Showing posts with label Python. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Python. Show all posts

ASCII Art with Python

Have you ever wanted to convert an icon or photo to ASCII art? Fortunately there are lots of tools to do this out there. I looked around for one that works with Python 3+ and found a succinct, modular script that can output ASCII art from image files like the following:


The script is from Paul Bourke. There is very clear commenting on each step. Essentially, an image loaded from the "--file" argument is divided into a grid and each position of the grid is assigned certain ASCII character whose gray scale level most closely matches the average for that area of the image. I simply modified line 146 and 150 to demonstrate on console vs. the outfile.txt default.

Save the following as ascii.py:
 #Python code to convert an image to ASCII image.  
 import sys, random, argparse  
 import numpy as np  
 import math  
 from PIL import Image  
 # gray scale level values from:  
 # http://paulbourke.net/dataformats/asciiart/  
 # 70 levels of gray  
 gscale1 = "$@B%8&WM#*oahkbdpqwmZO0QLCJUYXzcvunxrjft/\|()1{}[]?-_+~<>i!lI;:,\"^`'. "   
 # 10 levels of gray  
 gscale2 = '@%#*+=-:. '   
 def getAverageL(image):  
      # get image as numpy array  
      im = np.array(image)  
      # get shape  
      w,h = im.shape  
      # get average  
      return np.average(im.reshape(w*h))  
 def covertImageToAscii(fileName, cols, scale, moreLevels):  
      # declare globals  
      global gscale1, gscale2  
      # open image and convert to grayscale  
      image = Image.open(fileName).convert('L')  
      # store dimensions  
      W, H = image.size[0], image.size[1]  
      print("input image dims: %d x %d" % (W, H))  
      # compute width of tile  
      w = W/cols  
      # compute tile height based on aspect ratio and scale  
      h = w/scale  
      # compute number of rows  
      rows = int(H/h)  
      print("cols: %d, rows: %d" % (cols, rows))  
      print("tile dims: %d x %d" % (w, h))  
      # check if image size is too small  
      if cols > W or rows > H:  
           print("Image too small for specified cols!")  
           exit(0)  
      # ascii image is a list of character strings  
      aimg = []  
      # generate list of dimensions  
      for j in range(rows):  
           y1 = int(j*h)  
           y2 = int((j+1)*h)  
           # correct last tile  
           if j == rows-1:  
                y2 = H  
           # append an empty string  
           aimg.append("")  
           for i in range(cols):  
                # crop image to tile  
                x1 = int(i*w)  
                x2 = int((i+1)*w)  
                # correct last tile  
                if i == cols-1:  
                     x2 = W  
                # crop image to extract tile  
                img = image.crop((x1, y1, x2, y2))  
                # get average luminance  
                avg = int(getAverageL(img))  
                # look up ascii char  
                if moreLevels:  
                     gsval = gscale1[int((avg*69)/255)]  
                else:  
                     gsval = gscale2[int((avg*9)/255)]  
                # append ascii char to string  
                aimg[j] += gsval  
      # return txt image  
      return aimg  
 # main() function  
 def main():  
      # create parser  
      descStr = "This program converts an image into ASCII art."   
      parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=descStr)  
      # add expected arguments  
      parser.add_argument('--file', dest='imgFile', required=True)  
      parser.add_argument('--scale', dest='scale', required=False)  
      parser.add_argument('--out', dest='outFile', required=False)  
      parser.add_argument('--cols', dest='cols', required=False)  
      parser.add_argument('--morelevels',dest='moreLevels',action='store_true')  
      # parse args  
      args = parser.parse_args()  
      imgFile = args.imgFile  
      # set output file  
      outFile = 'out.txt'   
      if args.outFile:  
           outFile = args.outFile  
      # set scale default as 0.43 which suits  
      # a Courier font  
      scale = 0.43   
      if args.scale:  
           scale = float(args.scale)  
      # set cols  
      cols = 80   
      if args.cols:  
           cols = int(args.cols)  
      print('generating ASCII art...')  
      # convert image to ascii txt  
      aimg = covertImageToAscii(imgFile, cols, scale, args.moreLevels)  
      # open file  
      f = open(outFile, 'w')  
      # write to <console or> file ..f.write(row + '\n')  
      for row in aimg:  
           print(row + '\n')   
      # cleanup  
      f.close()  
      print("ASCII art written to console...") # %s" % outFile)  
 # call main  
 if __name__ == '__main__':  
      main()  


Using Windows CMD, navigate to the directory where your ascii.py script is located. Then execute the following:

ascii.py --file C:\somedir\logo.jpg --cols 150


Referencehttp://paulbourke.net/dataformats/asciiart/

Using PowerShell and youtube-dl to automate grunt work

Earlier this evening I was tasked by my wife to create audio files from some (DRM-free) YouTube content. I knew how to do this via a manual process, however after the 5th manual file conversion I started to remember the youtube-dl Python project and figured there has to be an easier and quicker way to do this file conversion grunt work.

And sure enough... youtube-dl (with some help from PowerShell) does the trick.

Expected input and output

For starters (we are assuming you have already installed Python 3), you will need to have pip install two modules:

 pip install youtube-dl  
 pip install ffmpeg  

Next, create a youtube-uris.txt with the URI of each song you want to convert on separate lines of the file.

Finally, you can use the following PowerShell script to copy the song URIs into a string array which is then iterated through, converting each array item into a playable audio file (mp4), saved in whatever directory you run the script from.

 [string[]]$arrayFromFile = Get-Content -Path 'C:\sand\youtube-dl-sandbox\youtube-uris.txt'  
 foreach ($uri in $arrayFromFile) {  
   youtube-dl -f 140 $uri  
  }  

That's it. This script can be used for automating other manual/repetitive tasks requiring a procedure to be run against every item in a large list.


Reference: https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl

Accessing SQL Server Data in Python

So you want to access Microsoft SQL Server from your Python script(s)?

After weeding out some long-abandoned and/or nonworking solutions, I discovered a very simple Python ODBC driver that works with virtually all SQL Servers since MSSQL 2005 called "pyodbc". 

First, you will need to install this MSSQL ODBC (13.1 or 17 should work) component on your machine in addition to installing the pyodbc driver.

Next, get the pyodbc module for Python by running this from Windows command prompt:

pip install pyodbc

Then open up a python shell using 'py' or 'python' and enter the following after editing configuration values to match your development environment:

 import pyodbc  
 cnxn = pyodbc.connect('DRIVER={ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server};SERVER=localhost;DATABASE=WideWorldImporters;UID=DemoUser;PWD=123Password')  
 cursor = cnxn.cursor()  
 #Sample of a simple SELECT  
 cursor.execute("SELECT TOP (100) Comments, count(*) FROM WideWorldImporters.Sales.Orders GROUP BY Comments")  
 row = cursor.fetchone()   
 while row:   
   print(row[0] + ': ' + str(row[1]))  
   row = cursor.fetchone()  

Running this code will result in the below if you have configured everything correctly (note this example makes use of the Microsoft SQL Server demo WorldWideImporters database):


Reference: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/connect/python/pyodbc/step-3-proof-of-concept-connecting-to-sql-using-pyodbc?view=sql-server-2017

Python 3 for fun - Screen Scraping



Download Python 3: https://www.python.org/downloads/

Open cmd, type: python

from lxml import html
import requests

#Initialize your page and tree list variables
page = requests.get('http://econpy.pythonanywhere.com/ex/001.html')
tree = html.fromstring(page.content)

See your page variable's output:
(Excerpts taken from Python.org, I've updated the instructions for Python 3+)

#This will create a list of buyer elements from the DOM (divs with a specific 'title' attribute):
buyers = tree.xpath('//div[@title="buyer-name"]/text()')
#This will create a list of price elements from the DOM (spans with a specific class):
prices = tree.xpath('//span[@class="item-price"]/text()')

print ('Buyers: ', buyers)
print ('Prices: ', prices)


Expected output:

You can get a lot of useful things done in Python with relatively few lines of code.

Developer Scratchpad (.NET C#, VB, JavaScript, Powershell, Python, SQL, etc.)

If you memorize infrequently used code, you are wasting mental storage space- reference notes!



--------NETWORK-----------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------WINDOWS BUILTIN CMDs-------------------------------------
//converting Windows back slashes to Unix forward slashes
SET string=C:\Users\Admin\Desktop\DeskDEV\
ECHO %string:\=/%
//converting Unix forward slashes to Windows back slashes
SET string=C:/Users/Admin/Desktop/DeskDEV/
ECHO %string:/=\%
netsh interface ip show config
netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" static 192.168.0.10 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.254
netsh interface ip set address "Local Area Connection" dhcp
netsh http show urlacl
netsh int tcp set heuristics disabled
netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
netsh int tcp set global rss=enabled
netsh int tcp show global
netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /registerdns
msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsWeb
msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsInbound
msdt.exe -id NetworkDiagnosticsNetworkAdapter
ipconfig
sfc /scannow
driverquery
ping and pathping
tasklist and taskkill
nslookup
sigverif
doskey /history
netstat
cipher
getmac
net user
arp
nbstat
logman
route
shutdown
assoc
schtasks
attrib
auditpol
bcdboot
bcdedit
bootcofg
bootsect
cacls
call
cd
certreq
certutil
chcp - (active code page)
checknetisolation
chkdsk
chkntfs
choice - ([Y,N]? prompt in .bat)
cipher - (enc status of files)
clip
cls
cmstp - (connectionMgr interesting*)
comp - (basic file diff)
compact - (compress)
convert - (file system type)
copy
cscript - (execute vbs, etc.)
date
debug - (only on DOS && 32bit Windows)
defrag
del
deltree
dir
diskpart*
diskperf
diskraid
dism - (dply .isos)
dispdiag
djoin - (join domain)
driverquery - (all driver information!)
echo
endlocal - (break out of a script's localalized context)
erase
esentutl - (storage engine mgmt)
eventcreate
expand - (unzip archive)
Extrac32 - (unzip .cab)
extract - (unzip archive)
fc - (compare file sets)
find - (srch for text in file or files)
Findstr - (regex "")
finger - user(s) info
Fltmc - (filter driver installer)
fondue - (new/experimental Windows features)
format - (format drive for some file system)
fsutil - (filesys utiles)
ftp - (chell for ftp comms; "quit")
ftype - default programs
getmac - get MAC of all network controllers on system
gpresult - (grp policy)
gpupdate
icacls
iscsicli - (iSCSI initiator)
klist - Kerberos tickets
Ksetup - (for a kerberos-enabled server)
ktmutil - (kernal transaction mgr utility)
label - (volume label of disks)
licensingdiag - (Windows product activation info)
loadhigh(lh), lock - (old DOS cmds)
lodctr - (registry values for perf counters)
logman - (event trace session)
logoff - (until Win7)
makecab - (cainet maker)
manage-bde - (Bitlocker drive enc)
mklink - (create symbolic link)
mode - (COM/LPT ports - check "CON" device further)
mofcomp - .mof* file display
more
mount - (until SFU was discontinued...)
mountvol - (use this instead)
move
mrinfo - (rounter info)
msg
msiexec - (start an install)
muiunattend - (unattended install)
nbtstat - (see connection info)
net - (cfg network settings)
net1 - ("" "" Y2K issue wkrnd/patch for net)
netcfg - (installs WinPE)
netsh - (network shell, net mgmt)
netstat - (displays listening ports, connects)
nltest - (test secure channels between machines across trusted domains)
nslookup - (hostname from IP)
openfiles - (remote cmd)
path
pathping - (tracert w/net latency, more info)
pause - (Press any key to continue...)
ping
pkgmgr - (windows pkg mgr)
pnpunattend - (unattended driver install)
pnputil
popd
powercfg
print
prompt
pushd
rasautou
rasdial*
rcp - (deprecated)
rd
reagentc - (win recovery)
recover - (recover a file deleted, but not yet overwritten)
reg - (registry cmds)
regini - (hange registry permissions and registry values from the command line)
Regsvr32 - (register .dll as component)
relog - (new perf append to existuing perf data)
rem
ren
repair-bde - (Bitlocker repair)
replace
rmdir
robocopy - (robust copy)
route - (maniupulate network routing tables)
Rpcping
runas
schtasks
sdbinst - (SDB db files, used by OpenOffice)
secedit - (compare current sec levels to a template to ensure no unneeded access, etc.)
setspn - (set service principle name for an AD account)
setx - (user env variable config)
sfc - (System File Checker)
shutdown - (automate poweroff)
sort
sxstrace - tracing
subst - (assoc local path with drive letter; similiar to net use)
takeown - regain access to object
taskkill - (force kill a process)
tasklist - (running proccesses; used by taskmgr.exe, etc.)
tcmsetup - (to set up or disable the Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) client)
telnet
tftp (deprecated?)
time
timeout
title - (cmd prompt window label)
tracerpt - trace rpt
tracert - Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request messages to a specified remote computer with increasing Time to Live (TTL) field values and displays the IP address and hostname, if available, of the router interfaces between the source and destination.
tree - (awesome)
typeperf - (cmd perf data)
tzutil - (time zones)
unlodctr - (uninstalls a perf counter in registry)
vaultcmd - (manage Windows stored creds)
ver
vol
vssadmin - (volume shadow copy admin)
w32tm - (windows time)
wecutil - (win evt collector)
where - (find by regex)
whoami
winmgmt - (WMI)
winrm - (remote mgmt)
winrs - (remote sh)
winsat - (system assesment tool)
wmic - (WMI CLI)
wsmanhttpconfig
xcopy
xwizard - (register data in Windows, often from a preconfigured XML file)


-------POWERSHELL---------------------------------------------------
Get-Command -Name {..}
get-alias
Get-Help Get-EventLog
Get-ChildItem c:/
$var
(no concept of scope- ALL is glbl)
Remove-Item
//ex. of getting some scv column data...
Get-Command -Verb Export | Select-Object CommandType, Name, Version, Source | Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation -Path C:\NewFolder\ExportCommands.CSV
//Outfile is useful
Get-Command -Verb Export | Select-Object CommandType, Name, Version, Source | Out-File C:\NewFolder\ExportCommands.txt
Get-Process -Id 10500 | Stop-Process
Get-EventLog -LogName System -Newest 5
Clear-EventLog "Windows PowerShell"
Get-WmiObject -List -Class Win32*
Enter-PSSession Computer1
Invoke-Command -ComputerName Computer1, Computer2, Computer3, -ScriptBlock {Get-Process}
//Create a new (persistant) session, and save it
$session = New-PSSession -ComputerName Computer1, Computer2
Set-ExecutionPolicy
Get-ExecutionPolicy
Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.status -eq "stopped"}
//Create html from basic data structs (in this case, ps cmdlet aliases)
get-alias | convertto-html > aliases.htm
invoke-item aliases.htm
Get-EventLog -Log "Application"
Stop-Process -processname note*
Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq 'Running'}
Get-AuthenticodeSignature somescript.ps1 @(Get-ChildItem cert:\CurrentUser\My -codesigning)[0] -IncludeChain "All" -TimestampServer "http://timestamp.verisign.com/scripts/timstamp.dll"
Get-Process | ForEach-Object {Write-Host $_.name -foregroundcolor cyan}
Clear-Content C:\Temp\TestFile.txt
Clear-Content -path * -filter *.TXT –force (all text files force clear)
Checkpoint-Computer -Description "My 2nd checkpoint" -RestorePointType "Modify_Settings"
Get-ComputerRestorePoint | format-list
Compare-Object $obj1 $obj2
 [string[]]$arrayFromFile = Get-Content -Path 'C:\someplace\file.txt'
 foreach ($uri in $arrayFromFile) {
   yt-dl -f 140 $uri
  }
$settings = $TextData | ConvertFrom-StringData
ConvertTo-SecureString [-String] SomeString
Get-Service wuauserv -ComputerName chi-dc04,chi-p50,chi-core01 |
Export-Clixml -Path c:\work\wu.xml
Get-AppLockerPolicy
New-ItemProperty
$ourObject = New-Object -TypeName psobject
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
$url = http://<webapp>.azurewebsites.net/CreateSite.asmx
$proxy = New-WebServiceProxy $url
$spAccount = "<username>"
$spPassword = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter password" –AsSecureString
$projectGuid = ""
$createOneNote = $false
$proxy | gm -memberType Method
New-WSManInstance winrm/config/Listener
-SelectorSet @{Address="*";Transport="HTTPS"}
-ValueSet @{Hostname="Test01";CertificateThumbprint="01F7EB07A4531750D920CE6A588BF5"}
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Get-Process | Sort-Object name -Descending | Select-Object -Index 0,1,2,3,4
New-Alias np c:\windows\system32\notepad.exe
Set-StrictMode
Wait-Job
Write-Progress -PercentComplete (($var1/$var2) * 100))
$job = Start-Job -ScriptBlock { Set-PSBreakpoint C:\DebugDemos\MyJobDemo1.ps1 -Line 8; C:\DebugDemos\MyJobDemo1.ps1 }
Debug-Job $job
Get-Counter -Counter "\Processor(_Total)\% Processor Time" -SampleInterval 2 -MaxSamples 3
Test-Path C:\Scripts\Archive
Get-WinEvent -ListLog *
Invoke-TroubleshootingPack (Get-TroubleshootingPack C:\Windows\diagnostics\system\networking)
Measure-Command
Get-Process | Measure-Object VirtualMemorySize -Sum
New-EventLog -LogName Wtf_Log -Source SomewhereOutThere
Receive-Job -Name HighMemProcess
Register-EngineEvent PowerShell.Exiting -Action {"PowerShell exited at " + (Get-Date) | Out-File c:\log.txt -Append}
Register-ObjectEvent
Remove-Event
Set-PSDebug
Start-Sleep
Tee-Object
Test-AppLockerPolicy
Test-ComputerSecureChannel
Trace-Command
Write-Debug "`$return has $($return.count) items"

-------VISUAL STUDIO----------------------
Ctrl+, . for Autosuggest
Sort usings by Right-click on using references

--------.NET------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------C#--------------------------------------
//switch expression*
car foo = line switch {
case 0: foo = 1; break;
case 0: foo = 1; break;
default: for = 0; break;
}
XDocument.Parse is for string XML
XDocument.Load is for XML *Files*
[,] is multidimensional array and [][] is array of arrays.
//collection initializer
List<Coord> ls = new List<Coord>() { new Coord { x = 1, y = 2 }, new Coord { x = 11, y = 12 }};
//lambda expression value
var filteredList = list.Where(o => o.id == targetGUID);
//Make the internals visible to the test assembly for unit testing private dependencies, etc.
[assembly: InternalsVisibleTo("MyTestAssembly")] in the AssemblyInfo.cs file.
//Obsolete attribute to warn that an assembly may go away and that alternatives should be used asap
Obsolete("This method will be deprecated soon. You could use XYZ alternatively.")]
//To prevent a repetition of the execution, change the LINQ result to List after execution
var result = masterCollection.Where(i => i > 100).ToList();
Console.WriteLine(result.Count()); //no extra Linq executions
Console.WriteLine(result.Average()); //no extra Linq executions
//catch Generic Exception and throw for more detail
catch (Exception)
      throw;
//Generic Type using a common Interface
protected class MyGenricClass<T> where T : IMyInterface
public void MyGenericMethod<T>(T t) where T : IMyInterface
//using obj reference for brevity and cleaner code
using (SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(strConnection)) { ... }
//aslias namespaces for brevity if you need to explicitly spell out the namespace anywhere
using Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel;
var excelapp = new Excel.Application();
//object initializer
Janitor jenkins = new Janitor() { Name = "Jenkins", Address = "1212 DeplPipelnSciptzzz" };
//null checks
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
//Connection String
"Server=myServerAddress;Database=myDataBase;User Id=myUsername;
Password=myPassword;"
//Entity Framework Optimizer/Escape Hatch
using (var db = new MyContext())
{
    db.Query<FooBar>().FromSql("SELECT ProductID, udf_GetNameFromId(ID3) FROM Products");
}
//JSON Serialize and Deserialize with Newtonsoft
string serial = JsonConvert.SerializeObject(genericObject);
var deserial = JsonConvert.DeserializeObject<APIGenericItemsResponse>(await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
//XML Serialize using System.Xml.Serialization
 public void TestSerialize(XMLEntityCollection ents)
     {
       XmlSerializer xmlSerializer = new XmlSerializer(ents.GetType());
       using (StringWriter stringWriter = new StringWriter())
       {
         xmlSerializer.Serialize(stringWriter, ents);
         Assert.IsNotNull(stringWriter);
       }
     }
//XML Deserialize using System.Xml.Serialization
XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(XMLEntityCollection));
       using (StringReader reader = new StringReader(xml))
       {
         XMLEntityCollection ents = (XMLEntityCollection)serializer.Deserialize(reader);
         TestSerialize(ents);
       }
-------------------------VB--------------------------------------
Dim i As Integer = 1
Begin Function(ByVal a As String) As Double
     Return 37
End Function
Namespace MyNamespace
End Namespace
Public Class Manager
     Inherits Employee
End Class
Public Overridable Function CalculateSalary() As Integer
End Function
Public Overrides Function CalculateSalary() As Integer
End Function
MyBase (base in C#)
Public Interface IEmployee
    Property EmployeeID() As Integer
    Property Name() As String
    Property Age() As Integer
    Function CalculateSalary() As Integer
End Interface
Public Class Manager
Implements IEmployee
End Class

--------PYTHON-----------------------------
#cool-youtube-API
youtube-dl -f 140 $uri
#formatting opts for youtube-dl

[info] Available formats for P9pzm5b6FFY:
format code extension resolution  note 
140         m4a       audio only  DASH audio , audio@128k (worst)
160         mp4       144p        DASH video , video only
133         mp4       240p        DASH video , video only
134         mp4       360p        DASH video , video only
135         mp4       480p        DASH video , video only
136         mp4       720p        DASH video , video only
17          3gp       176x144     
36          3gp       320x240     
5           flv       400x240     
43          webm      640x360     
18          mp4       640x360     
22          mp4       1280x720    (best)
#reverse string
a =  "NotPalindrome"
print("Reverse is",a[::-1])
#transpose matrix
mat = [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6]]
zip(*mat)
#store array as indiv vars
a = [1, 2, 3]
x, y, z = a
#print array elments as string
a = ["This", "is", "a", "string"]
print(" ".join(a))
#print coords of 2 combined lists
list1 = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd']
list2 = ['p', 'q', 'r', 's']
for x, y in zip(list1,list2):
...    print(x, y)
#switch var vals in 1 line
a=2
b=4
b, a =a, b
#execute recursion without loops
print("cool"*2+' '+"beans"*5)
#convert matrix to list without loop
import itertools
a = [[1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6]]
list(itertools.chain.from_iterable(a))

-------JAVASCRIPT------------------------------------
//Use "var" or "let" when creating any variables Assignment to an undeclared variable automatically //results in a global variable being created. Avoid global variables.
var a = 'not Globl';
=== instead of == (former compares value and type)
//Be careful when using typeof, instanceof and constructor.
var arr = ["a", "b", "c"];
typeof arr;   // return "object"
arr  instanceof Array // true
//get random item from an array
var items = [12, 548 , 'a' , 2 , 5478 , 'foo' , 8852, , 'Doe' , 2145 , 119];
var  randomItem = items[Math.floor(Math.random() * items.length)];
//get random number in a specific range
var x = Math.floor(Math.random() * (max - min + 1)) + min;
//Trim String prototype extension function
String.prototype.trim = function(){return this.replace(/^s+|s+$/g, "");};
//Append array to array
var array1 = [12 , "foo" , {name "Joe"} , -2458];
var array2 = ["Doe" , 555 , 100];
Array.prototype.push.apply(array1, array2);
//Object to Array
var argArray = Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments);
//Verify numeric
function isNumber(n){
    return !isNaN(parseFloat(n)) && isFinite(n);
}
//verify Array type
function isArray(obj){
    return Object.prototype.toString.call(obj) === '[object Array]' ;
}
//Max and Min
var  numbers = [5, 458 , 120 , -215 , 228 , 400 , 122205, -85411];
var maxInNumbers = Math.max.apply(Math, numbers);
var minInNumbers = Math.min.apply(Math, numbers);
//Empty the array
var myArray = [12 , 222 , 1000 ];
myArray.length = 0;
//use splice() not delete() for removing JS array elements
var items = [12, 548 ,'a' , 2 , 5478 , 'foo' , 8852, , 'Doe' ,2154 , 119 ];
items.length; // return 11
items.splice(3,1) ;
items.length; // return 10
//use map() to loop through array
var squares = [1,2,3,4].map(function (val) {
    return val * val;
});
//rounding a decimal numeric
var num =2.443242342;
num = num.toFixed(4);
//check object props
for (var name in object) {
    if (object.hasOwnProperty(name)) {
        // do something with name                 
    }
}
//Serialize and Deserialize
var person = {name :'Saad', age : 26, department : {ID : 15, name : "R&D"} };
var stringFromPerson = JSON.stringify(person);
/* stringFromPerson is equal to "{"name":"Saad","age":26,"department":{"ID":15,"name":"R&D"}}"   */
var personFromString = JSON.parse(stringFromPerson);
/* personFromString is equal to person object  */
//Best/fastest JS looping structure
var sum = 0;
for (var i = 0, len = arrayNumbers.length; i < len; i++) {
    sum += arrayNumbers[i];
}
//Pass functions (not string ref of function) to SetTimeout() and SetInterval()
setInterval(doSomethingEverySecond, 1000);
setTimeout(doSomethingEveryFiveSeconds, 5000);
//Clone a type
function clone(object) {
    function OneShotConstructor(){};
    OneShotConstructor.prototype= object;
    return new OneShotConstructor();
}
clone(Array).prototype ;  // []
//HTML escape function
function escapeHTML(text) {
    var replacements= {"<": "&lt;", ">": "&gt;","&": "&amp;", """: "&quot;"};                   
    return text.replace(/[<>&"]/g, function(character) {
        return replacements[character];
    });
}
//Set timeouts on async function calls
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest ();
xhr.onreadystatechange = function () {
    if (this.readyState == 4) {
        clearTimeout(timeout);
        // do something with response data
    }
}
var timeout = setTimeout( function () {
    xhr.abort(); // call error callback
}, 60*1000 /* timeout after a minute */ );
xhr.open('GET', url, true);

xhr.send();

//deal with websocket timeout
var timerID = 0;
function keepAlive() {
    var timeout = 15000;
    if (webSocket.readyState == webSocket.OPEN) {
        webSocket.send('');
    }
    timerId = setTimeout(keepAlive, timeout);
}
function cancelKeepAlive() {
    if (timerId) {
        cancelTimeout(timerId);
    }
}

-------T-SQL-----------------------------------------------------------
SELECT dateadd(mm, datediff(mm, 1, getDate()), 0) as FirstOfTheMonth
SELECT dateadd(ms, -3, dateadd(mm, datediff(m, 0, getDate()) + 1, 0)) as LastOfTheMonth
SELECT dateadd(qq, datediff(qq, 0, getDate()), 0) as FirstDayOfQtr
SELECT dateadd(wk, datediff(wk, 0, dateadd(dd, 6 - datepart(day, getDate()), getDate())), 0)  --(First Monday of Month)
--Find all instances of a 'string' within a string (varchar/nvarchar)
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.FindPatternLocation
(
    @string NVARCHAR(MAX),
    @term   NVARCHAR(255)
)
RETURNS TABLE
AS
    RETURN
    (
      SELECT pos = Number - LEN(@term)
      FROM (SELECT Number, Item = LTRIM(RTRIM(SUBSTRING(@string, Number,
      CHARINDEX(@term, @string + @term, Number) - Number)))
      FROM (SELECT ROW_NUMBER() OVER (ORDER BY [object_id])
      FROM sys.all_objects) AS n(Number)
      WHERE Number > 1 AND Number <= CONVERT(INT, LEN(@string)+1)
      AND SUBSTRING(@term + @string, Number, LEN(@term)) = @term
    ) AS y);
--Windowing for running totals, referencing related rows and row group totals
SELECT xact_amt,
     SUM(xact_amt) OVER (ORDER BY xact_datetime) AS running_total
FROM SOME_DB.dbo.SOME_TABLE
 --Get ids from a csv of ids
 SELECT * FROM string_split('100,101,201,301,411,414', ',')
--Push a series of values into one row
 SELECT playerID,
 STUFF((select '; ' + teamID
      from Managers
      where teamID like('%P%')
            group by teamID
      for xml path('')), 1, 1, '') allTeams
 FROM Managers
--Dynamic SQL
 DECLARE @mult bit = 0
 DECLARE @sqlToExecute varchar(500)
 DECLARE @srvWest varchar(50) = 'WestZoneSqlSrv08'
 DECLARE @srvEast varchar(50) = 'EastZoneSqlSrv08'
 IF @mult = 0
      SET @sqlToExecute = 'SELECT TOP 1 OrderId, PersonId FROM ALGO.dbo.[Order]'
 ELSE
      SET @sqlToExecute = 'SELECT TOP 1 OrderId, PersonId FROM ' + @srvEast + '.ALGO.dbo.[Order] UNION ALL SELECT TOP 1 OrderID, PersonId FROM ' + @srvWest + '.ALGO.dbo.Order' 
 EXEC(@sqlToExecute)
--CTE
WITH Entity (EntityID, Name, ParentID, Tree)
AS
(
   SELECT ID, Val1, Val2 FROM SomeDbServer.dbo.SomeDatabase;
)

SELECT * FROM Entity;

-------GIT------------------------------------------------------
git log
git diff
git init
git branch
git branch -a
git branch <branchname> ((new branch))
git switch <branchname> ((same as checkout))
git merge <branchname> ((merge another branch into current working branch))
git push origin <branchname>
git push -u origin <branchname>
git pull origin <branchname>
git remote add origin <ssh or https URI>

--------WinDbg--------
!sos.threadpool (Strike subset of modules useful (yet safe) for debugging .NET)
!sos.savemodule
!sos.finalizequeue
!mex.us
!mex.aspxpagesext
!mex.mthreads / !sos.threads
!mex.dae
!mex.clrstack2

!sym noisy
g - (Go)
r - (Registers)
d - (virtual memory commands)
!teb - (thread environment block)
!peb - (process execution block)
~{thread id}|| ~*k to execute "each thread" and assoc k cmd on them
k - (look at stacks in debugger => top is end, bottom is init/start 00000000)
? - (evaluation cmd to get HEX equiv)
lm (loaded modules (lm v m malware => show verbose module (m)atching 'malware'))
du - (display Unicode value)
.crash - (forces blue screen crash and .dmp)

-------REGEX--------------------------------------------------
(http|ftp|https)://([\w_-]+(?:(?:\.[\w_-]+)+))([\w.,@?^=%&:/~+#-]*[\w@?^=%&/~+#-])?
File Path with Filename and extension
/((\/|\\|\/\/|https?:\\\\|https?:\/\/)[a-z0-9 _@\-^!#$%&+={}.\/\\\[\]]+)+\.[a-z]+$/
 File Path with optional Filename, extension
/^(.+)/([^/]+)$/
File Name with extension having 3 chars
/^[\w,\s-]+\.[A-Za-z]{3}$/
/* Match IPv4 address */
/^(([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])\.){3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])$/
/* Match IPv6 address */
/(([0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}:){7,7}[0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}|([0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}:){1,7}:|([0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}:){1,6}:[0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}|([0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}:){1,5}(:[0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}){1,2}|([0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}:){1,4}(:[0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}){1,3}|([0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}:){1,3}(:[0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}){1,4}|([0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}:){1,2}(:[0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}){1,5}|[0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}:((:[0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}){1,6})|:((:[0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}){1,7}|:)|fe80:(:[0-9a-fA-F]{0,4}){0,4}%[0-9a-zA-Z]{1,}|::(ffff(:0{1,4}){0,1}:){0,1}((25[0-5]|(2[0-4]|1{0,1}[0-9]){0,1}[0-9])\.){3,3}(25[0-5]|(2[0-4]|1{0,1}[0-9]){0,1}[0-9])|([0-9a-fA-F]{1,4}:){1,4}:((25[0-5]|(2[0-4]|1{0,1}[0-9]){0,1}[0-9])\.){3,3}(25[0-5]|(2[0-4]|1{0,1}[0-9]){0,1}[0-9]))/
/* Match both IPv4, IPv6 addresses */
/((^\s*((([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5])\.){3}([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]|1[0-9]{2}|2[0-4][0-9]|25[0-5]))\s*$)|(^\s*((([0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}:){7}([0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}|:))|(([0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}:){6}(:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}|((25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)){3})|:))|(([0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}:){5}(((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}){1,2})|:((25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)){3})|:))|(([0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}:){4}(((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}){1,3})|((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4})?:((25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)){3}))|:))|(([0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}:){3}(((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}){1,4})|((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}){0,2}:((25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)){3}))|:))|(([0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}:){2}(((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}){1,5})|((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}){0,3}:((25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)){3}))|:))|(([0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}:){1}(((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}){1,6})|((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}){0,4}:((25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)){3}))|:))|(:(((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}){1,7})|((:[0-9A-Fa-f]{1,4}){0,5}:((25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)(\.(25[0-5]|2[0-4]\d|1\d\d|[1-9]?\d)){3}))|:)))(%.+)?\s*$))/
Elements with Attributes /<\/?[\w\s]*>|<.+[\W]>/
Slug /^[a-z0-9]+(?:-[a-z0-9]+)*$/
Digits
    Whole Numbers – /^\d+$/
    Decimal Numbers – /^\d*\.\d+$/
    Whole + Decimal Numbers – /^\d*(\.\d+)?$/
    Negative, Positive Whole + Decimal Numbers – /^-?\d*(\.\d+)?$/
    Whole + Decimal + Fractions – /[-]?[0-9]+[,.]?[0-9]*([\/][0-9]+[,.]?[0-9]*)*/
Alphanumeric without space – /^[a-zA-Z0-9]*$/
Alphanumeric with space – /^[a-zA-Z0-9 ]*$/
Common email Ids – /^([a-zA-Z0-9._%-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9.-]+\.[a-zA-Z]{2,6})*$/
Uncommon email ids – /^([a-z0-9_\.\+-]+)@([\da-z\.-]+)\.([a-z\.]{2,6})$/
Password Strength
Complex: Should have 1 lowercase letter, 1 uppercase letter, 1 number, 1 special character and be at least 8 characters long
/(?=(.*[0-9]))(?=.*[\!@#$%^&*()\\[\]{}\-_+=~`|:;"'<>,./?])(?=.*[a-z])(?=(.*[A-Z]))(?=(.*)).{8,}/
Moderate: Should have 1 lc letter, 1 UC letter, 1 number, and be at least 8 characters long
/(?=(.*[0-9]))((?=.*[A-Za-z0-9])(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*[a-z]))^.{8,}$/
/* Username */
    Alphanumeric string that may include _ and – having a length of 3 to 16 characters –
    /^[a-z0-9_-]{3,16}$/
/* Date Format YYYY-MM-dd */
/([12]\d{3}-(0[1-9]|1[0-2])-(0[1-9]|[12]\d|3[01]))/
    Time Format HH:MM 12-hour, optional leading 0
    /^(0?[1-9]|1[0-2]):[0-5][0-9]$/
    Time Format HH:MM 12-hour, optional leading 0, Meridiems (AM/PM)
    /((1[0-2]|0?[1-9]):([0-5][0-9]) ?([AaPp][Mm]))/
    Time Format HH:MM 24-hour with leading 0
    /^(0[0-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]$/
    Time Format HH:MM 24-hour, optional leading 0
    /^([0-9]|0[0-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]$/
    Time Format HH:MM:SS 24-hour
    /(?:[01]\d|2[0123]):(?:[012345]\d):(?:[012345]\d)/


/* PowerShell has interesting return value behavior; vars are kept in global scope unless explicitly removed
$a = "Hello, World"
return $a
$a = "Hello, World"
$a
return */

-------DATA LAKE--------
Intermittent data holding area; a function of time restrictions, best for unstruct'd data/Ops Log/Config Data....... (for monitoring apps before a problem happens or gets worse)



References:

https://modernweb.com/45-useful-javascript-tips-tricks-and-best-practices/

https://pythontips.com/2015/04/19/nifty-python-tricks/#more-580

https://www.freelancer.com/community/articles/top-16-c-programming-tips-tricks

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/tutorials/inheritance 

https://www.debuggex.com/

https://digitalfortress.tech/tricks/top-15-commonly-used-regex/