have a Great week end !!!
(Last program I had written was of "Doubly Connected Circular Link list" I think it was compiled properly but it showed some run time error .so I copied the code from my friend's program and changed the message in Printf ) .
I have practically little Zero experience to comment on the things which I am going to write about . views expressed here are based on my observation as a ring side view of software development at my day job as a salesman in a software firm and whatever little I read on Internet . there is good chance that it might be just plain big talks .
Good that you are still reading .. thanks .
When I was in college Mr. Pressman told us that best way to develop a software to develop in a waterfall methodology .
Req. Analysis -> Specification Freeze -->Design --> Development/Coding & Integration-> Testingà User Handover /Installation . (documentation is common in all these phases) .
Through out the short life of software industry ,from mainframe era to desktop era, waterfall methodology of software development was de-facto standard .Names have changed but essence was same . developer /analyst and evangelist followed this as fundamental postulate ,lemma #1 of good development practice. The whole cartel of CMM, ISO and other QA standards evolved around it .
In Waterfall school of thought the main stress is on maintaining a proper development hygiene & Following the strict process . but lately with the arrival of Internet and the rise of web based application development ,waterfall methodology has failed miserably and some folks claim that this is not the best way to develop web based application . Internet is a new medium and it require a new set of principal . does it ? or it is just a hype ? lets see
PUSH(S) IN THE FALL :
a) Rapid Prototyping : -> Waterfall way of software development is based on the assumption that you can study the requirement deeply first and than freeze the specs. from there on you only have to implement . But this, I believe is a fundamentally wrong way to approach the problem of software design . To study the requirement it is not enough to, "study " it on a one time basis and try to design a solution . you will surely miss something . To come up with a good design you need to live the problem for some time .
You can argue that there are domain expert who have "Lived" the problem for long time . but the problem is that in "waterfall " the interaction with these domain expert is very structured through manuals and other documentation.The very process block the flow of ideas and counter productive in the pursuit of understanding the domain .
So lets admit that in a typical IT project the knowledge transfer from domain expert to designer is crappy, formal and very basic , it can't bring AHA moment to end user . problem is more severe because once the specs is finalized they can't be changed till the next version . so you can't make (basic )correction en-route . much of this constraint is due to the fact that software is distributed across a wide user base and upgrading them every six month is not feasible .
But in web based application this problem is not there . so they can afford to what is called "Rapid Prototyping " . loop of "Feed back -> Correction-> Feed back " make us easier to reach the ideal prototype soon . Real power of Internet here is that it work as an instant distribution channel . so a true collaboration is possible only on a web based application . this is one of the reason "Water fall " is out of fashion when it comes to web based application development . it is not aligned along the grains of Internet . it doesn't exploit Internet's capability as a collaboration and distribution platform .
b) Failure Mode Analysis : Waterfall preaches that success is about following the best practice only. But experience tell us that as much as it is about following best practices, it is by equal means depends on avoiding individual case of failure also . every text book of computer programming preaches that we should first design flow chart and do a dry run on notebook and than punch in the code . honestly how many time you have done it . we write a program first than optimize it to avoid individual case of tripping. I call it Failure Mode Analysis (FMA) and this is most efficient(not correct or ideal ) way of developing the software . a development based on this method is only possible for a web base application .
When it comes to FMA ,Waterfall expects a lot out of Testing team but I have noticed the testing function with in the constraints of design . you can't rectify a design level mistake through a post implementation testing .So we mostly glorify design level goof up as implementation constraint .
c) Development Democracy : Waterfall treat software development a very sacred,ritualistic endeavor where End User is passively involve . Most of the times expectations are not clearly defined and understanding about requirement is hazy . most of the time working hypothesis is "If End user accept the final application ,good if he doesn't accept "Very Good " he should wait and pay for new version" .Web based applications are "For The User ,By The User & Of The User " . they bring in the sense of shared owner ship and community between developer and end user . which works wonders in faster adaptation of software .
Conclusion : based on the arguments I have presented above I conclude that water fall way of developing software is not suitable for web application development .For any software to be a good software it should revolve around user . I will end with a little of f –the –track story .
Have you ever read "War & Peace " (A Great Software )? It was written by Leo Tolstoy who was soldier in Russian army and seen the WAR for twenty years on first hand basis. he knew the price people pay for WAR . then he lived in peace for another 20 years to see the price people pay for peace and than he set down to write a book ( living the problem) . it took him some years to write the book and he always incorporated his day to day observation in plot . his Epilogue shows that book's plot was not frozen it was up-to- date and relevant (Rapid Prototyping ) . At that time only a handful of peasants & common man in Russia can read and still the book is not only about army , politics or govt its about people ( Democracy ) . perhaps that's the reason we still read "War & Peace " & forget other regular book after one month of reading it . It seems Mr. Tolstoy understood it long before our software guys
Aamir Khan finally got married to Kiran Rao and they went to Panchgani for honey moon.
Britney Spears got married to some Drummer (Lucky Bastard ) and went to some virgin island for honeymoon .
One of My Friend who is going to get married in Feb 2006 has planned elaborately about his honeymoon .down to the timetable of activity which they will do each day .He showed me his time table for honeymoon(surprisingly ! According to their time table they have nothing interesting to do during Nights . They plan to sleep ( Go To Bed )at 10:00 PM . I don't trust him on that )
Why people make such a big deal about their honeymoon ? Some time I feel that couples are actually looking forward to honeymoon and Marriage is just the passport for it . I have never seen People planning or participating in the preparation/Affair of their marriage . I have never seen people planning their life or changing their habits to accommodate the new comer .
I know of an incident where one of my acquaintance doesn't had a separate wardrobe for his fiance till the day she became his wife and came home to him . they were engaged to each other for six month and the rascal had made Train & Hotel reservations 03 months in advance (for honeymoon Of course ) .As more and more people around me are getting married I am observing this tendency more and more . Why ? is it just a random observation or there is a law governing it .
As always Lets See ……..
I see my female friends (Not Girl Friends) being so upbeat about their marriage . they prepare a little Too hard for it . In the pursuit of impressing their would be Hubby / In Laws they do all kind of stupid things. Right from Knitting Sweater to Making hand made cards . From sending an hanky with " P "stitched on it with silk To reading Economic Times just because the "would be" do it ( I doubt if both of them understand one bit of it ) .
God Save those girls . I have nothing to offer them .
While people are so enthusiastic toward there partner before and during honeymoon than why does an alarming number of marriages are on "Rocks" & a lot of folks are disillusioned by the whole system of marriage . To most of them its not Good or Bad . Its just that its Boring .
I think some of it is due to the way we handle the honeymoon period . We are excited about our partners because we have something new to discover their . something unexpected ,something refreshing & something different from us and our surroundings .I believe each of us has got something in them which is unexpected ,refreshing, different . Problem is that we have only so much of it . one can learn only few interesting things .Specially when he is in a 9 –To-5 job . Tell me when was the last time you learned a new skill which is not related to your carrier ? probably in college .
Now let's say you know 10 such things which can make you look like hero/romantic /adorable puppy /cute -idiot .Problem is that people are a bit too eager to show all of them in the first 15 days of married life and they want to spend rest of their life remembering those 15 days .That's what make it boring .
Have you ever noticed people remember the trip to Disneyland but don't remember each ride specifically but same people remember explicitly the Gondola ride of Venice (In Italy) in details .why ? Because in Disneyland there is too much of it and in too little time .whether in gondola you go easy, at a more "life like" pace .Honeymoon is also like a trip to Disneyland .
People tends to believe that a long honeymoon is must for overall stability of relationship and understanding of your partner . but I seriously feel the overall value add of honeymoon in terms of marriage is almost zero or in some cases negative .
Ask somebody who is married for 5+ years that when was the last time you did some thing romantic for your wife ( excluding sex) like singing a song ,writing a letter or even went to see her unannounced at her office and they will tell you " I made bed tea this morning " (Grrhhhhhhhh How Romantic!!)
Someone said that best way to keep your marriage fresh is to be a different person on each weekend . that is a bit too tough but we can be a different person on every anniversary .So folks Take it easy while you are on honeymoon . you will need all that energy and enthusiasm for rest of your life .
PS: I haven't touched on an important aspect of honeymoon here as I know my Blog is being watched by some females also. But I guess I have very little to offer in that aspect .
My brother Vikrant on the way to an old Temple in a Cave up the Hill . T was trying to act like a Pro in Photgraphy . How good am i ?
Buddha in Denim 
" Come Fall in Love"
Inside Chottorgarh Fort
this was how i spent my day . it was fun .long overdew fun . let me know if you like the snaps .
Cheers !!!
Welcome 2006 
