical Recipes with Fortran 90
http://www.library.cornell.edu/nr/cbookf90pdf.html
Professional Programmer's Guide to Fortran 77
http://www.computer-books.us/fortran_3.php
User Notes on Fortran Programming (UNFP)
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/languages/fortran/

HTML

HTML 4.01 Specifications
http://www.oopweb.com/HTML/Documents/HTML4/VolumeFrames.html
Web Development http://2020ok.com/3510.htm
Writing HTML
http://www.oopweb.com/HTML/Documents/Writi…lumeFrames.html

Java

How to Think Like a Computer Scientist with Java
http://www.oopweb.com/Java/Documents/Think…lumeFrames.html
Introduction to Programming Using Java
http://www.oopweb.com/Java/Documents/Intro…lumeFrames.html
Introduction To Programming Using Java
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/pro…ming/index.html
Java Programming Tutorial: Introduction to Computer Science
http://www.oopweb.com/Java/Documents/JavaN…lumeFrames.html
Thinking in Java, 3rd Edition
http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIJ/
Thinking in Enterprise Java
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/eckel/
More Java Books http://kickjava.com/freeBooks.html
Java AWT Reference
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/javawt/book/index.html
Enterprise JavaBeans
http://www.computer-books.us/java_1.php
Essentials of the Java Programming Language - Part 1
http://www.computer-books.us/java_2.php
Essentials of the Java Programming Language - Part 2
http://www.computer-books.us/java_3.php
Exploring Java
http://www.computer-books.us/java_4.php
Introduction to Computer Science using Java
http://www.computer-books.us/java_5.php
Java Development http://2020ok.com/3608.htm
Java Language Reference
http://www.computer-books.us/java_8.php
Java Servlet Programming
http://www.computer-books.us/java_9.php
Java Web Services Tutorial
http://www.computer-books.us/java_10.php
Java Look and Feel Design Guidelines, Second Edition
http://java.sun.com/products/jlf/ed2/book/index.html
The Design Patterns: Java Companion
http://www.patterndepot.com/put/8/JavaPatterns.htm
1000 Java Tips e-Book
http://javaa.com
Apache Jakarta Commons: Reusable Javaâ„¢ Components
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Java™ Application Development on Linux®
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Practical Artificial Intelligence Programming in Java
http://www.markwatson.com/opencontent/javaai_lic.htm

Javascript

Voodoo's Introduction to Javascript
http://www.oopweb.com/JavaScript/Documents…lumeFrames.html
Javascript Programming http://2020ok.com/3617.htm

Linux

Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition
http://lwn.net/Kernel/LDD3/
The Linux Development Platform
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Understanding the Linux Virtual Memory Manager
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Self-Service Linux®: Mastering the Art of Problem Determination
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Linux® Quick Fix Notebook
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Managing Linux Systems with Webmin: System Administration and Module Development
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
An Introduction to GCC
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/an_…_gcc/index.html
Linux http://2020ok.com/3756.htm
Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)

http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/pro…tion/index.html
Bash Reference Guide
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/bas…uide/index.html
Bash Guide for Beginners
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/bas…ners/index.html
Advanced Bash Scripting Guide
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/adv…uide/index.html
Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/Lin…uide/index.html
Red Hat Linux Developer Tools Guide
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/red…uide/index.html
Linux Debugging with gdb Guide
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/red…_gdb/index.html
Using cpp, the C Preprocessor Guide
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/pro…ssor/index.html

Lisp

Loving Lisp - the Savy Programmer's Secret Weapon
http://www.markwatson.com/opencontent/lisp_lic.htm
List Programming http://2020ok.com/3981.htm

Online Computer Degrees
Computer Engineering Technology Degree
Computer and Programming Degree Information

Open Source

Rapid Application Development with Mozilla
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Creating Applications with Mozilla
http://books.mozdev.org/chapters/index.html
Free as in Freedom
http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/index.html
Managing Projects with GNU make, 3rd Edition
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/make3/book/index.csp
OpenSources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/toc.html
Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/osfreesoft/book/
Embedded Software Development with eCos
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Open Source Security Tools: A Practical Guide to Security Applications
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1

Perl

HTMLified Perl 5 Reference Guide
http://www.oopweb.com/Perl/Documents/Perl5…lumeFrames.html
Perl 5 Documentation
http://www.oopweb.com/Perl/Documents/PerlD…lumeFrames.html
Perl for Perl Newbies
http://www.oopweb.com/Perl/Documents/P4PNe…lumeFrames.html
Perl for Win32 FAQ
http://www.oopweb.com/Perl/Documents/PerlW…lumeFrames.html
Picking Up Perl
http://www.oopweb.com/Perl/Documents/Picki…lumeFrames.html
Picking Up Perl
http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/perl/index.html
Perl Programming
http://www.2020ok.com/4045.htm
Practical Perl Programming
http://www.oopweb.com/Perl/Documents/ppp/VolumeFrames.html
Beginning Perl
http://www.perl.org/books/beginning-perl/
Impatient Perl
http://www.perl.org/books/impatient-perl/
Extreme Perl
http://www.extremeperl.org/bk/home
MacPerl: Power & Ease
http://macperl.com/ptf_book/r/MP/i2.html
Embedding Perl in HTML with Mason
http://www.masonbook.com/
Perl for the Web
http://www.globalspin.com/thebook/
Practical mod_perl (1st edition)
http://modperlbook.com/
Web Client Programming with Perl
http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/webclient/
Perl 5 By Example
http://www.computer-books.us/perl_0010.php
An Introduction to Perl
http://www.linuxtopia.org/Perl_Tutorial/index.html

PHP

Practical PHP Programming
http://www.hudzilla.org/phpbook/
A Programmer's Introduction to PHP 4.0 -http://www.apress.com/free/
PHP 5 Power Programming
http://www.computer-books.us/php_2.php
PHP Programming http://2020ok.com/295223.htm
Practical PHP Programming
http://www.computer-books.us/php_3.php

Prolog

Adventure in Prolog
http://www.amzi.com/AdventureInProlog/
Building Expert Systems in Prolog -http://www.amzi.com/ExpertSystemsInProlog/
Prolog programming http://2020ok.com/295223.htm
Prolog Programming A First Course
http://computing.unn.ac.uk/staff/cgpb4/prologbook/

Python

Non-Programmers Tutorial for Python
http://rupert.honors.montana.edu/~jjc/easy…ut/easytut.html
Official Python Documentation
http://www.python.org/doc/current/
Text Processing in Python -http://gnosis.cx/TPiP/
Python Reference Manual
http://docs.python.org/ref/ref.html
Python Imaging Library Handbook -http://www.pythonware.com/library/the-python-imaging-library.htm
How to Think Like a Computer Scientist - Learning with Python
http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython
Dive Into Python -http://diveintopython.org/
Python Programming http://2020ok.com/285856.htm
Thinking in Python
http://mindview.net/Books/TIPython
A Byte of Python
http://www.ibiblio.org/g2swap/byteofpython/read/

Ruby

Programming Ruby - The Pragmatic Programmer's Guide (First Edition)
http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/
Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby
http://poignantguide.net/ruby/ <–the funniest programming book I have ever seen!

Samba

Samba-3 by Example: Practical Exercises to Successful Deployment
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Samba-3 by Example: Practical Exercises to Successful Deployment, 2nd Edition
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
The Official Samba-3 HOWTO and Reference Guide
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1
Implementing CIFS: The Common Internet File System
http://www.phptr.com/promotion/1484?redir=1

SQL

Comparison of Different SQL Implementations
http://www.computer-books.us/sql_0004.php
SQL - A Practical Introduction
http://www.managedtime.com/freesqlbook.php3
Introduction To Structured Query Language
http://www.computer-books.us/sql_2.php
Practical PostgreSQL
http://www.opendocspublishing.com/ppbook/

UNIX

FreeBSD Handbook
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1…book/index.html
Unix http://2020ok.com/3778.htm
The UNIX-HATERS Handbook
http://research.microsoft.com/%7Edaniel/unix-haters.html

Visual Basic and VB.net

Programming VB.NET - A Guide For Experienced Programmers
http://www.apress.com/free/
Upgrading Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 to Microsoft Visual Basic .NET
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbrun/staythepat…s/upgradingvb6/
Visual Basic http://2020ok.com/3996.htm
Introducing Visual Basic 2005 for Developers
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbrun/staythepat…05/default.aspx

XML

OpenOffice.org XML Essentials
http://books.evc-cit.info/

Misc. stuff that is worth reading

FREE Trade Magazine Subscriptions & Technical Document Downloads http://i.nl03.net/ltr0/?_m=01.009i.nv.mfm.nv
The Future does not compute
http://www.praxagora.com/stevet/fdnc/toc.html
The Cathedral and the Bazaar
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/

Written by Tim on April 24th, 2006 with 561 comments.
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Creating An Apple Like Search Box

I’ve gotten an email or two about how I managed to make my search box look like an Apple MAC OS X Finder. You could view source on my site and see or how about I share it with you :)

Basically it is contructed by using the method: Left Round Image -> Input Text Box with special Styles <- Right Round Image

Simple enough?

Below is the CSS you will need:


/* APPLE SEARCH BOX LOOKALIKE STYLES */
.srchimgs {margin-bottom: 1px;}
.sbox {width: 121px;}
#searchform select, #searchform input {font-size: 10px}
#searchform input.sbox {color: #80808C; height: 12px; width: 95px; border: 0; background: white url(http://images.apple.com/downloads/macosx/images/downloadssearchbg20050513.gif) repeat-x left top; padding: 3px;}
#searchform select {width: 122px; margin-top: 5px;}
#searchform .srchimgs {margin-bottom: 1px;}
html>body #searchform .srchimgs {margin-bottom: 0;}

html>body*#searchform input {font-size: 12px}
html>body*#searchform .srchimgs {display: none;}
html>body*#searchform input.sbox {width: 121px;}

Now you must set your DOCUMENT TYPE as follows:

Here is what the HTML for the box itself looks like:

img src=”/images/leftsearch.gif” alt=”" width=”16″ height=”18″ border=”0″ align=”absbottom” class=”srchimgs”>

That’s it. Notice that you will need to edit the background color of the leftsearch.gif and rightsearch.gif images. After that you should have:



Written by Tim on March 6th, 2006 with 4 comments.
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Hard time keeping track of your time…

I am trying to get better at keeping track of my time.  Where I use to work - Bridge WorldWide - I had to bill all of my time to specific job numbers or clients.  It was one of the worst thing about the job (I guess if that is the worst thing about Bridge, it is a great place to work).  A lot of the programmers there kept written time sheets.  That was way beyond techy for me so for a while I used Outlook’s calendar.  Now I use I use a free .NET program named Time Snapper.  It sits in your system tray and takes a snap shot of your desktop every x seconds. Whats even better, it has a browser that lets you ”watch” your week.  Don’t worry about idle time, the program doesn’t take a snap if your system has been idle so many x seconds.  I love it.  I set mine to take a snap every 4 minutes and produce a JPG.  Typically a day’s worth of data is around 10 MB.  Time Snapper has an option to clean up itself after so many days.  Check it out.

Written by Tim on February 1st, 2006 with 2 comments.
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