I was reading, “Are You Following the Instructions on the Paint Can” article on Codeing Horror, which directed me to The Jole Test: 12 Steps to Better Code and thought I might as well check out his checklist.

1. Do you use source control?
   Yes, we do. We use Visual Source Safe, VSS, as our source control.
2. Can you make a build in one step?
   This is a tough one. We did have a batch file which do all those check outs and build all projects at once but the file itself screwed up a few times and we gave up using it (lazy to fix). So answer to this step, no, we can’t make a build in one step (for the moment).
3. Do you make daily builds?
   I think we do daily builds 90% of the time, well atleast I do final build before I go home everyday. We got a small team so never really happen a serious source breaking. Yes good idea about babysitting punishment.
4. Do you have a bug database?
   My first impression on this, What’s bug database?, but then he was just talking about Bug Tracking. So yes, we have bug tracking list where we usually update after every build.
5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
   I think half of the time, Yes, the other half, No.”zero defects methodology”, good point.
6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
   Definitely No. We do have some schedule in the beginning but then it keeps falling apart after a few week. All of us really slack at keeping up-to-date schedule.
7. Do you have a spec?
   Yes, we do but pretty bad spec cos it’s some what incomplete. I hate writing and I don’t like the idea of sending programmers to “an intensive course in writing”. So I propose for “hiring smart program managers” to do all the write up.
8. Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
   Ah…I guess so, most of the time. Well that doesn’t really affect me since my eyes and ears are pretty well trained. Once I’m into something, I won’t see or hear a thing around me. You can yell right at my ear and I won’t hear you. But if I got stuck or frustrated and lost my concentration, tiny bit of noise would annoy me like hell and there follow my bad mood.
9. Do you use the best tools money can buy?
   We do have a few grumpy programmers over the tools we got to use. But understanding for the company as it’s a small one and I guess what they provide is not the best but pretty much efficient.
10. Do you have testers?
    Testers? Ah…does PM count as a tester? No, we don’t have dedicated testers.
11. Do new candidates write code during their interview?
    Not at all. I did have to explain a functionality of written piece of code during my interview. I guess the main reason I got job was cos’ I was a GIRL which they lack and need to add some feminine in their team. Pretty bias I know, but what the heck, I turn out ok.(I think)
12. Do you do hallway usability testing?
    Usability test is one thing we don’t do often. So yah we need to improve on this.

To summ up, I guess we do ok considering we have a small team. Ofcos some good points to note and need improvement.

So how did you do with the checklist over your team?

Technorati Tags: Programming, Programmers, Checklist, Coding, Project Management

We apologise for the title but the following article does NOT contain profanity.

Being an IT degree holder with no other accomplishments common these days such as A+, N+, MCP, MCSD, MCSE, etc, I place an obscene amount of value and pride on my single degree.

To me, a degree from CQU Fiji International Campus is comparable to a qualification from one of the Ivy League colleges in the US. This is because IMNSHO, CQU is the best institution available in the Fiji Islands.

My degree is my dearest procession. It is my bragging rights to other less fortunate and less gifted than me. It is a thing to put on display as an awe-inspiring object for the uneducated. Why do you think we get the option at graduation to get the certificate in gold plate or sliver, or carved into wood? If not to flaunt it?

I care very much about issues that would belittle my esteemed degree.

I can’t take any comment that puts a degree from CQU, its students or the institution itself in a bad light – especially those of slander from other universities’ graduates on the quality of my university’s degree, its education or the work of its alumni.

Lately, I have been hearing comments from some of my friends still studying in CQU that programming courses are becoming easier year after year. Every one or two year, ‘the powers that be’ take out a few topics of study from the course COIT11134. Fundamental subjects I studied back in my days have been moved to a higher level course. The assignments are so easy any of my mates from my year can do them in 10 mins flat after a night of binge drinking.

I am a programmer by profession. I can’t take this kind of rumours, if it is true, who’d respect a programmer that came out of my university?

So, I took it upon myself to investigate. I went to the course website, got the course profile. Alas! it is true. Half of what I learnt in this unit is deemed too advanced by ‘the powers that be’ and is now banished from the curriculum.

I wasn’t done yet, I wanted to check the assignments too. Oh? They have been locked for access by students only? Are we so ashamed of the pitiful excuses for an assignment that we have to hide it from prying eyes? That can’t stop me, nothing can stop a be-raved man, they’ve gone and destroyed my prized possession, my precious degree by cheapening its value with watered down versions of fundamental courses.

I’ve got contacts in uni who can get me the assignment details so I got one of them to email me the damning documents. And my choice of words was correct, they are indeed damning documents they have condemned the students doing this particular assignment to finish their degrees with half the essential knowledge if ever they were to choose programming as their careers.

The problem is not just with the course itself but with the course coordinators too. I have a choice excerpt from this term’s assignment materials which shows exactly what the designer of the course think of the intellect of potential students, and the amount of effort that he wants put into the course by them.

KISS
Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS). Don’t try to do anything fancy. There is no need. You won’t get any extra marks for complex implementation. Trying to complex solutions will only slow down your solution. Limit yourself to the material covered in Programming A and the first 5 weeks of Programming B.

I whole heartedly disagree with the above. I believe it is a stupid attempt to try and get more people to pass the subject by making the subject easier. Instead of thinking up such childish acronyms, lecturers and course coordinators should be spending their time actually teaching the less gifted students.

“Keep It Simple, Stupid”? Is it the ‘in thing’ now to insult students for no reason?

How about ‘Don’t try to do anything fancy.’? Are the submitted assignments so complicated that they are ‘out of the grasp’ of the university’s unending list of part-time tutors? This kind of attitude in teaching inhibits learning and creativity. If students didn’t think of doing any thing fancy, where will we get the polish and the flair? How do we discover new techniques? Where do we get our next Newtons, Edison or Einstein or even Bill Gates for that matter?

One word CQU, you are going about this the wrong way. Making courses easier to pass and pulling more students through your programs may be better for business, but it is not doing anyone any good in the long run.

Please don’t devalue my degree. It is my pay cheque. It is my rice pot. It is something my parents used the last of their retirement funds on. Keep the courses reasonable, teach the students well and let me and other alumni keep whatever good reputation we made for ourselves and for the university through hard work and dedication in our field of study and work. For all of us’ sake!

For my beloved university and respected colleagues.
Zatlite

Technorati Tags: Information Technology, Aung Tun Tint Kyaw, Bachelor Degree, Certificate, Central Queensland University, Education, Programming

Ping and Trackbacks are quite well known terms in blogger world. I’m not gonna talk about trackback(Blog-Blog/ post-post, notifying this blog uses content/resources related/referenced to that blog) here but like to share some of my notes about blog pinging and my collection of rss ping services.

Ping is the name of a computer network tool used on TCP/IP networks (such as the Internet). It provides a basic test of whether a particular host is operating properly and is reachable on the network from the testing host.
Ref: Wikipedia

If you are a blogger, you might have been using some of the most famous ping services to notify the blogosphere about your site update.
Some of you may not know that everytime you post to your blog, you are sending a ping to one or more services depending on your blogging platform. For example, those of blogspot users are pinging to Weblogs.com ping service everytime you make a new post. Ofcos that is if you specified it under “Setting” > “Publishing” > “Notify to Weblogs.com” to “Yes”.
For wordpress blogs by default includes Ping-O-Matic service. As usual, the good thing about wordpress is that you can add any number of ping urls in the text box specifies there.

There are lots of sites offer XML-RPC ping services on the web to track your site/blog updates. What those do is that, you added new post to your blog, you notify(ping) one of those xml-rpc services and they’ll come and crawl your site which in term updated in their database and make available to their visitors and propably those visitors will visit your site. Ah…something like that.
The main thing is that pinging and xml-rpc services publish your post/site to a wider medium, which is good.

XML-RPC is a remote procedure call protocol which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism. It is a very simple protocol, defining only a handful of data types and commands, and the entire description can be printed on two pages of paper. This is in stark contrast to most RPC systems, where the standards documents often run into the thousands of pages and require considerable software support in order to be used.

It was first created by Dave Winer of UserLand Software in 1995 with Microsoft. However, Microsoft considered it too simple and started adding functionality. After several rounds of this, the standard was no longer so simple and became what is now SOAP.
Ref: Wikipedia

The followings are my collection of XML-RPC services. I guess only non blogspot blogs can use that. I suggest blogspot users to use the following links to submit the ping manually:
# Ping.o.matic
# Pingoat
# Blo.gs

You don’t need to add all those in your admin ping list. Only the main links as followed would be enough cos’ they ping to others as well.

Main list I use

• Blo.gs: http://ping.blo.gs/
• BlogRolling: http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
• PingGoat: http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2
• Ping-O-Matic: http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
• PubSub: http://xping.pubsub.com/ping
• Syndic8 : http://www.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
• Technorati: http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
• TopicExchange: http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
• Weblogs.com: http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
• WebLogAlot: http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

The List

1. 1470Net: http://1470.net/api/ping
2. a2b: http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
3. Amagle: http://ping.amagle.com/
4. Blo.gs: http://ping.blo.gs/
5. BlogRolling: http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
6. BlogDigger: http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
7. BlogShares: http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
8. BlogsNow: http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
9. BlogStreet: http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
10. Bitacoles: http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php

    http://bitacoras.net/ping

11. BlogDB: http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
12. Blogg.de: http://xmlrpc.blogg.de/
13. BlogMatcher: http://blogmatcher.com/u.php
14. Blogoole: http://www.blogoole.com/ping/
15. Blogoon : http://www.blogoon.net/ping/
16. BlogPeople: http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
17. BlogRoots: http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1
18. Bloggoone: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
19. BulkFeeds: http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
20. Bitacoras: http://ping.bitacoras.com
21. BloggerJP: http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
22. BlogMura: http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/
23. BlogBuzzMachine: http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2
24. Bakeinu: http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php
25. CoreBlog: http://coreblog.org/ping/
26. Cocolog-nifty: http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
27. DataShed: http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/
28. Exblog: http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc
29. FeedBurner: http://ping.feedburner.com
30. FeedSter: http://api.feedster.com/ping
31. IceRocket: http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
32. Lasermemory: http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/
33. My.Yahoo: http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
34. My.YahooRSS: http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
35. MyBlog: http://ping.myblog.jp
36. MoreOver: http://api.moreover.com/ping

    http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

37. NewsIsFree: http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php
38. PingGoat: http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2
39. Ping-O-Matic: http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
40. PubSub: http://xping.pubsub.com/ping

    http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt

    http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php

41. PopDex: http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
42. RootBlog: http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php
43. Syndic8: http://www.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
44. SnipSnao: http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2
45. Technorati: http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
46. TopicExchange: http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
47. Weblogs.com: http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

    http://rpc.weblogs.com/

    http://ping.weblogs.se/

48. WebLogAlot: http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
49. Weblogues: http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/

Only the links download txt file here. I hope this post helps you.
So next time you browse the net and come across new ping services, save the url and share with me too so that I could update my list.

Resourceful Links:
# Community Server list
# Elloitt Back Ping List
# Blog Herald Ping List
# SEO Black Hat Ping List
# Ensight Ping List

Technorati Tags: XML-RPC, RSS, Ping, Syndication, SEO, Useful, Links, Resources, References, Blogosphere, Services

SELECT *
FROM tblRandomThoughts
ORDER BY Date DESC

SELECT *
FROM tblDisappointments
WHERE Type = ‘personal’
ORDER BY Date DESC

DROP TABLE tblAllHopes

I was thinking, I should count the words I spoke at work each day.
Cos’ I got nothing much to talk about and this article, Top 6 Topics to Avoid Discussing at Work, makes me even more muter.

There are some conversations that don’t belong in the workplace.

You should also avoid lengthy discussions about controversial subjects. Staying away from discussing the following topics will make your work life a lot easier.

1. Religion
2. Politics
3. Your Sex Life
4. Problems With Your Spouse, Your Children, or Your Parents
5. Your Career Aspirations
6. Your Health Problems

And let me add a few more…
Don’t talk about yourself/family (too personal),
Don’t talk about others/friends (too nosy, gossipy)
Don’t talk about your work mates (Nothing interesting about them)
Don’t talk about Food (make you lose concentration in work)
Don’t talk about work (Boring, nobody wanna hear it!)

So…the best is just sit there and be mute. Nice huh?

Link: Top 6 Topics to Avoid Discussing at Work

Yep, I second that.

The brain pays more attention when it thinks it’s in a conversation and must “hold up its end.” And there’s evidence that suggests your brain behaves this way even if the “conversation” is between a human (you) and a book or computer screen (or lecture).

Link: Crash course in learning theory