Links
Posted by Jonathan Ng | Filed under Technical
It’s been like weeks since the last time I posted some links for y’all.. but here you go, though most you my friends hav already seen these:
- Pesonality traits of the best developers - title says it all, pretty good read.
- Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - an online full-text of the 6.001 course at MIT. It’s a pre-requisite for Computer Science courses at MIT.
- Perils of JavaSchool - by Joel Spolsky. It’s a long artilce and many miss the gist of it.
Perils of JavaSchool
Here, Joel Spolsky whine about the current state of Computer Science graduates, who are only trained in Java and nothing else.. the point he’s trying to make is seen in the following excerpt: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: general programming, links
More Stupidity from My Lecturer
Posted by Jonathan Ng | Filed under Personal
I’ll go straight to the point: we were trying to insert data into a Microsoft Access database through an OleDb connection in ASP.Net. My lecturer was probably stuck in VB6 (or maybe .Net 1.1) era, where the SQL syntax she asked us to use was something like:
Insert Into TableName (Column1, Column2) .. You won’t spot the mistake if you’re too used to Access SQL or VB6. But what really pissed me off was that my lecturer interpreted the error message (which read something like “Syntax Error in INTO statement”) very interestingly. She claims that Windows XP’s user access rights prevented us from inserting data into the database. Oh.. My.. God.. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: general programming, rants
What I’m Busy with Lately
Posted by Jonathan Ng | Filed under Technical
The last couple of weeks were super busy for me. We had a subject called “Information Systems Development” where we’re required to develop a simple membership system for a fictionous business. Firstly, we were required to crap about the company’s background. Then came the planning process: creating DFDs, Entity-Relationship diagrams and so on.
I find the ER-diagrams quite useful, as you’d refer to it when making queries. However, the usefulness of DFD has yet to be seen by me, especially with a project this size. It’s “formal-ness” and the requirement to include every single freaking detail is certainly beyond my understanding. For example, why would you need to draw out a diagram for a reporting module? If your report is really that complicated, a seperate sheet that lists the steps taken to render that report would be more useful in my opinion.
Unfortunately, my course: “Information Systems Engineering” puts too little focus on the basic foundation: programming. It’s very apparent in this project we did this semester. There were hardly any emphasis on the coding approach taken. Sigh, sometimes it makes me think if I chose the right place to further my studies.. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: college-assignments, general programming
MSDN Campus Launch
Posted by Jonathan Ng | Filed under Technical
Yesterday, TARC’s Computer Science Society, together with several MSDN Student Ambassadors organized a MSDN “Campus Launch” here. I got the impression that they were “launching” Visual Studio 2005, SQLServer, and BizTalk Server. But boy was I wrong. The programs during that day were only a simple presentation on Visual Web Developer and about Microsoft Connection stuff by MSDN Ambassadors.
In short, it was a disgrace to Microsoft. The event was poorly organized; nothing seemed to go right for them. To top it off, the presenters had lousy English and found it hard to even understand what the heck they were mumbling about. If it wasn’t for the projected screens, I (and all the other attendees) would surely be at a lost.
Let’s put that aside and talk about some Microsoft’s initiatives to promote itself among students. First off, there’s this Microsoft Student Ambassodor thingy and MSDN Connection. Don’t ask me the details about it, but their sole purpose is create awareness about Microsoft technologies, and make it easier for you to learn those technologies. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: general programming
Sinima, a Cinima E-System
Posted by Jonathan Ng | Filed under Personal
Alright, top laughing at the name dammit, it’s the only thing that sounds like “Cinema” that doesn’t start with a “C”. Besides, Jeff said it was pretty “Malaysian”. Memang-lah!
So what’s Sinima?? It’s the project me and some friends did for our “Windows Programming” assignment with Visual Basic 6. Yes, six, not .Net. It’s a fictionous cinema with 3 screens as we wanted to limit the complexity. You obviously need better scheduling capabilities if you had a dozen screens right? I would certainly be interested in taking on such a project, but… TARC standards ain’t that high.
And now, on with some screenshots: Read the rest of this entry »
