bool IsMatch(string input, string pattern)
{
if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(input) || string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(pattern)) return false;
var constants = pattern.split(new char[] { '*', '/' });
int start = -1;
var index = constants.Select( x => { int s = pattern.IndexOf(x, start + 1); start = s; return s;} ).ToList();
int prev = 0;
string wildcards = string.empty;
for (int i = 0; i < index.Length; i++)
{

// start must be the specified literal
start = input.IndexOf(constants[i]);
if (start == -1) return false;

// skip only as specified by wildcards
if (wildcards.Length > 0 )
{
int c = wildCards.Count(x => x == '?') ;
int last = start;
while (start != -1)
{
   if (start - prev - 1 < c) continue;
   else break;
   start = input.IndexOf(constant[i], start + 1);
}
if (start == -1 || start - prev - 1 <  c) return false;
}
if (start == -1) start = last;

int wildcardsStart = index[i] + constants[i].Length;
wildcardsLen = (i+1<index.Length) ? index[i + 1] - wildcardsStart-1 : 0;
wildcards = pattern.SubString(wildcardsStart, wildCardsLen);

Debug.Assert (wildcards.Length > 0 || wildCards.ForEach(x => x == '?' || x = '*'));

}
return true;
}
string input can be "ABCDBDXYZ"
string pattern can be "A*B?D*Z"
 

This is a read from the blog post by Julian James. iOS continuous integration builds can be setup with HockeyApp, OSX Mavericks, Server and XCode. These are installed first and Xcode remote repositories point to source control. BotRuns are stored in their own folder. Project scheme can be edited to include pre-action and post-action schemes.Bots can be specified with a schedule and a target. OCMock and OCHamcrest can be used for unit-testing. Archive post-action completion signals the availability of the latest build. Instruments can then be run with Javascript file to test the UI. Then when the bot is run, it could show the number of tests passed.
Javascript for UI automation can make use of the iOS UI automation library reference. This has an object model for all the UI elements and document navigation. Workflows are automated using the different methods on these objects and UIANavigationBar. The target is obtained with UIATarget, the application is referred to with UIAApplication, pages are available via UIAPageIndicator etc. A variety of controls are available via UIAButton, UIAElement, UIAPicker, UIAPickerWheel, UIAPopover, UIASearchBar, UIASecureTextField, UIATabBar, and UIAWebView. Organzation of UI elements can be used with UIATableCell, UIATableGroup and UIATableView to access the individual cells. UIATabGroup allows navigation between tabs.

A recap of on five progressive steps by Barry Wise to database normalization
We start out with an example where we store user's name, company, company address, and personal  urls - say url1 and url2
The zero form is when all of this is in a single table and no normalization has occurred.
The first normal form is achieved by
1) eliminating repeating groups in individual tables
2) creating a separate table for each set of data
3) identify each set of related data with a primary key
so this yields a table where the user information is repeated for each url so url field limitation is solved
The Second normal form is achieved by
1) Creating separate tables for a set of values that apply to multiple records
2) Relate these tables with a foreign key
Basically, we break the url values into a separate table so we can add more in the future
The third normal form is achieved by
1) eliminating fields that do not depend on the key
Company name and address have nothing to do with the user id, so they are broken off into their own table
The fourth and higher form depend on data relationships involving one-one, one-to-many and many-to-many.
The Fourth normal form is
1) In many to many relationship, independent entities cannot be stored in the same table.
To get many users related to many urls, we define a url_relations where they user id and url id are paired.
The next normal form is the Fifth normal form which suggests that
1) The original table must be reconstructed from the tables into which it has been broken down. This is a way to check that no new columns have been added.
As always, remember that denormalization has its benefits as well.
Also, Litt's tips additionally mentions the following :
1) create a table for each list. More than likely every list will have additional information
2) create non-meaningful identifiers.
This is to make sure that business rule changes do not affect the primary identifier 

Barry Wise on five progressive steps to database normalization
We start out with an example where we store user's name, company, company address, and personal  urls - say url1 and url2
The zero form is when all of this is in a single table and no normalization has occured.
The first normal form is achieved by
1) eliminating repeating groups in individual tables
2) creating a separate table for each set of data
3) identify each set of related data with a primary key
so this yields a table where the user information is repeated for each url so url field limitation is solved
The Second normal form is achieved by
1) Creating separate tables for a set of values that apply to multiple records
2) Relate these tables with a foreign key
Basically, we break the url values into a separate table so we can add more in the future
The third normal form is achieved by
1) eliminating fields that do not depend on the key
Company name and address have nothing to do with the user id, so they are broken off into their own table
The fourth and higher form depend on data relationships involving one-one, one-to-many and many-to-many.
The Fourth normal form is
1) In many to many relationship, independent entities cannot be stored in the same table.
To get many users related to many urls, we define a url_relations where they user id and url id are paired.
The next normal form is the Fifth normal form which suggests that
1) The original table must be reconstructed from the tables into which it has been broken down. This is a way to check that no new columns have been added.
As always, remember that denormalization has its benefits as well.
Also, Litt's tips additionally mentions the following :
1) create a table for each list. More than likely every list will have additional information
2) create non-meaningful identifiers.
This is to make sure that business rule changes do not affect the primary identifier 

Some T-SQL queries
SELECT t.name as tour_name, COUNT(*)
FROM Upfall u INNER JOIN trip t
on u.id = t.stop
GROUP BY t.name
HAVING COUNT(*) > 6
Aggregate funcions - AVG(), MAX(), MIN(), MEDIAN(), COUNT(), STDEV(), SUM(), VARIANCE()

--Summarizing rows with rollup
SELECT t.name AS tour_name, c.name as county_name COUNT(*) as falls_count
FROM upfall u INNER JOIN trip t
ON U.id = t.stop
INNER JOIN county c ON u.county_id = c.id
GROUP BY t.name, c.name with ROLLUP

SELECT t.name as tour_name,
c.name as county_name
COUNT(*) as falls_count
GROUPING(t.name) as n1 -- test null from cube
GROUPING(t.name) as n2 -- test null from cube
from upfall u INNER JOIN trip t
ON u.id = t.stop
INNER JOIN county c
ON u.county_id = c.id
WHERE t.name = 'Munising'
GROUP BY t.name,c.name WITH CUBE

--RECURSIVE QUERIES
WITH recursiveGov
(level, id, parent_id, name, type) AS
(SELECT 1, parent.id, parent.parent_id, parent.name, parent.type
FROM gov_unit parent
WHERE parent.parent_id IS NULL
UNION ALL
SELECT parent.level + 1, child.id, child.parent_id, child.name, child.type
FROM recursiveGov parent, gov_unit child
WHERE child.parent_id = parent.id)
SELECT level, id, parent_id, name, type
FROM recursiveGov

CREATE TABLE COUNTRY(
ID int identity (1,1),
NAME varchar(15) NOT NULL,
CODE Varchar(2) DEFAULT 'CA'
CONSTRAINT code_not_null NOT NULL
CONSTRAINT code_check
CHECK (country IN ('CA', 'US')),
indexed_name VARCHAR(15),
CONSTRAINT country_pk
PRIMARY KEY(ID)
CONSTRAINT country_fk01
FOREIGN KEY (name,code)
REFERENCES parent_example (name,country),
CONSTRAINT country_u01
UNIQUE(name,country)
CONSTRAINT country_index_upper
CHECK(indexed_name = UPPER(name))
);

This post is about one of the interview questions and is a coding problem :
bool IsMatch(string input, string pattern);
string input can be "ABCDBDXYZ"
string pattern can be "A*B?D*Z"
* and ? are the usual wild card for 0 or more and only one char respectively.
Here are some possible implementation:
bool IsMatch(string input, string pattern)
{
return Regex.Matches(input, pattern).Count > 0;
}

A brief review of programming interviews exposed book.
Bitwise operations - OR(any), AND(both) and XOR(same=0,different=1)
Shift operations - Base 2 right shift => divide by 2 and left shift => multiply by 1
Rectangle overlap is written as a.ul.x <= b.lr.x && a.ul.y >= b.lr.y && a.lr.x >= b.ul.x && a.lr.y <= b.ul.y
union{
int theInteger
char singleByte;
} endianTest;
endianTest.theInteger = 1
return endianTest.singleByte;
Permutations proceeds with an array of booleans for each element that denotes whether it is used
Combinations proceeds with varying start
Tackle graphical and spatial problems with pictures and over time.
Tackle Nodes and lists with previous, current and next variables during traversal.
Trees and Graphs are best tackled with traversals.