If you see the exception COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.DB2Exception: [IBM][CLI Driver] CLI0124E Invalid argument value. SQLSTATE=HY009 when running an application that need to create connections to an IBM DB2 database, check if you are writing the database name correctly in the connection url. A coworker and me detected this problem when installing our software and we lasted near half hour to think that the url could be wrong; a simple error with a generic error message. I have seen a better message using the db2 command line proccesor: SQL1013N The database alias name or database name "SDASDSAD" could not be found. SQLSTATE=42705, why not use the same message for a JDBC connection attempt?

All the dogs I know love candy. Take care when you give them to your pet, especially when it is chocolate. Read the topic Chocolate (Drug class: Methylxanthine) at Care For Animals to know why.

My preferred free Linux distribution (Fedora) has been released. This is the third release since the commercial and community version of Red Hat Linux were separated (Red Hat Enterprise Linux is my preferred commercial distribution too). I have tried many different Linux providers, but the reason that I stays with Red Hat are simple

• They are built on 100% open source software, I appreciate their commitment to deliver a product without chaining their users to a propietary technology.
• I am a GNOME user and I personally think that the best experience with it has been with Red Hat products.
• They are a really active company and frequently provide many features before their competition. I still remember the day when BlueCurve was released and everybody were whining because they matched the look of GNOME and KDE applications; which distributors do not do that now?
• Red Hat has a lot of developers involved on many of the foundation libraries that I prefer to use.
• They are working hard to deliver (with the help of many others in the community) a free and open source Java based environment. I will try to not touch a Linux distribution that works or bundles Mono. At the same time there are people in the open source community that are afraid of hypothetic atacks from Sun to an open Java implementation, I am not, and the reason lies in the fact that Sun has a Linux distribution, that distribution uses GCC and GCC includes the same code on which Red Hat engineers are working: GNU Classpath, so Sun is distributing it and I am sure they know what that means.

Have you tried Fedora? What you liked/disliked about it?

How many of this silly tests are on the net?

You are... C++!

#include <fstream.h>

  enum Bottle { BeerBottle };

  class Shelf {
    unsigned BottlesLeft;
  public:
    Shelf( unsigned bottlesbought )
        : BottlesLeft( bottlesbought )
        {}
    void TakeOneDown()
    {
      if (!BottlesLeft)
        throw BeerBottle;
      BottlesLeft--;
    }
    operator int () { return BottlesLeft; }
  };

  int main( int, char ** )
  {
    Shelf Beer(99);
    try {
      for (;;) {
        char *plural = (int)Beer !=1 ? "s" : "";
        cout << (int)Beer << " bottle" << plural
             << " of beer on the wall," << endl;
        cout << (int)Beer << " bottle" << plural
             << " of beer," << endl;
        Beer.TakeOneDown();
        cout << "Take one down, pass it around," << endl;
        plural = (int)Beer !=1 ? "s":"";
        cout << (int)Beer << " bottle" << plural
             << " of beer on the wall." << endl;
      }
    }
    catch ( Bottle ) {
      cout << "Go to the store and buy some more," << endl;
      cout << "99 bottles of beer on the wall." << endl;
    }
    return 0;
  }

What programming language are you?

Extracted from the RFC 1392:

hacker

A person who delights in having an intimate understanding of the internal workings of a system, computers and computer networks in particular. The term is often misused in a pejorative context, where cracker would be the correct term. See also: cracker.

If you recognize the following pattern, I am sure you will need to place the hacker emblem on your site. If not, read the hacker emblem proposal document