Sandip RELOADED

I have moved

2009-02-02T22:40:00.000+05:30

I have moved to my new blog

www.itsallpartoftheplan.wordpress.com

Software Engineering

2009-01-20T21:43:00.001+05:30

I have heard this common notion quite a few times that we Computer Engineers are really an unwanted and unnecessary lot. That Electrical, Electronics, Mechanical, Civil etc are the core branches-the crème-de-la-crème of engineering- and Computer/Software engineering is just a derived branch and hence does not deserve the same amount of respect as the above mentioned disciplines. This essay is my answer to those arguments will try to show just how shallow these arguments are.
Let’s take Mechatronics, a discipline that combines Mechanical and Electonics/Electrical Engineering. The same people who say Computers is a derived branch will vouch for the necessity of including Mechatronics at the undergraduate level. Is Mechatronics a so-called core branch?

Coding is easy
Another oft-heard argument is that Coding is so easy that anybody can do it and hence students from all branches of engineering are accepted in to IT companies where they are taught to code in just 6 months. Now we need to make a few things clear here. First, writing code and writing good code are very different things. Most of the work done at these IT companies does not require any specific knowledge of computer science. Is it requires coding but not smart coding. The coding is rudimentary and requires very little logic. And of course you do get away with bad code – code that does its job but is not optimally efficient. Give the same work to an efficient coder and you can expect better results. Second, the kind of code you are expected to write at these companies requires a very basic amount of logic and as engineers we all have that. While some may say that coding is very easy and that is why students from any branch can be a coder, we can also view it from a different perspective – the students from non-computing branches who take up software job do so because they are not good enough to take up jobs in their own discipline. Let me put it this way, even a mechanic knows how to repair a car, so is he at the same level as a Mechanical Engineer. If we go by the notion of core branch, then I should say that Physics and Mathematics are the core branches, rest all are just derivations.

Coding nothing without hardware
Many of my friends in electrical and electronics have pointed out how our software is of no use without the hardware on which to run them. Let me put it a bit differently, what would be the PC without the software that goes with it? Nothing more than a rather slick looking contraption made of plastic. IBM designed the PC that we see today, while Microsoft made the software for it. Now who made more money, Microsoft or IBM? Can you imagine how hard it would be to drive an F1 car at speeds exceeding 400 kmph without all those computing aids provided to the driver. Forget, that without computerized fuel injection even reaching those speeds and yet maintaining a semblance of efficiency will be impossible. The Buggatti Veyron with all its immense horse power can be driven to very high speed by a modestly skilled driver only because of the smart ABS and Electronic Stability Control system constantly working to nullify the mistakes of the driver. Now try achieving the same with pure mechanical systems. A robot is no more than a tin can if it does not have the software in it. Sensors can give you data but only software helps you to make sense of the data. I don’t want to demean any discipline of engineering. But at this age, without software you can go nowhere.

Software engineers do petty jobs while those done by others are real innovation
I agree that many of the software companies in India are not much into innovation. But then neither is Maruti Udyog or Vedanta. Maruti makes cheap cars with technology that is not too high tech. And talking about innovation and progress, well, the software industry (and by that extension the electronics industry) has progressed faster than any other industry in the world. The automobile or the construction industry has been doing pretty much the same thing as it did a few decades ago. Information Technology gets obsolete in a year or less, the automobile industry in a decade or more. Yes, there are companies like BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Honda, GE etc who do innovative work in their respective areas, and so does Microsoft, Google, Sun, IBM (IBM Research) and many more. And that is exactly why a Google or Microsoft will not hire a mechanical or civil engineer.

Bored of Computing.
Most of my batch mates want to go for an MBA degree because they are ‘bored’ or ‘tired’ of computing. And this is something common across all branches. Well, really, how much of computing have you been exposed to in just over a year of study (considering that we had common syllabus in first year). Didn’t most of you study your asses off for AIEEE to get to this place? Didn’t most of you select Computer Science or Electronics as you first option while filling the online form? So what happened to the enthusiasm? How much have you learnt in just 3 semesters that you are bored? (Well, I guess, I am not eligible to ask that last question. Considering that my CGPA graph is falling at a rate more alarming than the stock market, I have probably learnt less than most). Aren’t you at all fascinated by all the possibilities that software unleashes? Don’t you think if everyone is a Sales Manager or a Marketing Manager, who would develop the product which is to be marketed and sold? The way I see it, very soon we will have too many managers with nothing to manageor sell. A researcher in a software firm gets paid as much as a manager and can also rise to the position of the CEO. I don’t think the blame lies with the students alone. The faculty must share the blame because if you are not able to motivate your students enough there has to be something wrong with you methodology. Most of your students are scoring well because they want a good job and not out of any genuine interest in the subject. The aim of this education according to me should not be just getting a good job. Don’t we, as students, would much rather prefer to read only the paragraph that is important for exams instead of trying to understand more of the subject matter. Now is this not learning. Also we should invite more core computing companies for placements instead of mass recruiters. While mass recruiters ensure that we manage near 100 percent placements year after year, they make a complete mockery of the amount of study we put in for 3 years(not considering the 1 year of common syllabi) and crushes our self respect as computer engineers. If a chemical engineer gets the same job that I get and at the same salary, what’s the point of studying all those books for 3 long years? Instead just give me the six months of training that such a company gives to its recruits.

Finally, I would like to apologize to my fellow students from other branches. I don’t think that any branch is more important than the other. Just that my branch is just as important as yours.

A few facts about the Sun Z File System - the only 128 bit file system in existance

2008-12-20T09:30:00.002+05:30

Project leader for ZFS, Jeff Bonwick said, "Populating 128-bit file systems would exceed the quantum limits of earth-based storage. You couldn't fill a 128-bit storage pool without boiling the oceans."^[2]Later he clarified:

“

Although we'd all like Moore's Law to continue forever, quantum mechanics imposes some fundamental limits on the computation rate and information capacity of any physical device. In particular, it has been shown that 1 kilogram of matter confined to 1 litre of space can perform at most 10⁵¹ operations per second on at most 10³¹ bits of information.^[10] A fully populated 128-bit storage pool would contain 2¹²⁸ blocks = 2¹³⁷ bytes = 2¹⁴⁰ bits; therefore the minimum mass required to hold the bits would be (2¹⁴⁰ bits) / (10³¹ bits/kg) = 136 billion kg. To operate at the 10³¹ bits/kg limit, however, the entire mass of the computer must be in the form of pure energy. By E=mc², the rest energy of 136 billion kg is 1.2x10²⁸ J. The mass of the oceans is about 1.4x10²¹ kg. It takes about 4,000 J to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 degree Celsius, and thus about 400,000 J to heat 1 kg of water from freezing to boiling. The latent heat of vaporization adds another 2 million J/kg. Thus the energy required to boil the oceans is about 2.4x10⁶ J/kg * 1.4x10²¹ kg = 3.4x10²⁷ J. Thus, fully populating a 128-bit storage pool would, literally, require more energy than boiling the oceans.^[11]

”

Also take this

ZFS is a 128-bit file system, so it can address 18 billion billion (1.84 × 10¹⁹) times more data than current 64-bit systems. The limitations of ZFS are designed to be so large that they would never be encountered, given the known limits of physics. Some theoretical limits in ZFS are:

2⁶⁴ — Number of snapshots of any file system^[8]
2⁴⁸ — Number of entries in any individual directory^[9]
16 EiB (2⁶⁴ bytes) — Maximum size of a file system
16 EiB — Maximum size of a single file
16 EiB — Maximum size of any attribute
256 ZiB (2⁷⁸ bytes) — Maximum size of any zpool
2⁵⁶ — Number of attributes of a file (actually constrained to 2⁴⁸ for the number of files in a ZFS file system)
2⁵⁶ — Number of files in a directory (actually constrained to 2⁴⁸ for the number of files in a ZFS file system)
2⁶⁴ — Number of devices in any zpool
2⁶⁴ — Number of zpools in a system
2⁶⁴ — Number of file systems in a zpool

Wooow...Thats quite a lot.

The above is taken from wwikipedia. For the full article go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS

Sun Campus Ambassador

2008-12-20T09:29:00.002+05:30

Became the Sun Campus Ambassador for my college.

Updates

2008-11-11T22:41:00.002+05:30

Some updates

1. Imagine Cup: We are still in planning stage...No good ideas yet... We are supposed to develop an idea that help achieve any of the UN Millennium Development Goals. These goals are really ambitious and would help solve various problems besieging mankind. However, these are socio economic goals and finding a IT solution to these is really tough. Still we are trying. If you have an idea and would like to share it with us, do let me know. My team mates are Mohit, Nirzaree and Ruta

2. ACM: Quest is over. ACM plans to change its focus from the mass to class. We will be taking up projects and most of our events will be directed towards the tech savvy crowd and not the general crowd. Satisfying the general populace here is a tall order, they are never satisfied and expect computing to be spoon fed to them. So we will work with the more interested people. The first step towards this has been taken by Mohit and Prakhar by starting the ACM Programming Club and its doing well. SLiC will start soon.

Updates

2008-08-19T14:32:00.004+05:30

Here are a few updates:
1. ACM Quest 2008 is finally on a roll. We are now working franatically
2. New ACM Team for 2008-09 has been formed.
3. Certain things I thought I would quit and/or forget are back again.
4.Certain things I thought I would never forget are on the verge of being forgotten.
5.Am participating in Imagine Cup 2008
6. SVNIT Linux Cluster just might see the light of the day.
7. Am doing CAT coaching at IMS.

Symbian goes OpenSource

2008-06-29T11:25:00.003+05:30

Nokia plans to completely buy out Symbian and make it Open source. Thats a great news. Symbian is the most widely used OS in mobile phones today. Its going open source is a significant step. It just means that Nokia has decided to take on Google, Microsoft and Apple all at the same time. Google already is banking heavily on Android, Apple wants iPhone everywhere and iPhone is definitely a cool device and Microsoft wants Windows Mobile on all devices. This is definitely a bad news for Microsoft. Microsoft charges heavy royalties on it mobile OS and Symbian going free takes all the wind out of Microsoft. Will Microsoft lower prices on it OS? Lets see. The free version of Symbian will be out by 2010, thats still quite far, but things are only gonna get hotter now. As for me, this gives me a good reason to get into Symbian programming.

try

2008-06-03T11:58:00.000+05:30

tryin to beat cts websense monitoring..lets see

Vacations

2008-05-21T11:44:00.001+05:30

Enjoying/Enduring vacations at home....very boring...no Internet....

TCS=Thoroughly and Completely Screwed

2008-05-01T19:32:00.003+05:30

Also officially known as Theoretical Computer Science.Need I say more about how my exam went?

Oops...i did it again.....

2008-04-29T19:30:00.002+05:30

Well screwed CO as well....Some people were reduced to tears after the exam....But I was quite happy...Reason: well I believe my department will soon award me a PhD after going through my answer script. Why? Because everything that I wrote in the paper is purely original research done within the 2 hrs stipulated duration for the exam. Trust me, everything that I wrote has nothing to do with what is written in the book, any resemblance with Stallings or Tanenbaum is unintentional and purely co-incidental and highly regretted..

Asst Prof Sandip Dev, Computer Engineering Department, NIT-Surat

$nz...In view of the immense contribution made to my earlier theory by Dr. Nirzaree Vadgama

2008-04-29T02:31:00.004+05:30

Prologue:The minor errors in this theory have been corrected. The credit goes to Dr.Nirzaree Vadgama. Nirzaree has been awarded PhD in FFAM (Fully Faltoo Applied Mathematics) by Dr. Sandip Dev (Ignobel Laureate in FFAM) under whom she conducted the worthy research. hence $n is now $nz

After years of research(more than 17 years to be precise) and severe head-aching brainstorming sessions,I have found out a new number.Its called the Nirzaree and Sandip's Number, denoted by $nz (it was earlier known as $n or Sandip' number as the original idea belonged to the great 21st century mathematician, hacker and self-confessed flirt and physco Sandip Dev).

Definition:Nirzaree and Sandip's Number($nz) denotes the average time is minutes in which a student gets seriously bored by the lecture given by the teacher/professor.
$nz is directly proportional to the cgpa/grades of the student,say g
$nz is inversely proportional to the IQ of the student, say q ,this statement follows from the general observation that a student with good IQ(mind it, I say IQ not grades,and the reason for this is left as an exercise for the reader) soon realizes that the teacher is an in-competent fool, listening to whose lecture is an exercise in futility, a grand waste of precious time which can be better spent in gossiping with mates, checking out the girls or by simply dozing off

$nz is inversely proportional to the time of the day in 24hr format,T
$nz is directly proportional to the competency of the teacher, but it can never be infinite,c
Therefore from the above postulates we can say that :
$nz=gc/qt +k where k is a constant(between -1000 to +1000) for a particular teacher and it depends on factors like whether the teacher is male or female, attractive or repulsive,and the general appearance of the teacher

Further research on the possible values of k are underway.

To find the overall competence of a teacher,denoted by rms(c) :
1.find all the values of $nz for each member of the class
2.Now rms(c)=(Sum($nz^2)/n)^1/2 , the root mean sqaure of all the values of $nz

Readers are requested to evaluate the theory ,however most of the postulates have been found to be true and have survived years of research.

Exams

2008-04-28T19:32:00.000+05:30

One exam screwed....
4 more to go....
Help me

Rightly said

2008-04-26T13:30:00.000+05:30

Some men aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with.
Some men just want to watch the world burn.

I am almost a genius

2008-04-23T22:07:00.002+05:30

here's my IQ test results

Free-IQTest.net - Online IQ Test

No luck with GSoC

2008-04-23T21:12:00.001+05:30

So GSoC did not happen. I was not selected. The reason was lack of experience. So I will apply again next year, and in the mean time gain some experience.

Adrenaline | Life rocks

2008-04-18T20:43:00.003+05:30

Life is rocking now. Got a favorable response from Drupal about GSoC. Lets see what happens. I guess I made a good proposal.There is also a possibility of getting a paid internship at IIM-Ahmedabad and working on a product which will then be launched. The product is not my idea, but I will join in as a coder. Just the kind of work I like. Also there is QUEST, ACM SVNIT Chapter's international computing festival. It a huge responsibility and I will try my best to live up to it. We need to make a huge success out of it.

And yes, I am interested in someone. Its not love. But lets see where it goes.

Tough decisions

2008-04-18T01:24:00.002+05:30

Tough decisions need to be taken. We have taken up a big task and for the kind of success we want, we need complete dedication. People I like, people I consider good friends, are not working, specially when I trusted them with the most important of work.People whom I have encouraged. When they betray your trust, it hurts. But tough decisions need to be taken. There is no other option.

Study???

2008-04-15T15:10:00.002+05:30

Sitting in lab and doing nothing. Viva in 20 minutes. Shailesh insists that I should study. Nah. If I study, who would bring 6 pointer. Come on. All 9 pointers in one class. Boring. I make the class exciting, unlike Shailesh. So, all the best to me for viva

The wheels are in motion

2008-04-12T02:29:00.003+05:30

The thing that I was planning for the last 4 months has finally hit off to a good start. Now we need to run, run faster than we ever did. And outrun everyone. Lots of exciting times ahead. Time to THINK AHEAD. And succeed like no one has before. And don't which me luck. Neither I nor my team needs it. Wish all the best of luck to our "competitiors" and "detractors". They will need it in due course. And yes, we don't have experience. So we don't know whats impossible, so we might just manage to achieve it. Time for some revenge. Time to go for the kill.

Hectic

2008-03-25T01:11:00.002+05:30

The past few days have been hectic. I have been working for Google Summer of Code. Talking to developers and getting feedback. Even if I dont get selected in SoC I shall start working on some project or the other. Now making proposals for submission. Wish me luck

Tired of studying

2008-03-16T22:37:00.002+05:30

Nothing makes sense...Wanna do something exciting....wanna shout and sing...I hate studying...

Not going to school

2008-03-13T22:59:00.000+05:30

Read in TOI about three kids who were kept out of the formal schooling system by their parents.
Their reasoning: The formal schooling system is flawed. It exists just for making money. It encourages unhealthy competition.Its about rote learning and not real understanding

I think these parents and students have got it all wrong
In agree, our schooling systems is far from perfect( well it more close to being imperfect). Yes you make an obscene amount of money from coaching classes. Yes it encourages unhealthy competition, parents force their wards to study, to perform, to learn things they are least bothered with. You are supposed to score more than your friends. And yes, its 90% about rote learning.

But is education and school life just that. What about making friends? Playing cricket and football in the break time. Fighting with your friends and then getting back again.Participating in quizzes, debates and sports. And getting low marks in one test and then scoring highest in class in the next, just to prove yourself. And then going out on dates with that classmate of yours. Falling head over heels in love. Is all this not fun.

Schooling is not just about education. It teaches you some life skills. It teaches you to make friends, to understand others viewpoints. It teaches you to function in a team. Staying at home and studying does not teach you all that.

Yes schooling is competitive. But then so is life. You face competition at each step. So why shy away from it? Why shield your kids from it? Are they never going to face life? Dont try to bring them up in an artificial world. let them survive the real world.

Its fun trying to score more than your peers. It gives you a high when you achieve it. And it gives you one more reason to keep fighting when you dont.

I dont know what kind of life would such kids have, who have never been to school. What would happen to them when they join an university? How will they cope up? I dont know

But I wish them all the best. I hope you will enjoy it when you step in to the real world

PATAN....A shame on humanity

2008-03-13T22:40:00.000+05:30

The recent news that been coming from DIET-Patan is shocking... I cant imagine how teachers could do this. And no action was taken in spite of complaints made against them. It seems Gujarat's earlier education minister, Anandiben(ch*d) Patel too knew about all this but took no action. in fact she was supposedly close to Manish Parmar, the biggest bastards of them all. I wont write about the details, read the paper and you would know. However, what I cant comprehend is, is the Gujarat government blind, is it human? Anandiben Patel, being a women herself, should have taken some action. She did not. She ignored all reports and complaints. Now they have assigned two tainted cops to investigate the case. One of them, a woman, is reported to be very harsh when dealing with women. She had earlier asked personal and derogatory questions to a woman who was raped and had come to the police for justice.. Even the new 'lady' principal assigned to DIET-Patan too seemed to have stirred up a controversy. She was harsh in dealing with the girls on her very first day. Also immense pressure is being mounted on the families of victims to shut up.The investigation is not progressing further either. It should have been an open and shut case but it been dragged along.

The question is why? Why is the government so inhuman and the people of Gujarat so ignorant? Dont they care? I guess not. They did not care when their fellow muslims were burned, killed and raped in the riots. In fact they joined in. And they dont care now either. I agree, Gujratis know how to make money. So many Indian billionaires are Gujjus. But I guess, they dont see anything beyond profits and making money. It seems Gujarat has no heart.

Wake up. It time now. Do you remember that you are humans too? That you have some moral responsibility.

I agree Gujarat is prospering. And many attribute it to Narendra (Son of a bitch) Modi. I disagree. Gujaratis are industrious and they would have prospered under anyone.

How could you re-elect a man who was responsible for killing so many muslims?
How can you look up to a man who is turning a blind eye to the plight of innocent girls at Patan?

Is money the only thing you know?

Shame on you Gujaratis

And some more

2008-03-01T01:58:00.000+05:30

Also completed 6 Realistic challenges at hack this site. 11 more to go...But will sleep now

hackthissite challenges

2008-02-29T23:20:00.000+05:30

Just completed all the basic challenges from hackthissite.org. And all of it was done in around 3 hrs. Now going for the realistic missions.

Google Summer of Code 2008 is here

2008-02-28T02:28:00.000+05:30

GSOC is here... And this time I have 4 project proposals. Out of them, one is pretty simple and there is nothing remarkable about it. On the other hand, there is one that would completely revolutionize GNU/Linux, ie, if I complete it at all. Another one would fix a long standing need of GNU/Linux users. While the last one is kinda experimental. No one has thought of doing this and even I am not sure how I will go about implementing it. It sounds easy, but my gut feeling says it would be the most complex to implement. However, if it gets done, GNU/Linux will make a giant leap towards being a very very user-friendly OS.

But. And it a BIG but. Will I get selected? I have ZERO prior experience in FOSS projects. Haven't worked in any. I have written only small programs where emphasis in largely on the algorithm. Can I handle this? Am I trying to eat more than I can chew?Nah, there's always a first time. But will I be able to convince this to my prospective mentors?

Lets hope for the best

Another one...People...Dont mess with me..Its for your own good

2008-02-25T23:50:00.001+05:30

There's a Chance You Could Be Violent

Overall, you're a pretty chill person - and you have a good handle on your emotions.

Sometimes your anger gets the best of you, and end up regretting how you act.

Try to curb your temper more often. It only has to get out of control once to do some damage.

Could You Be Violent?

ICE COLD KILLER..THATS ME

2008-02-25T23:47:00.001+05:30

How violent are you.. Your Result: Ice Cold Killer You don't give a #$@% about ANYTHING. You'd walk over a dying man any day. If someones givin' you trouble the fights over before it started. Your enemies better look over their shoulder all day..
Risque
Antisocial
Edgy
Chilled out
How violent are you..

AJAX

2008-02-25T20:20:00.000+05:30

Learnt AJAX in less than 24 hrs...Of course I have not become an AJAX pro. But I have learnt enough to get the ACM site up and running. And I do need to revise my PHP skills for AJAX to work. But its nice to learn something new...

I am back..with a vengeance

2008-02-23T15:36:00.000+05:30

Well I am back...I will blog...

But it would mostly be serious stuff, my work etc...I guess, not more sarcastic humor.
Life has changed as some may know, I am changed.

I have become less tolerant of people cheating me, and thats a change for the better.

Was yet again back-stabbed by people I trusted. And this time I will reply back in kind. There will be a bit of collateral damage, but nothing that can't be managed. Just when you thought people have changed for the better, you realize that it was just a facade..But now the velvet gloves are off....They will feel the full blast of my cold fury, enough to freeze them for quite some time...Things for which I have worked tirelessly, given my 110 percent, can't just be taken away from me. And people who think they can take it away are deluded. My silence has far too often been mistaken as my weakness. Its just that I observe and then make my move when the time is right...And the time has come for the final blow, or at least the series of blows that would settle things once and for all. To those people I would like to say this, "If you want something, work for it. Match me if you can. I don't tolerate back-stabbing.And I wont stab on your back.I would go straight for the heart".

People close to me say I am making far too many enemies these days, getting into far too many conflicts. I guess its inevitable. When you do things better than others, some are bound to get jealous. Since a conflict has started, I better win it. Time to show people where they stand.

And this time there will be no forgiveness, no consideration. Just vengeance.
Vengeance is sweet.

You might ask why I wrote all this non-serious stuff. Well,because it concerns my work.

"Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge" says the Bible. Then I guess there is something wrong with my tastes.

All the best to me for exams

2007-11-18T21:53:00.000+05:30

Baar baar haan, bolo yaar haan
Apni jeet ho, unki haar haan
Koi humse jeet na paave
Chale chalo, chale chalo
Mit jaave jo takraave, chale chalo

One of my favourite songs

VB is horrible

2007-11-16T23:56:00.000+05:30

I have been doing VB these days and its horrible. Yes I have managed to somewhat master the language in 3 days(yes I know you are wondering if I am a genius, yes I am) but I hate. It allows you to write seriously crappy code,ugly, un-managable code. And there is less freedom to do things your way. You have to do things the way some egg-heads at Microsoft decided. And the worse part is, the language is dead, its VB.Net now which I am relieved to say, is Object-oriented. And I had to learn this language. Need any more reason to hate studies?

Om Shanti Om

2007-11-10T09:01:00.000+05:30

Watched Om Shanti Om, first day first show at Cityplus. Well, let me first clear something out. I had expected a typical re-incarnation type movie which we have already seen quite often. But this film is different from anything that has been made till date. It is the same old re-incarnation story but with a twist and an overdose of laughter. Don't expect a suspense type movie, the movie makes its intention clear right at the beginning. You can predict the whole story and that is exactly why the emphasis here is not on the story. For all those who think King Khan and Farah Khan were out of their minds while making this movie, let me tell you, they were not. This was never supposed to be a serious movie, never suppose to win critical acclaim or reach the Oscars. It was pure entertainment.FULL STOP.

It has almost the entire Bollywood featuring in it, short cameos of course. And this movie has made fun of every star in the industry including some directors and producers. Its in your face and great fun. The music is good and the performances by SRK, Arjun Rampal and Deepika Padukone are superb. All the characters are over the top. Their is hardly anything serious about this movie.

Watch this movie if you want plain fun on this diwali and are ready to forsake a script and story for that. And if you are those serious types who dissect a movie in every angle and only like movies with stellar performances and realistic story, please stay away from it. Watch Saawariya instead.

And yes, finally the cameo by Akshay Kumar is great. He steals the show with just once scene.

Go watch this movie, sip Coke, munch popcorn, have fun and then forget about it.

GLScube....nah..Will start my own

2007-11-06T00:15:00.000+05:30

This a follow up of the earlier post on GLSCube. The developers of GLSCube were not very helpful. I asked them a few things about the software and they seemed too busy to reply.So I have decided to start MY OWN semantic file storage and retrieval project for GNU/Linux.It is ambitious, specially for a novice for me. And I know that no one expects me to succeed. All the better. That eases out the pressure. This would literally be baptism by fire for me. And I WILL SUCCEED.
And yes, I am searching for a name for this project? Any ideas

GLSCube

2007-11-04T21:42:00.000+05:30

Finally I have decided to take up a free software project. Well its not my idea. It has been going on for quite sometime but has stopped now. It called GLScube(GNU/Linux Semantic Storage System). Its aim is to implement a semantic file system for GNU/Linux. Already Microsoft WinFS and Apple's Spotlight are being readied which has the same aim as GLScube. This project was started by 4 egyptian programmers as part of their college project. However, they dont have time now, so the project is nearly dead. I want to take it up. And I have Sunayana to help me out. She is the most promising person (apart from me of course) in this entire college. It would have been my bad luck (actually her bad luck) if we would have never worked together. And she is quite deep into Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing. So that would really help. So keep waiting. We will soon be out with a newer version of GLScube which is currently in 0.1.

The cool iProduct....Grishma..I am sorry...

2007-11-03T14:22:00.000+05:30

I don't need to say anything else.

Books I am reading these days

2007-11-02T19:10:00.000+05:30

Since I have to spend the whole of my Diwali vacations inside my room, I went to the library today to get some books to do away with the loneliness. Here a list of the books I will be reading in these 15 days.
1.Beginning Linux Programming by Neil Mathew and Richard Stones
2.Core Python Programming by Wesley J. Chun
3.Unix Network Programming Volume 1 & 2 by W. Richard Stevens
4.Introduction to Algorithms by Thomas H Cormen, Charles E Lieserson, Ronald Rivest and Clifford Stein.

Yes, I know you are overwhelmed by just reading the first two words in the name of the book. Thats because you are a lesser mortal and don't have much else to do other than read blogs, chat on messengers and orkut to people whom you don't know. You all don't deserve to live.

And no, I have not posted the names of these books to prove that I am above the rest when it comes to intelligence.(including Harit, who claims to have a 150+ IQ. To him I can only say; dude the IQ test was flawed. And to Sunayana, I would like to say; dear you have Artificial Intelligence but I have pure intelligence ,and yes, unlike her I don't need a software and neural network to understand Natural Language;I can pretty much do that in my head). I don't need to prove that. Everyone knows it. And I am not going to repeat that again. I am not going to blow my own trumpet here; I get to do that a lot on ACM workshops where I simply and ruthlessly undermine others and prove once again that I AM THE BEST. But that's a part of the job you see.

Anyways, so yes, I am going to read these books and learn. Of course you might ask, that these are just 5 books and for a person of my intelligence it wont take more than a few days to finish all of them. What will I do i\on the rest of the days? Simple, I will get more books.

Harit might say that these are computer books and not the kind of high literature that he (claims to) reads. Well dude, I don't have useless time like you to read useless spy stories and suspense novels. And you don't have brains like me to read those books. So peace out.

And to all those people who felt offended reading my post. Well, I am sorry. But the truth is always bitter. See I am better than you are but I don't make any bones about it. I am modest enough to say sorry to lesser mortals like you. So just cheer up.

My latest Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon desktop

2007-11-01T22:17:00.000+05:30

Just installed the latest Ubuntu release, Gutsy Gibbon. It rocks. Here are the screenshots of my latest Linux desktop. They are cool

What do you think?

Diwali for me

2007-11-01T20:53:00.000+05:30

Now our college is closed for nearly two weeks on account of Diwali. I have got a lot of time to do my work. I have to get the cluster up and ready, finish the stupid database for CBIP, work on Robocon(if I do have time) and finish up the syllabus. For the cluster, I will first have to learn how to write multi-threaded programs in C, learn about creating processes, network socket programming and finally programming using MPICH library. MPICH is what will make the cluster possible. Let me see how much I get done.Its a tall order. Wish me luck.

Assam...My place

2007-11-01T19:12:00.001+05:30

Diwali has started. Everyone is leaving for their homes. And I am all alone here. Even I miss my home, Tezpur. It in Assam in the north-east of India. This post is dedicated to Assam. It a beautiful place. Of course, Assam is way behind when economic development is concerned. But its beautiful People there are easy going and simple, by and large. Of course they are also pathetically lazy. That is why Assam is so backward. Not lack of government aid, or terrorism, it the laziness of the people that has kept Assam backward. Lack of government aid and terrorism are only an off-shoot of this laziness. When I say backward, don't expect to see people living in huts and wearing leaves. People there are as highly educated and cultured. They don't wear leaves but shirts and pants as anyone else does. And the place isn't entirely hilly as people think. There are plains and the climate vary from scorching hot(>40 degrees celcius) to quite cold (less than 15 degree) on various seasons. Also not everyone in Assam has a tea-garden at their home. In fact no one does. Yes there are tea gardens but they are situated in the out-skirts , owned by large companies, some of them MNCs.

And no, the roads there are not muddy; they are made of concrete. Also we have proper transportation services to all the cities, towns and villages in Assam. Of course, trains do not run throughout the state, but that is being worked upon.And you have buses instead of trains. And we have lot many airports. There are airports in many of the smaller towns of Assam,something even Gujarat can't boast of. And people are not constantly threatened of terrorists attacks.Yes terrorists do exist but the situation is not as bad as it is made out in the media.

There are pizza huts, McDonals and 5 star hotels in the cities. In the towns you will find good restaurants but not branded ones. I have even heard of discos coming up at Guwahati. Of course, the presence of terrorists means that Assam hasn't got much of a night life. At tezpur, my home-town, most shops and shopping centres close down by 8 or 9. And at 11, there are hardly any cars or people on the road. Then there is this problem of electricity. Even in cities like Guwahati( which has featured in the list of 100 fastest growing cities of the world), electricity is not available 24x7. And the problem is worsened in summer months. We have the river Bramhaputra to help us produce electricity but the government is not doing anything. So we buy electricity from neighboring Meghalaya. That must change.

Now the people. Assamese people are simple and peace-loving. They have a great culture. They are brave too. Remember, Assam was the last to fall into the hands of the East-India Company. I have immense respect for them. Even my girlfriend is Assamese. And my family has happily accepted her. However, the sad part is that there are still frictions and cold war going on between Assamese and the rest of the people living in Assam. It would be wrong to say that all Assamese have a problem with the Bengalis and Biharis of Assam, but there are still many who do. I don't know about Biharis, but Bengalis(I am a Bengali too) suffer from a superiority complex. They think they are the most cultured of all Indians, they are proud of their legacy, Rabindra Nath Tagore and others. I agree that some Bengalis did really well, they have made the whole of India proud. But that was past. Now its different. West Bengal isn't really high on development or economy. So my dear brothers and sisters, get over it. Prove yourself, because Rabindra Nath, Bose and Amartya Sen proved it for themselves. Don't bask in their glory. Their being Bengali has absolutely nothing to do with it.

The friction between Assamese and Bengalis is really pathetic. Come on guys.Get over it. For the Bengalis, my advice is, stop living in the past. For the Assamese, I would say, Assam is not just your place.Its Indian territory. Every Indian has equal right to this place.

Some of my friends have sometimes pointed out how Kolkata is 'my place' and not Assam. They think I long to be at Kolkata. Fact is, I have been there twice to appear for certain exams, and did not stay there for more than 5 days in total. Neither am I impressed with Kolkata. Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad are bigger, better and more happening. Kolkata is obviously bigger than Guwahati but thats no big deal. Kolkata has long being a centre of trade and commerce and should have made it big after independence. But since Bengalis prefer living in the past, Bengalis decided that Kolkata is already at the pinnacle of progress and there is no need of looking ahead. And we all can see the result in front of our eyes. And Assamese on the other hand are too lazy. They spend more time on thinking and making decisions, rather than getting something done. They is why they have lagged behind. They don't care to compete. For them, Assam is the beginning and end of the world. It really sad.

Things must change for Assam to progress. It has to shed it laziness. Drive out terrorism. And it has to realise that nothing can be gained by procrastination. You and only you are responsible for your condition. And only you can make it better. Stop complaining and start working.

And I am longing to see Assam once again. Exactly 33 days to go. I can't wait.

GMAT or GRE?

2007-10-24T21:52:00.000+05:30

GMAT or GRE? This question has been haunting me for a long time...for may be the last 6 months. These are two different degrees, poles apart. And I am having a tough time deciding which one is for me. Yes, I like managing things, getting things done. I would like to see myself selling a product, convincing people that my product is the best, taking business decisions. Then GMAT is the way to go. However, instead of selling the product and trying to convince people that my product is best, I would rather like to create a path-breaking product for which you wont even need to convince people. If given an option between creating a software and selling it, I would like to create it.
However, an MBA is a faster route to lots of money. Moreover, it would give me the know-how required to manage a business, and I surely wish to start my own business some time in future. In that way, MBA is fine for me.
But I love programming and there is so much more to learn about computers. I like to know about Operating Sytems, Parallel Computing, AI,RDBMS design(not MySQL,oracle but the internals), newer and cooler algorithms,Compiler design, GNU/Linux and lot many other things.I cannot learn all these properly in my four years of bachelors degree. To learn all these in-depth would take me a decade. However, a MS and then a PhD would at least let me know one of these topics in-depth and will all allow me to learn more about some other topics; more than I can possibly learn during my bachelor's degree. Also B.Tech is more about cramming things whereas Masters and PhD are about learning. And I am tired of cramming. And it would be very painful to kill my desire for learning new technologies for a MBA degree.

As far as money is concerned, both would give me sufficient amount of money. There is hardly any difference between earning $120,000 a month or $110,000 . And if I get a PhD, I might become the research head of a company. Moreover, no job can give me the amount of money I want. I want to be filthy rich. And that is possible only if I set up my own company. I can always learn the required management procedures right on the job. Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs never attended B-schools.

So I believe its GRE for me. Will prepare for GRE for the next two years.If I succeed, it would be great.If not, I will always have a job to fall back on. And I can then prepare for CAT or GMAT while working. Its a no loss proposition. Now lets see what happens.

My OSX look for Ubuntu

2007-06-30T22:50:00.000+05:30

I have modified my Ubuntu desktop to look like Mac OSX Tiger. Check it out. I will soon write an article on how to make your Ubuntu desktop look like OSX. Keep waiting.......

Beryl on Ubuntu..

2007-06-30T22:41:00.000+05:30

I have finally got Beryl working on Ubuntu(Fiesty). And I must say its amazing. I have uploaded a youtube video of my Linux desktop. Check it out. Beryl is super-cool. And I love the 3D cube desktop.

Ubuntu 7.04 on my Sony Vaio C15

2007-06-26T13:50:00.000+05:30

Dunno why, but Ubuntu and my Vaio have suddenly stopped responding well to each other. I had installed Ubuntu 6.10 on my Vaio long ago and it worked without a hitch. But I again switched back to Opensuse 10.2. Now after a long time I decided to completely switch over to Ubuntu. But I guess Ubuntu didn't want it to happen. First I could not boot from the LiveCD.Finally I booted by using the "Install restricted drivers option". Then ubiquity, the Ubuntu installer failed to start giving cryptic errors. Then when it finally started, installation halted once at 33% and again at 73%. I got my RAM and HDD checked and they showed no errors. The problem seems to be due to my Intel Pro Wireless Card 3945. Something is causing the graphical login window to crash.I had almost given up all hope when I tried the age-old technique.....Alt+F1 to bring up a login window.And voila, it worked. Now I get a text based login screen and I have to manually start the GUI(X Server) using startx. But I am relieved. I expect to solve the problem fully very soon.

Now I am downloading all sorts of packages from the Ubuntu online repository and will make a DVD of it.

Love letter by a coder

2007-06-24T08:10:00.000+05:30

This is a joke I found on Funtoosh.com

Just know that the love I have for you
Is not to be put in a stack or queue
Like a variable in an infinite loop
Be in my heart always and never stop

My heart is like a port, unread,
and the love I have has only one thread
You are in my heart's RAM and not in the cache
So if you won't respond, my heart will crash.

Like an application that is stand alone,

I'm a programmer who earns a lot on my own
And my request is clear, without any encryption
And hope it is not void, that you return.

If Java can be linked with C
Or if e-mails can be sent for free
Why on earth can't you and me
<BR>For the rest of our life time together be"

Linux, Linux and lots of Linux

2007-06-22T21:19:00.000+05:30

Having a great holiday now. And busy with my most favourite things, coding and Linux.

Heard a lot about Ubuntu.So now trying it out. I have been using KDE for the last 5 or more years. But with Ubuntu its GNOME. And I must say, GNOME is good,though I still believe KDE looks somewhat better. I will soon post an article on how to make your Ubuntu GNOME desktop look like MAC OSX. Keep waiting.

As for my experience with ubuntu,it has been good.

Initially there were some hiccups. I wasn't able to configure my dsl modem because my provider had given the installation file in a rpm package but ubuntu is debian based. Anyway, the command is pppoeconf. This sets up your dsl modem. Updating and installing packages are a breeze with the Synaptic package manger. However I have not been able to configure my nvidia ge force 4 graphics card. I will manage that soon and will post the whole procedure on this blog. The best thing about Ubuntu is the online community. Its really helpful. Solutions to problems get posted in hours. Earlier with Fedora Core and OpenSuse, I had to hunt down the solutions for hours on the web. But not in Ubuntu. Someone had already faced that problem, found the solution and will happily share it with you on the forum.

I am really looking forward to trying out Beryl on Ubuntu. Once I configure my graphics card I will. Another thing I want to try out is XGL. It seems promising.

Oh yes, I will soon come out with an article on WinFS. I will also detail what plans the Linux community has to answer it.

My SVNIT

2007-02-23T19:47:00.000+05:30

I am now in my Second Sems at SVNIT(NIT Surat).I like this place.Having loads of fun and doing some work too.I am getting to do my fav things-robotics,programming.Designed a autonomous robo for our college technical festival.Also deeply involved in our ACM chapter(www.acm.org). Lots of things are happening here.I will also be writing more often on this blog.

Me and my SONY Vaio VGN C15

2006-12-23T21:34:00.001+05:30

Just got my new laptop.A Sony Vaio VGN C15.Its cool,stylish and most importantly loaded with features.Installed OpenSUSE 10.1 on it.Yes there are a few hardware incompatibility issues, the most heart breaking of which is that i dont get any sound,considering the fact that I am a music freak.But I will get it working soon.I will probably get the latest version of OpenSUSE.Just doing some programming on Linux.For everything else there is Windows.

Enjoying vacations

2006-12-23T21:31:00.000+05:30

Right now I am enjoying my vacations with my family and friends.Nice to be back at my home-town,Tezpur in Assam.