₦airaland Forum

There's none that I know at the moment. However, you can crawl their pages and get some data. Possibly build an API out of it to help people in your predicament.

My mind and my fingers

They make those numbers up to get money from USAID, WHO and UNICEF. Crooks everywhere. It is poverty that makes men throw away their integrity for money.

HungerBAD:
Huh?

Was there a mistake in the article?14,200 in the Country or just one State?

I know there was a rumor one time,that people in Benue welcome visitors with their wives. Dont know if that is true,or if this generous sharing nature contributed to this numbers.

Just when I was getting ready to visit Benue,now this article has changed my mind.

Damn.

You still believe that in the 21st century, you are a perfect Nigerian.

bet9ja:
Algorithm is just a way or set of rules to follow in other to solve a complex problem.

Where did you grab that definition from? Google or Wikipedia?

larisoft:
No. We are here. Algorithm is a wide topic though. The only way to rub minds may be to exchange problems...probably on this board...

Of course it is. It also requires discipline and skill. Which is why I need company. Already started learning some data structures that will help me in the journey.

Anyone in the house currently focusing on Data Structures and Algorithms? Let's rub minds. I've noticed that when you talk about what you've learnt with other like-minded folks, it sticks better. You can PM me if interested. Thanks.

If we are to go by the definition of Implicit Heap-dynamic Variables, which says "Variables for which storage is not allocated until the variable is assigned to". Would we still consider pointers in C to be Implicit Heap-dynamic variables?

I also think that pointers in C don't change storage location, but simply values stored in the location, which seems to violate the second definition point of Implicit Heap-dynamic variables: " the storage associated with the variable can change with every assignment to it".

How is it possible that the above shows an example of Implicit Heap-dynamic variable?

Try this: http://www.practicepython.org/

Javanian:
Implicit Heap Dynamic Variables

In Implicit Heap Dynamic Variables, allocation and deallocation are done only when the variable is assigned a value at runtime. Allocation and deallocation are done at runtime from the Heap.

Strengths

-They are very flexible
-They make optimum use of memory

Weaknesses

-They are very slow
-They are not history sensitive

In Python

#!/usr/bin/python
str = ["Java", "Python", "C++", "Delphi", "Fortran"] #implicit heap dynamic variable 'str' is created at runtime
print str
str = 5 #implicit heap dynamic variable which was previously a list of length 5 is now an integer
print str

http://solomonubani..com.ng/2016/09/storage-bindings-for-variables.html

I'm guessing one weakness here will be a probable loss of error detection capabilities by the compiler or interpreter?

Luizkid:
n who said yahoo boys can never make us proud??

Yes. You have made me proud too.

Javanian:
https://s4.postimg.org/5plj4uc7h/storage_bindings_of_variables.png
http://solomonubani..com.ng/2016/09/storage-bindings-for-variables.html

I've been trying to understand why you did the things you did in this image. Maybe a little more context to the image might help us understand better. Why do some lines run from the beginning of execution to the end while some start from somewhere in the middle? Is that trying to tell us how long the variables are available in the execution context or am I getting it wrong?

Javanian:
Explicit Heap Dynamic Variables


Strengths

They are very memory prudent.

On this, I do understand that the heap does not have size restrictions on variable size, apart from the physical limitations of your computer. Heap memory is also slightly slower to be read from and written to because one has to use pointers to access memory on the heap.

So when you say that Heap Dynamic Variables are memory prudent, what does that really mean? Or better still, how/why are they considered "Memory prudent"?

Finally, someone has decided to come back from recess. Nice articles.

dhtml18:
I have scanned that list carefully, and i notice that php 7 was not included. There is a super-huge difference between php and php 7 (like heaven and earth).

Those benchmarks were run this year. As of November last year, the whole world knows that when we are talking about PHP, we actually mean PHP7. I know the differences, in fact I am an evangelist of PHP7.

But the truth remains that no language has been able to beat Javascript on the web. Which is why in 2013, the guardians of Java included Javascript in their JavaOne conference. Javascript had been ignored for some time, but with the arrival of NodeJs, it's super-speed could finally be harnessed on the server side.

Javascript still beats Java, which is a compiled language, when it comes to speed on the web. Before PHP7, PHP 5.6 was below Python on that list.

dhtml18:
Are you saying that PHP 7 is slower than NODE.JS (@guru abeg come and here o)

Yes of course. The stats are there. PHP is 3rd on the list. And if you have worked with both, you will see it.

Check it out here: http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2016/02/19/language-rankings-1-16/

I agree with the previous posters saying NodeJs is this, PHP is that. The truth is, both of them are tools. Designed with different philosophies in mind. NodeJs, according to nodejs.org is a Javascript Runtime. PHP, according to php.net, is a general purpose scripting language.

When it comes do modern day applications that require the heavy use asynchronous processes, NodeJs performs better, when you want to build microservices, and design your API gateways to handle request switching and forwarding, NodeJs performs better.

When you talk about speed, NodeJs is very much faster, the fastest platform on the web.

PHP, however, handles monolithic applications very elegantly, and with much improvements in the daemon in Version 7, PHP seems to be holding sway on the web too, though still slower than NodeJs and Java.

In the end, it boils down to what you want to achieve. You weigh your options and consider the best tool there is. There are always tradeoffs.

Maybe You've gotten an answer, maybe not. But perhaps this may help someone else

HTML5 has this dandy attribute called data-* to which you can attach anything ex. data-id

You can add this attribute to any html tag and get its value in javascript.

Ex.

 <a href ="#" id="someId" data-id="phpGeneratedId">Link Text</a> 

Then in your Javascript, you can do this (I'm using JQuery here because I'm not good with Javascript)

  $('#someId').on('click', function(){
      var id = $(this).data('id');
      doSomethingWith(id);
  });

Waiting to see how this will play out.

Daniel2032:
there is no elitebook of that specs, why not go for hp probook? it very nice.

How much will I get a probook of those specs?

Need a good hp laptop, 2gb ram at least 2.0 GHz processor, 160gb HDD, Webcam, Wifi and Lan Ports. Elitebook preferably. Anyone available?

For want of a better place to put this, I have decided to put it here. Please Mods, move it to the appropriate place or the FP if need be.

Its not #fun!
Its not #hype!
Its not #rumour!
Its not idle #talk!!!
#Benue is under #Terror #Fire!!
Its beyond #grazing, #herding, #ranching or #agriculture!!!
Its an #invasion!!!
If you doubt it, ask the #Governor of Benue
and the
#CommissionerOfPolice........
.....its a Nigerian War, but right now, it sounds like a #BenueNollywood story!!!
#Nigeria You Better Listen to Benue Cries Now, before the flames reach your comfort zone!!

#NigeriaIsBetterThanThis!!!

From someone who visited the affected areas in Agatu:

"FULANI MASSACRE (Final Report)
I'm posting the final report from a dear friend who has just returned from a fact-finding mission to Benue State, following the recent Fulani massacre. This is not the first time atrocities will be committed by Fulani militants, but hopefully, the last.

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Our convoy doubled to 10 cars plus soldiers, police and bikers. We had two-three minute stops. At one, I ventured ahead of the security perimeter and discovered our first decomposing body. A first even for me. I usually count tombstones.

2. Our convoy ran into the Fulani herdsmen and droves of cattle on multiple occasions. Sometimes we stopped to let them cross not knowing if it was an ambush. They were right outside our windows. No one wanted to engage because the outcome was unpredictable. I have never seen free range killers walking free before.

However our security escort did engage when they saw several armed Fulanis on a bike trying to flee. They abandoned one man who was injured and he was taken into our custody. Our captured killer didn't survive the rough terrain drive.

3. In the only village where we saw human survivors, we were told these people had just been attacked and were alerted we were coming so they bolted and ran into us.

(Fulani militants claim local residents killed 10,000 of their cattle).

It is simply inconceivable and logistically improbable to kill 10,000 cows without a major military operation utilizing rocked propelled grenades, attack helicopters etc. such a mass slaughter would take weeks and the skeletal remains of the cows would completely dot the landscape of Agatu and the stench would permeate the air.

What I saw in Agatu:

1. Dead human bodies still on the ground and in homes - decomposed.

2. Cows roaming through empty villages and in one case walking up to a dead human body. We left before the sacrilege of them desecrating the poor dead boy.

3. Thousands and thousands of cattle grazing on people's farms - well over 10,000 live cattle. Several times we had to stop our cars to let the cattle pass. I have never seen that many cattle in my entire life.

4. Burnt crops farmers had harvested and set aside for replanting. They were in charred heaps on the farms.

5. Fulani herdsmen accompanying the cattle. Some ran when they saw us but some just continued as if we didn't exist.

6. Grains of farmers, peppers etc scattered on the ground in the towns and also along the way between the villages. The likely belonged to people on their way back from farms or markets or people fleeing with some food who were ambushed as they ran.

7. Motor bikes and bicycles destroyed in the villages and on the road side in between. Again it appears people who were fleeing on bikes were ambushed as well.

8. Rows and rows of houses destroyed in at least 8 villages visited. It was complete and utter destruction.

9. Freshly lit fires still burning in a couple of villages indicating the arsonist had just left. We saw jerrycans along the way indicating fuel may have been utilized to fuel the fires.

10. Only in one out of 8 towns did we see any live humans - about 4 men.

What we didn't see in Agatu this week:
1. Not a single dead cow
2. Not a single soldier or policeman in the affected communities.
3. Not a single burnt mosque where everything else was razed.
4. Not a single living Agatu person in 7 out of 8 villages.

Conclusion: even if it were true that cattle were killed by the Agatu (there was no supporting evidence of this) the farms, homes and people of Agatu were massacred as well-evidenced by our team.

1.If the claimed casualties of the Fulani are cows and the claimed casualties of the Agatu are humans, then this could not be rightly called an Ethnic conflict.
Cows are not people or an ethnic group.

2. If the loss claimed by the Fulani is livestock i.e. animals, this would be a criminal case of theft or destruction of property and not the basis for a massacre.

3. The Fulani are not indigenes of Benue and are not an ethnic group in Benue state. Their incursion from outside into Benue is more an invasion than an ethnic clash.

Finally, the statement attributed to the Fulani is an admission of guilt and a defense of provocation. The authorities should act accordingly and take the confessed perpetrators into custody for immediate prosecution.

Finally, I recall the State governor telling us the Fulani attacks are worse than Boko Haram - "BH occupies a town, kills some people and recruits some. The Fulanis destroy everything."

This seems not to be an exaggeration. Last year, the Catholic Church reported 70 churches destroyed. This is happening in my home state - the most Christian State in Northern Nigeria!"
- Victor Oladokun.

FincoApps:
Very reasonable. I hope the FBI wins the case

BY Prof Moses:

"How Not to Defend Buhari, By Moses E. Ochonu;

Do not attribute the president’s failures to a systemic rot. This is a cop out. This is his second stint as the leader of the country. He is a grown man, and an elder statesman to boot. He knew what he was getting into and was intimately familiar with the system he was campaigning to superintend. It is not your job to cover him with the blanket of sympathy or pity when he willfully and loudly proclaimed himself capable of wading through the systemic rot to implement a change agenda.
There is a roving, seemingly ubiquitous army of Nigerians who have appointed themselves defenders of President Buhari. Unfortunately, by employing offensive and ineffective logics and tactics, these fanatical supporters of the president are doing more reputational harm than good to their hero, and turning away compatriots who would otherwise be willing to give the president a fair hearing on the mounting disappointments with his administration.
Yesterday, I saw an update on my Facebook timeline with the following words: “if Jonathan had won, the dollar would be exchanging for N1000.” This was apparently advanced to counter the criticism of the naira’s current free fall under the confused monetary policy of this administration.
Where does one begin on this fanatically blind, impulsive defence of Buhari? First of all, that statement begins from a premise of absence, which is a no-no in logic. Jonathan did not win, so we do not and cannot know what would have happened to the naira had he won. That belongs in the realm of known unknowns, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld.
Historians call this counterfactual logic or argument. And, by the way, since when did Jonathan become the baseline of comparison for the author(s) of this Facebook update?

Second, it is a defence that slyly attempts to divert our attention away from the current Forex reality, which is that under Buhari the naira has lost about 40 percent of its value against the dollar in the parallel market. We can debate the extent to which this is the fault of the fiscal and monetary policies of the president, but that is a separate conversation.
Third, the defence is premised on a negative — that is, the fact that the dollar does NOT (yet) exchange for N1000, instead of on the fact that it DOES exchange for N360, which is about N150 more than it exchanged under Jonathan. In this warped reasoning, we should only start complaining about Buhari’s monetary policies when the dollar begins to exchange for more than N1000!
Finally, when people resort to what could have been: had Jonathan won and start making illogical exculpatory arguments based on speculative counterfactuals and a denial of the present state of things, then you know that they are only interested in one thing: protecting Buhari against criticism.
They are not interested in the important matter of whether things are getting better or worse in the country, whether inflation is rising or falling. More critically, it tells you their location in the spectrum of the Buhari-APC universe. They are clearly located in the fanatical, irrational wing of the Buhari supporters camp.
This kind of “defence” only confirms and validates criticisms of the government’s primitive, unrealistic, and unsustainable monetary policies because it inadvertently accepts that things are really bad, only suggesting that things could have been worse had Jonathan won. It’s not a good defence.

The bag of rationales and excuses that Buharists have been dipping into is emptying rapidly. Alibis that appeared reasonable several months ago now sound silly, contrived, and bogus. Blaming and scapegoating, which seemed plausible and convincing earlier, now look hollow. Citizens who were once receptive to arguments about the many obstacles in Buhari’s way have now been rendered skeptical by the escapist and denialist attitude of some of Buhari’s supporters. These overzealous supporters are now the reason why many are reluctant to extend the benefit of the doubt earlier given to the president.
In the interest of productive public debate and robust engagement with the president and his agenda, here is a list of how not to defend Buhari because they have clearly become counterproductive and do the president more harm than good.
1. Do not instinctively deny the president’s mistakes. He is human, fallible, and thus capable of errors like all of us.

2. Do not assume that good intentions always produce good outcomes. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Intentions are only meaningful for citizens when they are translated into policies and actions that benefit the majority of citizens.

3. Do not defend the president by arguing a negative — that is, that that without Buhari’s ascendancy to the presidency, things would be a lot worse. We don’t know this for sure. Besides, it is a terrible thing that the only positive thing you have to say about your political hero is that he is merely a preserver of the status quo, someone who is merely preventing the country from regressing. He came to power fancifully on the promise of changing the country, not on that of simply keeping things from getting worse. It is an impossible task to argue a negative. Ask Obama, who will never get credit for saving the US economy from total collapse because we don’t know for sure what would have happened had McCain won and we don’t know for sure that the US economy, bad as it was, was heading for total collapse. There is no way to say definitely what would have happened had Obama not won, so he continues to struggle to get the credit for engineering a remarkable recovery.

4. Do not defend the president by repeatedly invoking Jonathan’s record. It is getting tiresome. Besides, it contradicts the foundation of Buhari’s political persona — that he is the ultimate anti-Jonathan. If we take him at his word, it would be insulting to compare him at every turn to Jonathan, and to celebrate him merely because “Jonathan did or would do worse.”

5. Do not question the patriotism of those who criticise Buhari. You are not more patriotic than them. Supporting Buhari is not the same as supporting Nigeria, and vice versa.


6. As a Buhari supporter, do not begin every attempt to complain about Buhari’s administration or to criticise his action or inaction by prefacing such a critique with hackneyed and increasingly boring attacks on Jonathanians or those who voted for Jonathan. That they voted for Jonathan does not take away their stakes in the nation, nor does it abrogate their right to hold the president of their country accountable. It is their duty to criticise their president, whether they are doing so sincerely or mischievously. Even if they opposed Buhari’s candidacy, they may have transitioned to responsible, critical citizens under his presidency. He is, after all, their president too. It is okay that you voted for Buhari and you now have reasons to criticise his actions. That is courage. That is patriotism, which transcends individual leaders. This disposition legitimises you and lends credibility to your criticism. There is nothing to be ashamed of, and so there is no need to bounce your criticism off Jonathan or Jonathanians, or to preface such criticism with a preemptory jab at Jonathanians in order not to be called a “wailer.”


7. Do not defend the president by blaming civil servants or political appointees for missteps by the government. The buck stops at the president’s desk. If a document goes out in the name of his administration or is presented to the national assembly by him, it is his document. He owns it. He should have read it or caused a thorough reading to be done by his aides. If the said document proves to be a harvest of scandalous provisions and allocations, his ineptitude and naivety in that particular circumstance are indefensible and cannot be fobbed off to aides or civil servants.

8. Do not defend the president by always assuming that people are out to get him. It is a paranoid mindset that will produce irrational, unconvincing, and in some cases deceptive defences of the president’s actions. You do not own Buhari. He is public property who must be subjected to the crucible of public evaluation. Even if some people do not wish him well, he is a tough politician and knows the terrain. He can handle himself and does not need fanatically defensive supporters.


9. Do not dismiss the groaning of those who complain that Buhari’s change has not reached them or is too slow to manifest. It is their suffering that is talking, and it is callous and mean-spirited to dismiss their anguish in order to protect Buhari.
10. Do not attribute the president’s failures to a systemic rot. This is a cop out. This is his second stint as the leader of the country. He is a grown man, and an elder statesman to boot. He knew what he was getting into and was intimately familiar with the system he was campaigning to superintend. It is not your job to cover him with the blanket of sympathy or pity when he willfully and loudly proclaimed himself capable of wading through the systemic rot to implement a change agenda.

In conclusion, the best way to defend the president is to begin from a premise that the failures and disappointments for which he is being blamed and criticised are real. The next step is to help the president make amends and correct his course. Being too defensive will only increase the pressure on the president."

PDO is far superior to any wrapper over mysqli you will find over there, besides the fact it's queries are optimised, you also have the advantage od switching databases without worrying about your queries. If I would suggest any other thing, I'll ask you try out Eloquent if you had the time, but then again the learning curve for eloquent is not very steep. In the light of these, I will suggest you read the databases chapter of this book http://it-ebooks.info/book/2241/. It treats PDO in detail. You can take a look at the other chapters if yow want to get a grasp of OOP too.

ArgSwitch

class Main {

  private static int accessCounter;
  
  static {
      accessCounter = 1;
  }
  public static void main(String[] args) {
      
    System.out.println(switchArgs("me", "you"); //me
    System.out.println(switchArgs("me", "you"); //you
    System.out.println(switchArgs("me", "you"); //me
    System.out.println(switchArgs("me", "you"); //you
  }
  
  public static String switchArgs(String first, String second) {
      accessCounter++;
      String [] args = {first, second};
      
      return args[accessCounter % args.length];
      
  }
  
}

Vowel Count

import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.ArrayList;

class Main {
    
  private static List<String> vowels;
  
  static {
      
      vowels = new ArrayList<String>();
  }
  
  public static void main(String[] args) {
      
    int numVowels = vowelCount("sample for the test";
    
    System.out.println("Number of Vowels found: "+numVowels);
    System.out.printf("Vowels found in the string: ";
    for(int i = 0; i < vowels.size(); i++) {
        System.out.printf("%s ", vowels.get(i));
    }
    
    System.out.println();
  }
  
  public static int vowelCount(String string) {
      String regex = "[aeiou]";

      Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(regex);
      int counter = 0;
      
      Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(string);

      while(matcher.find()) {
          counter++;
          saveLetter(matcher.group());
      }
      
     return counter;
  }
  
  public static void saveLetter(String group)
  {
      vowels.add(group);
  }
  
}

Haishophem:
Grow up kid...some discussions are not meant for kids...this kind of mentality have been one of the reasons why we're where we are today.

I gave my honest analysis old man. If you are so wise and full of years, you would quit calling me kid and share yours

SMH

Fashola goes to a "Pensions Conference" and gives a speech that by my calculations, if it was read word for word, took at least two hours. No keynote speech should last more than twenty minutes. Fidel Castro used to give speeches that lasted for hours on end but then they were substantive and built around an ideological core. You read this speech and you go, okay, so what? It is a term paper, polished but glib with little substance and a distinct lack of analysis and good data. All Fashola is telegraphing is that this government wants its thieving hands in the pension fund. That is the bottom line. Fashola wants to start building websites, "executing" imaginary projects, and buying trinkets and bullet proof toys for the latest character du jour in Aso Rock. And social media "intellectuals" raised with motivational books are applauding him.
Let me be the first to say this: What Fashola and others are planning to do to people's pension fund is criminal. They ought to stop while they are ahead. What is the problem they are trying to solve? What are you investing in and why? I would be surprised if the pension fund is fully funded, I seriously doubt that given our history it is even 70 percent funded. We should be putting money on it, not coming up with pyramid schemes to loot elders' nest eggs. Shame on all of them. You want to give retired policemen's money to Rotimi Amaechi so he can build imaginary electric trains, power them with palm wine and celebrate with $500,000 dinner parties. Where is the outrage? Nonsense.

-Pa Ikhide