Cyber Drop

	Is
	Is not speaking
	Is speaking

You might be thinking it is "Is not speaking" but the correct answer is "Is speaking".

Sometimes words like not, just, never, only, and always appear inside the verb phrase. These words are adverbs, not verbs

Have you ever heard of the preprocessor operators "Stringize" (denoted as #) and "Token Pasting" (denoted as ##)?

If you know this already well and good but shame.. I learnt abt this only today and hence sharing.... Oh well, It's better late than never :)

"Stringize"

The operator # indicates that the following argument is to be replaced by a string literal; this literal names the preprocessing token that replaces the argument. For example, consider the macro:

#define display(x) show((long)(x), #x)

When the preprocessor reads the line

display(abs(-5));

it replaces it with the following:

show((long)(abs(-5)), "abs(-5)");

"Token Pasting" or "Token concatenation"

The ## operator performs ``token pasting'' - that is, it joins two tokens together, to create a single token. For example, consider the macro:

#define printvar(x) printf("%d\n", variable ## x)

When the preprocessor reads the line

printvar(3);

it translates it into:

printf("%d\n", variable3);

PS: In the past, token pasting had been performed by inserting a comment between the tokens to be pasted. This no longer works.

You all must be knowing about the Windows shortcut keys, yeah? The one which triggers the START button and other such shortcut keys.

There are few cases when you feel this Windows key and its shortcut keys are bloody annoying. For instance, say you are playing some full screen games and if you tend to press the Windows key often by mistake then it sure is annoying. Well, whatever the reason may be, our today's article will focus on how to disable the Windows key and here is how you do it...

Copy the the below content in your notepad and save it as a .reg file. Finally, double click on it and restart your system for this change to take effect.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
"Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,5b,e0,00,00,5c,e0,\
00,00,00,00

You will now face the shortcut keys problem no more. :)

If you are working for an EU (European) MNC, it is an added advantage to learn any of the EU languages to grab an onsite opportunity quicker; but which EU language to learn?

You might tend to say French; so was I thinking. A little statistical analysis about the most spoken EU language comes handy now. This might sound useless for a few, but learning a new language is not an easy task. You are going to spend your time, memory and cost on it. How would you feel when you passed out a particular language certification and then come to know that there are no much opportunities for that particular language? That hurts big time!

I am not sure if you know it or not, theoretically, Europe has nearly 30-40 major languages out of which 23 are official languages.

The seven most natively spoken languages in the EU ordered by the percentage of total European population:

1. 18% German
2. 13% French
3. 12% English
4. 12% Italian
5. 9% Spanish
6. 9% Polish
7. 5% Dutch

The list below shows the top eight European languages ordered by total number of speakers in the EU:

1. 51% English
2. 33% German
3. 28% French
4. 16% Italian
5. 15% Spanish
6. 10% Polish
7. 7% Russian
8. 6% Dutch

This makes German the most frequently spoken native language and English the most frequently second spoken language overall in the European Union.

So, if you are ever planning to learn any of the EU languages go for German. It has a huge scope when compared to other languages. You might ask me, “What if my company does not have any clients from Germany at all?” Let me tell you something, despite of the onsite opportunities in Germany, it needs huge number translators next to Japanese. FACT!! So, if not as an On-site coordinator, you sure have an opportunity as a translator.


So what are the German Certifications available in the market?

There are many Zertifikat Deutsch (ZD), the Großes Sprachdiplom (GDS), or the TestDaF. Do research a bit before you join one. However, Zertifikat Deutsch is a standardized widely accepted test and it has proven its validity over the years and is recognized as certification in many situations. Also, both the BULATS and the Zertifikat Deutsch für den Beruf (ZDfB) test a high level of language competency for business German.

German Coaching Classes:

Google - not for learning German as such but to find the German Coaching center at your nearest location. (You very well can learn German via Google. Google has it all but then humans might not be that capable)