Saturday, January 28, 2006

Nice Pics



i was browsing through Digg and i stumbeled on a fabulous article about being creative by hugh Macload . this was one of the best peace of writing i had seen after ayn rand . guy writes from heart . soon i was on his web site. it was cool . He draw cartoons on the back of Business Card .

his drawings are reall good stuff probabaly better than Dilbert . here is some of the pics .
(c) Acknowledged .




have a Great week end !!!

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Internet & "Fall Of WaterFall "

CAVEAT : I have never developed a single workable software on my own .

(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 .

FALL OF WATERFALL

 

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

P.S  Thanks for reading  . I welcome & Value  you comments


Mother of All Demos

We all take few things for granted . like Air,water ,sun and Computer mouse . but mouse was not their and we (most of us )
never  care to explore the origin of mouse and innovator who developed the first prototype of mouse ."First Mouse " how was it  ?
 
 
now you can see that here
 
 
a great description of first demo of mouse based  human computer interaction paradigm  .
 
P.S. : I haven't received much(ZERO)  submission to the Quiz i have posted . what happened you guys too busy .
 
 

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Two Stories & a Little Quiz

Recently  i had a very interesting discussion with a friend of mine who is a Software Engg -turned -investment banker with Goldman . we were discussing  how difficult it is to see a business proposition in a technical breakthrough .To illustrate his point  he told me a story rather two stories  and ask me two Questions . it was fun and surprisingly i answered both of them correctly .
you guys wanna try it . here it is


Ever considered your self as a VC who face  new business idea .you think you can identify next hot application .  then lets test it here are three cases of a techie pitching you his plan to bring next Big thing  on Internet .

Which one you will bet your money on ??

Case #1


" Let's assume there is a graph with more than million nodes in it . all the nodes contains some value in them . value can be duplicate  also . i will write an application to traverse that graph to find out nodes whose value match or satisfy the given criteria and display it . if there are more than one entry  or node who matches the given criteria  i will arrange (sort ) them in the decreasing order of their In degree . i think this programme if it can be written in a fault tolerant ,secure ,scalable and web enabled manner  it will fetch me millions "

Case # 2

" i want to put a java database on Internet where anybody can create an account and gain a limited view base access to read,write retrieve his her information . user can export the view or records in a form where people having an account on other such databases will be able to import it and  read it . it will give a great tool to share information . and i think this programme if it can be written in a fault tolerant ,secure ,scalable and web enabled manner  it will fetch me millions "


so answer me . have you heard of any company who work on this plan .  you can leave your  comments /answer here as comments  .  i prefer them  here  instead of you sending me as email.

looking forward to  your reply

prashant 

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Let’s Go Honeymoon…..!!.


Marriage Is A Public Admission of a Private Desire :G.B.Shaw

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 .


Friday, January 13, 2006

Bug Me Not

How many times you have to create a user account in a site just to read a article or download a report . i have done it about 100-200 times and i have a separate email account for this thing i leave this id to avoid getting all those spam and upgrade offers
but now i came across
 
 
try it guyz it will give you bogus/farzii but working loging ids of most of the sites . now i can check my astro forecast without bothering to create an account at indiatimes
Yipee !!


prashant
 

Thursday, January 12, 2006

01 Jan 2006 : A Photo Essay

Come on ! Quick on this one . What you were doing on Jan 01,2006 ? or for that matter what you were doing on Jan 01,2005 .

As far as i can remember almost every time in past 9 -10 years i started my new year with a Hang over from new year eve parties .So this time i decided to try something else .

This year i was out of Delhi . i was with my parents in "Bari Sadari" a small village near UDAIPUR where my dad is currently posted .There was no party on 31st of Dec and I slept early at around 11 '0'clock in night .

Surprisingly i woke up early at around 6'o' clock in morning (trust me guys ). Day start with a very very good omen i recieved an SMS from a dear friend of mine after a long time . Then I went for hiking with my brother . Then we went to ChittorGarh for seeing the famous fort of chittrorgarh .It was a great day . all of us had a good time .

My brother Vikrant had just bought a brand new Sony Cyber shot 3 Mega Pixel Digital camera so we use it fully to capture the moments . The professional photographer in me was awaken and i took some Real <--You judge yourself--> photographs .

So here is the photos we capture on that day a Photo Essay on Jan 01 2006. with running commentary from Prashant singh

This is me while going for hike in the morning . do you remember anything by looking at this snap . i was trying to pull a pose like the one Bill Gates had on the cove of his book "The Road Ahead "


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 ?

Vikrant @ Cave Temple

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 !!!

Sunday, January 08, 2006

Software Horror Stories


Bug , Feature Crap ,System Failure, OS Crash , Programming Error . these words may invoke emotion of annoyance,frustration,humor or anger but Have you ever heard of a horror story  related to software.
somebody has complied all the great software blunders which cost human life .

find them at the following link


http://www.cs.tau.ac.il/~nachumd/verify/horror.html

Now I hope programmer of world will code with proper attention .

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Welcome 2006

Welcome 2006
This picture of mine is taken on first of Jan 2006 by my brother Vikrant . i had a great day . i hiked, did camel riding and went to see fort of Chittorgarh Great day folks . i will share the complete album soon . meanwhile I wish all of you a
Very Very Happy New Year