Testing Frameworks in Python

General Development 1 Comment
In this installment, David looks at Python's two standard modules for unit testing: unittest and doctest. These modules expand on the capability of the built-in assert statement, which is used for validation of pre-conditions and post-conditions within functions. He discusses the best ways to incorporate testing into Python development, weighing the advantages of different styles for different types of projects.
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Design Patterns for High Availability using an RTOS

  Submitted by David Kalinsky OS News No Comments
This technical overview by veteran real-time instructor David Kalinsky examines a number of design patterns used to architect high-availability embedded systems that utilize a real-time operating system. The design of high availability systems is based on a combination of redundant hardware components and software to manage fault detection and correction, to achieve "five-nines" (99.999%) or greater availability, equivalent to less than 1 second of downtime per day.
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Microsoft’s Midlife Crisis

  Submitted by hump Microsoft 31 Comments
Would you invest your hard-earned dollars in a company like this? Its revenues soared an average of 36% through the 1990s, but now it's heading into miserly single-digit growth. It has long been a powerful engine fueled by major updates of its products, yet the next major one, an unprecedented five years in the making, isn't expected until 2006. The company hasn't made much headway in newer, promising markets. And its share price is stuck exactly where it was in mid-1998. Not buying, huh? Well, tough luck: You probably already own a piece of this rock, says Yahoo! Finanace.
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OSDL’s Carrier-Grade Linux

Linux 13 Comments
To help the advancement of Linux in the telecom space, the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) started a working group called the Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) working group. Its mission is to specify and help implement an open source platform that is highly available, secure, scalable, and easily maintained—suitable for carrier-grade systems. Read more at LinuxDevCenter.
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The Only Way Microsoft Can Die is by Suicide

Microsoft 108 Comments
Cringely editorializes: "When I wrote last week about my conclusion that the legal system -- any legal system -- is unequipped to change Microsoft's monopolistic behavior, I had no idea that within 24 hours, Sun would be throwing in the towel, trading its so-called principles for $1.95 billion in cash. So I guess I was right. Only now, a few thousand readers out there expect me to blithely produce an answer to the problem of what to do to bring Microsoft into the civilized world. Well, I say it can't be done".
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Tutorial: Setting Up Samba 3.x

Internet 24 Comments
Recently I got the opportunity to setup a new lab for a small school. The server runs Linux and the workstations run WindowsXP. There are 3 levels of access on the workstations (admin, teacher, and student) and security on the workstations is based on Windows policies applied at logon.
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