scribbles of the perennial debugger…
My I.T. Interests
Where’s my domain?
Dec 27th
After few months that I have reset my domain and blog. My old blog got banned somehow in Google SERPs. Probably due to numerous spam links, obviously, a result of my own negligence.
Now that I have a new Blog URL, and has actively patrolled by comments for spams, my domain’s back on top of Google SERP when googling my name. Cool!
(Mis)guided browser interest
Dec 27th
Suddenly, I don’t feel the urge to get myself Firefox. I was one of the first adopters of the browser since its pre-V1 beta days. However, I got myself the (de-facto standard?) dominant IE and the simplistic Chrome. I don’t think I’ll ever find practical use for Firefox. I am not a fan of the plugin paradigm of Firefox either, so no love lost there. Let’s see how it goes…
My Christmas Gift to myself
Dec 27th
Here it is, brand me evil or stupid, but I got myself a Windows 7 Ultimate on my ThinkPad X200. Replacing the old and annoying Vista.
My new desktop. My wallpaper being RSS Steadfast, one of Singapore Navy’s stealth frigate.
Of course, I couldn’t complete my desktop without Eclipse. This one’s Galileo.
Windows 7 shows promise
Aug 16th
Installed Windows 7 today on my spare laptop. For an original hardware specs which was not meant (or advised) to run Windows Vista, it is amusing to know that it runs Windows 7 smoothly, with a good performance (ie comparable to the old XP that it had). Installation was a breeze compared to what I usually experience with Windows XP or Linux distros. The look and feel is great. Sleek and simple. Looks like M$ got the clue this time. Even for an RC, it’s far superior to Vista. Just hoping that I’ll get a free upgrade from Lenovo (my ThinkPad) and Acer (my desktop).

The Think Red Dot
Aug 15th
Aside from the legendary ThinkPad quality, IBM or Lenovo alike, the TrackPoint is the other thing that keeps me glued to ThinkPad. Not unless other laptops have a trackpoint, I won’t probably switch sides. My ThinkPads were indeed ugly but exudes elegance and computing power. In my belief, the TrackPoint is more usable and accurate over trackpads.
My computing history
Jul 26th
Sometimes, I can’t help but feel nostalgic. I can’t help detail my computing history. And in this regard, people can definitely guess my age through the technologies I have already used. I started computing during the days of IBM PC Clone era. However, I am not old enough to have been part of any pioneering acts post the hacker-era.
Towards the end of my 2nd year in High School, I have had my first computer, a PC AT (286). During the same period I have informally played around XT machines through friends. These were the days where bootleg software copies where not considered alarming and were not called "software piracy" yet. These were the days were viruses were either infecting MBRs or files or command.com. Most of them were TSRs. During these period, the king of the hill in office apps were WordStar and dBase. I had created simple anymations using PC StoryBoard. I played with the likes of digdug, bomberman and the more complex ones; Prince of Persia 1, GODs, StarControl 1 and II. I had a colored monitor, albeit, in 4 colors only. Yes, it’s a CGA monitor. THe next machine I had as a 386 (powered by AMD’s 80386 DX40). I couldn’t fathom then on how to use up all my 10MB harddisk and my 1024 KB memory.
I have mastered DOS command and batch scripting during these days. My first programming language were in BASIC. I have used BASICA, GW-BASIC, (even ROM BASIC) and lastly, Borland’s Turbo BASIC. *I am not young enough and have evolved quickly so I was not into Visual Basic*. I have both several copies of PsyCom (yeah, this is not your typical Psychology journal, it was a computer magazine).
In high school, I have "hacked" a primitive basketball game called Lakers vs Celtics (bball) using Norton Utilities. I have removed the password mechanism and put in my name. Moving on after several years, I had encountered the same hacked game, proliferated beyond my little neighborhood and circle of friends in school. I can vividly remember possessed virus by a cool dude from Adamson Univeristy. With this, I have created a file-finder tool, TSRed, self-replicating trojan which mimics the graphical display by the said virus. I ensured it never got out except to the few 5.25 and 3.5 inch discs that I owned before.
I had the opportunity to play with Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, the precursors of 1st person shooter games. I had played Dune 1 and 2, yes, the predecessor of RTS games.
Towards my third year in high school, I have sold my first software. Yeah, it was primitive user id – password authentication software written in BASIC. It was for a measly PHP 10.00. Nevertheless, it was a break through in my career, wherein, for the first time I realized a career in Medicine was not for me. I was going to have an IT career, big time.
I was one of early adopters of Windows 3.11 for Workgroups (bootlegged of course). I didn’t like it. I was more into using DOS (from DOS 2 up until the DOS 5 era) plus using tools like PCTools/PCShell. I used Norton Commander as my default operatin shell. Yes Virginia, this is the classic predecessor of things like Servant Salamander, Krusader and the likes. I have played MIDI and MOD files way before MP3 became prevalent.
I was a BBS user before. I downloaded and uploaded files into the local Manila BBS scene. Once in a while, chatting with the SysOps. Once in a while, playing with online gaming L.O.R.D via 14.4 Kbps modem.
I had used Linux before, not the Linux that everyone knows now I bet.
In my college days, I had easy times in doing my machine problems and case studies. I have represented my school in various programming competition, whose climax was me emerging the national champion for Assembly Language. I had the rare distinction (of course, not a unique case, but indeed rare) of having scored a perfect grade for my Thesis. My thesis defence was impecabble.
Post college is now the internet era that you know. I won’t detail much into this as the technologies that I am using is probably known to most in one way or another, nothing fancy.
Fast forward to current time, I am a working for an asset manager, having multiplied my tech domain multiple times over…
Agility
Jun 21st
The Agile Manifesto:
- Prefer Individuals and Interactions over process and tools
- Prefer Working Software over comprehensive documentation
- Prefer Customer Collaboration over contract negotiation
- Prefer Responding to change over following a plan
I do admire Agile practice but here’s my take:
- People and Process has to be equal. You can’t let people go autocephalus. You need some sort of control, no matter what, and no matter hove heavy or light it is, to make sense of anything. So I give these two the equal treatment. Interaction will have to happen as mandated by the process and as a normal behavior from the people. Tools will also serve as force multiplier.
- I agree with this. You don’t need comprehensive documentation. A simple set of leading documents and API interface documentation will do. Developers is almost always capable in efficiently digesting code through minimum but informative set of information.
- Depends on where you stand… Do you do this in an open source pro-bono environment? In-house coding? Consulting? Product Development?
- Just as my take on the first, there has to be some sort of a plan and this should be followed. Of course, the plan should cater to exception mechanisms.
The magic’s gone
May 12th
I have received my Ubuntu 9.04 today. However, unlike my enthusiasm before, I am in no hurry to install. In no way that I’ll be screwing the pristine state of my ThinkPad X200, loaded, unfortunately with Windows Vista. To be honest, Vista is not that bad. Just like beauty, stability and performance is in the hands of the beholder. I might install Ubuntu in a VM, or I might give it away. Or I might just make it a cute addition to my CD Software Library.
I used to be rabid Open Source advocate. I am still… However, I am resigned to the fact Linux might have missed the boat. OSX, Windows are the kings of the bi-polar desktop roost. My Open Source eyes just focuses where free and open source software counts, to the applications. We’ve got OpenOffice, we have MySQL, GIMP, Firefox, we have the Apache apps. Now, these are definitely making a serious dent on their closed-sourced counterparts.
Open Source or not, my interest is for better software, holistically speaking.
RUP – archive
May 10th
Just saving the photocopies before I throw the RUP poster away. Here are the individual files:
Java project – cancelled
Apr 15th
I am cancelling my pet project for 2009. Because of obvious time reasons, I will not be able to attend to it with much gusto. So better luck next time (hope the opportunity comes soon). I’d rather devote my full non-office time to my family…

