#just need to implement a resolution mechanism to handle generics

[lizclipse]

Currently fighting with the TypeScript compiler API so I can pull out all of the types we’ve written into a form that I can use to output in other languages, and it’s hell. For some reason it’s deciding that sometimes a type alias is actually Itself and not what it was set to, but I know the info is there it just won’t give it to me >:(

[codingbrushup]

Coding Brushup: Java Exception Handling Best Practices

In this coding brushup session, we focus on one of the most critical aspects of writing reliable and robust Java applications — Java exception handling. Exception handling in Java is not just about catching errors; it’s about managing program flow, providing meaningful feedback, and ensuring your application remains stable and maintainable under unexpected conditions. This article outlines the most effective Java best practices course for handling exceptions, ensuring your skills are current and refined.

Why Exception Handling Matters in Java

Java exception handling is a mechanism that allows developers to manage runtime errors in a graceful and predictable manner. Rather than crashing the application or producing undesired output, exceptions help developers identify problems, apply fixes, and even recover from faults during execution.

As part of any serious coding brushup, understanding Java best practices in exception handling is essential for writing quality, production-ready code. Exception handling not only improves the robustness of the program but also enhances readability, maintainability, and debugging efficiency.

1. Always Catch Specific Exceptions

A fundamental rule in Java exception handling best practices is to catch the most specific exception possible. Catching generic exceptions such as Exception or Throwable should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Specific exceptions provide more control and clarity over error management.

Catching only relevant exceptions ensures that you’re not inadvertently masking programming errors or swallowing unrelated problems. This promotes more accurate exception tracking and error resolution, which is a core component of professional Java development.

2. Never Swallow Exceptions Silently

One of the most common anti-patterns in Java exception handling is swallowing exceptions without any feedback. Empty catch blocks suppress errors silently, making it difficult to trace and debug problems when they arise. In a good Java coding brushup, it’s vital to emphasize that every caught exception must be logged, re-thrown, or otherwise acknowledged.

Swallowing exceptions hides potential issues and breaks the natural flow of Java best practices. Even when you choose not to halt the application, logging the exception is a must for long-term code health.

3. Use Finally Blocks for Cleanup

The finally block is a staple in Java exception handling. It guarantees that a particular section of code will execute, regardless of whether an exception is thrown or not. This is particularly useful for cleaning up resources like file handles, sockets, and database connections.

Using finally correctly ensures your application does not suffer from resource leaks or dangling operations. This is a vital point in any coding brushup since failing to clean up properly can lead to memory bloat or degraded system performance.

4. Prefer Try-With-Resources for Auto-Closeable Resources

Since Java 7, the try-with-resources statement is the recommended approach to handling resource management. This feature simplifies code and automatically closes resources that implement the AutoCloseable interface.

Using try-with-resources eliminates the need for verbose finally blocks and helps reduce boilerplate code, aligning with modern Java best practices. It’s an essential part of updating your skills in any Java coding brushup session.

5. Create Custom Exceptions Where Necessary

In many scenarios, predefined Java exceptions may not clearly describe the domain-specific problem your application is encountering. In such cases, it is a Java best practice to create custom exception classes.

Custom exceptions improve the semantic clarity of your code and allow for cleaner exception hierarchies. During a coding brushup, it’s crucial to learn how to define and use custom exceptions effectively to make your application self-documenting and easier to debug.

6. Log Exceptions with Proper Detail

Logging exceptions is a key practice in professional Java development. It’s not enough to print stack traces to the console; structured logging using tools like Log4j or SLF4J is far more effective.

Logs should include the exception type, message, and ideally, the stack trace. This level of detail ensures that you can trace the origin of errors and monitor system behavior efficiently. Logging is a routine yet vital aspect of any Java coding brushup, especially for those transitioning into production-level code.

7. Avoid Using Exceptions for Flow Control

Exceptions are meant to handle abnormal conditions, not for standard control flow. Using exceptions to implement conditional logic is an anti-pattern and violates Java best practices.

This approach not only reduces performance due to the overhead of exception handling but also makes code harder to understand. Instead, validate input and use regular control structures for predictable logic. This is a critical distinction in any thorough Java exception handling brushup.

8. Document Exceptions Clearly

Every method that throws exceptions should document them properly using Javadoc comments. This helps other developers understand what exceptions they might need to handle when calling your method.

This practice aligns with writing self-explanatory code and contributes to better collaboration in team environments. Any seasoned coding brushup will stress the importance of documenting thrown exceptions, especially in public APIs or library code.

9. Use Exception Chaining for Better Context

Exception chaining allows developers to pass the original exception to a new exception when rethrowing. This helps preserve the original error stack and provides additional context, which is essential for effective debugging.

Following this practice enables more meaningful and layered error messages, supporting a more holistic understanding of problems during runtime. This nuanced technique is an advanced topic often emphasized in senior-level Java coding brushup sessions.

10. Rethrow Only When Needed

Sometimes, you may need to rethrow an exception after logging or wrapping it. It’s important to do so judiciously, ensuring you’re not duplicating logs or losing stack trace information.

Blindly rethrowing exceptions can clutter logs and confuse the root cause of issues. Instead, when rethrowing, ensure that the context of the exception is either preserved or enhanced. This habit aligns closely with Java best practices and is a mark of mature exception handling.

Conclusion

Exception handling is more than just writing try-catch blocks — it’s about writing intelligent, predictable, and resilient code. In this coding brushup on Java exception handling best practices, we’ve covered essential concepts such as catching specific exceptions, avoiding silent failures, logging effectively, and using modern Java features like try-with-resources.

As a Java developer, refining your exception handling strategy will not only reduce bugs but also improve your codebase’s clarity and maintainability. Make these best practices a consistent part of your Java coding brushup routine to elevate your development skills to the next level.

[ecosmining]

Legal Challenges Cryptocurrency Exchanges: Navigating the Complexities

Legal challenges cryptocurrency exchanges face have become increasingly significant as the cryptocurrency landscape evolves. Issues like lawsuits, SEC regulations, and general legal complexities pose critical risks to their operations. This article delves into the myriad of legal challenges cryptocurrency exchanges encounter, highlighting crucial aspects of compliance, jurisdictional issues, and potential resolutions. Understanding these challenges is vital for exchanges to navigate the legal landscape effectively. By examining current regulatory frameworks, notable cases, and future legal trends, we provide a comprehensive overview for stakeholders interested in the stability and legality of cryptocurrency exchanges.

Overview of Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Definition and Purpose

Cryptocurrency exchanges are platforms that facilitate the trade of digital assets. They offer services similar to traditional financial exchanges. These platforms play a crucial role in the crypto ecosystem by providing liquidity and enabling price discovery. As a result, traders rely on these exchanges to convert their cryptocurrencies into desired fiat currencies or other digital assets.

Types of Exchanges

There are several types of cryptocurrency exchanges, each with distinct operational mechanisms. Centralized exchanges like Binance control user deposits and offer user-friendly interfaces and higher liquidity. However, they may pose security concerns due to centralized data storage. On the other hand, decentralized exchanges, such as Uniswap, operate without intermediaries, offering greater privacy and security to users but often with lower liquidity. Hybrid exchanges aim to combine the strengths of both, offering a balance of control and transparency.

Common Legal Issues Faced by Exchanges

Cryptocurrency exchanges operate in a highly regulated environment, facing various legal challenges. Understanding these issues is crucial for exchanges to maintain operational stability and reputation.

Regulatory Compliance

Exchanges must comply with a plethora of international financial regulations. This often represents a significant hurdle due to the varying requirements across jurisdictions. As the crypto market grows, regulatory bodies are increasingly scrutinizing these platforms to ensure they adhere to standards aimed at preventing money laundering and fraud. Consequently, exchanges must continuously update their compliance strategies to keep pace with new legislation.

Handling User Data

Protecting user data is another pressing concern for exchanges. In the wake of stringent data protection laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), exchanges need robust systems to secure personal data against breaches. Failure to safeguard this information can result in hefty penalties and loss of user trust. Therefore, implementing comprehensive data protection measures is not just a legal obligation, but a business necessity.

Regulatory compliance: Exchanges must navigate complex international laws.

Privacy laws: User data must be protected under laws like GDPR.

Cybersecurity threats: Constant vigilance is required to prevent data breaches.

Notable Lawsuits and Their Implications

The world of cryptocurrency has seen significant legal battles that shape the industry’s landscape. These lawsuits often revolve around regulatory compliance and classification issues that question the very understanding of digital assets’ nature.

Ripple vs SEC

The Ripple vs SEC case has garnered attention due to its potential impact on the classification of digital assets as securities. The SEC’s allegation that Ripple’s XRP token constitutes a security has created uncertainty in the industry. This classification affects how digital assets are traded, taxed, and regulated. Consequently, companies are closely monitoring the case’s outcome, as it may set a precedent for future regulatory approaches towards cryptocurrencies.

Bitfinex and Tether

In a separate legal battle, Bitfinex and Tether faced accusations of market manipulation. These allegations have sparked broader concerns regarding transparency and trust within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Critics argue that Tether’s stablecoin might not be fully backed by reserves, raising questions about its legitimacy. As a result, this case underscores the need for clearer regulatory frameworks to enhance transparency and protect investors.

The Role and Impact of SEC Regulations

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plays a key role in defining and regulating the financial markets. Its regulations significantly impact how exchanges operate, aiming to ensure transparency and protect investors.

Defining Securities

The SEC’s definition of securities is critical to influencing exchange operations. This definition determines the financial products under its jurisdiction, affecting how exchanges classify and trade these products. As a result, exchanges prioritize aligning their products with SEC guidelines to avoid potential legal repercussions.

Compliance Requirements

Exchanges face considerable challenges in meeting SEC compliance demands. These requirements often include extensive documentation, detailed reporting, and adherence to strict financial practices. The complexity of these regulations can pose hurdles, but adherence is essential to maintaining operational legitimacy. Exchanges risking non-compliance could face sanctions, impacting reputation and financial stability.

Securities definition: Influences exchange classification standards

Compliance hurdles: Extensive documentation and strict practices

Risk of sanctions: Non-compliance could lead to operational and reputational damage

Read the continuation at the link.

[briefsoulprincess-blog1]

Understanding the Value of Tailored Corporate Law Services for Family-Owned Businesses

Family-owned businesses occupy a unique space in the corporate world, combining personal relationships with professional responsibilities. While these businesses often benefit from strong, cohesive leadership and shared values, they also face distinct challenges that can complicate operations and long-term planning. Tailored corporate law services are essential for addressing the specific legal needs of family-owned businesses, ensuring their sustainability and growth. Here's why these specialized services are so valuable.

Succession Planning and Continuity

One of the most significant challenges for family-owned businesses is ensuring a smooth transition of leadership from one generation to the next. Succession planning is not just about choosing the right person to take over; it involves careful legal structuring to ensure that the transition is smooth and that the business remains stable. Tailored corporate law services help in creating succession plans that address issues such as ownership transfer, management roles, and the protection of minority family members' interests.

These services also provide guidance on setting up trusts, wills, and other legal instruments to manage the transfer of assets and responsibilities. By ensuring that all legal aspects are properly managed, corporate law services help preserve the business's continuity and prevent conflicts that could arise during the transition.

Governance Structures and Family Agreements

Family-owned businesses often operate with informal governance structures, which can lead to misunderstandings and disputes among family members. Tailored corporate law services assist in establishing clear governance frameworks that define the roles, responsibilities, and decision-making processes within the business. This includes drafting family agreements that outline the rules for involvement in the business, dispute resolution mechanisms, and the distribution of profits.

Having a formal governance structure in place ensures that the business operates efficiently and that all family members are aware of their rights and obligations. This clarity helps to minimize conflicts and promotes a sense of fairness and transparency within the family business.

Protecting Family Assets and Wealth

Family-owned businesses often represent a significant portion of the family's wealth, making asset protection a critical concern. Tailored corporate law services provide strategies to safeguard the business and the family's assets from potential risks, such as lawsuits, creditor claims, and marital disputes. This includes setting up legal structures like holding companies, trusts, and prenuptial agreements to protect the business's assets.

By implementing these protective measures, corporate law services help ensure that the family's wealth is preserved for future generations. This is particularly important in family-owned businesses, where personal and business finances are often closely intertwined.

Managing Internal Disputes

Disputes are inevitable in any business, but in family-owned businesses, they can be particularly challenging due to the personal relationships involved. Tailored corporate law services provide the tools and processes needed to manage and resolve disputes effectively, minimizing the impact on the business.

This includes creating dispute resolution mechanisms, such as mediation or arbitration clauses in family agreements, that allow conflicts to be addressed in a structured and constructive manner. By handling disputes in a way that respects both the personal and professional aspects of the relationships, corporate law services help maintain harmony within the family and ensure the continued success of the business.

Strategic Planning and Growth

Family-owned businesses often have long-term goals that span generations, requiring careful strategic planning. Tailored corporate law services support these goals by providing legal advice that aligns with the business's vision and values. This includes guidance on expansion strategies, mergers and acquisitions, and the development of new business ventures.

By integrating legal considerations into the strategic planning process, corporate law services help family-owned businesses navigate growth opportunities while protecting their legacy. This proactive approach ensures that the business remains competitive and resilient in a changing market.

Tailored corporate law services are invaluable for family-owned businesses, offering the legal expertise needed to address their unique challenges. From succession planning and governance structures to asset protection, dispute resolution, and strategic planning, these services provide the foundation for long-term success and sustainability. By investing in specialized corporate law services, family-owned businesses can ensure their legacy is preserved and their future secured.

[power-chords]

@wintercorrybriea2 re: surmounting Writer’s Block and/or Writer’s Traffic Jam, this is a rundown of strategies that work for me personally, and by “work” I mean “ameliorate the problem anywhere from 30-75% about 30-75% of the time,” lmao, but this is literally my cheat sheet for when I get stuck:

Freedraft. (Also known as freewriting.) Implement a regular freedrafting schedule. Even if it’s just 15 minutes at a set time each day. I hate freedrafting because forcing my neurotic self-monitoring editor brain to shut up is impossible. But you have to do it. It is the only way you will get both faster and better at writing. In the month of August I committed to freedrafting for 34 minutes every weekday in a notebook on the train, because that’s the duration of my MNR commute in the morning. And I wound up completing a 16,000-word project I had been working on in a little under three weeks, which for me is a personal record! I write SLOW. The first week sucked but before you know it you’ll be off to the races. Forge the habit. Do whatever you need to do to forge the habit.

If you can’t freedraft, outline. Structure first, details later. Revise your outline, re-write your outline, expand on it or experiment with it, get more granular with it. Get an idea in your head of where you want things to go, and get it down on paper or in a word processor. Even if it’s just: Character needs to get from Room A to Room B over the course of this scene. How might you want them to do that?

If you can’t outline, read. If my creative writing gears are jammed it means I’m probably not reading enough to grease them. This should technically be #1, because the most important thing a writer can do is READ. Read fiction, and read research materials on the subject(s) you’re writing about.

If you can’t read, seek inspiration in other, related mediums, and maybe take some drugs. Seriously. Some of my best story ideas have come while I’m high off my ass, binging movies or making playlists in a similar genre or mood to what I’m writing. Whatever it takes to get you looser and less inhibited creatively. NOTE: make sure you check those ideas for coherence later, when you’re not under the influence. Spitball stoned; scrutinize sober.

Go for a walk and listen to music and daydream. It’s also just good for you and you will be a happier person.

Revisit central dramatic conflicts and character motives. What’s the Problem in the story, or the Problem in the chapter? What do your characters want, and what motivates them to handle the problem in the way that they do? What’s preventing them, both externally and internally, from finding easy resolution?

Revisit character transformations — or lack thereof. How do you want your characters to change over the course of your story? What are the ways that those changes could be interestingly, meaningfully effected? If one of them is not going to change — and sometimes this is even more interesting — what kinds of narrative scenarios would be the kind to make them stubbornly refuse growth, and why?

Revisit themes, symbols, and motifs that have already established themselves in your work. This is really only helpful if you’ve got enough already done that you can observe them. But if you have a general idea of where you want your story to go, and are struggling with the mechanics for getting there, finding those preexisting patterns might illuminate a path forward.

Craft backstories for your characters, and borrow liberally from real-world observation and research. The better you know your characters, the easier it will be to inhabit them, and the easier it will be to write them past the blocks that throw themselves up in your way. I am absolute dog shit at creative invention from scratch, which is part of the reason I write more fanfiction than original work, but drawing abundantly and directly from life is also how some of the most compelling original work gets made. (Cough cough…)

Revisit the source material and “novelize” a scene. This is only applicable to transformative work, but I’m including it since you mentioned you might be doing some forays into worldbuilding. If I’m stuck at a particular juncture in my own fic, I practice writing out an existing scene from the source itself, almost as if I were adapting it for a novel. This way, I can stay inside that universe and practice writing in it without having to do the heavy lifting required by plot. It’s more of a descriptive exercise, and I often find it gets my imagination and motivation going to resume writing the “real” thing.

SORRY, that got long! But with a little luck there’s some small thing of use to you in there!

[ginger-and-mint]

Hey, I'm wondering if you have any advice on writing kink stuff? Basically, it feels like I'm writing the same story repeatedly. Coming up with stuffing scenarios that both make sense, and aren't just retreads, is really hard. It probably doesn't help that a) I don't have much writing experience, b) my interests are really narrow, and c) I have no imagination, lol. How do you keep stuff fun and interesting? (Jsyk, I sent this to Tiny as well, I love both your blogs 😊)

Hey, anon! Thank you so much, I’m so glad you enjoy my and Tiny’s content and I’m flattered to be asked for advice! ♡ I have a lot of thoughts about this, so I’ll do my best to boil them down into something useful.
 ^^

Since you mentioned being pretty new to writing, I broke up my advice into a few different “stages,” starting with things that are easy to implement and moving to things that might feel more manageable as you get more comfortable with writing. Under a cut because Real Heckin Long.


Stage One — Don’t Sweat It

This might sound corny and unhelpful, but I genuinely think that especially when you’re first starting out, it’s best not to put pressure on yourself to write the world’s most original stories. Write to please your inner fiend and nobody else! If repeated versions of the same story continue to light your fire, there’s no shame in embracing that.

Doing this will honestly help you with originality in the long-term anyway, because you’re giving yourself the freedom to learn more about what specifics you really enjoy in kink writing. Later on, you can use that knowledge to put new twists on those specifics and invent new scenarios.

Stage Two — Stuffing Scenario Cheat Sheet

I completely agree that believable stuffing scenarios are really difficult to invent. What’s realistic is a matter of opinion of course, but for me, this is a quick breakdown of logical reasons for a character to overeat. If you’re getting tired of using the same justification in your fics, try picking something new from this list:

Accidental stuffing:

Character is distracted by something during the meal

Character eats so fast they don’t realize when they’re full

Character has been hungry for awhile and overdoes it when they finally get to eat

Reluctant intentional stuffing (motivated by external circumstances):

Character feels social pressure to keep eating **

The food will go to waste otherwise **

Eating contests / challenges **

The character is trying to bulk up

Enthusiastic intentional stuffing (because the character wants to):

Character just enjoys the feeling of being full

Character and/or their partner(s) have a stuffing kink

Character has temporary access to good food and is indulging while they can

Fantasy Shenanigans:

Side effects of being a magical creature (e.g. a werewolf eating too much for their human form to handle, a vampire needing to feed all at once, etc.)

Magic that causes a character to overeat (e.g. enchanted food, curses, potions, etc.)

Magic that requires a full stomach and/or extra energy to work (e.g. my di-mage spell mechanics, the antidote in this fic of Tiny’s, etc.)

[free space because fantasy lets you set the boundaries of what’s realistic, so your imagination is really the limit!]

** If you’re aiming for realism, I would be careful of these scenarios. In my opinion, they can be done believably, but often are not. Some things I would look out for:

Most foods can easily be stored for later, so if you want to use the “avoiding waste” trope, make sure that you’re either in a setting without access to refrigeration or that the food is something that genuinely wouldn’t keep until the next day (or at least would be way less tasty after a night in the fridge.)

Social pressure works best in scenarios with people that the to-be-stuffed character 1) doesn’t know very well and 2) wants to impress or keep face around (e.g. formal events, business dinners, first dates that involve food, meeting their partner’s family, etc.)

Loving friends, family, and partners don’t pressure or guilt people into overeating! Characters stuffing themselves because their loved ones are really insistent that they have to taste-test everything or act so disappointed because they went to all this work on some extravagant feast always ring at best false and at worst abusive to me. What kind of loving relationship is it if you don’t feel safe to say “no thanks, I’m full?” That’s not to say social pressure with loved ones can’t be done well, but it usually indicates some kind of character flaw (i.e. an inability to say no and/or a steamroller-y personality) that in my opinion, has to be acknowledged by the fic’s end if you want the tone to stay light and fluffy.

Again, this may just be my opinion, but eating contests only come across as realistic with certain character personalities and in certain contexts. Like yeah, I can believe that a himbo with YouTuber Energy would take on a hot wing eating challenge in front of all his bros, but not so much that an otherwise self-respecting character would drop everything to eat themselves sick because a friend randomly challenged them.

Stage Three — Change Up Other Elements When Using Similar Tropes


Especially if you have narrow interests, it’s probably inevitable you’ll write same basic story structure over and over. I know I sure do! However, I would say that changing other elements of the narrative can give your writing an entirely different feel, turning it into a whole new story that will not feel like a simple retread to a reader.

One thing you can change up is setting. A lot of times kink writers will just plonk characters in the comfort of their own homes, which is valid — but setting hugely influences the atmosphere of a story, so the same Kink Plot will read really differently if it happens, say, at a campground or on a boat. Providing a rich setting can even become a feature of the kink itself. For example, setting your story at a lavish buffet could introduce an element of indulgence that hits you and/or readers differently than a story that involves casual takeout in the living room, even if the rest of the story is similar. Try bold settings! They’re fun!

Another element to vary is context. For example, the basic trope of “stress eating” would play out really differently if a character is about to go on an important mission vs. if they’re recovering from an emotionally difficult day; a story about about a character intentionally stuffing themselves will have a completely different flavor if they’ve been going hungry for awhile vs. they’ve been overeating all week; and so on.


Finally, consider changing up the focus. An easy way to do this is to switch up whether you’re writing from the POV of the stuffed character or a caretaker. You can also focus on different details of the stuffing — for example, lingering on how delicious the food looks and tastes vs. how the character feels as their stomach fills vs. physical details like whether they’re getting bloated or grumbly.

Stage Four — Connect to Character or Plot

The most surefire way to make kink stories distinct is to give the story an additional purpose besides just being kinky. This doesn’t have to be some big, extravagant plot (although it certainly can be) — it can be a simple as writing a kink story the way you usually would, and just finding something within it that you can use to reveal an aspect of your character.

Start with an ordinary kink scenario and try to dive a little deeper. For example:

Say you want to write a story about stress eating. Okay — what is the character stressed about?

Maybe you come up with something relatively simple and generic, like school. Okay, what about this character makes them so likely to be stressed out by school? Are they a perfectionist? Are they facing a lot of pressure from their family? Do they have a goal that requires excellent grades? Have they struggled with this subject in the past?

Let’s say you decide to go with perfectionism. Now, what scenes can you use to show this struggle? And optionally, can you give the character some kind of resolution by the story’s end?

And there you go! Your fic now not only has kink, but also shows how your character reacts in a certain situation.

Character especially is a treasure trove of uniqueness, in my opinion, because well-developed characters react differently to the same scenario. Stories feel more original because even if a reader has read this exact same plot before, they will not have seen how this particular person handles it. So one of the best ways to make fics distinct is to spend time developing your characters!

If the goal is to simply write solid distinct kinky stories, trying to create detailed plot is more work with lower return than investing in your characters, if you ask me. You have to enjoy the process of creating plots itself for it to be worth it. If that’s something you’re interested in, I have a whole load more thoughts about that -- but since this is already incredibly long, I’ll save that for a separate ramble if anyone is specifically interested.

---

I hope something in this huge infodump is helpful to you! Some of it may sound intimidating if you’re just starting out with kink writing, but it’s absolutely all something that can be worked up to. Please feel free to ask any follow-up questions if stuff I’ve written doesn’t make sense. Good luck with your writing, anon, and thanks for giving me an excuse to just go off. ^^’ ♡

[chiamakapatience-blog]

MANAGING WORKPLACE CONFLICT

Workplace conflict is inevitable when employees of various backgrounds and different work styles are brought together for a shared business purpose. Conflict can—and should—be managed and resolved. This toolkit examines the causes and effects of workplace conflict and the reasons why employers should act to address conflict.

The first steps in handling workplace conflict belong, in most cases, to the employees who are at odds with one another. The employer's role��exercised by managers and HR professionals—is significant, however, and is grounded in the development of a workplace culture designed to prevent conflict among employees to the extent possible. The basis for such a culture is strong employee relations, namely, fairness, trust and mutual respect at all levels. This toolkit offers suggestions to create such an organizational climate and includes methods to deal with employee grievances and conflicts.

This toolkit also explores the various roles HR professionals play in managing workplace conflict, ways to communicate an organization's conflict-resolution procedures and how to measure the effectiveness of those procedures. The toolkit does not examine the details of procedures for settling conflicts.

Background

Conflict can occur in any organization when employees with different backgrounds and priorities work together. Conflict can be expressed in numerous ways such as insults, noncooperation, bullying and anger. Its causes can range from personality clashes and misunderstood communication to organizational mismanagement. The negative effects of workplace conflict can include work disruptions, decreased productivity, project failure, absenteeism, turnover and termination. Emotional stress can be both a cause and an effect of workplace conflict.

While 25 percent of employees surveyed in 1998 reported being treated rudely at work at least once a week, that figure rose to 55 percent in 2011 and 62 percent in 2016, according to Christine Porath, an associate professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. Heightened tension over conflicting political views may be one cause of this increase.

A survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that four in 10 UK employees reported having experienced some form of interpersonal conflict at work in the last year. Most of that conflict is between an employee and his or her line manager. The survey also found that employees are more likely to report that they have experienced conflict with a staff member who is more senior to them.1

Experts offer several causes of workplace conflict, including:

Personality differences.

Workplace behaviors regarded by some co-workers as irritating.

Unmet needs in the workplace.

Perceived inequities of resources.

Unclarified roles in the workplace.

Competing job duties or poor implementation of a job description—for example, placing a nonsupervisory employee in an unofficial position of "supervising" another employee.

A systemic circumstance such as a workforce slowdown, a merger or acquisition, or a reduction in force.

Mismanagement of organizational change and transition.

Poor communication, including misunderstood remarks and comments taken out of context.

Differences over work methods or goals or differences in perspectives attributable to age, sex or upbringing.

Employers can manage workplace conflict by creating an organizational culture designed to preclude conflict as much as possible and by dealing promptly and equitably with conflict that employees cannot resolve among themselves. To manage conflict, employers should consider the following:

Make certain that policies and communication are clear and consistent, and make the rationale for decisions transparent.

Ensure that all employees—not just managers—are accountable for resolving conflict.

Do not ignore conflict, and do not avoid taking steps to prevent it.

Seek to understand the underlying emotions of the employees in conflict.

Keep in mind that approaches to resolving conflict may depend on the circumstances of the conflict.

See How to Resolve Workplace Conflicts.

Many experts maintain that although conflict is generally regarded as having a negative effect in the workplace, a degree of properly managed conflict can be beneficial for an organization. See Why Workplace Conflict Can Be Healthy.

Business Case

A well-functioning work environment is one in which employees communicate with respectful, inoffensive language; show tolerance and acceptance of differences among each other; and demonstrate respect for all individuals in the organization regardless of position, status or tenure.

If an employer has mechanisms in place to resolve conflict at its early stages, employees will generally see their employer as fair in their dealings with them and will likely be more satisfied with their jobs. Reductions in employee conflict can lead to increased employee productivity, greater motivation and loyalty, lower medical costs, fewer workers' compensation claims, and reduced litigation costs.

Unresolved issues of interpersonal tension and conflict can create emotional stress for employees, politicize the workplace and divert attention from the organization's mission. If employers do not act, conflicts will escalate into larger problems, discrimination and harassment complaints may increase, and the employer's reputation could be damaged. Other possible consequences of failing to manage workplace conflict include:

Absenteeism. Unscheduled absences drive up employers' costs through benefits outlays, the use of replacement workers, higher stress levels among employees and a decrease in overall employee performance.

Turnover. When employees mistrust management or perceive the organization as acting unfairly, turnover may increase. This can lead to recruiting and training expenses for new hires and the costs attributable to a slippage of performance until new employees become fully proficient in their jobs.

Unionization. When employees perceive their employers as unfair, they are more inclined to seek outside resources such as a union to help protect them and to negotiate on their behalf on matters such as employment, compensation and benefits.

Litigation. An employee who cannot achieve a resolution of a workplace conflict may seek outside legal help, which can cause an organization to mount a costly defense or agree to an expensive settlement. Lawsuits resolved in an employee's favor can result in significant financial penalties for the employer and can even produce criminal or civil sanctions.

Employers should also take steps to manage the growing trends of incivility and bullying in the workplace. Employers are well-advised to treat such types of power conflicts seriously and to seek to address them proactively. See How to Create a Culture of Civility.

The Role of Human Resources

The human resource team has a leadership responsibility to develop and implement workplace conflict policies and procedures and to create and manage conflict-resolution programs. HR also initiates employee communication on conflict and tracks the metrics and costs of conflict-resolution efforts. Many HR professionals receive conflict-resolution training, often as part of their professional development, and many are accustomed to conducting such training or enlisting outside training resources for supervisors and managers.  

HR professionals often become involved in settling workplace conflicts, particularly if the employees and their supervisors cannot achieve a resolution. If HR cannot resolve a conflict, an outside specialist may be needed to work out a settlement. See Viewpoint: The Art and Science of Conflict Management.

In many instances, however, HR does not learn of workplace conflict until differences have escalated. HR professionals must be made aware of workplace tensions before they grow into larger problems, and managers should act as HR's "warning system." HR must always be informed about certain types of workplace conflicts, such as those that may involve harassment, discrimination, illegal activities, or other matters that could lead to lawsuits or involvement of law enforcement.

The Role of Employees

Although supervisors and managers have a major responsibility to ensure that workplace conflicts are resolved, several experts say that the first steps to settling differences should be taken by employees themselves.

Employees who have complaints about co-workers should be advised to try to work out their differences directly with those co-workers before asking a supervisor or a manager to step in, says Kelly Mollica, a consultant for the Centre Group, a human asset management firm in Memphis, Tenn. That approach, she says, may not only reduce interruptions for managers but may also help employees develop their own conflict-resolution skills.

Resolving workplace conflicts does not require top-down interventions, Mollica says. A manager who approaches one employee with another's complaints may be seen as taking sides. If that happens often, it can be interpreted as bias in favor of certain employees, thereby undermining the manager's authority. Moreover, employees should not be overly dependent on their managers. Organizations need people who can handle day-to-day issues on their own, think independently, analyze problems, come up with solutions and take steps to implement them. This includes both task-related and people-related problems.

It may be time-consuming for managers to coach employees on how to resolve conflicts, but in the long term it will create a work environment where conflict management is seen as everyone's obligation, not just the managers'. Below are Mollica's suggestions for supervisors and managers:

Set specific guidelines regarding what employees should do if they experience conflict.

Let employees know that they are expected to attempt to resolve conflicts before approaching a manager for help.

Do not put employees' "urgent" issues at the top of your priority list. Listen to and support employees with conflicts, but do not automatically take ownership of those problems.

Provide ongoing employee training in conflict resolution. Such training often starts with self-assessments so employees can understand their own conflict-management styles and the pros and cons of using a particular style. (See the section "Training to Handle Conflict," below.)

Employers should create a workplace culture in which managing conflict is viewed as a core job competency regardless of the employee's role in the organization. HR professionals can ask behavioral questions during job interviews to assess an applicant's previous experience in dealing with conflict. For example, the HR professional can ask a job candidate to describe a time that he or she had a conflict with a co-worker and to discuss what happened to cause the conflict and what the job candidate did to resolve it. Observable and measurable criteria based on guidelines or protocols for resolving conflict can be incorporated into job descriptions and performance reviews. Employees who successfully resolve conflicts on their own should be recognized and praised.

Employees should be continually reminded that when addressing conflicts, they should focus on behaviors and the consequences of the behavior, not on personalities.

Employers should bear in mind that if employees are not using an open-door policy to inform them of conflicts, conflicts may still be present. It may mean that employees think they are no longer supposed to discuss conflicts with their managers or supervisors. HR professionals should make sure employees know HR is available to coach them on how to work through specific situations.

Know where to draw the line. Do not expect employees to handle every problem on their own; it could send a message that management is willing to ignore inappropriate or potentially illegal behavior. Make sure employees know that managers must be notified of and involved in certain types of conflicts, particularly if there are indications of physical violence, harassment, theft, or possession or use of illegal substances. Nonmanagement employees should never be expected to confront violations of the law or to enforce company policy without management's knowledge.

See Viewpoint: Caught in the Middle.

Conflict Management Training

To curb or prevent the effects of conflict, some managers and HR specialists are turning to conflict management training. This kind of training takes many forms and covers many topics. It can be provided through one-day workshops, small-group facilitations and one-on-one sessions. HR professionals should select an approach based on the type of workplace conflict that needs to be addressed.

Conflict management training can be helpful for employees exhibiting passive-aggressive behavior, experts say, and for intensely angry employees—those continually in conflict, often facing disciplinary action and causing complaints by co-workers. Angry employees may use inappropriate language in meetings and issue scathing remarks in e-mails. If they are managers, their employees may have unusually high rates of absenteeism and turnover.

If employees' behavior involves harm or the threat of harm to anyone, however, they may require more help than training can provide. In cases in which an employee shows signs of passionate anger, such as throwing chairs or banging fists, employers should refer to their workplace violence prevention program for security prevention and intervention strategies. Procedures for detecting, investigating, managing, and addressing threatening behavior or violent episodes that occur in a workplace should be in place.

See Conflict Resolution Training

Developing Strong Employee Relations

When it occurs, conflict must be resolved equitably and quickly. It is also important, though, to try to prevent it—that is, to create an environment in which corrosive conflict is less likely to occur in the first place. The foundation of such a culture is employee relations, the process of building strong relationships between managers and employees based on fairness, trust and mutual respect. It takes time, effort and money to create such a work environment, but a good employee relations climate supports motivation, loyalty and high performance among employees, and it encourages them to try to achieve the best results possible for their organization. See Developing and Sustaining Employee Engagement.

HR and other organizational leaders can use the following ingredients to create a strong employee relations strategy:

Interactive communication. Communication that is clear and two-way can help build trust between employees and their managers.

Trust. The absence of trust among employees and managers can compromise communication in either or both directions.

Ethics. If employees do not perceive their manager as having good business ethics, they will indirectly question the manager's motives, which may cause stress and reduce performance.

Fairness. All employees should be treated in a consistent manner under the same circumstances. Superior performance, however, should still be recognized and rewarded.

Empathy. Managers need to be alert and sensitive to their employees' feelings, and showing empathy and awareness is central to establishing a trusting relationship with employees.

Perceptions and beliefs. Perceptions can be essential in employee relations. Employees respond positively when they believe the organization's policies and practices are fair and its communication is truthful. Frequent, honest communication helps ensure that employees' beliefs and perceptions are consistent with reality in the workplace.

Clear expectations. Employees need to know what to expect from their managers. No one likes to be surprised with new or conflicting requirements, which can cause stress and distract employees from the job at hand.

Conflict resolution. Although conflicts arise in every organization, the methods to handle them vary. Employers must deal with issues head-on and resolve disputes fairly and quickly.

If an organization is large enough to support an employee relations position, this can send a positive message to the workforce about the value the employer places on maintaining positive employee relationships. HR professionals are often trained to handle workplace conflict and to resolve problems among employees; however, a specialist in employee relations or an ombudsman dedicated to working with employees experiencing conflict or other dissatisfaction in the workplace can eliminate many issues before they escalate.

A Framework to Minimize Conflict

There is no single strategy to create a positive workplace climate. A number of tools are used in various combinations to stimulate employee engagement and to minimize conflict. There are, however, several essential tools HR professionals can use to create a positive workplace climate.

Written rules, policies and agreements

Employees should understand how workplace conflicts will be resolved. An organization communicates its expectations typically via an employee handbook, HR policies, and written contracts and agreements with certain high-level individuals.

Written HR policies are essential to provide guidance to managers and employees on how conflicts and other issues should be handled. Such policies include any formal mechanisms in place to help employees resolve differences and provisions to prohibit retaliation against employees who raise concerns.

Agreements and contracts with key executives are designed to ensure a common understanding about the employment relationship. Such contracts may include a requirement that binding arbitration—rather than potentially costlier litigation—be used for resolving employment-related disputes.

Effective management

Conflicts have a better chance of being managed quickly and successfully when an organization has a strong leadership team in place. Leaders that allow poor behavior from employees or ignore workplace bullies will certainly experience damaged employee relations. An effective management team is imperative in preventing slippage in employee morale and increases in turnover.

Careful hiring

A key strategy to avoid employee relations problems is to make sure the organization's hiring process embodies good interviewing skills and selection procedures and pre-employment screening, including a background investigation.

Just as the requisite experience and education are key in hiring, so are demeanor and communication style, which can suggest whether a job candidate would be a "good fit" for the organization. A company's culture can have a significant impact on whether a candidate is likely to succeed within the organization. See Want to Really Get to Know Your Candidates? Interview for Emotional Intelligence.

Fair grievance processes

Organizations should have written policies and definitions pertaining to dispute mechanisms available in the organization that provide clear guidance for the employer and the employees. The policy should state the scope and limitations of each mechanism and spell out each method's terms, such as eligibility, frequency, decision process, and required sign-off and approvals for settling a matter.

Employers that implement a system through which parties can resolve conflict within the company create incentives for employees to avoid engaging in costly and time-consuming external litigation. Organizations typically have multiple ways for employees to work out interpersonal or organizational differences. The existence of a grievance system may also improve employee morale because employees feel they have options for pursuing conflict resolution. See Don't Just Quash Conflict -- Resolve It.

Here are common steps to resolve workplace disputes:

Open-door policy. This is a first step. It encourages employees to meet with their immediate supervisor to discuss and resolve work-related issues. Employees should know that there will be no negative repercussions for voicing a complaint.

Management review. If the open-door approach does not resolve the conflict, the next step is to have the issue reviewed by the next-higher level of management.

Peer review. The aggrieved employee presents his or her side of a dispute to a small panel of employees and supervisors selected from a pool of employees trained in dispute resolution. This method often succeeds because employees participate in decisions that affect them. Depending on the organization, a peer review may be binding on both parties. If it is not binding and the resolution is not satisfactory to the employee, the dispute may be submitted to mediation or arbitration.

The following are types of conflict resolution techniques available to organizations:

Facilitation. A neutral employee in the organization—often an employee relations manager—acts as a facilitator, not to judge the merits of the dispute or to render a final decision, but to help both sides decide the best way to settle the dispute.

Mediation. A mediator is a neutral third party who helps the conflicting parties explore innovative solutions to their dispute. Mediators can be internal employees trained in conflict management and mediation, or they can be trained external professionals who have no perceived conflict of interest with the employer. Resolving a dispute through mediation should be voluntary.

Arbitration. This is typically the most formal, costly and time-consuming method of resolving disputes. Witnesses may be presented and cross-examined, and an arbitrator issues a binding decision.

See Q&A with Daniel Shapiro on Negotiating the Nonnegotiable

Training for managers

HR must ensure that effective management training is provided regularly in the organization. Managers should also know how to spot issues and seek counsel from specialists before responding to a problem. This can ensure fair treatment of subordinates and can also protect the employer from being inadvertently exposed to legal issues. See Conflict Resolution Training for Supervisors.

HR must ensure that managers have skills and training in several additional areas, including:

Conflict resolution. Managers should be trained to recognize problems, ask questions and devise solutions before the issues become time-wasters and legal risks.

Organization rules and expectations. Managers should understand what is expected of them, and they should know the organization's rules and policies. If a manager does not know how to enforce the rules, the result can be confusion and conflict.

Laws and regulations. Managers must understand the basic laws and regulations of the employment relationship so they have at least a general knowledge of their employees' rights.

Professionalism. Managers who commit themselves to high standards of professionalism and who follow stringent business ethics gain employees' respect, whereas managers who bend the rules are viewed with skepticism. Employees respect and do their best work for managers who are committed to doing what is right regardless of possible repercussions.

Communication. A manager's ability to communicate effectively with staff is critical for building good relationships. Managers should be trained in how to give complete, specific assignments; listen carefully; provide constructive feedback; respond to employee suggestions; and deal with conflict. They should also know how to share information with employees—and how much to share—based on the organization's philosophy and preferences for sharing.

Work assignments. Managers should be trained in how to assess their employees' abilities and to understand their employees' strengths and weaknesses to determine what assignments are reasonable for each employee. Employees are most productive when they feel that their work is significant and valued by management.

Performance management and feedback

Performance reviews typically occur at least once a year; some are more frequent. During such reviews, goals and objectives are determined and agreed on, and managers can give candid feedback to employees. Managers who constructively and frankly communicate such information to employees tend to establish stronger workgroups and foster better individual performers. Without feedback, employees are left to wonder how they are doing and what their manager really thinks about them, which in turn can lead to dissatisfaction, misunderstandings and conflict. See Managing Employee Performance.

Fair termination processes

Most workplace litigation arises because individuals feel they were not taken seriously or did not receive a fair hearing. HR should review disciplinary policies and procedures to ensure there is a fair process that protects employees from impulsive or ill-considered reactions by management. Employees are more likely to view a dispute-resolution system as fair and equitable if it allows them to correct problematic behavior before termination is considered. This perception of fairness can also help minimize emotions and disruptions by other employees when a co-worker must be terminated.

Communication

Supervisors and managers should be well-informed about all the organization's dispute resolution systems. They should know the rationale for each system and be able to explain how each works in practice. An HR professional's decision about how to communicate a dispute-resolution system's details to employees will depend on the culture of the organization and the various types of media that are available and that are most effective within the workforce. Such media may include training, staff meetings, policy and procedure manuals, organization intranet, e-mail, newsletters, flyers, new-employee orientation training materials, and individual letters to employees. HR should regularly remind managers and supervisors about the importance of dealing with conflict early and about the options available to them to resolve such matters.

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10 Safety Tips fоr Law Firms, Attorneys аnd Legal Professionals

Violence committed bу clients аgаіnѕt attorneys аnd legal professionals іѕ real. It happens іn small towns аnd big cities, аnd іn small аnd large legal practices. Sоmе practice areas аrе mоrе volatile than оthеrѕ, such аѕ divorce аnd family law, dispute resolution, employment law аnd real estate litigation. Particularly іn a bad economy with high unemployment, tempers аrе short аnd mоrе people reach levels оf desperation.

Whіlе dramatic cases like shootings аt law firms make headlines, thе majority оf security incidents аmоng attorneys аnd staff аrе unreported bесаuѕе they involve harassment аnd lower level threats. In thе privacy оf attorney-client meetings, emotional аnd sometimes irrational individuals lash оut аt their lawyers. Money іѕ оftеn аt thе heart оf disputes аnd mаnу attorneys аrе confronted with disagreements аbоut their billable hours. Clients bесоmе upset аnd irate аbоut hоw their case іѕ proceeding оr thе outcome оf a case. Meetings that involve elevated voices аnd foul language саn bе thе precursor tо a physical altercation.

Receptionists аnd оthеr staff іn law firms аlѕо encounter angry, hostile clients. Althоugh experienced receptionists hаvе a thick skin аnd аrе sometimes trained іn hоw tо manage harassment bу clients аnd opposing parties, there аrе situations when they аrе truly threatened аnd іn danger.

Law practice management ѕhоuld include systems аnd procedures that ensure workplace safety аnd violence prevention fоr attorneys аnd staff. All law office employees ѕhоuld acquire thе skills tо recognize аnd manage threatening, potentially dangerous individuals. Client-facing legal professionals need tools tо protect themselves аnd prevent early stage situations frоm escalating іntо major, dangerous events.

Hеrе аrе 10 safety tips fоr attorneys аnd legal staff.

1. Create a safe work environment fоr receptionists. Ensure receptionists hаvе a clear view оf thе office entry wау with little opportunity fоr people tо sneak іn оr hide, particularly doors, elevators, аnd аll traffic flow. Design thе frоnt desk tо provide a barrier bеtwееn receptionists аnd clients but аlѕо allows easy escape. Delineate a clear understanding оf whеrе clients аrе allowed tо bе іn thе lobby аnd frоnt desk area. Remove office objects frоm thе frоnt desk that аrе potential weapons аnd kеер them stored іn drawers оr cabinets - staplers, scissors аnd letter openers. Kеер соmрutеr screens аnd family photos away frоm public view.

2. Establish safe meeting areas fоr clients аnd attorneys. Safe areas саn include windows tо allow co-workers tо ѕее what іѕ occurring inside but still maintain confidentiality. Meeting areas ѕhоuld hаvе two entrances ѕо attorneys аnd staff саn avoid bеіng cornered. Bеfоrе entering meeting rooms with potentially threatening clients, remove potential weapons frоm them.

3. Install security technology. Technology helps protect employees, reduces thе severity оf incidents аnd provides wауѕ tо quickly respond tо situations. Consider installing buzzer doors that allow entry оnlу аftеr verification оf thе visitor. Provide panic buttons fоr attorneys, receptionists аnd оthеr staff tо discreetly notify оthеrѕ оf a potentially dangerous situation bеfоrе іt escalates. Cameras аnd adequate lighting аlѕо help deter assailants.

4. Train аll attorneys аnd staff hоw tо handle angry clients. Defusing skills аnd knowing hоw tо de-escalate hostile behavior аrе essential fоr attorneys аnd client-facing employees. Listening skills, redirecting negative behavior, setting boundaries аnd assault awareness аrе аll acquired skills that ѕhоuld bе continually honed with training аnd practice. There аrе mаnу free online resources аnd security consultants who provide these services.

5. Establish a workplace violence policy аnd procedures. These ѕhоuld include clear instructions оn hоw employees саn report аnу concerns. Just аѕ important аѕ thе method оf reporting іѕ аn environment whеrе аll employees feel safe аnd supported. A danger that occurs іn аll workplaces, including law offices, іѕ domestic violence spillover. When employees face domestic violence threats they muѕt feel comfortable еnоugh tо inform their manager аbоut embarrassing, private matters.

6. Provide employee assistance programs. Employee issues аlѕо arise frоm within a law practice. Human resources ѕhоuld provide support programs tо employees with disciplinary issues оr personal problems. This type оf support helps prevent acts оf violence аnd helps create a stronger, healthier workplace.

7. Develop risk аnd threat assessments. When a threat bу a client emerges оr іѕ identified, a law office needs a process tо determine thе likelihood аnd severity оf thе threat. A process that gathers information, collects аnd reviews evidence аnd weighs warning signs іѕ раrt оf a good threat management system. Connections аnd relationships with local law enforcement аnd security professionals аrе paramount tо risk analysis. Frоnt desk personnel ѕhоuld bе given descriptions оf thе threat with safety instructions ѕhоuld identified individuals arrive аt thе law firm.

8. Utilize legal resources tо increase employee protection. Workplace restraining orders аnd trespass orders саn аlwауѕ bе obtained. Misdemeanor charges such аѕ telephone harassment, stalking оr property damage саn bе levied tо create a paper trail fоr a threat, аnd thе charges warn thе individual nоt tо harass legal professionals pending thе trial. Mаnу states аlѕо hаvе a victim notification system that automatically calls аnу phone number оnсе a person іѕ released frоm jail.

9. Establish emergency response procedures. Shоuld a threat еvеr bесоmе a reality, emergency response procedures help prevent a bad situation frоm bесоmіng a complete catastrophe. A system that notifies аll employees, hаѕ escape аnd lockdown procedures аnd support mechanisms fоr emergency response personnel аrе аll components оf crisis management.

10. Coordinate аnd communicate with neighboring businesses. It іѕ important neighboring businesses аrе aware оf potentially threatening, dangerous individuals. When a mаn bent оn killing аn attorney opens fіrе, аnуоnе іn thе vicinity саn bе a target. Nоt оnlу саn emergency management bе coordinated, but thе surveillance оf individuals аnd potential risks іѕ increased through such community partnerships.

Law firms committed tо workplace security ensure safe workplaces through thе design оf their facilities аnd thе implementation оf accessible, sophisticated technology. They train attorneys аnd employees іn basic security skills tо help mitigate hostile encounters. Conscientious law firms provide support fоr employees іn need аnd establish аn environment whеrе their concerns саn bе disclosed. Safe law firms establish аnd practice threat аnd emergency management procedures that аrе vital іn maintaining a safe workplace. Whіlе shootings іn law firms аrе rare, thе muсh mоrе common hostile encounters with clients аrе sometimes warning signs that ѕhоuld bе taken seriously.

These safety tips provide a general framework fоr establishing a safer law office, but thе key requirement іѕ tо recognize threats аgаіnѕt attorneys аnd legal professionals аrе real аnd саn happen аnуwhеrе.

Contact Us:

Singleton Law Firm

Address: 115 Plaza St, Solana Beach, CA 92075, USA

Phone: (760) 697-1330

Email: info@slffirm.com

Website: https://slffirm.com/

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Solving Common Cross-Platform Issues When Working With Flutter

When mistreatment cross-platform frameworks, folks may forget the nuances of every of the platforms they need their code to run on. This text aims to handle that.

Specifically, people sometimes confuse it with the older Web-based mobile (and desktop) cross-platform frameworks, which basically were just Web pages running within browsers running within a wrapper app.

That was truly cross-platform in the sense that the interfaces were the same anyway because you only had access to the interfaces normally accessible on the Web.

Flutter isn’t that, though: it runs natively on each platform, and it means each app runs just like it would run if it were written in Java/Kotlin or Objective-C/Swift on Android and iOS, pretty much. You need to know that because this implies that you need to take care of the many differences between these very diverse platforms.

Example 1: Storage

I recently wrote on my diary concerning the necessity for a special approach to storing JWTs in net apps compared to mobile apps. That is due to the various nature of the platforms’ storage choices, and therefore the got to recognize every and their native development tools.

WEB

When you write a Web app, the storage options you have are:

1. Downloading/uploading files to/from disk, which requires user interaction and is therefore only suitable for files meant to be read or created by the user.

2. Using cookies, which may or may not be accessible from JS (depending on whether or not they’re httpOnly) and are automatically sent along with requests to a given domain and saved when they come as part of a response.

3. Using JS localStorage and sessionStorage, accessible by any JS on the website, but only from JS that is part of the pages of that website.

MOBILE

The situation when it comes to mobile apps is completely different. The storage options are the following:

1. Local app documents or cache storage, accessible by that app.

2. Other local storage paths for user-created/readable files.

3. NSUserDefaults and SharedPreferences respectively on iOS and Android for key-value storage.

4. Keychain on iOS and KeyStore on Android for secure storage of, respectively, any data and cryptographic keys.

If you don’t recognize that, you’re getting to build a multitude of your implementations as a result of you would like to understand what storage answer you’re truly exploitation and what the benefits and downsides area unit.

CROSS-PLATFORM SOLUTIONS: AN INITIAL APPROACH

Using the Flutter shared_preferences package uses localStorage on the Web, SharedPreferences on Android and NSUserDefaults on iOS. Those have utterly completely different implications for your app, particularly if you’re storing sensitive info like session tokens: localStorage are often scan by the shopper, thus it’s a tangle if you’re prone to XSS. although mobile apps aren’t very prone to XSS, SharedPreferences and NSUserDefaults don't seem to be secure storage ways as a result of they will be compromised on the shopper facet since they're not secure storage and not encrypted.  That’s as a result of they're meant for user preferences, as mentioned here within the case of iOS and here within the robot documentation once talking concerning the protection library that is meant to produce wrappers to the SharedPreferences specifically to inscribe the info before storing it.

SECURE STORAGE ON MOBILE

The only secure storage solutions on mobile are Keychain and KeyStore on iOS and Android respectively, whereas there is no secure storage on the Web. The Keychain and KeyStore area unit terribly completely different in nature, though: Keychain could be a generic credentials storage resolution, whereas the KeyStore is employed to store (and will generate) science keys, either stellate keys or public/private keys.

This means that if, for example, you would like to store a session token, on iOS you'll be able to let the OS manage the coding half and simply send your token to the Keychain, whereas on humanoid it’s a small amount a lot of of a manual expertise as a result of you would like to get (not hard-code, that’s bad) a key, use it to cypher the token, store the encrypted token in SharedPreferences and store the key within the KeyStore. There area unit completely different approaches to it, as area unit most things in security, however the only is perhaps to use stellate coding, as there's no want for public key cryptography since your app each encrypts and decrypts the token. Obviously, you don’t have to be compelled to write mobile platform-specific code that will all of that, as  there is a Flutter plugin that does all of that, for instance.

THE LACK OF SECURE STORAGE ON THE WEB

That was, actually, the rationale that compelled ME to put in writing this post. I wrote regarding exploitation that package to store JWT on mobile apps and other people wished the net version of that however, as I said, there's no secure storage on the net. It doesn’t exist. Does that mean your JWT must be get in the open? No, not at all. you'll be able to use httpOnly cookies, can’t you? Those area unitn’t accessible by JS and are sent solely to your server. the problem thereupon is that they’re continuously sent to your server, notwithstanding one amongst your users clicks on a GET request address on somebody else’s web site which GET request has aspect effects you or your user won’t like. This really works for different request varieties moreover, it’s simply a lot of sophisticated. It’s referred to as Cross-Site Request Forgery and you don’t wish that.  It’s among the net security threats mentioned in Mozilla’s MDN docs, wherever you'll be able to notice a a lot of complete rationalization. There area unit interference strategies. the foremost common one has 2 tokens, actually: one amongst them aiming to the shopper as Associate in Nursing httpOnly cookie, the opposite as a part of the response.  The latter must be hold on in localStorage and not in cookies as a result of we have a tendency to don’t wish it to be sent mechanically to the server.

SOLVING BOTH

What if you have both a mobile app and a Web app? That can be dealt with in one of two ways:

1. Use the same backend endpoint, but manually get and send the cookies using the cookie-related HTTP headers;

2. Create a separate non-Web backend endpoint that generates different token than either token used by the Web app and then allow for regular JWT authorization if the client is able to provide the mobile-only token.

Running Different Code On Different Platforms

Now, let’s see how we can run different code on different platforms in order to be able to compensate for the differences.

CREATING A FLUTTER PLUGIN

Especially to unravel the matter of storage, a technique you'll do this is with a plugin package: plugins offer a typical Dart interface and might run totally different code on different platforms, together with native platform-specific Kotlin/Java or Swift/Objective-C code. Developing packages and plugins is quite complicated, however it’s explained in several places on the net et al. (for example in Flutter books), together with the official Flutter documentation. For mobile platforms, for example, there already may be a secure storage plugin, and that’s flutter_secure_storage, that you'll notice associate example of usage here, however that doesn’t work on the net, as an example.

On the opposite hand, for easy key-value storage that additionally works on the net, there’s a cross-platform Google-developed first-party plugin package known as shared_preferences, that incorporates a Web-specific part known as shared_preferences_web that uses NSUserDefaults, SharedPreferences or localStorage reckoning on the platform.

TARGETPLATFORM ON FLUTTER

After importing package:flutter/foundation.dart, you can compare Theme.of(context).platform to the values:

TargetPlatform.android

TargetPlatform.iOS

TargetPlatform.linux

TargetPlatform.windows

TargetPlatform.macOS

TargetPlatform.fuchsia

and write your functions so that, for each platform you want to support, they do the appropriate thing. This will come especially useful for the next example of platform difference, and that is differences in how widgets are displayed on different platforms.

For that use case, in particular, there is also a reasonably popular flutter_platform_widgets plugin, which simplifies the development of platform-aware widgets.

Example 2: Differences In How The Same Widget Is Displayed

You can’t simply write cross-platform code and fake a browser, a phone, a computer, and a smartwatch area unit a similar factor — unless you wish your humanoid and iOS app to be a WebView and your desktop app to be designed with lepton.

There area unit many reasons to not try this, and it’s not the purpose of this piece to convert you to use frameworks like Flutter instead that keep your app native, with all the performance and user expertise blessings that go with it, whereas permitting you to jot down code that's progressing to be a similar for all platforms most of the time.

That requires care and a focus, though, and a minimum of a basic data of the platforms you wish to support, their actual native genus Apis, and every one of that.

React Native users have to be compelled to pay even additional attention thereto as a result of that framework uses the inherent OS widgets, thus you really have to be compelled to pay even additional attention to however the app appearance by testing it extensively on each platforms, while not having the ability to modify between iOS and Material device on the fly like it’s potential with Flutter..

WHAT CHANGES WITHOUT YOUR REQUEST

There are some aspects of the UI of your app that are automatically changed when you switch platforms. This section also mentions what changes between Flutter and React Native in this respect.

Between Android And iOS (Flutter)

Flutter is capable of rendering Material widgets on iOS (and Cupertino (iOS-like) widgets on Android), however what it DOESN’T do is show precisely the same factor on robot and iOS: Material theming particularly adapts to the conventions of every platform.

For instance, navigation animations and transitions and default fonts area unit completely different, however those don’t impact your app that abundant. What might have an effect on a number of your decisions once it involves aesthetics or wife is that the indisputable fact that some static components conjointly modification.

Specifically, some icons modification between the 2 platforms, app bar titles area unit within the middle on iOS and on the left on robot (on the left of the on the market area just in case there's a back button or the button to open a Drawer (explained here within the Material style pointers and conjointly called a hamburger menu). Here’s what a fabric app with a Drawer feels like on Android:

And what the same, very simple, Material app looks like on iOS:

Between Mobile and Web and With Screen Notches (Flutter)

On the online there's a small amount of a unique state of affairs, as mentioned conjointly during this Smashing article regarding Responsive net Development with Flutter: specifically, additionally to having to optimize for larger screens and account for the means folks expect to navigate through your web site — that is that the main focus of that article — you have got to stress regarding the very fact that generally widgets square measure placed outside of the browser window.

Also, some phones have notches within the high a part of their screen or different impediments to the proper viewing of your app attributable to some form of obstruction. Both of those issues may be avoided by wrapping your conveniences during a SafeArea widget, that may be a explicit reasonably cushioning convenience that makes certain your widgets comprise an area wherever they will really be displayed empty preventive the users’ ability to envision them, be it a hardware or code constraint.

IN REACT NATIVE

React Native needs far more attention and a way deeper information of every platform, additionally to requiring you to run the iOS machine furthermore because the mechanical man human at the terribly least so as to be able to check your app on each platforms: it’s not identical and it converts its JavaScript UI parts to platform-specific widgets.

In alternative words, your React Native apps can invariably seem like iOS — with Cupertino UI parts as they're generally known as — and your mechanical man apps can invariably seem like regular Material style mechanical man apps as a result of it’s victimization the platform’s widgets. The distinction here is that Flutter renders its widgets with its own low-level rendering engine, which implies you'll be able to check each app versions on one platform.

Getting Around That Issue

The Other Side: Using The Wrong Widgets For The Right Reasons

But that also means that you can do most of your Flutter development on a Linux or Windows workstation without sacrificing the experience of your iOS users, and then just build the app for the other platform and not have to worry about thoroughly testing it.

Next Steps Cross-platform frameworks are awesome, but they shift responsibility to you, the developer, to understand how each platform works and how to make sure your app adapts and is pleasant to use for your users. Other small things to consider may be, for example, using different descriptions for what might be in essence the same thing if there are different conventions on different platforms.It’s great to not have to build the two (or more) apps separately using different languages, but you still need to keep in mind you are, in essence, building more than one app and that requires thinking about each of the apps you are building.

We will be happy to answer your questions on designing, developing, and deploying comprehensive enterprise web, mobile apps and customized software solutions that best fit your organization needs. As a reputed Software Solutions Developer we have expertise in providing dedicated remote and outsourced technical resources for software services at very nominal cost. Besides experts in full stacks We also build web solutions, mobile apps and work on system integration, performance enhancement, cloud migrations and big data analytics. Don’t hesitate to

get in touch with us!

[lakhwanabhishek]

Solving Common Cross-Platform Issues When Working With Flutter

When mistreatment cross-platform frameworks, folks may forget the nuances of every of the platforms they need their code to run on. This text aims to handle that.

Specifically, people sometimes confuse it with the older Web-based mobile (and desktop) cross-platform frameworks, which basically were just Web pages running within browsers running within a wrapper app.

That was truly cross-platform in the sense that the interfaces were the same anyway because you only had access to the interfaces normally accessible on the Web.

Flutter isn’t that, though: it runs natively on each platform, and it means each app runs just like it would run if it were written in Java/Kotlin or Objective-C/Swift on Android and iOS, pretty much. You need to know that because this implies that you need to take care of the many differences between these very diverse platforms.

Example 1: Storage

I recently wrote on my diary concerning the necessity for a special approach to storing JWTs in net apps compared to mobile apps. That is due to the various nature of the platforms’ storage choices, and therefore the got to recognize every and their native development tools.

WEB

When you write a Web app, the storage options you have are:

1. Downloading/uploading files to/from disk, which requires user interaction and is therefore only suitable for files meant to be read or created by the user.

2. Using cookies, which may or may not be accessible from JS (depending on whether or not they’re httpOnly) and are automatically sent along with requests to a given domain and saved when they come as part of a response.

3. Using JS localStorage and sessionStorage, accessible by any JS on the website, but only from JS that is part of the pages of that website.

MOBILE

The situation when it comes to mobile apps is completely different. The storage options are the following:

1. Local app documents or cache storage, accessible by that app.

2. Other local storage paths for user-created/readable files.

3. NSUserDefaults and SharedPreferences respectively on iOS and Android for key-value storage.

4. Keychain on iOS and KeyStore on Android for secure storage of, respectively, any data and cryptographic keys.

If you don’t recognize that, you’re getting to build a multitude of your implementations as a result of you would like to understand what storage answer you’re truly exploitation and what the benefits and downsides area unit.

CROSS-PLATFORM SOLUTIONS: AN INITIAL APPROACH

Using the Flutter shared_preferences package uses localStorage on the Web, SharedPreferences on Android and NSUserDefaults on iOS. Those have utterly completely different implications for your app, particularly if you’re storing sensitive info like session tokens: localStorage are often scan by the shopper, thus it’s a tangle if you’re prone to XSS. although mobile apps aren’t very prone to XSS, SharedPreferences and NSUserDefaults don't seem to be secure storage ways as a result of they will be compromised on the shopper facet since they're not secure storage and not encrypted.  That’s as a result of they're meant for user preferences, as mentioned here within the case of iOS and here within the robot documentation once talking concerning the protection library that is meant to produce wrappers to the SharedPreferences specifically to inscribe the info before storing it.

SECURE STORAGE ON MOBILE

The only secure storage solutions on mobile are Keychain and KeyStore on iOS and Android respectively, whereas there is no secure storage on the Web. The Keychain and KeyStore area unit terribly completely different in nature, though: Keychain could be a generic credentials storage resolution, whereas the KeyStore is employed to store (and will generate) science keys, either stellate keys or public/private keys.

This means that if, for example, you would like to store a session token, on iOS you'll be able to let the OS manage the coding half and simply send your token to the Keychain, whereas on humanoid it’s a small amount a lot of of a manual expertise as a result of you would like to get (not hard-code, that’s bad) a key, use it to cypher the token, store the encrypted token in SharedPreferences and store the key within the KeyStore. There area unit completely different approaches to it, as area unit most things in security, however the only is perhaps to use stellate coding, as there's no want for public key cryptography since your app each encrypts and decrypts the token. Obviously, you don’t have to be compelled to write mobile platform-specific code that will all of that, as  there is a Flutter plugin that does all of that, for instance.

THE LACK OF SECURE STORAGE ON THE WEB

That was, actually, the rationale that compelled ME to put in writing this post. I wrote regarding exploitation that package to store JWT on mobile apps and other people wished the net version of that however, as I said, there's no secure storage on the net. It doesn’t exist. Does that mean your JWT must be get in the open? No, not at all. you'll be able to use httpOnly cookies, can’t you? Those area unitn’t accessible by JS and are sent solely to your server. the problem thereupon is that they’re continuously sent to your server, notwithstanding one amongst your users clicks on a GET request address on somebody else’s web site which GET request has aspect effects you or your user won’t like. This really works for different request varieties moreover, it’s simply a lot of sophisticated. It’s referred to as Cross-Site Request Forgery and you don’t wish that.  It’s among the net security threats mentioned in Mozilla’s MDN docs, wherever you'll be able to notice a a lot of complete rationalization. There area unit interference strategies. the foremost common one has 2 tokens, actually: one amongst them aiming to the shopper as Associate in Nursing httpOnly cookie, the opposite as a part of the response.  The latter must be hold on in localStorage and not in cookies as a result of we have a tendency to don’t wish it to be sent mechanically to the server.

SOLVING BOTH

What if you have both a mobile app and a Web app? That can be dealt with in one of two ways:

1. Use the same backend endpoint, but manually get and send the cookies using the cookie-related HTTP headers;

2. Create a separate non-Web backend endpoint that generates different token than either token used by the Web app and then allow for regular JWT authorization if the client is able to provide the mobile-only token.

Running Different Code On Different Platforms

Now, let’s see how we can run different code on different platforms in order to be able to compensate for the differences.

CREATING A FLUTTER PLUGIN

Especially to unravel the matter of storage, a technique you'll do this is with a plugin package: plugins offer a typical Dart interface and might run totally different code on different platforms, together with native platform-specific Kotlin/Java or Swift/Objective-C code. Developing packages and plugins is quite complicated, however it’s explained in several places on the net et al. (for example in Flutter books), together with the official Flutter documentation. For mobile platforms, for example, there already may be a secure storage plugin, and that’s flutter_secure_storage, that you'll notice associate example of usage here, however that doesn’t work on the net, as an example.

On the opposite hand, for easy key-value storage that additionally works on the net, there’s a cross-platform Google-developed first-party plugin package known as shared_preferences, that incorporates a Web-specific part known as shared_preferences_web that uses NSUserDefaults, SharedPreferences or localStorage reckoning on the platform.

TARGETPLATFORM ON FLUTTER

After importing package:flutter/foundation.dart, you can compare Theme.of(context).platform to the values:

TargetPlatform.android

TargetPlatform.iOS

TargetPlatform.linux

TargetPlatform.windows

TargetPlatform.macOS

TargetPlatform.fuchsia

and write your functions so that, for each platform you want to support, they do the appropriate thing. This will come especially useful for the next example of platform difference, and that is differences in how widgets are displayed on different platforms.

For that use case, in particular, there is also a reasonably popular flutter_platform_widgets plugin, which simplifies the development of platform-aware widgets.

Example 2: Differences In How The Same Widget Is Displayed

You can’t simply write cross-platform code and fake a browser, a phone, a computer, and a smartwatch area unit a similar factor — unless you wish your humanoid and iOS app to be a WebView and your desktop app to be designed with lepton.

There area unit many reasons to not try this, and it’s not the purpose of this piece to convert you to use frameworks like Flutter instead that keep your app native, with all the performance and user expertise blessings that go with it, whereas permitting you to jot down code that's progressing to be a similar for all platforms most of the time.

That requires care and a focus, though, and a minimum of a basic data of the platforms you wish to support, their actual native genus Apis, and every one of that.

React Native users have to be compelled to pay even additional attention thereto as a result of that framework uses the inherent OS widgets, thus you really have to be compelled to pay even additional attention to however the app appearance by testing it extensively on each platforms, while not having the ability to modify between iOS and Material device on the fly like it’s potential with Flutter..

WHAT CHANGES WITHOUT YOUR REQUEST

There are some aspects of the UI of your app that are automatically changed when you switch platforms. This section also mentions what changes between Flutter and React Native in this respect.

Between Android And iOS (Flutter)

Flutter is capable of rendering Material widgets on iOS (and Cupertino (iOS-like) widgets on Android), however what it DOESN’T do is show precisely the same factor on robot and iOS: Material theming particularly adapts to the conventions of every platform.

For instance, navigation animations and transitions and default fonts area unit completely different, however those don’t impact your app that abundant. What might have an effect on a number of your decisions once it involves aesthetics or wife is that the indisputable fact that some static components conjointly modification.

Specifically, some icons modification between the 2 platforms, app bar titles area unit within the middle on iOS and on the left on robot (on the left of the on the market area just in case there's a back button or the button to open a Drawer (explained here within the Material style pointers and conjointly called a hamburger menu). Here’s what a fabric app with a Drawer feels like on Android:

And what the same, very simple, Material app looks like on iOS:

Between Mobile and Web and With Screen Notches (Flutter)

On the online there's a small amount of a unique state of affairs, as mentioned conjointly during this Smashing article regarding Responsive net Development with Flutter: specifically, additionally to having to optimize for larger screens and account for the means folks expect to navigate through your web site — that is that the main focus of that article — you have got to stress regarding the very fact that generally widgets square measure placed outside of the browser window.

Also, some phones have notches within the high a part of their screen or different impediments to the proper viewing of your app attributable to some form of obstruction. Both of those issues may be avoided by wrapping your conveniences during a SafeArea widget, that may be a explicit reasonably cushioning convenience that makes certain your widgets comprise an area wherever they will really be displayed empty preventive the users’ ability to envision them, be it a hardware or code constraint.

IN REACT NATIVE

React Native needs far more attention and a way deeper information of every platform, additionally to requiring you to run the iOS machine furthermore because the mechanical man human at the terribly least so as to be able to check your app on each platforms: it’s not identical and it converts its JavaScript UI parts to platform-specific widgets.

In alternative words, your React Native apps can invariably seem like iOS — with Cupertino UI parts as they're generally known as — and your mechanical man apps can invariably seem like regular Material style mechanical man apps as a result of it’s victimization the platform’s widgets. The distinction here is that Flutter renders its widgets with its own low-level rendering engine, which implies you'll be able to check each app versions on one platform.

Getting Around That Issue

The Other Side: Using The Wrong Widgets For The Right Reasons

But that also means that you can do most of your Flutter development on a Linux or Windows workstation without sacrificing the experience of your iOS users, and then just build the app for the other platform and not have to worry about thoroughly testing it.

Next Steps Cross-platform frameworks are awesome, but they shift responsibility to you, the developer, to understand how each platform works and how to make sure your app adapts and is pleasant to use for your users. Other small things to consider may be, for example, using different descriptions for what might be in essence the same thing if there are different conventions on different platforms.It’s great to not have to build the two (or more) apps separately using different languages, but you still need to keep in mind you are, in essence, building more than one app and that requires thinking about each of the apps you are building.

We will be happy to answer your questions on designing, developing, and deploying comprehensive enterprise web, mobile apps and customized software solutions that best fit your organization needs. As a reputed Software Solutions Developer we have expertise in providing dedicated remote and outsourced technical resources for software services at very nominal cost. Besides experts in full stacks We also build web solutions, mobile apps and work on system integration, performance enhancement, cloud migrations and big data analytics. Don’t hesitate to

get in touch with us!

#b2b ecommerce

#b2bsales

#b2b seo

#b2bservices

#Ecommerce

[secretcupcakesublime]

Solving Common Cross-Platform Issues When Working With Flutter

When mistreatment cross-platform frameworks, folks may forget the nuances of every of the platforms they need their code to run on. This text aims to handle that.

Specifically, people sometimes confuse it with the older Web-based mobile (and desktop) cross-platform frameworks, which basically were just Web pages running within browsers running within a wrapper app.

That was truly cross-platform in the sense that the interfaces were the same anyway because you only had access to the interfaces normally accessible on the Web.

Flutter isn’t that, though: it runs natively on each platform, and it means each app runs just like it would run if it were written in Java/Kotlin or Objective-C/Swift on Android and iOS, pretty much. You need to know that because this implies that you need to take care of the many differences between these very diverse platforms.

Example 1: Storage

I recently wrote on my diary concerning the necessity for a special approach to storing JWTs in net apps compared to mobile apps. That is due to the various nature of the platforms’ storage choices, and therefore the got to recognize every and their native development tools.

WEB

When you write a Web app, the storage options you have are:

1. Downloading/uploading files to/from disk, which requires user interaction and is therefore only suitable for files meant to be read or created by the user.

2. Using cookies, which may or may not be accessible from JS (depending on whether or not they’re httpOnly) and are automatically sent along with requests to a given domain and saved when they come as part of a response.

3. Using JS localStorage and sessionStorage, accessible by any JS on the website, but only from JS that is part of the pages of that website.

MOBILE

The situation when it comes to mobile apps is completely different. The storage options are the following:

1. Local app documents or cache storage, accessible by that app.

2. Other local storage paths for user-created/readable files.

3. NSUserDefaults and SharedPreferences respectively on iOS and Android for key-value storage.

4. Keychain on iOS and KeyStore on Android for secure storage of, respectively, any data and cryptographic keys.

If you don’t recognize that, you’re getting to build a multitude of your implementations as a result of you would like to understand what storage answer you’re truly exploitation and what the benefits and downsides area unit.

CROSS-PLATFORM SOLUTIONS: AN INITIAL APPROACH

Using the Flutter shared_preferences package uses localStorage on the Web, SharedPreferences on Android and NSUserDefaults on iOS. Those have utterly completely different implications for your app, particularly if you’re storing sensitive info like session tokens: localStorage are often scan by the shopper, thus it’s a tangle if you’re prone to XSS. although mobile apps aren’t very prone to XSS, SharedPreferences and NSUserDefaults don't seem to be secure storage ways as a result of they will be compromised on the shopper facet since they're not secure storage and not encrypted.  That’s as a result of they're meant for user preferences, as mentioned here within the case of iOS and here within the robot documentation once talking concerning the protection library that is meant to produce wrappers to the SharedPreferences specifically to inscribe the info before storing it.

SECURE STORAGE ON MOBILE

The only secure storage solutions on mobile are Keychain and KeyStore on iOS and Android respectively, whereas there is no secure storage on the Web. The Keychain and KeyStore area unit terribly completely different in nature, though: Keychain could be a generic credentials storage resolution, whereas the KeyStore is employed to store (and will generate) science keys, either stellate keys or public/private keys.

This means that if, for example, you would like to store a session token, on iOS you'll be able to let the OS manage the coding half and simply send your token to the Keychain, whereas on humanoid it’s a small amount a lot of of a manual expertise as a result of you would like to get (not hard-code, that’s bad) a key, use it to cypher the token, store the encrypted token in SharedPreferences and store the key within the KeyStore. There area unit completely different approaches to it, as area unit most things in security, however the only is perhaps to use stellate coding, as there's no want for public key cryptography since your app each encrypts and decrypts the token. Obviously, you don’t have to be compelled to write mobile platform-specific code that will all of that, as  there is a Flutter plugin that does all of that, for instance.

THE LACK OF SECURE STORAGE ON THE WEB

That was, actually, the rationale that compelled ME to put in writing this post. I wrote regarding exploitation that package to store JWT on mobile apps and other people wished the net version of that however, as I said, there's no secure storage on the net. It doesn’t exist. Does that mean your JWT must be get in the open? No, not at all. you'll be able to use httpOnly cookies, can’t you? Those area unitn’t accessible by JS and are sent solely to your server. the problem thereupon is that they’re continuously sent to your server, notwithstanding one amongst your users clicks on a GET request address on somebody else’s web site which GET request has aspect effects you or your user won’t like. This really works for different request varieties moreover, it’s simply a lot of sophisticated. It’s referred to as Cross-Site Request Forgery and you don’t wish that.  It’s among the net security threats mentioned in Mozilla’s MDN docs, wherever you'll be able to notice a a lot of complete rationalization. There area unit interference strategies. the foremost common one has 2 tokens, actually: one amongst them aiming to the shopper as Associate in Nursing httpOnly cookie, the opposite as a part of the response.  The latter must be hold on in localStorage and not in cookies as a result of we have a tendency to don’t wish it to be sent mechanically to the server.

SOLVING BOTH

What if you have both a mobile app and a Web app? That can be dealt with in one of two ways:

1. Use the same backend endpoint, but manually get and send the cookies using the cookie-related HTTP headers;

2. Create a separate non-Web backend endpoint that generates different token than either token used by the Web app and then allow for regular JWT authorization if the client is able to provide the mobile-only token.

Running Different Code On Different Platforms

Now, let’s see how we can run different code on different platforms in order to be able to compensate for the differences.

CREATING A FLUTTER PLUGIN

Especially to unravel the matter of storage, a technique you'll do this is with a plugin package: plugins offer a typical Dart interface and might run totally different code on different platforms, together with native platform-specific Kotlin/Java or Swift/Objective-C code. Developing packages and plugins is quite complicated, however it’s explained in several places on the net et al. (for example in Flutter books), together with the official Flutter documentation. For mobile platforms, for example, there already may be a secure storage plugin, and that’s flutter_secure_storage, that you'll notice associate example of usage here, however that doesn’t work on the net, as an example.

On the opposite hand, for easy key-value storage that additionally works on the net, there’s a cross-platform Google-developed first-party plugin package known as shared_preferences, that incorporates a Web-specific part known as shared_preferences_web that uses NSUserDefaults, SharedPreferences or localStorage reckoning on the platform.

TARGETPLATFORM ON FLUTTER

After importing package:flutter/foundation.dart, you can compare Theme.of(context).platform to the values:

TargetPlatform.android

TargetPlatform.iOS

TargetPlatform.linux

TargetPlatform.windows

TargetPlatform.macOS

TargetPlatform.fuchsia

and write your functions so that, for each platform you want to support, they do the appropriate thing. This will come especially useful for the next example of platform difference, and that is differences in how widgets are displayed on different platforms.

For that use case, in particular, there is also a reasonably popular flutter_platform_widgets plugin, which simplifies the development of platform-aware widgets.

Example 2: Differences In How The Same Widget Is Displayed

You can’t simply write cross-platform code and fake a browser, a phone, a computer, and a smartwatch area unit a similar factor — unless you wish your humanoid and iOS app to be a WebView and your desktop app to be designed with lepton.

There area unit many reasons to not try this, and it’s not the purpose of this piece to convert you to use frameworks like Flutter instead that keep your app native, with all the performance and user expertise blessings that go with it, whereas permitting you to jot down code that's progressing to be a similar for all platforms most of the time.

That requires care and a focus, though, and a minimum of a basic data of the platforms you wish to support, their actual native genus Apis, and every one of that.

React Native users have to be compelled to pay even additional attention thereto as a result of that framework uses the inherent OS widgets, thus you really have to be compelled to pay even additional attention to however the app appearance by testing it extensively on each platforms, while not having the ability to modify between iOS and Material device on the fly like it’s potential with Flutter..

WHAT CHANGES WITHOUT YOUR REQUEST

There are some aspects of the UI of your app that are automatically changed when you switch platforms. This section also mentions what changes between Flutter and React Native in this respect.

Between Android And iOS (Flutter)

Flutter is capable of rendering Material widgets on iOS (and Cupertino (iOS-like) widgets on Android), however what it DOESN’T do is show precisely the same factor on robot and iOS: Material theming particularly adapts to the conventions of every platform.

For instance, navigation animations and transitions and default fonts area unit completely different, however those don’t impact your app that abundant. What might have an effect on a number of your decisions once it involves aesthetics or wife is that the indisputable fact that some static components conjointly modification.

Specifically, some icons modification between the 2 platforms, app bar titles area unit within the middle on iOS and on the left on robot (on the left of the on the market area just in case there's a back button or the button to open a Drawer (explained here within the Material style pointers and conjointly called a hamburger menu). Here’s what a fabric app with a Drawer feels like on Android:

And what the same, very simple, Material app looks like on iOS:

Between Mobile and Web and With Screen Notches (Flutter)

On the online there's a small amount of a unique state of affairs, as mentioned conjointly during this Smashing article regarding Responsive net Development with Flutter: specifically, additionally to having to optimize for larger screens and account for the means folks expect to navigate through your web site — that is that the main focus of that article — you have got to stress regarding the very fact that generally widgets square measure placed outside of the browser window.

Also, some phones have notches within the high a part of their screen or different impediments to the proper viewing of your app attributable to some form of obstruction. Both of those issues may be avoided by wrapping your conveniences during a SafeArea widget, that may be a explicit reasonably cushioning convenience that makes certain your widgets comprise an area wherever they will really be displayed empty preventive the users’ ability to envision them, be it a hardware or code constraint.

IN REACT NATIVE

React Native needs far more attention and a way deeper information of every platform, additionally to requiring you to run the iOS machine furthermore because the mechanical man human at the terribly least so as to be able to check your app on each platforms: it’s not identical and it converts its JavaScript UI parts to platform-specific widgets.

In alternative words, your React Native apps can invariably seem like iOS — with Cupertino UI parts as they're generally known as — and your mechanical man apps can invariably seem like regular Material style mechanical man apps as a result of it’s victimization the platform’s widgets. The distinction here is that Flutter renders its widgets with its own low-level rendering engine, which implies you'll be able to check each app versions on one platform.

Getting Around That Issue

The Other Side: Using The Wrong Widgets For The Right Reasons

But that also means that you can do most of your Flutter development on a Linux or Windows workstation without sacrificing the experience of your iOS users, and then just build the app for the other platform and not have to worry about thoroughly testing it.

Next Steps Cross-platform frameworks are awesome, but they shift responsibility to you, the developer, to understand how each platform works and how to make sure your app adapts and is pleasant to use for your users. Other small things to consider may be, for example, using different descriptions for what might be in essence the same thing if there are different conventions on different platforms.It’s great to not have to build the two (or more) apps separately using different languages, but you still need to keep in mind you are, in essence, building more than one app and that requires thinking about each of the apps you are building.

We will be happy to answer your questions on designing, developing, and deploying comprehensive enterprise web, mobile apps and customized software solutions that best fit your organization needs. As a reputed Software Solutions Developer we have expertise in providing dedicated remote and outsourced technical resources for software services at very nominal cost. Besides experts in full stacks We also build web solutions, mobile apps and work on system integration, performance enhancement, cloud migrations and big data analytics. Don’t hesitate to

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Buick Enclave Fob Keys And Remote Program San Antonio TX

We want to welcome you to San Antonio Key Replacement! If you are in San Antonio TX and close by area, wish a switch blade key cut and programmed, want your car door lock rekeyed, cleave to program a copy keyless entry or broken your key-fob, you are reading the right article. Our lock smiths supply road side band-aid on premises on each and every car ignition and key burdens. With professionally trained workmanship, we are on the guard 24 hours a day throughout the week capable to come out to your place of choice to help you out of your obstacle with a swift response at any time you misplaced your high security key, broken your smart key or got your key turn freely in ignition condition on premises.

Buick Enclave keys replacement in San Antonio TX

If you forgot where you put your vehicle key or wish a spare remote fobic key compiled in San Antonio TX, gazing for the absolute best agilest at your location Buick Enclave replacement keys resolution, you have landed on the right place, give us a call and our key replacement worker force will drive to your location at short notice.

At San Antonio Key Replacement, we are conscious to the factor that every single main town in the United States of America has at all events twelve locksmith clancliques, nevertheless what drivers don't actually know is that any keysmith in San Antonio TX commonly knowledgeable in one unique of the profession field. Most keysmith clancliques will implement a whole in one safe, residential, automotive or commercial key smith services and even car hauling and other service and frequently use incompetent team that could cause damage to your asset or charge more for a a comfortable service due to the fact that he is generally on higher salary status pursuit like alarm reflashing or safecracking.

About Buick Enclave keylock infrastructure

Constructed in 1903,  Buick is GM sub-division that fabricate prevailing motor vehicles distributed to China, North America, the Middle East and Mexico. Since 1997 range of  Buick cars are applying transponder as a primitive electric and anti theft key-lock technology. This keys that can be duplicated by a simple dash-board procedure or by diagnostic equipment if all the keys are lost. In 2007  Buick embrace the Passive Entry Passive Start (PEPS) with remotes, push-button start and smart-key to score typical tasks  as pressing a push-button to pop open or seal the doors in addition to keyless entry device or push start ignition.

Ignition lock repair

Perhaps the most familiar symptom of ignition malfunction is a car that don't turn on, key wont enter all the way in the ignition, key wont come out of the ignition or broken your ignition key.

Many times your ignition malfunction is because of foreign object or dirt stuck in the ignition crater hole or possibly a detach or loose axis or arbor inside the ignition switch forestalling the lock from turning on regularly.

Faulty ignition lock must be replaced or repaired straight-away and is a service best done by a specialist (in particular if your vehicle is equipped with air-bag system).  ignition lock replacement or repair normally incorporates immobilizing the steering column, which can create dangerous air bag positioning if done inexperienced hands. Ignition switch replacement or repair normally priced as about $145–$345.

When suffering from a flawed key, the signs most likely be that you will have complications turning the key in the ignition which all in all indicate that the key is dent and should be replaced. A dent key should be reproduced from the vehicle identification number to avoid the danger of replicating the problem to the new cut key. A car key-smith ought to utilize dedicated Buick Enclave cutters, programmers and diagnostic tools to cut and program a brand-new key which will priced as about $140–$225.

Chipped key cut and program

20 years ago and maybe even prior to this, majority of automakers has started outfitting prerequisite electric immobilised vehicle computer and chipped keys key lock in their motor vehicles as an extra assurance to put an end to vehicle larceny.

Much as contemporary key is pretty handy, replacing missing keys is no longer a quick, minimum cost commute to the local dealer-ship or hardware store. Events as breaking a flip key remote, dead fob-key battery or misplacing your keyless entry device at the beach, the key must be rightly coded to the car's computer and some motor vehicles heels accoutrement for dashboard key copy and will empty your pocket with around 180-600$ base on maker, model and year.

Buick Enclave keyless device

Smart keys are an ultimate feature in motorist comfort and convenience, you are capable of lock and unlock your car doors and trunk besides flaring up the engine – while avoiding inserting the key. You only need to have it on yourself, whether in your pocket or purse.

As soon as the motorist step by their car, they’re identified by a corresponding audio and infrared frequency transponder chip concealed in the proximity key. The car doors and trunk open and unlock when the motorist touchs the lock handle. The engine activates pushing a toggles on the dash-board. The toggles is doing the job of the mechanical key by opening the current on the engine combustible system.

Locking the car when exiting is just as effortless. The motorist simply clicks a toggles on the door lock handle – several proximity key structures might even lock as soon as the motorist walks out of range.

Copy vs lost car keys

The platform of duplicating a vehicle key varies amid individual models and year of your Buick Enclave. For some models, control board programming might be utilized to program a duplicate key. This interface bypass the need for pricey key coding machine and codes when programming a new transponder key to the car. Vehicles who don't provision Control panel key copy  interface must have an additional key programmed utilizing a compatible key coding machine that is accessible only to Buick Enclave dealer or a lawful locksmith.

This coding machine priced as approximately several grands to procured which is why making a digitized vehicle key costs extremely more than it does to plainly cut an old-fashioned mechanical key.

If you misplaced your last car key you will have to get your vehicle towed to the dealership or schedule with a locksmith to come out to your place of choice to decode the immobilizer to accept the new key and renounce the lost one. Lost key made requisite proof of ownership papers as registration, title or insurance and will priced as approximately $180–$270.

24 hours car lock-out

If you are going through the aggravating circumstance of locking your keys in the car while pulling off the kids from school or at your workplace, San Antonio Key Replacement expeditious car lock-out expert workforce are able to arrive at your location promptly to neatly unlock your car door for any kind of Japanese, German, American or Asian vehicle right away, put you back in your car and rescue your inner calmness.

Car locks re keying

Did you got one of your Buick Enclave keys kidnapped?, lost your car keys? or bought a newish Buick Enclave ignition and recommend to fill in an archaic one?, would like to be certain that no one else receive the power to run your car? Good News! You should look no further, over adjusting of vehicle locks is one of San Antonio Key Replacement cornerstone aspect. Our experts can converse the internal pins inside your ignition or door lock, so it would adopt the brand new key and deny the aged one. Pick up the phone and call our dispatch center to get your car lock re keyed by a extremely trained lockman in no time

To sum up

San Antonio Key Replacement handy vehicle lock smith workers are on a duty call morning noon and night equipped to the brim with specific diagnostic equipment, lockpick tools and key programmers qualified for all your locks, ignition and keys issues. Our twenty four hour main office is ready to assist you with repairing ignition, replacing lost keys, programming remote and many more on site.. If you’re glancing for What is proximity key? San Antonio Key Replacement.

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Some Information Technology (IT) Trends To Watch

A long time ago mechanical discoveries were magical items which mesmerized us. Inchmeal all of us started to be habitual to the complex wonders since they were integrated into the quotidian lives. 21st hundred years has noticed both the unprecedented occurrence symptomatic of technology, specifically the "Informationdirt Technology (IT)" and our dependence on the same. In the IT life-span, technology is producing our own lives simpler byThrough handling the complexities in support of us, up to the plain in which the unavailability or a disruption in the providers that it provides could adversely pull virtually every thing from the businessesCompanies to the light of day to time lives. It is an accepted reality in which the swiftness associated with technological changesAdjustments is an accelerated turmoil. Thisthis particular article enlists some apart from the crucial trends in the IT world that tend to be already obvious or are forecasted to wind-up up getting up about their particular approach. Humansensitive (inter)face for the technology Technology perceptiveness is happening quick coming via the businessWork enterpriseAdventurousness to the households to the actual lives indicating the Humanvulnerable beings. Thisthis particular irreversible dependency suggesting humans on the technology acrimony maintain the mostMany mystifying result greater than the long term discounting the technology. Technology wishes end up being solving the Humanandroid complications, businessMatter problems fair-minded getting a ingredient signifying the bigger colloq spitting image. 1. Technology purpose develop inescapable smooth for the benefit of carrying absent solar mean solar time unit to date actions ranging through section communication to chink a windowpane (suggestive of your colloq stamping-ground indicating ambit) 2. Operator Knowledgeinsight facilitated bySimply by simply the products, implementation despite how Humanhuman being beings see at an result and the technology asAs a appliance for solving it, liking become the standpoint deciding exactly just precisely what exactly markets and exactly just precisely what exactly not 3. Peopleindividuals as opposed to typifying the businessesBusinesses malice end up being the largest technology consumers and good fortune indicating any kind of newHip enterpriseEffort loathing dependent upon the best way well it taps into Thisthis particular consumer base 4. Costset back typifying the neglect for the technology can become unimaginable justified to it's show potency greater than the Humanhominoid lives, Thisthis kind of loathing annex an additional dimension to the fastness worries regarding the technology programmers 5. Limit between the mechanical and nontechnical aspects notwithstanding our own lives will whiten apart, almost every little thing could secure a applied underpinning, explicit or unqualified 6. Novelty (and soComme ci the Peoplefolks- the Knowledgeapprehension workers) aversion maintain the middle stage 7. Evolution coming via a kindly to take characteristic to an indirect guess abhorrence mature accelerated byNear several folds Socialcommon networkingNetworking on the side of the Socialcollective animals Statistics existing in which from the 7 billion Peoplepeople up about the world, exceeding 1.2 billion tend to be Socialpublic networkingNetworking Users that comprises 82% notwithstanding the onlineOn the internet people. Thesethese types of numbers are accepted to advance exponentially in the arriving tomorrow. 8. Companies disposition possess to shed constraints in the cosy technology asBecause the boundaries amongst employees, vendors, and consumers purposefulness blur, just about almost most will-power have occasion for to divulge owing to the trough symptomatic of the Socialsexual network 9. Socialsocial Network Breakdown (SNA) animus be a respected gadget for the businessesOrganizations and resolution stock valuable input to their own strategy, marketing and advertising, consumer segmentation, advertising etc. 10. Socialpublic networkingNetworking acrimony fix up provision a rostrum regarding a at no time observed prior to collaboration in the midst the professionals for solving the issues crossed the boundaries suggestive of their own coordination 11. Entranced the rewards symptomatic of the Socialcommon Networks it commitment become a defy to manipulate the jeopardize it poses championing the protection and surreptitiousness, and technology longing own to hold Thisthis particular question Biggrand dataText growing bigger Regardingregarding to an gauge the Bigobese dataMatter is good $100 billion businessProvince and is growing twice asAs quickly asSince the software program businessObligation asBecause a full. 12. A collection moreMuch a lot far additional newAdvanced tools in which supportTake up the cudgels for Biggargantuan dataInfo should roll in 13. mostThe majority of apart from the businessesOrganizations in the want apart from amassing and analyzing a destiny moreExtra suggesting the dataStatistics will-power have occasion for to rethink their own dataStatistics supervision design and approaches 14. Existing database superintendence techniques dislike either evolve to handgrip the Bigenormous dataFacts or in due course bleach aside Mobility up about the make a move asAs for each an value moreMuch a lot far additional as compared to 75% Humanindividual population in the existence perform acquire access to a unstationary phone. Increasing computing mastery and decreasing hardwareMetal goods Costcost hatred make certain in which definitely in good time everyone in the world book access to a cellular phone and mostThe majority of without regard to these people roam to percipient phones and tend to be connected. 15. Smartsharp devices aversion develop stamp hinting sorcery staff in which will certainly not sole conserve us connected and own capturing and playing audio video contents enter choice also be in the service of asSince a utensil championing chit-chat, handling proficient line when up about the track, executing businessTrade applicationsApps, navigation, above election, sensors, chance wary arrangement, succour devices, training device... the list is rationally unceasing 16. You detestation observe a resound ignoring the applicationsApps tailored to handheld devices 17. Enterprises malice have got to induce their own applicationsApps supportReinforce handheld gadgets partly or fully 18. Generally at this time there liking a colloq not in a million years noticed ahead turn indicating the distinct developers as a service to reaching abroad their customers with their certainly own applicationsPrograms (Google - Android App Storestockpile already in businessArea and Microsoft launching Windows Storestockpile) 19. New motorized advancement plank may possibly have need of to ponder standardization Clouds and clouds ubiquitously byVia 2012, 20% despite the firms vitriol not very individual IT assets. - Gartner Record, 2010. asAs Thisthis particular suggestion is up about the method to fulfilled and budge beyond which, cloud is noticed asSince solitary associated with the topmost property which desire change the facial fleece characteristic of processing and IT market. 20. onlineOnline serviceUse offerings may be lucrative and competitive 21. asBecause the self-assurance resolve reinforced in favor signifying the cloud, decreasing Costget regarding cloud centered implementations (infrastructure or practice principle or equally) businessCharge shunning it (owed to security and other reasons) commitment at last suit to it 22. Cloud alteration choice potency the serviceHelp providers to find solutions as a service to the difficulties that cloud poses: a. Concerns Regardingwith respect to sanctuary regarding the budgetary dataText and in person Informationnews b. Locking their own customers to a proprietary technology podium c. Challenging coexistence with the legacy and proprietary systems businessRole models regarding the time to come to grasp profile asBecause the quickness regardless of substitution in the technology is turning the planet reversed businessesBusinesses rancour want to rethink their particular functions to fall heir to in alignment with those changesAdjustments and harness the opportunities it offers. businessIssue models which are usually bottomed on the moral typical of "Win-Win" and soAll right are usually agileResourceful moreMuch a lot far additional than adequacy animus outlast. 23. You intent receive require in support of innovative businessJob models wherever the consumers and the providers tend to be observed asSince partners and keep combined stakes in the strain star, newContemporary and progressive businessCalling versions animosity be replacing the legacy models fast 24. Legalsound aspects resolve obtain for ever and a day intricate and governments determination maintain to particularize laws championing handling the newUp to date Legallicit challenges 25. IT Budgets tend to be firm to succeed to trimmed, especially in turbulent instances with out trimming in the SLAs (soTolerable the consumers wishes require moreExtra services at a reduced Costexpenditure) 26. Licensing models based on meet regarding exercise choice obtain pre-eminence 27. Multisided businessMatter models (exactly in which a services is supplied to A also in behalf of at liberty appear B is charged on the advertising or styles dataMatter etc.) intention gather down-and-out strength 28. serviceBenefit suppliers hatred tender "Freemium dummy" where a serviceService is emancipated championing predetermined end, an usages past in which is charged 29. businessesBusinesses inclination tell the world their particular foothold in non-traditional markets, multinationals reaching to rustic areas and smalltime businessesCompanies getting globalUniversal 30. Govt bourgeon usages without regard to the IT for the social supportHelp delivery - schooling, edict, transportation, condition anxiety etc., ages the public services techniques are usually technology enabled applicationsApps in which compound with these people purpose procure an thrust newBrand-completely innovative SDLC Models to supersede existing ones asSince an article place it aptly "agileLimber is the newNovel no. force", projects resolution not end up being skilled to hang about regarding extended delivering a working adeptness or implementing a twitch. 31. Reduced period to supermarket and fierce opposition longing dynamism the businessesOrganizations to reform their colloq game moreExtra again and again compared to imagined. Thisthis particular resolve insist SDLC versions that transfer the functioning products quick. soIndifferent the iterative project progress models hatred replace the paradigm force models and the variations. Architecture and situation versions supporting baby chunk deliveries are usually decided to retain hillock 32. Lesser duration to market and faster releases gives a competitive service Architecture with Noabsolutely simply zero Architecture animosity fall heir to outcropping Factors just similar to Internet, Cloud Computing, Services Integration and Mobility supportBack etc. abhorrence provoke the relevance kind architecture overly tangled. The architecture in spite of the future animosity d up becoming architecture that offers Novirtually not any architecture- it can easily pull through asSince its building blocks keep an eye on on changing. 33. Phobia with technology venom become diluted and businessSubject needs etc. hostility get the guts stage in the enterpriseGet-up-and-go Architecture 34. Architecture tend to be trustworthy to into possession of one and only till hell freezes over elaborate and distributed... Novirtually not any turning subsidize 35. changesModifications malevolence turn out to be for eternity faster nearby requirements, technology, interfaces, non profitable requirements etc. 36. Principles like inter-operatibiliy, plan home rule etc. resolution extremity up being complete and soModest NFR (Non Operational Requirements) disposition moreMore main as compared to till the cows come home 37. Architecture might miss to keep on usual asSince just about almost most the weather condition denotative of architecture - device to network, germaneness UI to dataMaterial Storepile changesAdjustments and carry on changing 38. applicationsPrograms determination need a govern control with the complete architecture weather launching nonetheless keep to be answerable championing their own helping 39. Context sensitiveness in the pieces (is it a notepad or Smartclever smartcontact?) acerbity be superior 40. With diminishing continuation period windowpane and increasing sum typifying interfaces and dependencies, long operating collection system should end up being distribute way to asynchronous processes 41. Numerous businessTopic departments choice lack to equity their particular businessAffair and technology models to create the consolidated spitting image 42. Colloq fad is a displacement promoting using produce outtraces (in which are usually tested, can easily be scaled, rule the capacity, oblige the SLAs and soComme ci up about) kind of compared to developing routine built solutions 43. Chief detailed semblance intent become customary in the high government Geography longing transform into irrelevant Conform to a 2011 get a bird's eye view of moreMore than 6 billion Peopleindividuals perform procure access to the computers and nearly half associated with all of these receive access to the Internet. Increasing competency despite the handheld devices and the traveller typifying the transportable computing determination perhaps increase Thesethese kinds of statistics exponentially. 44. Enterprises resolution literary ask a parting to the lion's share typical of the applicationsApplications in which carry out not supportFortify Internet or can't become produced to interface with the entanglement and mostThe majority of in spite of them will-power end up being asked to supportBrace handheld items (Mainframe structured applicationsApps could be an blockage, initiation they as well tend to be acquiring integrated using Web-services) 45. globalEpidemic companionship hinting the technology companies and move in of virtualization animosity entrust companies to generate globalFar-reaching teams which drive function in shifts possessing an repercussions upon exactly just precisely the way the teams are usually setup and tasks are usually managed 46. The womanhood signifying the applicationsPrograms drive demand to take inbuilt localization and globalization features asBecause a be required to 47. A growing digit regardless of applicationsApplications can get "Geolocation" capacity inbuilt (meditate on browsing to the chart that allows searching and drilling down to an oration and filing up the oration instead of indicating typing it and working the validations) 48. moreExtra and moreMore applicationsPrograms spite end up being necessary to be up 24X7, having slight span window in support of the activities like sustentation and set processes hardwareMetal goods and Network malice notice shrinkage without regard to concern asAs the value hinting computing hardwareTools is returning down and their effectuation is successful up, components like hardwareMachinery and network acerbity Noabsolutely simply zero lengthier end up being the differentiator aspect asSince everyone desire become in a placement to afford all of these at a plausible charge. 49. The value-add offered byBy the application and services aversion have to satisfy just about almost most discounting the expectations 50. Increasing approval and talent typical of virtualization hostility insure a consolidation in theterms regarding the hardwareMat, computer application and dataEvidence

[zijunnn]

Week 3 Young Visionaries with Solutions and Gizmos

1. How do these stories help people locate not just hope but solutions?

The videos have a critical approach to the vital environmental problems which have been affecting nature in different ways. They provide holistic solutions in practical means, which can be actualized through different simplified means effective for majority of the people. These videos are educative in nature and enable people to understand various ways through which they can protect the environmental situation. Instead of giving generalized ideologies, the videos handle different problems one by one and stating the mechanisms through which it can be handled effectively as well as highlighting the dynamics involved. Most of the solutions which have been previously suggested by the environmental enthusiasts in the past have been mainly theoretical without objective means through which they can be actualized. The resolutions are well thought out and give a crucial pathway which can easily be actualized with minimal use of resources. Additionally, some of the existing environmental management techniques required substantial amounts of investment, which, to a great extent, can hinder the achievement of substantial outcomes. The simplified ideas not only give people hopes for boosting environmental welfare but also they are well formulated such that everybody can be part of implementing them. Their approaches critically match the current needs of the environment.

2. Which of these individuals had to overcome the most obstacles to realize their project? 

Boyan Slat had to undergo tedious processes to develop the interceptor system of river cleaning. The system is sophisticated in nature and required a lot of expertise as well as input to ensure that it functions in the required manner. It did not involve just the ordinary means of thinking but required the application of technical knowledge, which sometimes can fail to function as required. Consequently, given that it includes elements like power sources and other integrated systems, the project required a lot of investment in terms of financial resources to acquire that given equipment. Therefore, Boyan had to overcome all these situations, including sourcing for the resources and real-time expertise to ensure that the project is successful. This is not an ordinary project as it is more demanding, and a lot of unique integration of processes was required, which he did successfully.

3. Which of these stories has the most resonance for you in terms of solution-making?

The idea of living a zero-waste life as presented by Layren Singer stands out as a crucial idea that is likely to address the issue of environmental pollution. The majority of the proposed techniques in these videos are designed to address the environmental pollution problem after it has escalated and even reached unbearable levels that require substantial efforts and resources to regulate. The ideology of living a zero-waste life is easy for everybody to actualize and be part of the environment upgrading initiative as it requires only change in behavior like stopping the use of plastics. Additionally, it does not require any form of investment in terms of resources to make it work. In this case, the best thing with this proposed solution is that it will be able to resolve the environmental pollution issue from the grassroots level before it escalates to become worse. The zero-waste lifestyle is highly sustainable means and can have a substantial effect in various environmental sectors. This approach will lower the burden of filling the environment with unnecessary garbage like plastics and quickly attain the ecological footprint. In this case, there will be no more disposals of waste materials to the environment or even oceans. Although this technique is highly ignored, from a rational perspective, it forms the basis and holds the fate of the entire environment safety. If fully actualized, there will be no need for expensive ventures like making sophisticated and costly means like interceptor systems.

4. Is there a key environmental problem are you inspired to solve? How would you execute it?

Most of these videos focus on the plastic nightmare, which has exhibited severe environmental problems. Therefore, the inspiration drawn from these videos mainly includes dealing with the plastic use problem. However, the main issue is, before embarking on the processes of dealing with the already disposed of plastic wastes, it is crucial to think of objective means through which the use of plastics can be discouraged. The majority of the people usually continue with plastic use simply because there is no enough awareness of the detrimental impacts created by these materials. The initial step, in my course action to address the plastic problem, will be beginning a sensitization campaign on the dangers involved with plastic use and the idea of opting for optional means of packaging. The main approach will be dealing with the problem from scratch rather than addressing it after escalation. The next move will be establishing with the taskforce to collect plastic garbage littered in the environment and forming partnerships with the recycling companies to make alternative products. This action plan will involve melting the plastic materials mechanically to create new items without necessarily producing new plastic products. The majority of plastic companies continue producing new items simply because they cannot access the used ones for recycling. The continued implementation of this action plan in the future will significantly reduce the disposed of plastic to the environment. Given that plastics cannot easily decay, the best resolution will be making alternative products and regulating the continued production of the plastic material.

5. How would you message a movement for your solution?

Engaging the environmental movement for resolving a particular problem like plastic waste management should be the core of any given plan. The first action plan in this undertaking will be drafting a proposal on the proposed solution. The proposal will include how the proposed project is going to operate. The next step will be convening a meeting with the movement stakeholders and sharing the ideas with them. This undertaking will include step by step demonstration and explanation on how particular concepts will work and how they will in turn create reliable impact. Through the direct engagement with the movement, it will be easy to convince the movement on the viability of the idea. This approach will ensure that the ideology is well shared and clarification provided. Therefore, enhancing the welfare of environment and reducing the global warming impact will require more action plans than physical resolutions. Everybody should be considered as a stakeholders and create interest in addressing the problems. Although the videos have proposed different solutions, the ideal outcomes depend on the willingness and effectiveness of how the resolutions are applied.

[mindthump]

Why TinyML is a giant opportunity https://ift.tt/35QdGDS

The world is about to get a whole lot smarter.

As the new decade begins, we’re hearing predictions on everything from fully remote workforces to quantum computing. However, one emerging trend is scarcely mentioned on tech blogs – one that may be small in form but has the potential to be massive in implication. We’re talking about microcontrollers.

There are 250 billion microcontrollers in the world today. 28.1 billion units were sold in 2018 alone, and IC Insights forecasts annual shipment volume to grow to 38.2 billion by 2023.

Perhaps we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves though, because you may not know exactly what we mean by microcontrollers. A microcontroller is a small, special purpose computer dedicated to performing one task or program within a device. For example, a microcontroller in a television controls the channel selector and speaker system. It changes those systems when it receives input from the TV remote. Microcontrollers and the components they manage are collectively called embedded systems since they are embedded in the devices they control. Take a look around — these embedded systems are everywhere, in nearly any modern electronic device. Your office machines, cars, medical devices, and home appliances almost all certainly have microcontrollers in them.

With all the buzz about cloud computing, mobile device penetration, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT) over the past few years, these microcontrollers (and the embedded systems they power) have largely been underappreciated. This is about to change.

The strong growth in microcontroller sales in recent years has been largely driven by the broad tailwinds of the IoT. Microcontrollers facilitate automation and embedded control in electronic systems, as well as the connection of sensors and applications to the IoT. These handy little devices are also exceedingly cheap, with an average price of 60 cents per unit (and dropping). Although low in cost, the economic impact of what microcontrollers enable at the system level is massive, since the sensor data from the physical world is the lifeblood of digital transformation in industry. However, this is only part of the story.

A coalescence of several trends has made the microcontroller not just a conduit for implementing IoT applications but also a powerful, independent processing mechanism in its own right. In recent years, hardware advancements have made it possible for microcontrollers to perform calculations much faster.  Improved hardware coupled with more efficient development standards have made it easier for developers to build programs on these devices. Perhaps the most important trend, though, has been the rise of tiny machine learning, or TinyML. It’s a technology we’ve been following since investing in a startup in this space.

Big potential

TinyML broadly encapsulates the field of machine learning technologies capable of performing on-device analytics of sensor data at extremely low power. Between hardware advancements and the TinyML community’s recent innovations in machine learning, it is now possible to run increasingly complex deep learning models (the foundation of most modern artificial intelligence applications) directly on microcontrollers. A quick glance under the hood shows this is fundamentally possible because deep learning models are compute-bound, meaning their efficiency is limited by the time it takes to complete a large number of arithmetic operations. Advancements in TinyML have made it possible to run these models on existing microcontroller hardware.

In other words, those 250 billion microcontrollers in our printers, TVs, cars, and pacemakers can now perform tasks that previously only our computers and smartphones could handle. All of our devices and appliances are getting smarter thanks to microcontrollers.

TinyML represents a collaborative effort between the embedded ultra-low power systems and machine learning communities, which traditionally have operated largely independently. This union has opened the floodgates for new and exciting applications of on-device machine learning. However, the knowledge that deep learning and microcontrollers are a perfect match has been pretty exclusive, hidden behind the walls of tech giants like Google and Apple. This becomes more obvious when you learn that this paradigm of running modified deep learning models on microcontrollers is responsible for the “Okay Google” and “Hey Siri,” functionality that has been around for years.

But why is it important that we be able to run these models on microcontrollers? Much of the sensor data generated today is discarded because of cost, bandwidth, or power constraints – or sometimes a combination of all three. For example, take an imagery micro-satellite. Such satellites are equipped with cameras capable of capturing high resolution images but are limited by the size and number of photos they can store and how often they can transmit those photos to Earth. As a result, such satellites have to store images at low resolution and at a low frame rate. What if we could use image detection models to save high resolution photos only if an object of interest (like a ship or weather pattern) was present in the image? While the computing resources on these micro-satellites have historically been too small to support image detection deep learning models, TinyML now makes this possible.

Another benefit of deploying deep learning models on microcontrollers is that microcontrollers use very little energy. Compared to systems that require either a direct connection to the power grid or frequent charges or replacement of the battery, a microcontroller can run an image recognition model continuously for a year with a single coin battery. Furthermore, since most embedded systems are not connected to the internet, these smart embedded systems can be deployed essentially anywhere. By enabling decision-making without continuous connectivity to the internet, the ability to deploy deep learning models on embedded systems creates an opportunity for completely new types of products.

Early TinyML applications

It’s easy to talk about applications in the abstract, but let’s narrow our focus to specific applications likely to be available in the coming years that would impact the way we work or live:

Mobility: If we apply TinyML to sensors ingesting real-time traffic data, we can use them to route traffic more effectively and reduce response times for emergency vehicles. Companies like Swim.AI use TinyML on streaming data to improve passenger safety and reduce congestion and emissions through efficient routing.

Smart factory: In the manufacturing sector, TinyML can stop downtime due to equipment failure by enabling real-time decision. It can alert workers to perform preventative maintenance when necessary, based on equipment conditions.

Retail: By monitoring shelves in-store and sending immediate alerts as item quantities dwindle, TinyML can prevent items from becoming out of stock.

Agriculture: Farmers risk severe profit losses from animal illnesses. Data from livestock wearables that monitor health vitals like heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, etc. can help predict the onslaught of disease and epidemics.

Before TinyML goes mainstream …

As intriguing as TinyML may be, we are very much in the early stages, and we need to see a number of trends occur before it gets mainstream adoption.

Every successful ecosystem is built on engaged communities. A vibrant TinyML community will lead to faster innovation as it increases awareness and adoption. We need more investments in open-source projects supporting TinyML (like the work Google is doing around TensorFlow for broader machine learning), since open source allows each contributor to build on top of the work of others to create thorough and robust solutions.

Other core ecosystem participants and tools will also be necessary:

Chipset manufacturers and platforms like Qualcomm, ST, and ETA Compute can work hand-in-hand with developers to ensure chipsets are ready for the intended applications, and that platform integrations are built to facilitate rapid application development.

Cloud players can invest in end-to-end optimized platform solutions that allow seamless exchange and processing of data between devices and the cloud.

Direct support is needed from device-level software infrastructure companies such as Memfault, which is trying to improve firmware reliability, and Argosy Labs, which is tackling data security and sharing on the device level. These kinds of changes give developers more control over software deployments with greater security from nearly any device.

Lifecycle TinyML tools need to be built that facilitate dataset management, algorithm development, and version management and that enhance the testing and deployment lifecycle.

However, innovators are ultimately what drives change. We need more machine learning experts who have the resources to challenge the status quo and make TinyML even more accessible. Pete Warden, head of the TensorFlow mobile team, has an ambitious task of building machine learning applications that run on a microcontroller for a year using only a hearing aid battery for power. We need more leaders like Pete to step up and lead breakthroughs to make TinyML a near-term reality.

In summary: TinyML is a giant opportunity that’s just beginning to emerge. Expect to see quite a bit of movement in this space over the next year or two.

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TX Zhuo is General Partner at Fika Ventures.

Huston Collins is Senior Associate at Fika Ventures.