DEV Community: Pradosh

Better input method for C#

Pradosh — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 13:16:46 +0000

Well when you read a string from the user in C# language, you don't really have control of the string while the user is typing, now don't worry! Buffer package for C# solves the problem.

Discovery of the Problem

I was coding an CLI based chat client and server application and I was using multi-threading for receiving the messages from other users (clients). But what if I was typing and another user also sent the message, so it appeared broken like this,

I did not have control of the value entered by the user, since we can only get the value after the user have pressed enter, so to fix it I have created this package. With this package you can improve your console input while having full control.

THIS BLOG IS OBSOLUTE FROM BELOW, CHECK OUT THE REPO OR NUGET

How to use its maximum potential?

We have to use buffer and multi-threading. Buffer and multi-threading go hand in hand!

Here is an code example :

using prad;

class sample_program {
    static PradBuffer buffer = new PradBuffer();

    static void Main(string[] args) {
        Thread thread = new Thread(invoker);
        thread.Start();

        buffer.GetInput("command > ");

        string value = buffer.GetBufferAsString();

        buffer.ClearBuffer();

        Console.WriteLine(value);
    }

    static void invoker(){
        if(buffer.Length > 0)
            Console.WriteLine(buffer.GetBufferAsString());

        Thread.Sleep(1000);
        invoker();
    }
}

In this program, we get what user have entered BEFORE they even press enter.
We cannot do that in Console.ReadLine()!

Buffer management

We are responsible for our input, so we are also responsible in clearing the buffer, providing even more flexibility!

The ClearBuffer() method clears the buffer!

Example code to get input from user

The below code shows how you can get input from user!

PradBuffer buffer = new PradBuffer();
buffer.GetInput("command > ");
string value = buffer.GetBufferAsString();
buffer.ClearBuffer();
Console.WriteLine(value);

How to get the package?

You can visit the following links to add the package!

or just run the following command in your project,

dotnet add package buffer

Conclusion

Hey if you still didn't know, I am the author of the blog post and this package! If you like my project or this blog, please put a ❤️. Have any questions? Comment below and I will try to hit you up as soon as possible!

Check this out!

Pradosh — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:44:13 +0000

Expanding swap file

Pradosh ・ Apr 7

#linux #swap #tutorial

[Boost]

Pradosh — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 09:36:42 +0000

Pradosh

Apr 7 '25

Expanding swap file

#linux #swap #tutorial

Comments

2 min read

Expanding swap file

Pradosh — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 05:00:49 +0000

Introduction

Well you want to expand your swap file? Not have enough money to buy an extra RAM? Well, you are in the right place, In this blog I will guide you through the steps of expanding your preexisting swap file by successive 1 GiB or more!

Steps to increase swap file size

Disable swap file

We use swapoff command to turn off the swap since we are modifying the swap file, It will take some time depending upon the data in swap

sudo swapoff /swapfile

Append 1 GiB to the end of swapfile

By executing the below command, 1 GiB will be added at the end of the swap file, you can run more than once to add more swap memory.

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=1024 oflag=append conv=notrunc

Explanation of above command :

dd a command line tool used for creating and copying data
if argument to specify the input file
/dev/zero its a special file in linux, when read gives the values as 0
of argument to specify the output file
bs argument to specify the block size
count number of blocks needed to be written, since we selected 1M, it will run 1024 times to give 1024M (1Mx1024)
oflag=append tells the dd to append to the swap file.
conv=notrunc This option tells dd not to truncate the output file to zero length before writing.

Create the swap file with updated size

The command below setup the swap file.

sudo mkswap /swapfile

Turn on the new swap file

The command below turns on the swap file so if needed applications might use it.

sudo swapon /swapfile

Summary

So for a quick summary, here are the commands to expand your swap by 1 GiB.

sudo swapoff /swapfile
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=1024 oflag=append conv=notrunc
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

Conclusion

I increased my swap by running the dd command twice so 2 GiB will be appended on my existing swap resulting in 2.5 GiB.

Nice! You have increased your swap file! Now go open a few extra tabs! have fun! Have any questions? well comment below! I will try to hit you up as soon as possible!