Workflow Engines: Why use them

Basically, as a programmer when you are presented with a certain tasks, you have about a 100 ways to accomplish them. The path you take to solving the problem depends on so many factors. One i think is quite obvious is your experience with certain tools. In a programmers “toolbox”, one tool that shouldn’t be missing is a Workflow Engine.

What is a Workflow Engine?
Simply put, a workflow engine is an app that helps define a workflow process, the constraining rules guiding the decisions in the process flow and the information to be passed along in the process timeline.
Lets take a Cash withdrawal (from the teller machine) process as a typical example. The process can be defined into the following steps:
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Face Detection and Recognition in C# using EmguCV 3.0 (OpenCV Wrapper) – Part 2

A quick recap

In the first part of this article, we saw how we can initialize our default camera, get image frames from it and carry out face detection.
To complete the scope of this article, we would be taking a step further. We would look at how to store training data in a structured database, train your face recognition engine and use to engine to predict faces detected in images.

Store Training Data (Using SQLite)

The storage of training data would be demonstrated using SQLite due to the fact that it is easy to use. SQLite is a software library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine. It removes the hassle of client-server communication when it comes to using databases.
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Face Detection and Recognition in C# using EmguCV 3.0 (OpenCV Wrapper) – Part 1

Introduction

First off, Face detection and Face recognition are two totally different things although one builds upon the other (recognition builds upon detection). Detection is the process by which the system identifies human faces in digital images, regardless of the source while Recognition is the identifying a known face with a known name in digital images, still regardless of the source. The source can range from a scanned copy of a photograph to a live video stream. Face detection and recognition is a section of Machine learning with a good number of research topics focused on improving the existing algorithms.
This article intends to show the reader how to use EmguCV 3.0 for Face detection and recognition in C#, emphasis on 3.0 because a lot of changes have been made to the library since 2.x versions, and a lot of tutorials/articles (as at the time of writing) focus on the 2.x versions of the library.
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Install CakePHP on WAMP in Eight easy steps

Hi, I would like to show how to get CakePHP running in eight easy steps. If you would like to run the more elaborate installation process, do check out the installation guide here:CakePHP Installation. But if you are the type who likes to get things done as fast as possible and easily, you can just follow the steps below:
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How to become a danfo driver in Lagos

Danfo. Source: www.romancemeetslife.com

Danfo Bus


In the city of Lagos, you can’t help but notice the men that drive the yellow and black buses. As we all know, they are the famous “Danfo Drivers”.. Here’s a quick guide on how to become one of them.. for those of us considering a career switch :D. First things first, you need a bus.. and then..
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One Trekker too Many

First it started with Suleman Hashimu, who claimed to have trekked from Lagos to Abuja to mark General Muhammadu Buhari’s electoral victory earlier in March. Then a series of trekkers have followed suit. Recently, i heard about the Woman – Mrs Alice Daniel with a 40-day old baby who has decided to trek to Abuja from Minna. And then, the twitter #trek4GEJ guy – Oladele Nihi – who decided to trek from Abuja to Bayelsa. Currently, we have at least 7 (that i have read about) citizens trekking from one location to the other either in Honour of General Buhari or in honour of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan or as one of the lady trekker put it, she is trekking to honour both of them.
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Integrating RetailPro and Magento

Recently, i had to do some integration work on RetailPro – a Point of Sale (POS) software and Magento – a E-Commerce software and platform.
While the only thing i found online was this link, i found it to be less technical than i would expect because it gave what i would describe as an overview rather than the “how-to” details. I decided to write more on the subject to help whoever would want to carry out the same integration.
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Plot a Graph in C# using ZedGraph

In today’s tutorial, I would like to show you how to plot a graph in Windows Form (C#) using the ZedGraph Library.
One of the many reasons why i like the ZedGraph is because of its support for .Net 2.0. With Support for .Net 2.0, you are sure your graph app would work on virtually any PC running Windows XP or Later. Also, as you would see in this tutorial, the ZedGraph library is really simple and fast to work with.
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Number to Words Converter – JAR File – Java

Something useful i think i would share.
The code was originally written by http://www.rgagnon.com/. I made some minute modifications to fit into the Jar mode
You might need to convert Figures to Words, lets say: 365, which converts to “Three Hundred and Sixty Five”. It can go as far as you want it to.
Here’s the JAR file to download: JAR File
Source File

Sample Usage
The convert method is static, so need to instantiate the class. It takes a long data type as its only argument.

int value = 7899;
String valueInString = NumberToWordsConverter.convert((long)value));

Have fun! No point wasting precious time writing lines of codes like this.. whatcha say?!

Book Review: PHPUnit Essentials

I recently was contacted by PACKT (a UK based publishing company specializing in focused IT books) to review a new book on Unit Testing in PHP. Here’s my review:

Book Title: PHPUnit Essentials
No of Pages: 314
Publisher: PACKT Publishing
Price: £14.49 (about 4,000NGN)

PHPUnit Essentials takes a simplistic and multi-optioned approach to the subject of unit testing in PHP. The examples are well defined and hit its point without too many unnecessary details.
Explaining legacy code testing in the book not only strengthens the testing skills of the developer starting on a new project, but also brings relief to developers who have to maintain existing codes that were developed without the concept of unit testing in mind.
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