Today's Learnings - What You Learned Today?

How to restart or shutdown Windows from command prompt

2010-01-22T01:35:00.000-08:00

XP Ships with shutdown.exe, and is also found on Windows Server 2003. You can download a copy for Windows 2000, and Windows 2000 server as it is found in the AdminPak.msi suite of software. XP a& Win server 2003 ship with the .exe

the windows XP/2003 uses the "-" as the flag seperator, but windows 2000 uses the "/" as the flag seperator

for XP, go to the command prompt and type:

shutdown /?

this will show all of the available options. I use it all the time to reboot my servers in the middle of the night via a scheduled .bat file

this is a sample of how to reboot in 60 seconds, with a comment to the popup

shutdown -r -t 60 -c "Your message ( optional)"

to cancel, just type

shutdown -a

for shutdown

shutdown -s -t 60 -c "your message(optional)"

Remove Control-M Chars in Unix using vi

2009-02-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

UNIX treats the end of line differently than other operating systems. Sometimes when editing files in both Windows and UNIX environments, a CTRL-M character is visibly displayed at the end of each line as ^M in vi.

Type :%s/Control+V Control+M//g

and it will looks like: :%s/^M//g

In UNIX, you can escape a control character by preceeding it with a CONTROL-V. The :%s is a basic search and replace command in vi. It tells vi to replace the regular expression between the first and second slashes (^M) with the text between the second and third slashes (nothing in this case). The g at the end directs vi to search and replace globally (all occurrences).

How to get the release of a Linux kernal?

2009-01-05T12:19:00.001-08:00

I found its difficult to get the release name and version of a partilcular linux distribution by using the uname command
It can show only 'Linux myhostname and blah blah blah' . But i just wanted to know which distribution and release i'm running. so after a small research i found the command which is very helpful for the purpose.

cat etc/*release

that will display the distribution name and release like :

Red Hat Linux release 7.1 (Seawolf)

Bingo!!!

How to change the color of alternative rows in excel

2008-12-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

today i came across a situation like, i wanted to change the background color of alternative raws in an excel sheet.i'd seen it in many web pages.

the trick is

1.select the needed area in your excel sheet
2.go to Format > Conditional Formatting
3.select 'forumla is' from the combo box
4.give the formula =mod(row(),2)=1
5.select the color
6.click ok

Got the trick? it was a new information for me, and its really a cool trick.

Contol Escape in vi editor

2008-12-08T09:08:00.000-08:00

Control Escape is a special charecter, which used for many PCL commands, its prerry hard to copy paste these in to a vi editor directly from a html/pdf/text PCL documents.

But you can simulate this charecter in vi editor. for that press

control+v and then escape, ( press the keys in the same order donot release any of the keys till you pressed the escape ). the equivalent ASCII is '\033'.

Reduce the size of a wav file

2008-11-21T20:38:00.000-08:00

.wav files are usually big in size, and it comes in to problem when you wanted it to use in some interactive systems, like the voice interaction software or IVRs.

today i found a very handy way to reduce the size of the wave file with out using any third party software. windows has a tool called sound recorder ( Programs>accessories>entertainment>Sound Recorder ) or sndrec32.exe ( type it in Run window )

To reduce the file size or change the attribute of your .WAV file, you can go to file>properties> and click to the convert now button. this will open up a new window

from there you can select the target format, there are a variety of target formats which allows you to convert your WAV files in to 1/10th of the actual size.

Choose your desired format by looking the KBs/second( which is displayed at the right side of each entry).

Display line numbers in vi editor

2008-11-21T20:29:00.001-08:00

To display line numbers in vi editor by giving the command

:set nu or :se number

to disable the line numbers, give the command

: set nonumber

NetGear wireless issue - windows cannot find wireless network

2008-11-16T16:12:00.000-08:00

One of my laptops are pretty old and having no built in wireless Lan, so i bought one USB NetGear wireless lan adaptor, and when installed it in my laptop.

then i experienced a problem like the netgear utility is not smart enough to enumerate all the wireless networks nearby. and it sounds not good for me. and it denies the windows to enumerate wireless networks. ( windows network finder is easy and hassle free, so i prefer that)

How can we enable windows to enable the wireless networks ?

Enable the windows service named Wireless Zero Configuration, go to control panel>Administrative Tools>Services and find Wireless Zero configuration service, and start it.

or Run services.msc to reach in to services in an easier way!

creative vf0040 webcam driver - From where you can download it?

2008-11-15T22:05:00.000-08:00

Today I searched a lot in the web to get the driver for creative vf-0040 webcam drivers. all the top google results were damn waste. some how i got the actual driver . this particular model belongs to 'instant' category.

driver for creative vf 0040 webcam drivers can be get from
http://support.creative.com/downloads/download.aspx?nDownloadId=8179

Boradcom wireless card and compaq laptops

2008-09-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is the solution which i've got today...i will update the progress...

I know the feeling.I have just spent all week trying to fix the same problem with my new DV6152EU.
I have just solved the problem with the adapter and i have restarted the laptop ten times and it is now finding the Broadcom 802.11 wireless WLAN everytime.
My solution is as follows:
Insert the battery with power off.Turn laptop on and allow to start normally.Once fully loaded up,select shutdown from start menu.Remove power and then the battery.
IMPORTANT STEP AS FOLLOWS:
Leave mains power switched off and keep the battery out of the laptop.Press and hold in the POWER ON switch on the laptop for 20 seconds and then release.
Plug the laptop to the mains socket with battery still left out and power up as normal.The adapter should now be visible.
THE REASON:
The motherboard,battery and adapter are having an undiagnosed conflict as stated in another responce.Pressing and holding the POWER ON button with no external power source clears the motherboard and any internal power storing devices of their power,allowing the adapter to reset and work.This must be a problem with thousands of laptops made by HP and i was surprised that no information on patches or updated drivers are available for this particular fault as it has occured in many countries.
I really hope this helps all of you as i was going dizzy trying to cure this fault and the feeling of relief when it worked was immense.
HP dont seem to be responding as a few of you have stated,very very very poor assistance from them.Broadcom also are not blameless and both companies should get together and come up with a solution as laptops are designed to be mobile,but that isnt the case if the wireless function is faulty.

Folder browser dialog in c#

2008-08-20T04:25:00.000-07:00

First you need to set a reference to the Shell32.dll in your .NET project. In Solution Explorer right click the References entry, select Add New... and browse to the System32 folder and select Shell32.dll.

Then add the following C# code:

  
  string strPath;
  string strCaption = "Select a directory.";
  DialogResult dlgResult;

  Shell32.ShellClass shl = new Shell32.ShellClass();
  Shell32.Folder2 fld = (Shell32.Folder2)shl.BrowseForFolder(0, strCaption, 0,
              System.Reflection.Missing.Value);

  if (fld == null)
  {
      dlgResult =  DialogResult.Cancel;
  }
  else
  {
      strPath = fld.Self.Path;
      dlgResult = DialogResult.OK;
  }

Innovation - the new corporate mantra!!!

2008-07-18T01:32:00.000-07:00

Creativity Vs Innovation ?

What are creativity and innovation? There are several definitions. Often they are not distinguished. They are simply seen as part of the process by which knowledge is developed and transformed into business value or even as a business. this is a perfectly acceptable definition but like the failure to differentiate between information and knowledge - it is not very useful for practical purposes.

A more useful approach is to view creativity as the process of generating ideas whilst seeing innovation as the sifting, refining and more critically - the implementation of those ideas. creativity is about divergent thinking. Innovation is about convergent thinking. Creativity is about the generation of ideas and innovation is about putting them into action!!!.

Creativity - coming up with new ideas - is not enough. we need innovation - the taking of new or existing ideas and putting them into action. This requires the application of existing knowledge and the development of appropriate new knowledge. Coming up with new ideas is the food of innovation. innovation is a far tougher proposition than creativity.

Why it is so important in corporate world ?

Daily we read in the news that creativity and innovation are critical for an organization's success in maintaining its competitive advantage and in surviving. many surveys identified creativity and innovation as a "top two priority for business strategy". A recent survey of 500 top CEO’s in USA asked them what their organizations needed to survive in the 21st century. Top answer was "to practice creativity and innovation"!!!!!

We all are entrepreneurs..(Yes..believe me )

Who is an entrepreneur??? - A dynamic person who gets the right people together to make something happen.someone who knows the right people, can motivate and wants action / results on a daily basis as in a typical IT project. we all are entrepreneurs means, we are working in such a large corporation takes direct responsibility for turning a project requirements into a profitable finished work product through assertive risk-taking and innovation.many entrepreneurial qualities of us often loose their innovative edge as they grow into such an established environment.It is therefore recommended that business organizations create a culture that provides employees with both freedom and encouragement to develop new ideas

Why the Management system?

There is no magic bullet for successful innovation, but nurturing a corporate culture that values innovation and creativity is important.that depends our corporate culture and what target we set for growth. But first of all we need to put innovation on our agenda, start by designing an idea management system.

The real challenge for our organization may not be finding a way of getting people to come up with ideas, but finding the best, most practical way of tracking and implementing those ideas. More than one hundred years ago the first traditional employee suggestion system -the suggestion box was introduced around the world. the suggestion system has had it ups and downs( we've experienced it already), but today it has developed into a powerful tools as a method to encourage, nurture and acting on employees ideas.

Append a path variable in DOS

2008-06-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

SET PATH=C:\DOS;C:\MOUSE

PATH=%PATH%;C:\LOTUS

one mistake everytime i makes is like i put it like $PATH! its not $Path, its %PATH% :)

Why OpenSource ?

2008-04-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

I'm a hardcore opensource person. It is the regular question ppl usually ask to me, and here is the best description which i can

OpenSource software gives you the flexibility and reliability that you need. You can be really sure, that noone has placed spyware or other malicious software in it, because you can look into the source. You can also extend the software for your needs, crop unwanted features or make it look nicer in you environment. OpenSource software also has a large community, that contributes experience and improvements. With this amount of testing bugs are found and fixed quickly.The best example for successful open source development might be the new internet browser Firefox. If you do not know Firefox, then we have some more information for you.

C++ 09: fulfillment of expectations?

2008-04-23T23:14:00.000-07:00

I'm a great fan of programming especially when it is in c++. I admire and love Stroustrup as a philosopher more than an inventor or programmer. and i think no i feel the language is not just a combination of keywords or logics, but it is a philosophy. see a very recent inntreview with Stroustrup, it shed up some lights on the latest trends and happenings in c++.

( courtesy : InformIT )

Danny Kalev interviews C++ creator Bjarne Stroustrup about the C++09 standard, why C++ was never meant to be just for OOP, and his affinity to Tolkien's hobbits.

Congratulations on your forthcoming book Programming: Principles and Practice using C++! This is the first time you’re writing an introductory book. What has motivated you to write a book for beginners?

→ I had long found the C++ books for beginners unsatisfactory, but I couldn't do anything about that because I didn't have sufficient experience with teaching beginners. Then, more than three years ago (after I had moved to Texas A&M University to become a professor), I was a bit too loud in expressing my opinion of the programming skills of students and what I saw as the lack of focus on programming in their curriculum. Someone asked if I thought I could do better and I had to deliver. I designed a course, delivered it again and again together with an experienced lecturer who saved me again and again from my inexperience and overambition. The current course and the book that goes with it is the result. We have now taught well over 1,000 students, so we know that the approach works.

My basic idea for the course was to list the knowledge and skills needed to start a project to produce code for the use of others than the programmers themselves. That list became the initial definition of the course. The point about "code for the use of others" is key. This leads to an emphasis on professionalism. When writing code that others rely on you need a responsible attitude to the structure of the code, the correctness ("how do you know it works?"), testing, and maintenance. It also implies that we can't let the student get stuck on obscure language-technical details (such as "exactly how does an unsigned short gets converted to an int?") beloved by teachers who like to set tricky tests. We have to get to the point where the students use object-oriented programming and generic programming because that's required for real-world applications. I also had to add something on graphics and GUI, but that's fun and helps in the appreciation of object-oriented techniques. Similarly, the STL features prominently to allow handling of data and to demonstrate generic programming techniques.
In what ways was this writing experience different from writing a book for experienced programmers?

→There was far more direct feedback. Often, I was writing and making slides well into the night to have something for the students in the morning. Seeing a blank wall of faces is a great incentive to do better. Conversely, to see those faces light up is a very direct reward. Another difference is that I have had to think harder about what I wanted to communicate. I also had to articulate how to get the ideas across. The latter becomes essential when I don't teach all the classes myself. For a teaching approach to scale beyond what an individual can do, its aims, principles, techniques, etc. must be articulated.

I had to think hard about what I wanted to teach and how. Most people thought – and insist to keep thinking – that I was/am doing a C++ course. Actually, it is a course in programming. I use C++ to teach the principles and practical skills of programming. The teaching of programming language features is secondary. Obviously, C++ reflects my view of what programming should be so there is no major tension here, but I hope – and have reason to believe – that the skills can be applied with other languages.

When writing for beginners, you also have to provide more support than for professionals. So there are more exercises, more repetition, more emphasis, more summaries, more diagrams, and more color than people are used to from my other books. The style is ever so slightly lighter than in my other writing. However, it is still a demanding book. I did not set out to write the simplest book on programming because that would not teach people enough to be useful. My aim is eventual professionalism – the ability to write code others can rely on. Obviously, not all of my students will become programmers (I started out with electrical and computer engineers), but I do not want to give the impression that programming is a shallow art for dilettantes.

For many, my new book will actually be a second book on programming, but the first that aims at professionalism. I suspect that many will use the book for learning on their own, without the support of teachers and fellow students. That's hard, but I try to support that with detailed examples and condensed reference material. There is also material beyond what can be covered in a semester: text processing using regular expressions, numerical computation using an N-dimensional Matrix library, the basics of embedded systems programming, testing, and an overview of C programming from a C++ perspective.
Has your experience as a professor at Texas A&M University brought new insights on how programming languages should be designed (for example, how to make programming languages easier to teach and learn, which features students find too confusing etc.)? If so, have these insights inspired you to design new C++ features?

→ Not really. I had done enough teaching at all levels – from middle school students to executives – even before I came to Texas that I had a pretty good idea what language ideas would help students. Unfortunately, the standards process is quite resistant to dramatic changes for the benefit of novices (of all backgrounds). The best thing that can be done for students is to provide more and better libraries. After that, anything that makes the language (and libraries) more consistent and less surprising helps.

In particular, I'd give a lot for a very simple graphics and GUI library, a simple library for accessing a few web resources, and (for my engineering students) a good linear algebra library. In my class, I supply the graphics and the matrices myself, but it would be so much better to use someone else's – especially to use standard versions.

However, we must be careful not to give the impression that calling other people's libraries is all there is to programming. One of the observations that influenced the design of my course and led me to present it as a book was repeated loud complaints from industry about the lack of capable systems programmers. Too many students graduate without exposure to the problems, tools, and constraints on solutions they will face in industry.
The C++09 standard, which is due to be finalized within months, is the biggest standardization endeavor since 1998. In your opinion, what are the most important changes and additions that it includes? How will C++09 affect everyday the design, implementation and testing of new C++ projects?

→ If all goes well, we'll vote out a standard in October. After that comes a public review period and time for dealing with the comments. After that comes a lot of standards bureaucracy procedures. Even if we deliver the text on time, it's touch and go whether the 'x' in C++0x will be '9'. I fear we'll have to go hexadecimal.

That said, I think that the new standard (C++0x) will be a boon to the C++ community in many ways. We'll have better tools for dealing with the (for most people) brave new world of concurrency. We'll have a few new libraries (regular expressions, hash tables, threads, etc.) and all the libraries will be easier to use and run faster thanks to new language features such as initializer lists, a more concise for loop, auto, etc.). Look at a few C++0x examples and consider what it would take to write them in C++98:
```
// C++0x code:





vector v = { "Nygaard", "Kernighan", "Stepanov" };

unordered_map index;		// hash table

for (auto p = v.begin(), p!=v.end; ++p) index[*p] = p-v.begin();



enum class Traffic_light { red, yellow, green };

enum class Alert_color { red, blue, green };

int red = 2;

Alert_color c2 = red;		// error: no int to Alert_color conversion

Alert_color c2 = Traffic_light::red;	// error

Alert_color c2 = Alert_color::red;



template	// concepts

    requires>

          void sort(T&);

sort(v);

sort(red);	// error: int is not a Container

vector> vp

     = { {"Nygaard",75}, { "Kernighan",66 }, {"Stepanov",57} };



sort(vp);	// error: pair is not Comparable (no operator<)
```
Obviously, I'm restricting myself to tiny examples using the more obvious extensions. Note the absence of explanatory comments. Did you need any? It was hard for me that I could not use the C++0x in my new book. There are quite a few new features that help novices by simplifying notation and improving error handling.
Some features are still missing in C++09: a networking library, object persistence, GUI, and database connectivity. In contrast, the new standard includes features such as rvalue references whose usefulness for the average C++ programmer is moot, in my humble opinion at least. Is the C++09 standard complete enough to suit the needs of the average C++ programmer in 2008?

→ No, there will not be nearly enough standard libraries for my taste. However, the C++0x will much more supportive than their C++98 counterparts. Simple C++0x library components, such as regular expressions, unordered maps (hash tables), and smart pointers are already being shipped by some vendors. The main contribution of the C++0x standard library will be to set concurrent programming on a firm basis with a machine model and a threads ABI . I would have liked support for higher level concurrency abstractions – directly using threads and locks is just about the worst way to try to exploit multi-cores. However, such higher-level support will come soon – standard or not – and the C++0x facilities provide a base. For example, the threading in Intel's TBB (Threading Building Blocks) is directly based on the (draft) C++0x threading ABI.
Speaking of the average C++ programmer, what are C++’s major advantages over its newer rivals? In other words, what makes C++ relevant today – and tomorrow?

→ As ever: Performance, flexibility, generality, and access to hardware resources. When you encounter an application with "unusual requirements" you'll appreciate C++'s strengths compared to languages more finely tuned to a specific class of problems.

Actually, the interest in C++ seems to be increasing again. For example, the C++ track at the SD conference in Santa Clara in early March was by far the largest track and significantly larger than last year (where is again was larger than the year before).
A new standard is also a good opportunity to part gracefully with features that backfired or never soared. I can think of exception specifications and exported templates as examples, but there may well be others. Is it time to take a brave decision and remove such features or at least deprecate them?

→ Unfortunately, we can't do that. The committee cannot ban features that are used in innumerable programs and deprecation is widely ignored. Even the very few features we do manage to ban must be supported by implementers and the users complain bitterly about having to use compatibility switches. It is not easy to "be brave" with millions of lines of code and not responsible to "be brave" with hundreds of millions of lines of other people's code. So, I think that such "bravery" will have to wait for universal availability of near-perfect source-to-source translation tools. One of the advantages of a formally standardized language, such as C++, over proprietary languages is that the standard is a long-term commitment. Today's standard C++ will with absolutely minimal modifications run in 20 years, just as much 20-year old C++ does today.
People (particularly those who do not use C++ as their primary language), still regard C++ as an object-oriented programming language. In practice however, state-of-the-art C++ switched to the generic programming paradigm years ago. Do the classic notions of OOP such as inheritance, virtual member functions, protected members and dynamic binding still matter?

→ It annoys me when I see recently written descriptions of C++ that would have been barely accurate in 1987. C++ was never meant to be just for OOP and certainly I never advertised it as such. See my publication list! Obviously, classical OOP still matters and will continue to do so. Kristen Nygaard (who invented OOP) used to comment that addition did not become useless or unused just because multiplication was invented and became fashionable. OOP serves a fundamental role that is not superseded by generic programming techniques. GP is currently fashionable and therefore over- and misused, but it is as fundamental as OOP and similarly has a permanent and prominent place in our programming and design tool chest. The interesting questions relate to exactly how to combine the two to get the best solutions for real-world problems (by "best" I mean things like correctness, maintainability, ability to reason about code, performance, and easy of reading and writing code). A classic example is the "draw all shapes" example that is usually seen as an example of object-oriented programming only:
```
	void draw_all(vector vs)

	{

		for(int i = 0; idraw();

	}
```
But note that we are already using generic programming here. That vector is a parameterized type. In C++0x, we can write that a bit cleaner:
```
	void draw_all(vector vs)

	{

		for (auto& x : vs) x->draw();

	}
```
However, we can also generalize draw_all() to apply to every data type that can be seen as a sequence:
```
    template

        requires SameType

  void draw_all(Iter b, Iter e)

	{

        for_each(b,e, [] (Shape* p) { p->draw(); });

	}
```
Here, I again used C++0x features. In particular, I used concepts to get good type checking and the lambda notation for defining the operation to be applied to each element of a sequence. However, the point is that this is clearly generic programming that after a bit of conventional type manipulation invokes a virtual function on a class hierarchy. This is a prototype for a common and very general style of "mixed OOP and GP code" which (if you must) you can call multi-paradigm.

We could call draw_all() like this:
```
vector v = { new Circle({0,0},10), new Triangle(p1,p2,p3) };

draw_all(v.begin(),v.end());



set s = { new Elipses({0,0},10,20), new Square({10,10},p3) };

draw_all(s.begin(),s.end());
```
Something more personal. You were born into a working class family in Århus, Denmark, as you state in your bio. In the last 30 years or so, you’ve lived in the US. My acquaintance with these two countries, however superficial, suggests that there are significant differences between those two societies. What do you miss most from Denmark and the Danish heritage?

→Denmark is a wonderful country that it is easy to be homesick for. It's a small country where most natural and cultural phenomena are on a human scale. It helps that it's also a rich, stable country running a full welfare state at a consistent profit. I miss my friends and family – but email and the web editions of Danish newspapers help me keep in touch. I miss the food – but I can get herring, salami, cheese, etc. airlifted in from a Danish shop in California. Danes are rather fond of food – I feel an affinity to Tolkien's hobbits. Danes tend to be significantly more trusting than Americans – I miss that. On the other hand, I could not have done my work in Denmark. Something on the scale of Bell Labs could not be built and sustained in Denmark.
Finally, an inevitable question: Are you planning a C++09 edition of the The C++ Programming Language?

→I'm thinking about that. I have to write a 4^th edition, but it is non-trivial to decide what it should be. Each edition has had a separate aim and scope as the C++ community evolved. Including the standard libraries, the C++0x standard might come close to 2,000 pages. I don't think my 4^th editions should compete with that in either style or size.

Vignette Opportunities in Technopark

2008-04-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

A CMMI level 5 Technopark company is looking for vingette professionals with minimum 4 years of experience

• Expertise in Vignette V7 content management concepts.
• VCM development skills – Content Type Definition, Listener and Workflow Modeler
• Installation and Configuration of Vignette Content Management.
• Managing the Vignette V7 configuration space.
• Monitoring Vignette V7 components.
• Analyzing Vignette V7 Content Management log files.
• Troubleshooting techniques in the Vignette V7 environments.
• Authorization Techniques.
• File Source Scan creation.
• Vignette V7 topologies.
• Vignette Content Management Process and Dependencies.
• Deployment configuration and management.
• Use of Application Services APIs for delivery of content.
• Use of XML and XSLT for presentation of content.
• Create and deploy Java web applications for the CDA.
• Creation of Sites/channels and business units in Vignette
• Understand the business requirements and creating Templates based on the widgets available
• Installation and configuration of Vignette Content Management

Why free() is not reducing your memory footprint ?

2008-04-15T23:04:00.001-07:00

It found very interesting to me, even after i free() d the some dynamically allocated memory with my program, the process seems not reducing any memory in my memory footprint.

And when i researched about this, came to know that, in almost all systems the freed memory will not go to the system heap. instead of it will be there in the process address space for the future memory allocations.

but there is a work around also, there is a function called mmap(), which is used for the private anonymous mappings.

when these are unmapped the memory really is released back to the system. some implementations of malloc()automatically use mmap() where available to perform large allocations; these blocks are then returned to the system on free()

How to withdraw your paypal money directly to a bank account in India

2008-04-14T00:23:00.000-07:00

Some very good news for PayPal users in India. You can now transfer money from your PayPal account to any of your bank account in India directly from the PayPal website.

Earlier, the only option for withdrawing PayPal amount in India was a check that normally took 2-3 weeks for processing. The new e-transfer process should take less than a week.

PayPal has also scrapped the withdrawal fees for electronic transfer if the amount withdrawn is more that Rs 7000 and a nominal Rs 50 for small transfers. Earlier PayPal would charge $5 per transaction irrespective of the amount on the cheque.

To get your money from PayPal to a bank account in India, all you require is your bank account number and the IFSCI code of the bank branch where you have the account - call your bank customer care service and ask for IFSC code -it’s an 11 digit code maintained by The Reserve Bank of India.

The e-transfer facility from PayPal India is available to anyone having an account in HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, ING VYSYA Bank, Axis Bank (formerly UTI Bank), Standard Chartered Bank, State Bank Of India, Bank Of India, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India, HSBC and Citibank India.

Before you withdraw the amount from PayPal to your Indian Bank account, ensure that name of the bank record and PayPal match character by character else the transaction will not go through and PayPal would also charge a INR 250 processing fee.

PayPal offers another option for Indians who hold a Visa credit card or debit card - you can withdraw funds directly to your Visa branded credit, debit or prepaid card.

Is PayPal Income Taxable in India - If you are earning web income through BlogAds, Text Link Ads, eLance, eBay or any other program where the money is deposited in PayPal, it’s very important that you declare the PayPal money while filing the Tax Returns in India.

Can I remit money to India Using PayPal - When you transfer money from PayPal to India, PayPal would pre-populate the surname field for Bank account holder though you are free to use any First Name. So if you are planning to remit money to some relative who share your surname, it is technically possible

My recommended new year resolutions

2007-12-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2008 !!!!

A new year is always a good time to set your new goals for next year or coming years. today I’ve written out my resolutions for 2008. some of them were in my last year resolutions, but life is not easy as we think, we always slip in some schedules and plans which we made in past. but still we can hold it tight with us and focus on how to stay on top of our game.

hopefully, these would be my recommended new year resolutions. if there is anybody who can accompany me, i would be happier to share my efforts with you.

Let it be start from the professional side...

Learn a programming language

Learning a new programming language not only gives you more things to put on your portfolio, it also broadens your knowledge and makes you look differently at things and how you’re doing them right now or have done in the past.No matter what language you pick up, there’s only one decent way to really learn it: by putting it to practical use. one more thing to say, it was one of my last year's resolution, but i failed to achieve it in 100% as i planned or wished. i hope this time i will win the game!

Start your own personal/hobby project

Even if it’s just for fun, put your knowledge to some regular use other than your every day work. That way you can learn new techniques, try out new frameworks and tools, and add something to show in your portfolio. You could also become an active member of an open source projects. personally i feel the mozilla is a good place to be in. but still there are a million opportunities in the open source arena.

Read at least 2 books

I'm very bad in that. i will sleep whenever i open the book. its very hard for me to complete a single page in a stretch. But reading is a crucial part of expanding your knowledge. The Pragmatic Programmer’s golden rule is to read one book on technical topics regularly. but be flexible with your own work schedule and daily life

Get away from your computer !!!

Many people has a concept that sitting all the time in front of your console will boost up your productivity and enrich your work life. find some time to spend with your family and friends, your children( don't tell me you are married...you can spend time with your relatives / neighbors children :) ). Even though work’s fun and all, there’s also that world outside. With other people, sun, and lots of things to see. Three dimensions, just waiting to be explored, plan for a weekend trip to near by places, or a trekking, enjoy your holidays and weekends.

Be Romantic !!!

Give a boost to your love life, be romantic, spend some sweet moments with your lover or spouse. i feels now a days we are lacking of openness, thus the problems also. especially among the people working in IT and IT related fields. running behind the money and meet the schedules makes break ups in relationships and family life. so make sure you will not make a chance. if you are married one, plan some trips with your spouse, and if you are still a bachelor like me, find out your lover( This is the time, i feels the google is not enough...still i'm in search..)

well...these are my resolutions...lemme think if anything to be added in to it...will update then!

Good bye to spams in phpBB forum

2007-12-21T05:09:00.000-08:00

I was miserably searching for the ways to stop the spammers and automated bots in my phpBB forum - www.indianitforum.com. spammers were hitting our forum by posting a dozen of junks daily. phpBB is having a reasonable good captcha, but it was broken by the intelligent spam bots. my search ends in a simple yet logical solution. the bots are smart enough to break any captchas - but still they are machines ( Thanks to you god, for not giving them the intelligence ) and they can't really THINK! - so the only way to stop them is to ask something that can be answered by a genuine human. and finally it worked....i added a simple question like whats the sum of x + y ? and i tweaked the php code to verify the result and allow the person to register. a million thanks to 'Marshalrusty' for giving the hints on the tweaks. i'm happy to help you on regard of this, if you want any...

phpBB gold release countdown started!

2007-12-13T05:47:00.000-08:00

I like phpBB as millions of others, It is the most powerful and user friendly open source forum framework i had ever seen..
i'm running the Indian IT Forum http://www.indianitforum.com in phpBB 2.0.22 version

and now they are about to release their gold version, and i came to know about this when i checked their site now.. as part of it, they pull down the shutters, and simply placed a counter...check it now...a rare scene!!!

look at the snap of their counter, which i had taken from my machine...

Make sure that you are not buying a stolen laptop...

2007-12-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

You got any offers like some brand new laptops for sale ( without the warranty ) ? if so , please read on before buying that. i got this mail from Mr.santhosh pillai, business manager, Focuz computers, have a look at it.

This is to inform you that a theft has taken place at Focuz Computers, Ernakulam North showroom. Thieves decamped with 11 notebook computers worth approx. Rs.6Lacs & cash approx. Rs.60,000.00. The serial no. & make of the laptops are mentioned below:-

SL NO	ITEM	SERIAL NO.	Qty
1	HP 2601 TU	S2CE7411YJX S2CE7450HPO	2
2	HP 6516 TX	CNF7392D6N	1
3	HP 1301TX	CNF73554QW	1
4	Compaq 707TU	SCND7452PZK SCND744X3U	2
5	Compaq C702	CND7453HKX	1
6	Compaq C713 TU	CND7352CT4	1
7	Compaq V3611AV	S2CE7392DW2	1
8	Sony VAIO C22	S01-7002116-3	1
9	IBM Lenovo 3000-23Q	IS204823QMA8MBKA	1

We have received information that the material is still in the state & thieves are trying to liquidate it here itself. A police complaint has been filed & legal proceedings have been initiated meanwhile any information regarding the same may be conveyed at this email or mobile no. 098460-61101.

So...please verify the serial number of the laptops before finalizing your deal.

My blog in vacation!

2007-12-11T05:11:00.000-08:00

Till Dec-12-2007

Be productive with your routines...

2007-12-07T20:49:00.000-08:00

I felt i am getting more lazy to do all the same jobs daily... it reminds me very often when i check my daily mails, or attend any of the project meetings etc.. sat in a meeting and left without knowing exactly what was accomplished...today i'm sharing with you a few tips to improve yourselves in these occasions.

Instead of just “checking” your email (which means reading it without taking action), open your email one at a time and ask yourself, “What action must I take as a result of this email?” Often the email contains one or more requests for actions from your part, such as requests for information (action: look up info and send to Mr. X), requests for you to call someone (action: call Mr. Z and request info), requests for a meeting (action: schedule meeting in calendar). The key is to develop the habit of finding those actions immediately, and either doing them now (if they can be done in a couple of minutes or less) or noting them on your to-do list. Then take action with that email: file, delete, forward, reply. Get it out of your inbox, and move on to the next. Continue processing for actions until inbox is empty.Its like the law of UNIX - Do one thing at a time, and do it well...

When sitting in a meeting, don’t just jot down random notes about what was said (or more likely, doodle cartoons until the meeting ends). Instead, focus on what actions need to be taken. When an action is mentioned, write it down — especially if it’s an action you need to take. Mark it with a star, so you can easily transfer your action notes to your to-do list or calendar immediately after the meeting (and make that a habit too). This way, the meeting wasn’t a waste of time — you’ve got actions to take as a result of it. If people are talking a lot about an issue, but no actions come out of the discussion, make a point to ask: “So what action are we going to take on this? Who is going to do the action and by when?” You may encounter a lot more discussion with no actions, but be persistent. Without action, you just have a lot of hot air. hope it helps...

Wishes from a 1000 hearts....

2007-12-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Wishes from a 1000 hearts reaches you in this new year...imagine, and how it would be?
i witnessed for such an occasion during last week in Technopark. One company organized an event there to wish their clients on this new year...

Today, there is no such difference between a company and its customer as it was there in olden days. where people had lesser interaction with their clients and communications were channelized through a point of contact. now clients requires more smart and dynamic IT companies who can contribute equally to their business both in terms of technology and profit. so they expect each and every resource working with them should be smart enough to understand their business and culture. thats why the top notch IT companies are recruiting people with good technical and communication skills. what they are looking is the ability to take responsibilities as an individual and execute it with less guidance.

But still i feel, only a small percentage of people has acquired these qualities, its one of the major
drawbacks of our academics. they have no freedom to express themselves among the peers or within the campus, if anybody does it, he will be labeled as an odd rebel and he will be screwed up by the moral gurus in campus so called teachers! that will reflect in your internals. what they are expecting is a polite and innocent student who can do all the text book problems and a 40 page assignment within a day...but does it help you to become something in your carrier? marks are important, but there are many other competencies you have to acquire to become a successful professional. here is the importance of institutions like IT finishing schools.

Nobody can park a car closer than this...

2007-12-07T07:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, it happened today, and mr. vinodh made it, he parked his car this much closer to a pillar...i suspect it as a world record, ( i'm not kidding :) - ).check the snap...sorry for the bad picture clarity, i took it in dark with my mobile cam.

StarUML - a better rational rose - and this world hates monopoly...

2007-12-06T00:03:00.001-08:00

Rational Rose was the most accepted UML product from IBM. it became more popular after the integration with some popular development IDEs like Microsoft's visual studio and Borland JBuilder. Rose is simple, powerful and efficient, but the licensing is a bit costly, and i was working with a single license, i.e only one person can access and use it at a time. and they are well enjoyed their monopoly in this area. Microsoft published a UML designer visual modeler with their Visual Studio 6 Tools, but that wasn't a success, only a small percentage of MS guys knows about the tool itself. but that was quite useful ( for class diagrams, sequence diagrams etc..). if you are not a serious UML customer, still you can use MSVM for your needs.

But now, things are getting a new twist. the StarUML
is introduced in to the development community. their latest version StarUML 5.0 is loaded with lots of features which can beat the Rational Rose in every sense. it supports UML 2.0 specification and Model Driven Architecture ( MDA ).Code generation can be done for Java, C++ and C# - and documentation can be generated for all of the Microsoft Office suite programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. StarUML is easily extensible through modules using a COM-based plug-in architecture - and by use of templates allowing you a make new code generators. StarUML even imports from Rational Rose.

So the future is for such star performing open source products? IBM is also slipping its hands from their monopoly?. i very much liked this product, and i am planning to take a session on it during the next BarCampKerala event in cochin.

How secure your application is...???

2007-12-05T06:29:00.000-08:00

cyber crimes are in its record growth! ...so its an important question, what would be your answer? fairly secure or not at all secure? in the real sense..both are dangerous..why? rather to say, it may depend your application.

It is a must for the products, but the major mistakes which i noticed so far is, developers forget to make the application secure, or they design it in a wrong way!

compliant is a buzzwords in industry now, technology for the sake of the technology makes all the mistakes, remember that technology itself doesn't mitigate any security threats, they may close some holes but still they are leaving some dangerous ones as opened!

i found may ppl implements RSA algorithm in their programs, only because they studied it in their university and it sounds cool.

so my advice is

Plan for the security process from the beginning of the design
define the security goals
treat the security as a feature in your product
always remember the golden law - All external systems are insecure
obscurity - that only makes your security in trouble

too much for today( 5 posts!!!), i think we can discuss on more detail by next time...

A few words on Google's GTalk

2007-12-05T05:57:00.000-08:00

GTalk is Google's instant communication program. It's light weighted fast and most popular among chatting freaks now a days. with the introduction of it, many other popular IRC's got less importance among the crowd. because Gtalk is very easy to install and operate.

Actually there are 3 different versions for GTalk,

Google Talk Client in Windows , written in C ,C++
Google Talk Gadget for all modern browsers that support Flash, and its platform independent, and works with almost all browsers with flash support
Google Talk Web Integrated with GMail, for all browsers that support JavaScript

i installed the GTalk client in my machine, and its working good, but over the time i felt some consistency problems with it. it shows wrong status sometimes, and it will change only when i clicked and type something in that window.

GTalk is favourite IRC among the office workers, because thats easy, integrated with orkut, light weight, and even access from a browser, but because of this reason its blocked in many offices and employees are fired by the firewalls.

Today i found a different stuff, a Javascript 2.0 Google Talk.ure JavaScript copy of Google Talk Client from izuz.net. It is considered a lot better that the one embeded with GMail. It uses the same UI of Google Talk Desktop Client, but is provided inside browsers. And it uses HTTP connections not XMPP connections, which means that it is firewall free or Websense free. Firewall or Websense may block you from using Gtalk/MSN by blocking certain ports, but it may never block port 80 or 443 (https port). So you are allowed to use your Gtalk by this pure JavaScript copy of Google Talk. and they recommends mozilla firefox than IE.

Wanna a Cockroach Manjoorian with Chappathi?

2007-12-05T02:44:00.000-08:00

Wanna to eat delicious Cockroach Manjoorian with Chappathi? - no need to fly to taiwan for getting it anymore.. here techies in technopark enjoyed it today.. got it as a fwd..i'm putting it here because its a very rare scene..

i masked the location of the restaurant from the image, because we can't simply blame them, because they are preparing for 100's of techies in technopark, and they are having limited facilities also..anyway its better than any other restaurants within technopark campus

Where is DCOM today?

2007-12-05T01:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, one of my friends asked me about some DCOM stuffs, because they are doing something in it, it was an old product but they have to make some enhancement in that and its pretty much undocumented stuff,

DCOM - i should say it was the most innovative technology from microsoft. but i never think anybody has got a chance to use all of its features. because the concept of binary software components and its inter interoperability across the platforms( theory claims so, but not microsoft)
gave a new momentum to software architecture. the age of OWL and ActiveX seemed to be completely conquered by its COM implementations. but when it comes to the DCOM, ( CORBA was also there in that time...) i suspect, something happened to the microsoft as such. they invested a lot for the DCOM, but that wasn't a success in the market as their ATL COM.

DCOM provides the COM services remotely, usually in a network ( intra/ inter) the location transparency adds more flexibility to the application counterparts. but they completely shifted their business strategies to the .NET market by that time.

but that was a wise investment, they built today's webservice upon this DCOM architecture, a more lighter implementaion in the user perspective...

the concept of webservice, was commercially availed by the passport authentication service by the hotmail/msn network, and still its legacy going on...

My experiments with Windows Vista - experience too.

2007-12-05T00:06:00.000-08:00

I Already ready blogged about the nightmare os called 'Vista'. i bought a AMD turion Compaq v3000 series laptop a few months back. i liked every feature of it, other than its operating system - Windows Vista Home Basic. According to them this particular series is designed for vista..ok fine...

but it has only 512 MB Ram, and vista hanged many times in the very first day itself. my display is getting blank if i click in to some messageboxes( * MAD * ).

Finally i decided to switch back to pretty old windows XP. and i managed to get a XP CD, and installed it..then only i came to know that many of its devices are not detected ( sound, Wireless LAN, Ethernet, Card Reader, Display etc..). and its display looked weird and scratchy. i rushed in to HP's web site and searched for XP drivers.. but according to them, this laptop is specially made for windows vista, and the XP drivers are not available, and they are not responsible for any damages caused by our experiments with any other drivers and in that case the warranty will be expire...

again i searched in many other popular forums, and driver repositories, but i got some partial or not soooo sure replies. thus i ended up with my hopeless search for XP drivers..and i restored Vista( what else?) .. then vista started its magics again in my laptops, i was struggled with FTP uploads, Yahoo messenger ( yahoo messenger is not supporting windows Vista, FYI, if it is working fine in your machine, praise the lord, for his miracle), i was frustrated and hopeless. then i decided to upgrade my RAM in to 1 GB, i got a little relief for the copying exercises, but all other things were pretty bad as earlier.

and in the last barcamp event only i met sobhan, he also having the same model, and he managed to get the drivers from somewhere.. thanks god..you saved my soul.. and he was so kind to share those drivers with me..and now i'm much happy with XP and Suse Linux( Using VMWare ). - oh one more thing to add on, in vista they are not supporting the VMWare workstation, and if you tweak and install it once, vista will take additional 10 more minutes to start up after showing some dump and ugly blank screens.

If anybody wants XP drivers for their Compaq v3000 series laptops, please do contact me.

Vista was a total failure. they invested their time and money for inventing an ugly operating system. i would like to call MS UOS - Microsoft Ugliest Operating System ( as MS DOS - Microsoft Dirty Operating System). i'm seeing such a total dump stiff after the release of Windows ME.

Uderline : Microsoft implemented a 'Kill Switch' for Windows Vista, which cease hobbling Windows Vista installations that fail the company's validation processes. by implementing of such a mechanism they are expecting that the entire world will switch in to the genuine version of windows vista.

XP will be discontinued soon, probably by Jan 2008.

In closing i will say this Vista might become a good OS after 2-3 service packs but until then stay away from it. Stick with XP or switch to Linux.

Spammers hasn't any rules? Even google got spammed today!

2007-12-04T05:10:00.001-08:00

Look at the spam message posted in Google's android home page today

It was very unfortunate to see some spam posts in google's page itslef. i am a regular visitor of their android site. and today i saw a community created by some of the naughty spams, and its listed in their android home page.

It seems spammers hasn't any rules, they can enter anywhere without permissions( open doors?).
one of my forums powered by phpBB 2.0.22 is attacked by a couple of spams now a days. they can even break up the most modern captchas also. ( how brilliant they are.... )

Spamming is considered as one of the criminal offenses in most of the countries. but still thousands of spam boats as well as human spammers are active and they are posting millions of spam messages across the internet. they are paid for what they are doing. in my opinion, rather than tracing out the spammers, punish the people behind these spammers.

SMS turned 15 today - Happy Birthday !!!

2007-12-04T02:08:00.000-08:00

SMS - Short Message Service. the most popular text message sending service available in GSM mobile phones turned its sweet 15 year today!

That first message, which read "Merry Christmas," was sent by Neil Papworth, an engineer at AirWide solutions, via the vodafone network to a colleague at the mobile operator who was enjoying the festivities of a staff Christmas party.

That first message sent back in 1992 was just the tip of the iceberg. It wasn't until the following year that phone-to-phone texting was born, thanks to an engineering student at Nokia being the first to type an SMS on a GSM phone

So Happy Birthday and long live Sweet Messaging Service....

The power of scripts

2007-12-03T21:33:00.000-08:00

Today, i've got a strange(???) problem, like i have to make a new repository in our backup server, which should looks exactly like another folder tree in same machine, but my requirement is more specific, i don't want to copy the entire folder structure including its sub folders, i.e i need only the top level folders. At first i thought to write a C program for that, but it may take a few hours to write and test. so i decided to experiment with some VBscript. as i am using it for first time, i felt an odd feeling by seeing its syntax. but truly said, its the most powerful stuff for doing such kind of tasks. see my first ever script - to copy the top level folder structure of a repository.

' Get the source folder, subfolders

'create the folder structure in destination as in the src folder
'No subfolders support
'Authour : renjith.sreeATgmail.com
'

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application")

srcFolderPath = InputBox("Enter the source folder","Select a folder","", 100, 100)

If srcFolderPath = "" Then
WScript.Echo "Invalid source folder, quiting..."
WScript.Quit()
End If

destFolderPath = InputBox("Enter the destination folder","Select a folder","", 100, 100)

If destFolderPath = "" Then
WScript.Echo "Invalid destination folder, quiting..."
WScript.Quit()
End If

' dest folder

set destFolder = objShell.NameSpace(destFolderPath)

Set srcFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(srcFolderPath)
Set colSubfolders = srcFolder.Subfolders

For Each objSubfolder in colSubfolders
destFolder.NewFolder (objSubfolder.Name)
Next

WScript.Echo "Folder creation completed."

undefined reference to `__gxx_personality_v0' !!!!

2007-12-03T03:06:00.000-08:00

Stunned by this error message when i tried to compile a simple c++ test program under UNIX.
> gcc -o out atol.cpp
/tmp/cci91B6Q.o(.eh_frame+0x11): undefined reference to `__gxx_personality_v0'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

actually i spend a half an hour to rectify this, but later only i found it as a programmers blooper ( shame on me ! )

Even if the gcc and g++ are from the GNU's compiler collection, there is a significant difference between them, at least for the context for using them.

The mistake was i tried to compile and link the a .cpp file by using the 'gcc' compiler. but the programs using the c++ object files should always be linked with g++ in order to supply the c++ libraries. My mistake was i tried to link the c++ object files to be linked with c libraries, and thus it showed 'Undefined reference'.

These undefined reference to the internal library functions like - __gxx_personality_v0.
when you see such an error, it is because you tried to link the C++ object files with gcc.

But there is another question, why the gcc worked in the first place?
It is like that - actually gcc will compile the c++ file, when it found a .cpp extension. but it cannot successfully link the generated object file(s)

These are very small things, but its enough to take away a good chunk of our time.

Mobile banking is on the way?

2007-11-30T04:38:00.000-08:00

Mobile based banking services is not a big thing today. All major banks providing mobile facilities to check their account, pay bills and transfer the money from one account in to other.

But the question is about the credibility of such applications. usually the software vendors are providing such mobile softwares to the banks and its customers. and a few banks having their own development team for doing such tasks.

There is a huge market in such mobile based banking software today. if a provider can deliver quality programs with a fool proof security can win the race. but a country like India, is still far behind in using such online applications other than the direct banking.

Millions of mobile users are adding up in every year. and thus the potential for this segment too. but i am doubted about whether we are successful in tapping such an opportunity in a right way.

Once mobile banking catches on,we can make purchases at department stores, supermarkets etc.. To take that next step, phone makers must embed a chip capable of near-field communication (NFC) that will work with special readers in stores, exactly like the contact-less credit and debit cards that are now available.

Vista Sucks ???

2007-11-30T00:47:00.001-08:00

When Vista Falls...

I'm a hardcore fan of Microsoft, but they disappointed me with their brand new operating system - Vista!

I tried my best to stick with vista, but every time i have to pay my time and patience for that. many applications are not compatible with vista. and they tried to imitate the GUI functionalities of Linux in to vista, that made it more worse..

My experience with Vista is too horrible! Most popular applications like FileZilla, Y! Messenger and VM Ware workstation is not compatible with Vista. ( Then what the hell they are doing in this great resource consuming monster like vista?, still it remains as a question) . I am getting many such feedbacks from many vista users.

Another comedy is some of the hardware vendors also playing cheap games to support this product. like Compaq laptop series, they are not providing any of the drivers for XP or other Operating systems. but finally i managed to get drivers for my Compaq v3000 series laptop

So Vista & Vista SUCKS !!!

See this wall paper, i got it as a Fwd today, looks very funny...

What differes in Bourne -Korn and CShell ???

2007-11-22T05:17:00.000-08:00

sh	ksh	csh	Meaning/Action
$	$	%	Prompt.
		>!	Force redirection.
		>>!	Force append.
> `file` 2>&1	> `file` 2>&1	>& `file`	Combine stdout and stderr.
		{ }	Expand elements in list.
` `	`$( )`	` `	Substitute output of enclosed command.
$HOME	$HOME	$home	Home directory.
	~	~	Home directory symbol.
`var`=`value`	`var`=`value`	set `var`=`value`	Variable assignment.
export `var`	export `var`=`val`	setenv `var val`	Set environment variable.
	${`nn`}		More than 9 args can be referenced.
"$@"	"$@"		All args as separate words.
$#	$#	$#argv	Number of arguments.
$?	$?	$status	Exit status.
$!	$!		Background exit status.
$-	$-		Current options.
. `file`	. `file`	`source` `file`	Read commands in `file`.
	alias `x`=`y`	alias `x` `y`	Name `x` stands for `y`.
case	case	switch/case	Choose alternatives.
	cd ~-	popd/pushd	Switch directories.
done	done	end	End a loop statement.
esac	esac	endsw	End `case` or `switch`.
exit [`n`]	exit [`n`]	exit [(`expr`)]	Exit with a status.
for/do	for/do	foreach	Loop through variables.
	print -r	glob	Ignore `echo` escapes.
hash	alias -t	hashstat	Display hashed commands (tracked aliases).
hash `cmds`	alias -t `cmds`	rehash	Remember command locations.
hash -r		unhash	Forget command locations.
	history	history	List previous commands.
	r	!!	Redo previous command.
	r `str`	!`str`	Redo command that starts with `str`.
	r `x`=`y` `cmd`	!`cmd`:s/`x`/`y`/	Edit command, then execute.
`if` [ $i -eq 5 ]	if ((i==5))	if ($i==5)	Sample `if` statement.
fi	fi	endif	End `if` statement.
ulimit	ulimit	limit	Set resource limits.
pwd	pwd	dirs	Print working directory.
read	read	$<	Read from terminal.
trap 2	trap 2	onintr	Ignore interrupts.
	unalias	unalias	Remove aliases.
until	until		Begin `until` loop.
while/do	while/do	while	Begin `while` loop.

“> /dev/null 2>&1″ - What does it mean?

2007-11-20T22:20:00.000-08:00

“> /dev/null 2>&1″ - It was one of the weired commands confused me most of the times, when i looked in to the scripts especially, in make files.

It seems some cryptic stuff when you see it for the first time, and unfortunately there is no enough explanations available even in web.

wibble > /dev/null 2>&1Output redirection

The greater-thans (>) in commands like these redirect the program’s output somewhere. In this case, something is being redirected into /dev/null, and something is being redirected into &1.

Standard in, out, and error
There are three standard sources of input and output for a program. Standard input usually comes from the keyboard if it’s an interactive program, or from another program if it’s processing the other program’s output. The program usually prints to standard output, and sometimes prints to standard error. These three file descriptors (you can think of them as “data pipes”) are often called STDIN, STDOUT, and STDERR.

Sometimes they’re not named, they’re numbered! The built-in numberings for them are 0, 1, and 2, in that order. By default, if you don’t name or number one explicitly, you’re talking about STDOUT.

Given that context, you can see the command above is redirecting standard output into /dev/null, which is a place you can dump anything you don’t want (often called the bit-bucket), then redirecting standard error into standard output (you have to put an & in front of the destination when you do this).

The short explanation, therefore, is “all output from this command should be shoved into a black hole.” That’s one good way to make a program be really quiet!

How to kill a hung process in unix?

2007-11-20T03:11:00.000-08:00

You can kill a hung process by giving the command

kill -9 processid

9 is the signal to the process, it allows that process to allow kill itself . remember that you can only kill processes that you have run yourself, otherwise you should have the admin privilege.

How can you get enough coffe / hot water from your cofffe machine?

2007-11-19T21:19:00.000-08:00

Today's learning started form the coffee machine, usually i takes hot water to prepare black tea. and to get a glassful of water, i have to press the button 2 times. they adjusted the machine so that it can fill a half of the cup in a single press. but today i found

Once you pressed the button, the coffee will flow until you release it. regardless of a half cup, or full cup you can get as much coffee as you want!

beware of cron jobs!

2007-11-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

my perforce server was yelling like there is no disc space for anymore sync. and just now i came to know that - the cron job which i configured to make the check point in each weekends made this problem...i deleted those files..and it is working now.

so when your machine complaints about the disc space, and you are sure that there was enough space even in the last week..suspect the cron jobs. some of them which scheduled by you may backing up the entire disc ! ( LOL )

Outlook work offline ??

2007-11-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

It was todays coolest learning... i am getting so many junk mails now a days, so i decided to create a rule in outlook 2003, but suddenly a message box pop up and it shows like

"You are currently working offline. To use this command, you must go online and connect the Microsoft Exchange Server."

Funny!!! i am using this for last 2 years, and even created so many rules.. what is happening with it now? but i noticed the outlook icon in the system tray bar of outlook express. it appeared in some other way - a red cross symbol upon the normal icon..ALERT !!!

oops, i played around about 10 minutes and finally found that a simple setting can make you mad.
To change the settings, go to Files and un select - Work Offline.

still i didn't have any idea, how it became checked...

Google mobile platform - android

2007-11-19T08:02:00.000-08:00

I got a mail from my friend about the googles new mobile platform - android.
i too heard about this sometimes before, but only today i got the actual name and its URL.

http://code.google.com/android/

yeah its quite interesting....!

Want to check your disk is full in Unix ???

2007-11-19T07:58:00.000-08:00

oops! it happened again... unix machine says, disc is full...more precisely

write: journal: No space left on device

No probelm, command df can save our life.

df shows how much free space is available in each mount.

It has a list of options, and the man page says like

a, --all	include dummy file systems
-B, --block-size=SIZE	use SIZE-byte blocks
-h, --human-readable	print sizes in human readable format (e.g., 1K 234M 2G)
-H, --si	likewise, but use powers of 1000 not 1024
-i, --inodes	list inode information instead of block usage
-k	like --block-size=1K
-l, --local	limit listing to local file systems
--no-sync	do not invoke sync before getting usage info (default)
-P, --portability	use the POSIX output format
--sync	invoke sync before getting usage info
-t, --type=TYPE	limit listing to file systems of type TYPE
-T, --print-type	print file system type
-x, --exclude-type=TYPE	limit listing to file systems not of type TYPE
--version	output version information and exit

But among them, i used df -h. it displays the result in easy to read format. like

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda3 39G 2.8G 34G 8% /
/dev/hda1 99M 11M 83M 12% /boot
none 254M 0 254M 0% /dev/shm

perforce and chmod

2007-11-19T01:15:00.000-08:00

Perforce does not look at your file system to determine if files need to be synced.
It keeps records on the server of everything you've synced.if you have to chmod a file,
you're probably doing something that will get you into trouble later.
if you do stuff without telling perforce, you'll just be swimming against the current
and it will be a lot of trouble Lesson : Don't change the mode of perforce files in your client!