What the heck is Greg Chappel doing?

Since he joined as the coach of Indian cricket team, the controversy has become his second name. With all the support he got it was hoped that the Indian cricket team will be turned around from a bunch of cameos to a winning troop. Nothing of that sort happened. He successfully got rid of Saurav even though the energy and the spirit which was brought to the team attributed to him. Okay! we said. We accepted Saurav's exit and we trusted Chappel more. Since he joined as the coach, India has not won any major tournament. His experiments have back fired. Half of the players don't even know if they are part of the team or not or even confident of their abilities. He has turned a team of fighters to a bunch of insecure chokers. With India being the only challenger to the Aussies two years ago now seems struggling even against the lower ranked teams. With this coach plus an uninspiring captain and an insecure middle order there shouldn't be any guesses where the team is heading to.

Why I know the result of Cricket world cup

For sure it won't be any South Asian country - So relax India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan the world cup is not up for your grasp. Why? Because ICC is supposed to be a mini world cup and even though this game is filled with unpredictability it does give a fair preview of the teams. The way Lankans were thrashed by SA in their group and the way India lost to the determined West Indians, this series got a burial when Pakis were shamelessly thrashed by South Africans, again. Shane Bond and Makhaya Ntini are proving too hot for the batsmen. With the discipline of Bradshaw and the hidden armory of Aussies it doesn't look like if any mighty South Asians are gonna pull it off. And I am not sure if Andy is preparing for Ashes or playing Rugby.

Have you had this feeling before?

That firefox, tomcat, google, gmail and cygwin are one and the same? Weird huh!

IceT's Rap skool rocks!

Just an amazing program. Have never seen someone working so real with a bunch of so precious kids and bringing them out of their fear and anger. Thats some real stuff. Go IceT and the pupils of the RAP skool - you guys rock! And Missy M a message for you - You are the most precious kid in your class, so much talent just don't fear of nothing.

Democracy of Software development

The ever present question of finding the most efficient methodology to run a system. We find some strong ideas to oppose or propose one kind of a system or another. Lets talk about the political system:
First scenario:
Take an utopic kingdom run by a very efficient King. A king who is passionate and powerful and who makes sure that his kingdom is running smooth. A king who makes sure that no one in his kingdom is hungry and deprived of basic human amenities. Now ask anyone in this kingdom if they would like to change the King? The answer would be no. Why would anyone like to change a system which is so efficiently run? Now ask a hungry beggar or homeless in a democratically run country if the democracy in his country is any better than the aforementioned kingdom. Do we have to guess the reply?
Second scenario:
Same kingdom but now the king is corrupt. A king who uses his army to terrorize and impose his own dogma. A kingdom where justice has been hijacked by a few and a kingdom where even basic human amenities are scarce.


Even though the people were happy in the first scenario, they did not have the power to make any difference. It became more evident in the second scenario when being powerless was a peril. The same people who were happy in the first did not have any power to make a change for themselves in the second. The worst case scenario was bad. The order of the algorithm was quadratic.

I am not a politician but a programmer who analyse a system for its behaviour in the best and worst case scenarios. Democracy is not the best system to run a country but is the most efficient in the scenarios where it comes to humanity. People may not be happy but they do have power to make a change. Now why am I talking about a political system when I cannot claim any expertise in it? No I am not. Actually I am talking about the software development. "Phased development does not work". You have heard this from the methodology champions. Thats the reason why DDD and methodologies like eXtreme programming are so popular. Now if the phased development like waterfall was so bad and inefficient why would it exist anyway? The answer to this question lies in the story of the kingdom I narrated. When a system lacks democracy or iterativeness or closed loop revisits the need of managing it skyrockets. The system can be efficient if managed properly but is too fragile to absorb any loose threads or misses. Democracy or the iterativeness provides a platfom to correct things. With fluid goals and the risk of losing team members makes phased programming very difficult to manage. Bring the democracy to software development.

The power of messaging

Am I stupid to keep apps simple?

This is one ever present question in my mind. I talk to people who talk big things. Big technologies and how it can be implemented. Taking easy routes does not make an application simple. I wish I can be a guru but here are a few guidelines if followed can make a system very simple, scalable and highly flexible:

1. Follow the open standards.
2. Shun that design If one layer cannot be separated with another.
3. Use MVC as an umbrella pattern for the application.
4. JSP is the most dangerous (meta) language. It entices you to take short cuts. Handle it with care.
5. If possible XMLify your model layer.
6. Use widely used content structures. How different is an Item description from a blog?
7. Use basic design patterns. Life will become easy.
8. Stay stupid.
9. Look if Apache already has one.
10. Think thrice before using EJBs.

Why not?

If Paris and Nicole can come together why not...
US and Iran?
North Korea and Japan?
India and Pakistan?
Israel and Lebanon?

Paris and Nicole stand for the world peace!

More performance tuners please!

I have worked with some very good architects, some awesome programmers, good database administrators and some very good testers. One category who I missed are some good performace tuners. Most of the performance folks I have worked with knew how to tune the database. We need people who are programmers who know the database, knows the PL/SQL programming to tune the queries and stored procedures, knows the Java programming, a good Java architect to address the design issues and someone who understands the OS and JVM to the teeth. Performance tuning is not a secondary job and only folks at the top of the technology stack can do it. How difficult could it be to find such a guru?

So you are nuclear, now what?

With N Korea conducting a nuclear test it brings back the memories of 1998 when India/Pak conducted theirs. With a few years of sanctions the life went on. India turned its focus on economic prosperiety and Pakistan shunned its' "Open" support for the terrorists. India became more responsible and except AQ Khan's proliferation, Pakistan did not become more dangerous than it already is. So being in the nuclear club does bring more sensibilities. Hope the same prevails in the Korean peninsula too.

The danger is that these technologies are more likely to be passed on to the terrorists from these loose states. With no viable solution, sanctions just alienates them. Lets accept the realities and create an international law to financially burden the nuclear capable countries. Like, mandatory supply of free nuclear energy to its' non-nuclear neighboring nations. For India to provide energy to Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. For Pakistan to provide it to Afghanistan, Iran and other middle eastern countries. For US to do the same to Cuba and other South American countries. China to Taiwan and S Korea and UK/France/Germany and Russia taking care of eastern Europe. These energy pockets may end up creating an International republic to work better under the United Nations.

Chevy Cobalt a no no and Hertz (??)

What a piece of manufacturing it is? Everytime I parked the car the key got stuck in the ignition. Wasted so many hours on this crap. I wish this be the most frustated and annoying it could be. And Hertz? I called them at 7:50 and got a replacement car at 11 when I was only at 15 mins from their airport location. So, Chevy cobalt is a big BIG NO and Hertz? I need to seriously think about them.