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2466 votes
23 answers
463k views

How to make a great R reproducible example

When discussing performance with colleagues, teaching, sending a bug report or searching for guidance on mailing lists and here on Stack Overflow, a reproducible example is often asked and always ...
209 votes
12 answers
4.2m views

What is a NullPointerException, and how do I fix it?

What are Null Pointer Exceptions (java.lang.NullPointerException) and what causes them? What methods/tools can be used to determine the cause so that you stop the exception from causing the program ...
6695 votes
42 answers
2.1m views

How do I return the response from an asynchronous call?

How do I return the response/result from a function foo that makes an asynchronous request? I am trying to return the value from the callback, as well as assigning the result to a local variable ...
Felix Kling's user avatar
2773 votes
27 answers
2.2m views

How can I prevent SQL injection in PHP?

If user input is inserted without modification into an SQL query, then the application becomes vulnerable to SQL injection, like in the following example: $unsafe_variable = $_POST['user_input']; ...
2247 votes
37 answers
3.8m views

RegEx match open tags except XHTML self-contained tags

I need to match all of these opening tags: <p> <a href="foo"> But not self-closing tags: <br /> <hr class="foo" /> I came up with this and wanted to make ...
1869 votes
26 answers
2.3m views

What is a NullReferenceException, and how do I fix it?

I have some code and when it executes, it throws a NullReferenceException, saying: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. What does this mean, and what can I do to fix this error?
3947 votes
34 answers
579k views

Is floating point math broken?

Consider the following code: 0.1 + 0.2 == 0.3 -> false 0.1 + 0.2 -> 0.30000000000000004 Why do these inaccuracies happen?
Cato Johnston's user avatar
4230 votes
1 answer
3.2m views

The Definitive C++ Book Guide and List

This question attempts to collect the few pearls among the dozens of bad C++ books that are published every year. Unlike many other programming languages, which are often picked up on the go from ...
723 votes
23 answers
4.6m views

How do I compare strings in Java?

I've been using the == operator in my program to compare all my strings so far. However, I ran into a bug, changed one of them into .equals() instead, and it fixed the bug. Is == bad? When should it ...
1803 votes
40 answers
973k views

What is an undefined reference/unresolved external symbol error and how do I fix it?

What are undefined reference/unresolved external symbol errors? What are common causes, and how do I fix and prevent these errors?
Luchian Grigore's user avatar
1363 votes
29 answers
2.2m views

"Notice: Undefined variable", "Notice: Undefined index", "Warning: Undefined array key", and "Notice: Undefined offset" using PHP

I'm running a PHP script and continue to receive errors like: Notice: Undefined variable: my_variable_name in C:\wamp\www\mypath\index.php on line 10 Notice: Undefined index: my_index C:\wamp\www\...
2721 votes
14 answers
259k views

Why shouldn't I use mysql_* functions in PHP?

What are the technical reasons for why one shouldn't use mysql_* functions? (e.g. mysql_query(), mysql_connect() or mysql_real_escape_string())? Why should I use something else even if they work on ...
Madara's Ghost's user avatar
1675 votes
23 answers
1.1m views

Event binding on dynamically created elements?

I have a bit of code where I am looping through all the select boxes on a page and binding a .hover event to them to do a bit of twiddling with their width on mouse on/off. This happens on page ready ...
Eli's user avatar
  • 98.4k
2793 votes
29 answers
388k views

Should I cast the result of malloc (in C)?

In this question, someone suggested in a comment that I should not cast the result of malloc. i.e., I should do this: int *sieve = malloc(sizeof(*sieve) * length); rather than: int *sieve = (int *) ...
Patrick McDonald's user avatar
777 votes
20 answers
879k views

PHP parse/syntax errors; and how to solve them

Everyone runs into syntax errors. Even experienced programmers make typos. For newcomers, it's just part of the learning process. However, it's often easy to interpret error messages such as: PHP ...
1911 votes
15 answers
631k views

How to access the correct `this` inside a callback

I have a constructor function which registers an event handler: function MyConstructor(data, transport) { this.data = data; transport.on('data', function () { alert(this.data); ...
Felix Kling's user avatar
642 votes
15 answers
396k views

How to avoid using Select in Excel VBA

I've heard much about the understandable abhorrence of using .Select in Excel VBA, but I am unsure of how to avoid using it. I am finding that my code would be more re-usable if I were able to use ...
BiGXERO's user avatar
  • 7,174
3243 votes
45 answers
482k views

JavaScript closure inside loops – simple practical example

var funcs = []; // let's create 3 functions for (var i = 0; i < 3; i++) { // and store them in funcs funcs[i] = function() { // each should log its value. console.log("My value:", i); ...
nickf's user avatar
  • 542k
3385 votes
41 answers
1.2m views

What's the problem with "using namespace std;"?

I have heard using namespace std; is wrong, and that I should use std::cout and std::cin directly instead. Why is this? Does it risk declaring variables that share the same name as something in the ...
akbiggs's user avatar
  • 34.6k
915 votes
7 answers
303k views

Why is my variable unaltered after I modify it inside of a function? - Asynchronous code reference

Given the following examples, why is outerScopeVar undefined in all cases? var outerScopeVar; var img = document.createElement('img'); img.onload = function() { outerScopeVar = this.width; }; img....
Fabrício Matté's user avatar
238 votes
5 answers
54k views

How to make good reproducible pandas examples

Having spent a decent amount of time watching both the r and pandas tags on SO, the impression that I get is that pandas questions are less likely to contain reproducible data. This is something that ...
Marius's user avatar
  • 59.3k
52 votes
1 answer
208k views

Reference - What does this regex mean?

What is this? This is a collection of common Q&A. This is also a Community Wiki, so everyone is invited to participate in maintaining it. Why is this? regex is suffering from give me ze code type ...
1285 votes
39 answers
280k views

Reference - What does this error mean in PHP?

What is this? This is a number of answers about warnings, errors, and notices you might encounter while programming PHP and have no clue how to fix them. This is also a Community Wiki, so everyone is ...
567 votes
30 answers
538k views

PHP mail function doesn't complete sending of e-mail

<?php $name = $_POST['name']; $email = $_POST['email']; $message = $_POST['message']; $from = 'From: yoursite.com'; $to = '[email protected]'; $subject = 'Customer ...
user3818620's user avatar
  • 5,713
606 votes
7 answers
200k views

Why does jQuery or a DOM method such as getElementById not find the element?

What are the possible reasons for document.getElementById, $("#id") or any other DOM method / jQuery selector not finding the elements? Example problems include: jQuery silently failing to ...
Felix Kling's user avatar
7753 votes
91 answers
2.7m views

Is Java "pass-by-reference" or "pass-by-value"?

I always thought Java uses pass-by-reference. However, I read a blog post which claims that Java uses pass-by-value. I don't think I understand the distinction the author is making. What is the ...
1359 votes
13 answers
209k views

UTF-8 all the way through

I'm setting up a new server and want to support UTF-8 fully in my web application. I have tried this in the past on existing servers and always seem to end up having to fall back to ISO-8859-1. Where ...
mercutio's user avatar
  • 22.4k
1133 votes
33 answers
1.3m views

How can I access and process nested objects, arrays, or JSON?

I have a nested data structure containing objects and arrays. How can I extract the information, i.e. access a specific or multiple values (or keys)? For example: var data = { code: 42, ...
Felix Kling's user avatar
62 votes
1 answer
58k views

Official locator strategies for the webdriver

In the official W3C webdriver documentation, it's clearly stated that the location strategies are: State Keyword ----------------------------------------------- CSS selector ...
Merc's user avatar
  • 16.8k
2281 votes
19 answers
796k views

Why can templates only be implemented in the header file?

Quote from The C++ standard library: a tutorial and handbook: The only portable way of using templates at the moment is to implement them in header files by using inline functions. Why is this? (...
MainID's user avatar
  • 29.6k
788 votes
13 answers
314k views

When to use single quotes, double quotes, and backticks in MySQL

I am trying to learn the best way to write queries. I also understand the importance of being consistent. Until now, I have randomly used single quotes, double quotes, and backticks without any real ...
Nate's user avatar
  • 27k
175 votes
2 answers
27k views

What is a debugger and how can it help me diagnose problems?

This is intended to be a general-purpose question to assist new programmers who have a problem with a program, but who do not know how to use a debugger to diagnose the cause of the problem. This ...
Raedwald's user avatar
  • 47.8k
2313 votes
32 answers
477k views

How do you parse and process HTML/XML in PHP?

How can one parse HTML/XML and extract information from it?
234 votes
3 answers
41k views

How to use ThreeTenABP in Android Project

I'm using Android Studio 2.1.2 and my Java setup is the following: >java -version > openjdk version "1.8.0_91" > OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_91-8u91-b14-3ubuntu1~15.10....
kael's user avatar
  • 6,665
691 votes
5 answers
98k views

Why is iostream::eof inside a loop condition (i.e. `while (!stream.eof())`) considered wrong?

I just found a comment in this answer saying that using iostream::eof in a loop condition is "almost certainly wrong". I generally use something like while(cin>>n) - which I guess implicitly ...
MAK's user avatar
  • 26.4k
552 votes
18 answers
265k views

How do I create variable variables?

I know that some other languages, such as PHP, support a concept of "variable variable names" - that is, the contents of a string can be used as part of a variable name. I heard that this is ...
user avatar
758 votes
22 answers
1.0m views

Asking the user for input until they give a valid response

I am writing a program that accepts user input. #note: Python 2.7 users should use `raw_input`, the equivalent of 3.X's `input` age = int(input("Please enter your age: ")) if age >= 18: ...
849 votes
31 answers
560k views

How to test multiple variables for equality against a single value?

I'm trying to make a function that will compare multiple variables to an integer and output a string of three letters. I was wondering if there was a way to translate this into Python. So say: x = 0 y ...
user1877442's user avatar
  • 8,681
677 votes
6 answers
295k views

Why is “while( !feof(file) )” always wrong?

What is wrong with using feof() to control a read loop? For example: #include <stdio.h> #include <stdlib.h> int main(int argc, char **argv) { char *path = "stdin"; FILE ...
William Pursell's user avatar
572 votes
3 answers
58k views

What is the difference between client-side and server-side programming?

I have this code: <script type="text/javascript"> var foo = 'bar'; <?php file_put_contents('foo.txt', ' + foo + '); ?> var baz = <?php echo 42; ?>; ...
deceze's user avatar
  • 517k
2531 votes
8 answers
382k views

What is The Rule of Three?

What does copying an object mean? What are the copy constructor and the copy assignment operator? When do I need to declare them myself? How can I prevent my objects from being copied?
fredoverflow's user avatar
361 votes
25 answers
1.0m views

What causes a java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException and how do I prevent it?

What does ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException mean and how do I get rid of it? Here is a code sample that triggers the exception: String[] names = { "tom", "bob", "harry" }; for (int i = 0; i <= ...
Aaron's user avatar
  • 11.5k
1493 votes
22 answers
466k views

How does the "this" keyword work, and when should it be used?

I am looking to find a clear explanation of what the "this" keyword does, and how to use it correctly. It seems to behave strangely, and I don't fully understand why. How does this work and ...
Maxim Gershkovich's user avatar
161 votes
1 answer
76k views

What to do with mysqli problems? Errors like mysqli_fetch_array(): Argument #1 must be of type mysqli_result and such

In my local/development environment, the MySQLi query is performing OK. However, when I upload it on my web host environment, I get this error: Fatal error: Call to a member function bind_param() on ...
siopaoman's user avatar
  • 1,773
786 votes
4 answers
313k views

SQL injection that gets around mysql_real_escape_string()

Is there an SQL injection possibility even when using mysql_real_escape_string() function? Consider this sample situation. SQL is constructed in PHP like this: $login = mysql_real_escape_string(...
Richard Knop's user avatar
  • 82.4k
4590 votes
38 answers
3.1m views

How slicing in Python works

How does Python's slice notation work? That is: when I write code like a[x:y:z], a[:], a[::2] etc., how can I understand which elements end up in the slice? See Why are slice and range upper-bound ...
Simon's user avatar
  • 79.8k
957 votes
25 answers
868k views

Scanner is skipping nextLine() after using next() or nextFoo()?

I am using the Scanner methods nextInt() and nextLine() for reading input. It looks like this: System.out.println("Enter numerical value"); int option; option = input.nextInt(); // Read ...
blekione's user avatar
  • 10.4k
951 votes
19 answers
79k views

List of lists changes reflected across sublists unexpectedly

I created a list of lists: >>> xs = [[1] * 4] * 3 >>> print(xs) [[1, 1, 1, 1], [1, 1, 1, 1], [1, 1, 1, 1]] Then, I changed one of the innermost values: >>> xs[0][0] = 5 >...
Charles Anderson's user avatar
622 votes
5 answers
74k views

How can I pivot a dataframe? [closed]

What is pivot? How do I pivot? Long format to wide format? I've seen a lot of questions that ask about pivot tables, even if they don't know it. It is virtually impossible to write a canonical ...
piRSquared's user avatar
  • 291k
1542 votes
14 answers
1.8m views

How to join (merge) data frames (inner, outer, left, right)

Given two data frames: df1 = data.frame(CustomerId = c(1:6), Product = c(rep("Toaster", 3), rep("Radio", 3))) df2 = data.frame(CustomerId = c(2, 4, 6), State = c(rep("Alabama", 2), rep("Ohio", 1))) ...
Dan Goldstein's user avatar

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