Is there any documentation that explains each class in foundation.css? I am not great at front-end development and don't seem to be grasping the concepts with just cursory documentation available on zurb's site. Thanks in advance.
There is none. I think it will be tough for them, the ZURBlings, and overly-exhausting for us, to go over it, documented. I think what you need to know is what Responsive Design is all about. You can have a good beginner's introduction here:
From Wikipedia - a bird's eye
view
Another bird's eye view of
RD
Then continue on reading what Foundation is basically about.
And once you have a broader knowledge of what RD and Foundation is basically about, you can go crazy about it here and learn that it can actually allow you do more.
You really need to learn about their css once you are comfortable using Foundation, having read the links I gave you, and want to start to tweaking some of the configuration - which by the way is already explained in their docs.
AFAIK, there is no document that explains each and every class, but you can try to look at the kitchensink
http://foundation.zurb.com/docs/v/4.3.2/components/kitchen-sink.html
They have (almost) every component available as a demo in a single page. So you could inspect each of these elements and familiarize yourself with the class names.
This applies only to F4, I don't see a kitchen sink in F5
I want to do something a bit like they have on IMDb - every film and every person has a forum dedicated just to them. I also want to have a forum on the main message boards, which would show all the threads from the film pages and another forum for all the threads from the people pages.
I've been looking at DjangoBB, Dinette and Sphene (SCT). DjangoBB looks like it has the most features and it's very elegant. Dinette doesn't seem that far behind. Sphene has a few disadvantages - less features I think and it makes me dependent on Sphene's Community app, but it seems like it might be the easiest to use in my scenario - I've seen examples of Sphene being used in similar fashion.
I'm pretty sure all three can be made to do more or less what I want, but would love some opinions on what might work best for me.
Another thing to consider: you could just use django-threadedcomments. It won't be as full-featured as installing a full forum solution, but has the advantage of being very compact and flexible -- basically, threaded comments can be attached to anything (a Person, a Film, etc).
It appears that DjangoBB and Dinette are not set up so that forums could attach themselves to a record in this fashion. Not sure about Sphene but it sounds like you'd have to use the entire community app.
I've set up a very, very simple Discussion app that could perform what you want. If you're interested let me know and I'll put it up on github for you to take a look at. Note that it's not at all full-featured like the ones you mentioned.
A bit late to answer this, but I think it might be worth mentioning The Pinax Project, which is django-based and is geared toward rapid development of social websites with many applications integrated together and customizeable at the user-level.
Is there a good tool out there that can model an application concurrency/locking scheme in a graphical way and that can simulate some of the aspects?
I know that Petri nets can be used for that more or less, but I don't know a good GUI tool that can design and simulate.
Is UML in any way usable for such purposes?
Any good links are very appreciated.
UML Activity Diagrams can be expressed as Petri nets (e.g. see this paper). Unfortunately I don't know any good industrial oriented tools for simulation of Petri Nets or Activity Diagram (but there are many academic projects which you can easily find).
Are you sure that you want to simulate your model (by simulation I mean that you actually want to sit and look how your Perti net is being executed)? Usually this type of analysis is applicable for small and simple algorithms. In real world situation you probably would like to do model checking of your algorithm rather than simulation. I would recommend you to check SPIN (used by many companies, e.g. Siemens). Also I have a positive experience with Alloy and Prism. But if your focus is on verifying parallel algorithms I would suggest you to consider SPIN first.
Edit: I checked some tools for simulation and I can advise looking at
1) http://sourceforge.net/projects/visual-petri/
2) http://www.renew.de/
3) http://www.winpesim.de/index.html
SPIN is a popular tool for verification of distributed systems but is command line only I think. But on the Spin webpage there is a link to a closely related GUI tool called GOAL
I'm doubt this is what you are looking for, but I'll throw in my two cents:
At my university, in our class on concurrent software systems, we use a tool called Labelled Transition System Analyser (LTSA). It's actually a language that you can use to model the behavior of a system.
The "code" is turned into a state diagram and a transition table.
Here is an interactive Java applet which can design and run a Petri net.
It's been a long time since I've looked at it, but it sounds like Ptolemy would be a good fit.
You can check Petri Net Sim, to simulate common/timed/colored Petrinets, it comes with a nice GUI that displays Petri Net execution in real time.
Try using the concurrency tool, LTSA. Java program. (Labelled Transition System Analyser), to simulate programs. You can download it from:
http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/ltsa/
But you have to be patient while using it, it can take a couple of hours to learn how to use it. Probably works best while modeling Java programs.
And it's always good to use UML models of course :)
I am recently working on some long and obscure codes written by some other smart guys.
I'm thinking of generating the Data Flow Diagrams and the Flowcharts to facilitate my work. Is there any kinds of software that can do this job automatically?
P.S. Most of the codes are in C and Fortran.
Dataflow diagrams are harder because they require most of a compiler front end to derive the basic information needed to draw them. But you can get call and caller graphs as well as some kinds of entity relationship diagrams out of Doxygen with Graphviz.
Also, Graphviz is generally useful for drawing all kinds of graphs with readable layouts from raw data. It is easy to walk a tree structure and output a description in the DOT language for Graphviz to draw, for example.
Set Doxygen up with the right options, and turn it loose on the legacy code and you will get the beginnings of an internals document to help find your way around too.
"Code Visual to Flowchart" from FateSoftware may also obe of help.
You can try code2flow:
https://code2flow.com
It convert your code to Flowchart.
Dia is a program that resembles Microsoft Visio. It isn't as smooth, but it gets the job done. I always use this professionally when Visio isn't available. This is mainly for UML and Flowcharts, exports to png, and vectors, and I think PDF's as well.
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One of the first things I do when I'm on a new project is design a database model. To visualize the model I use a 7 year old version of Smartdraw. Maybe it's time for something new. What is the ultimate program to make a drawing of a database model. Smartdraw is for Windows only. Is there something that can be used on unix as well?
The best tool is pencil and paper.
Perhaps not the answer you are looking for, but sometimes the most simple solution is the best. :-)
A whiteboard (and camera to take a picture afterwards)
Your brain is the best drawing tool.
I prefer to develop a database schema in a simple text file.
At first it contains just the table names, attributes and foreign keys:
company:
company_name
...
employee:
name
age
company_name -> company
...
...:
The syntax is not important.
It just needs to be clearly arranged and easy to change.
Later I add types and CHECK() constraints,
so the text file gradually transforms into valid SQL code.
Using a drawing tool in that early stage is just distracting,
because it encourages to waste your time with moving reactangles.
Instead, let your brain build a picture of the schema
in the same way it creates fantasy pictures while reading a book.
As the schema grows,
it becomes necessary to support the brain by creating an overview.
Here, however, pencil and paper are faster than any drawing software.
Also note that there is no need to clutter an overview with unimportant details.
Just sketch the table names and the most important relationships (foreign keys).
Any further details will decrease the value of this overview.
However, if you really feel more comfortable with extremely detailed graphics than with text files and overview graphics, you might want to try
DBDesigner4
or
WWW SQL Designer.
I'm happy using Sybase PowerDesigner for years now.
Did you take a look at Visio 2007 SQL Server Add-In?
You can find it here: http://dbalink.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/microsoft-office-visio-2007-professional-sql-server-add-in/
WWW SQL Designer is one of the best that I've seen, which is pretty amazing since it is all javascript. It can also import and export xml and sql code of everything you draw. And they've added nifty bezier curves since I last used it.
I don't know if it's the "ultimate" program for drawing database models, but I use Visio. Unfortunately, it only runs in Windows.
On the upside, I can create my own shapes, or modify existing ones, and save them in collections called stencils. I can also make my shapes "smart" by programming them to do various things when I double click on them.
I use a whiteboard and a camera as well. I second the pencil and paper. I keep a pen(cil) and pad of paper with me almost always because I am forever designing something in my head and need to jot it down. I like Visio as well but my favorite software program to use has always been ERWin. The price of that thing is just way out line, but it is great.
I like ERWin. Not Cheap, but it can reverse engineer or do initial design + generate CRUD and manipulate db structure. Viso is pretty good for this too, but its not as complete and of course as strong MS SQL leanings is capabilities.
I used to use Visio, but if your database server is MySQL, try MySQL Workbench. It has a linux version as well as a win32 version. Like their other GUI products it has its fair share of quirks, but it works quite well and has the ability to create a diagram of a schema and a schema from a diagram.
I also agree that a pencil and paper, or whiteboard and camera is a great way to sketch things out, but I do like the GUI tools for putting down an idea which is a bit more well formed or complicated.
I like to use the open-source mind-mapping program Freemind. It's similar to designing with pencil and paper in that there's not a lot of surface complexity to interrupt the design process.
But it has two huge advantages over paper/pencil:
node folding
easy drag-and-drop re-arranging
It is very easy to navigate the interface without using the mouse within about five minutes. You can add as many or as few details as you like and can always fold up the details to de-clutter your view. Here's a sample screenshot:
The circles at the ends of the Departments, Employees, and Hours tables indicate that there are more nodes that are folded up. You can go crazy with different fonts, background colors, and even HTML formatting. I just did a [Ctrl]-[B] to make my table names Bold.
FreeMind--and mind-mapping software in general--provides its biggest benefit by staying out of the way of the creative process. It's the first tool I turn to when starting a new project from scratch.
NOTE: I've only ever used the program on Windows, but it is available on Linux.
DIA is not bad, and there are tools to actually generate some code from some types of models. If you are using PostgreSQL, there is even a tool for going the other way, pg-autodoc.
DIA is available for Unix, and I believe Windows as well.
I used to use Viso but now, as I'm more Mac based I use Omnigraffle.
I do have to admit though, as andyUK does, I do a rough sketch on paper.
It also depends on what Database you're using. If it's MySQL then there are quite a few visual development tools available, just have a google
There may be more technical programs, but I use SmartDraw. I would also like to note that 'ultimate' is up to your circumstances. Find what works best for you or you and your company. What works for you is the 'ultimate'.
Brainstorm/sketch the database on paper/whiteboard first, and then go with a diagram tool.
Which tool depends on your target database. We use SQL Server and thus the designer in SQL Server Management Studio works great for us, since we create the database itself at the same time.
For linux I use umbrello
If you're looking for a cheap solution/tool without any reverse/forward engineering capabilities, MS Visio might be your best bet. However, if you're planning to invest some money toward ERD tool, spend it on ER/Studio.
I used to use and be champion of ERWIN. As soon as I started to use ER/Studio, I became fan of it. I'm an enterprise data architect at one of the Fortune 100 company and I don't know how to get my work done without it.
PS: I don't have no affiliations with any of those products and companies.
OpenOffice has a vector drawing tool, and Inkscape is a another good one.
Otherwise, you can use Graphviz (dot language) to generate such diagram out of a textual description.
There are also some tools to generate such diagram out of an existing database (I first thought it was what you were asking).
If you don't need much take Dia.
I used Power Designer. It's powerful but rather complex.