Bye 2006, Hello 2007

Happy New year Folks !!!

It has been an eventful year. A year with few interesting events.
I dont think i can really do a review of the year. Its just so tuf to recollect all of them.
I wud just like to highlight some of the events this year.

My B'day.
Probably the best ever bday i have ever heard. Unlike previous years, there was a lot of meaning to this bday. No flashy parties. A very peaceful bday. But i also happened to write 2 internal exams on that day. Ironically scored 17/50 in both. :)
Rating : 9

Visit to Hyderabad.
A great trip it was. Met some relatives of mine, whom i have never seen in the last 10 yrs. Was great to spend some time with them and roam arnd the beautiful city of hyderabad. It is one of the very few metros which is not yet spoiled by pollution and congestion. A very memorable trip though the purpose for which i went there was not fulfilled.
Rating: 7

Teletec Web Portal.
A truly memorable experience. Got introduced into the world of server side scripting for the first time. Was very interesting. The web rolled out on time with all functionalities implemented. It sure added a lot of color to Teletec 06. A very satisfying venture. Ironically, the entire team that developed the web portal ended up with duals in the same companies. :)
Rating: 8

Visits to Coimbatore.
There were just so many times this yr that i visited Coimbatore. That is another city i love so much. I was there to attend the symposiums at PSG & CIT. Well, made hell lotta money in those colleges. Met a guy from TI in one of those visits. Interesting events spawned from that meet. None materialized though. Met the CEO from Globals Inc. The most satisfying part of these visits happened to be the fact i got some time to spend with my friend there. V really had lotsa fun. Not to forget the TCS medical check up to coimbatore. Was damn damn funny.
Rating: 8

The Last Day @ College.
Well, what can i say ???? U just have to feel it. Words cant describe the emotions.
Rating: 9.5

The BackBenchBoys Celebration.
It was finally time for us, the BackBenchBoys to celebrate. Over a long period of 3 yrs, we were together as a team. We were a team right from day 1. We went thru ebbs and tides of life together. To celebrate all our efforts, TG & Rajiv threw a party. A truly unforgettable party.
Rating: 9

May !!!
That was one hell of a month. V had exams till may 22nd. The last set of exams in my entire life. [ I am pretty sure of not doing any more higher studies ]. Watched 270 episodes of my fav Dragonball Z cartoon. Got my TCS call for training, which i never attended. Underwent my Honeywell interviews. My final sem results were out too. Managed to walk out of college with 8.04. :)
Cant forget that month.
Ratings: 8

6.6.6
The worst possible day of the millennium. And thats when i got the official confirmation from Honeywell. What more can i say ? A ecstatic moment.
Rating: 8.5

One last time to Coimbatore.
This visit was a truly cherishable one. Wud go down in years as the one of the "best days" in my life. Fresh with offers in hand, me & my friend just decided to enjoy to the core. Eating, playin, roaming.. Chatting..
Rating: 9

G5
Finally, i got a vehicle of my own. My new Yamaha Libero G5. And, it was actually given as a surprise by my dad to me. So, it was sweeter.
Rating: 9


To be contd. [ later ]

C/C++ vs Rest of the World

This particular thought has been going on in my mind ever since i started programming "seriously". There have been numerous discussions on which language is the strongest. Which is the best ? I think, I have finally come to the answer.

U know, i wud like to broadly categorize the whole world of programming into two. System programming & Application programming. System programming refers to building the underlying architecture on which others can work on. And application programming refers to using that architecture to perform few operations, say word processing or listening to music etc.

When it comes to system programming, there aren't many competitors. To my knowledge, there is only one language which supports pointers.. which provides direct access to the underlying hardware.. which provides extremely fast executables.. which helps u in producing sleek and optimized codes.. which also happens to be a very tuf language to master. Ya, its ur good old C i am talking abt. Its down right simple. Just expressions and function calls.. And to make things stronger, u have C++.. Loaded with Object oriented functionalities.. But the size of the code becomes bigger when u use C++.. And u have to rely a lot on external packages to get things done. The language as such doesnt provide u with many functionalities. And 99% of the time, programmers dont have problem with the language but finding the appropriate libraries. Given these pros and cons, programmers prefer to use C when it comes to real time programming. The performance is unmatched. Java is at least 4 times slower than C. C/C++ really rule this area.

When it comes to application programming, there are just too many competitors. U simply cant chalk them down. Be it java or the visual studios package.. There are just too much of competition in this area. One cant really analyze which one is stronger. C/C++ plays a very small part in this area. Visual C++ is a major factor to be considered in this area. But VC++ is a different animal all together.. One even wonders if he is still working on C++ when he codes in VC++.. The structure is completely different. Its lot tougher and requires a huge amount of understanding. And it is also restricted to the windows operating system only.

But this the bottom line. Be it any language u choose to develop ur application. In the end, it is only going to make use of the underlying platform.. gonna use system calls written in C/C++..
They aren't really that strong. They dont provide direct hardware access. All these packages only make the programmers job easier. And thats where they are successful. Programmers nowadays aren't really interested in looking at the size of the executable. All programmers interested are in easier learning of the language.. better put, faster learning of the language.. and more importantly, better productivity is wat they look for..

Finally, it is without doubt which is the strongest language. The strongest language doesnt mean it wud to suit to all situations. Fast is the keyword in today's market. And hence ppl tend to move to other packages to get their jobs done quickly.. As always, there is compromise.. performance vs speed of delivery.. performance vs ease of use..

So, its the final call of the programmer.. It depends how he looks at it.. There aren't any clear cut rules to exactly distinguish between languages.

About Google.. Again..

Well, there are so many things abt the google search engine.. It has reached an extent i doubt if u can really call it as a search engine.. here are few interesting things google.com can do apart from searching web pages..

Google as a calculator
Type 1+1 in the search engine and see wat u get !!!! or try (12%5)*((5-7)/(6+7)).. Interesting ain't it ????

Google knows mathematical constants
Type "pi" or "phi" in the search engine.. See wat the first result is !!!!

Google as a converter
Type "1 km in mile" or "2kg in pounds".. Dont be surprised.. this thing really rocks..

Google as a dictionary
Guess, most ppl know this.. u can always type "what is internet" to get web definitions..

Google as a glossary
U guys shud know this too.. Its too elementary.. type "define: black box testing".. he he he..

Google also lists facts :) *
Type "population china" or "president India" or "birthday bush".. It gives everything..

Google knows weather reports too.. :) *
Type "weather new york".. See wat u get..

Google is GIANT phone directory.. *
Type "john smith minneapolis mn".. It gives u the phone number.. And u can try the vice versa too.. Give the phone number.. Get the guy's details.. Wat more can u ask !!!!

Google answers the Ultimate qstns..
Well, this is the most weirdest part.. It answers really tuf qstns.. I haven't tried a lot of combinations thoug.. But came across this one in one web.. Type "what is the answer to life the universe and everything".. I mean, i haven't even heard of a thing like this before.. But Google seems to know better.. In case u guys, get such wierd combinations.. feel free to post in my blog..

Hats off to Google's creators.. U ppl rock..

* - Doesn't apply to all countries or all info.. It is currently improving its database.. The database now primarily contains info arising from the United States..

Google Products

Try out some of the products rolled out free by Google.

Google Desktop - Now u can use the Google search engine to search files in your system. Believe me its lot faster than your Windows search.

Google Videos - Not a product in the truest sense, but gives u access to loads to videos across the world. Just try searching for "bill gates" in Google videos. You get interesting videos to watch.

Picasa - A very good photo manager. Has few features for image editing. But still stands out as a good photo manager.

Google Page Creator - For all those amateur web designers out there, you can try this out. Its cool. Has very limited features for web creation. But good enough to launch a decent website. Based on the philosophy of WYSIWYG.

Google Calender - This is a really cool package. Lets you organize your schedule in a easy manner. It also lets u schedule meeting with others, Invite others and so on.

Google Spreadsheet - Again, this is a cool little package. It lets u maintain ur spread sheets online. Its no way comparable with Microsoft's Excel. It need to be improved a lot if it needs to attract people more.

Google Documents - Very similar to the spread sheet package. Needs loads of improved if it has to compete with the likes of Microsoft Office or Open Office.

Eminem's MOSH

For all u Eminem freaks out there..