How to clean SQL Server cache before performance testing ?

One of your customers reported some very slow Microsoft SQL Server database access times. You restored his database at home, and were able reproduce the performance issue. But after the first execution, your super-slow query is now blazing-fast. Still you didn’t make a change… This is a courtesy from the SQL Server performance engine which cached a lot of things related to your previous query execution. How can you clear/flush this SQL Server cache before executing your performance tests ?

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The 10 Most Popular Issue Trackers

I was looking for an issue tracking/project management software, and stumbled upon this wikipedia page comparing the features of 43 of the most common ones. A bunch of features can be useful, but you won’t care about them if the job can’t be done easily and quickly, or if you fail to install the software and that there’s no one to tell you what you did wrong.

So, I looked for the most popular issue trackers. Continue reading →

You think you know C++ ? Try this quiz !

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Probably because I’m currently going through some job interviews, I wasted some time today trying a few C++ quizzes. I thought I had a good knowledge of C++. Not a Bjarne Stroustrup level knowledge, but a solid one, resulting from several years developing C++ server applications. Oh man ! My ego took a hit.

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Exemple d’une transaction sans contact MasterCard PayPass

Pour comprendre les mécanismes EMV, il est toujours intéressant d’avoir des exemples d’APDU et de dialogues. Ci-dessous, un exemple d’une transaction EMV sans contact réussie (achat sans-contact MasterCard PayPass). Inutile de récupérer les infos de la carte, c’est une carte de test invalide dans le monde réel 🙂 PCD identifie les commandes du terminal, PICC les réponses de la carte MasterCard :
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