James Gosling on SWT

Some good points by Gosling on why SWT is a fast, light weight way to (porting) hell...

"The SWT thing was just…it pissed me off beyond words. So, if you wind back the clock a few years, the original toolkit in Java was this thing called AWT, the Abstract Window Toolkit. It’s still there, and it’s a fairly simple, straightforward toolkit, and it’s based on using the widgets from the underlying (inaudible). It had a wide variety of really, really ugly problems, things like how to get semantics consistent from platform to platform, and some of the little fringe things like cut and paste. Trying to get cut and paste to operate correctly between text widgets, like between the Mac text widgets, the Motif text widgets and the Windows text widgets. When you’re actually trying to use those text widgets in their native homes, it’s just a nightmare. How do you deal with things like subcopying, how do you make a button extensible? How do you deal with the more advanced features that people want, like being able to do tables where you can control the rendering of components and cells and that kind of stuff?

A lot of those things were completely precluded by the AWT architecture. IBM in particular was really upset about the way that the AWT architecture had gone, and they were one of the leading agitators that caused Flame to be created. In fact, about half of the engineers on the Flame team were actually from IBM -- they actually got IBM pay cheques. IBM built Apple Flame, and actually then Swing was quite successful, it’s been successful for quite a while. The biggest problem with Swing was that it can do so much that it’s kind of become like the 747 cockpit if you like APIs. There’s a lot of complexity there, and the hard part is figuring out how to use it. It’s in this weird situation where pretty much anything you can want to do in Swing, you can do easily. But what’s hard is to figure out the easy path through all of the different options, the different ways you can do things. Once you figure out the one true path to get what you want done, then it’s pretty easy. People often say “Why don’t you just make it easier by simplifying it?”, and say, “so you simplify it in this way, it would make my life better”. But then for the next guy it would be worse, because he wants to not go there, he wants to go on this particular path. So it’s been difficult to manage the complexity right.

So, wind the clock forward a few years, and there’s (inaudible) from IBM (inaudible) “Swing is too complicated, let’s do AWT all over again”, and if you look at the SWT architecture, it’s almost exactly the same as AWT. It has all the AWT problems: it’s way simple, it doesn’t port very well. And its API is somewhat different, because essentially what they did was they made the Windows version really easy by making their API pretty much a clone of the Windows API. And then on Linux, they tried to make Motif look like the Windows toolkit. They’ve got those mapping layers that are just like, really horrible, and it only kind of works. And same thing in OS X, their porting problems from platform to platform is a nightmare, their consistency (inaudible) is a nightmare. And it’s sort of like, “You were there seven or eight years ago. It was a bad place to be, don’t go back!”. The problem is that IBM is like three hundred and some-odd thousand people, so there’s like a cluster of people. Most of the people we were working with back then were in North Carolina and New York State, like Westchester, and they actually understood things pretty well."
Original Q& A transcript - James Gosling Q & A

Autoboxing - Some home truths

Quoting some examples ...

1)
Integer i1 = 123;
Integer i2 = 123;
System.out.println(i1 == i2); //true

2)
Integer i1 = -129;
Integer i2 = -129;
System.out.println(i1 == i2); //false!!

The fact of the matter is that autoboxing is just an automatic wrapping & unwrapping of the primitives. == was never supposed to be used for comparing values. And autoboxing does not change those semantics (rightly).

P.S: While I'm talking about equality, here's how an IdentityHashMap differs from thae normal HashMap semantically (quoting from the docs)...

"in an IdentityHashMap, two keys k1 and k2 are considered equal if and only if (k1==k2). (In normal Map implementations (like HashMap) two keys k1 and k2 are considered equal if and only if (k1==null ? k2==null : k1.equals(k2)) .)"

(Remember, the contract b/w an hashCode() and equals() of an object requires that if you override the hashCode calculation, it is for you to handle the equality comparison as well, failing which, most HashMap implementations will bomb)

Idiosyncrasies of the == String comparison

Some fun with String equality ... (and btw, that's why it is advisable to use string.equals() instead of == )

String s1 = "True";
String s2 = "True";
s1 == s2 == true //compiler uses one instance for string literals

String s3 = new String("False");
String s4 = new String("False");
s3 == s4 == false //two forced instances

String s5 = "True";
String s6 = "Tr" + "ue";
s5 == s6 == true //compiler evaluates and uses same instance

String s7 = "False";
String sx = "F";
String s8 = sx + "alse";
s7 == s8 == false //compiler won't evaluate where a second reference is involved

Pretty much summarizes various possiblities that arise in the == string comparison. Found this in a discussion on
Autoboxing in J2SE 5 on TSS.

Building a new Bangalore (on a green graveyard)

Background first: BDA has announced a grade separator at South End Circle. And, curiously enough, the grade separator's arms will span South End road and the road leading to Madhavan Park. Doesn't make sense? Well, as residents & shopkeepers in the vicinity of south end circle say, the traffic at this "gateway to the south" is quite manageable and hasn't gone out of hand compared to, say, Diary circle or Bannerghatta road. Let’s assume, for a moment, that the locals don't have an iota of an idea about the traffic situation and the BDA is genuinely concerned about the citizens' welfare. Now, why would you have two arms of the grade separator on 2 of the calmest roads that lead to the junction? Why have the grade separator at all then? The answer to that lies in the answer to why the National College flyover was "conceived": It turns out that the private contractors involved in civil works are fast running out of projects. And there won't be any new projects coming up unless an artificial need for such projects is created. But, who is to decide whether a certain project is indeed required? Well, the civic bodies are wise enough to decide what's "good" for the people (and their own pockets), aren't they? That's why we're seeing a deluge of flyovers and grade separators being "synthesized", "planned" and executed. Of course, the contractors compensate the approving bodies appropriately (goes without saying). Obviously, since the amount of money involved is so huge, the flyover juggernaut rolls on inexorably - like it did in case of the national college flyover. The college itself, once surrounded by a verdant fortress, now lies partly buried under several inches of dirt and dust. Feeling powerless, and finding myself incapable of doing anything to save those trees from certain destruction, I rang up Suresh Heblikar last evening, looking for some guidance. He was kind enough to spend 15 mins explaining various possibilities and listing out options. Some take-home points at the end of the discussion-

1. There is NO formal means of tackling this menace. You cannot waste your time bringing in stay orders from the court.
2. Be specific – address the civic org that has approved this project. (The BDA in this case.) Shouting yourself hoarse on M.G road will have little impact.
3. Make yourself heard –
1. The least you can do is write to local papers about this. The Kannada papers are more vociferous when it comes to protesting for the environment and are more likely to publish your letter.
2. Gather your friends/ other likeminded people and stage a protest. (You’ll first have to shed all your inhibitions to do that, though.) Try to get the press involved. Maybe invite a few reporters over to the place where you plan to stage the protest. In the past, Mr.Heblikar has helped resident groups get easier access to the press.
3. If option b is not to your liking, gather residents of your area and organize a signature campaign. Submit the memorandum to the “Babu” involved.

4. You do NOT have to belong to the affected area or be a native of Bangalore to lodge a protest. Remember, destruction of the environment affects every one of us, no matter which place we belong to. Mr.Heblikar gave a very good example of how a few Bengalis living around Bannerghatta road decided to protest the condition of the road and how it resulted in increased dust levels, reduced visibility around their apartments, and even induced respiratory disorders in their children. They approached him for guidance and he helped draw attention to their cause. When I expressed surprise over this incident, he said, “We wait for a messiah to appear out of nowhere and rescue us. We seldom take the initiative. We need to change the attitude and take ownership. It’s for our own good.” That’s something that we ALL need to bear in mind.

And you wouldn’t be hampering “development” by protesting against these project (the BDA loves to use this to respond to activists). We can do without such development in most cases. Would you prefer to wait the extra 10 minutes at the traffic signal (you might have to wear a mask then) or wake up gasping for breath every morning (what with all the trees gone) and wear a mask all day long? And I haven’t even started talking about the beauty that these trees lend to our city. In fact, they define (or defined?) our identity.

So, please, whatever your means, spend a few minutes of your spare time for a worthy cause. Make your voice heard and protect our green cover. Every individual does matter. Every person makes a difference. And remember, it’s for our own good.

First stop – The south end circle grade separator.

Some information that might help –

1) ToI editor – lettersbg@indiatimes.com

2) Deccan Herald – editor@deccanherald.com

3) Mr.Suresh Heblikar - 26553422

Here comes the sun(db)

At Sun Microsystems' annual meeting for analysts, Scott McNealy showed this slide and raised the possibility of Sun offering customers its own database software...

Well, that was the one thing everyone said sun was missing.Now what will Mr Milunovic have to say? I don't know about that, all I can say is "Here comes the Sun..." :-)

The Linux jihad against SUN (Read:bite the hand that wants to feed you)

Excellent blog by one Sid art on why the penguins are scared stiff by Solaris and keep comforting themselves by flaming Sun and labelling Sun "evil"
Random Thoughts: The Linux jihad against SUN: "The Linux jihad against SUN".
A followup on it by Simon Phipps is also really lucid.And, of course, i happened to read all this through Alan Hargreaves' entry. My comments posted there...

" Wise guy stallman has added more fuel to the fire, further misleading the already confused,terrified,insecure slashdot crowd. As simon phipps righty pointed out, they find themselves ill equipped to understand CDDL, and find solace in blindly attacking Sun. You need not be a lawyer to understand that OSI approval implies patent protected for the relevant IP.You need to remember that they've already done the legal homework on behalf of the community.So, why panic (or blindly flame Sun, Mr.Stallman)?"

Be an angel, throw the linux word on slashdot

Alan Hargreaves pointed out a couple of appalingly biased articles on ZDNet. Quite infuriating, really.This is what i posted under the comments...
"The first (anonymous) comment couldn't have said it better. The community blindly,desperately wants to "see sun revealed as the evil one". That's just not going to happen. Why?Because there ISN'T any evil,ulterior motive behind sun's moves. The community (read slashdotters) loves dancing to the tunes of IBM & HP. Just throw the Linux word and they'll fall head-over-heels. It's so distressingly easy to manipulate them. Which is exaclty what IBM did with their 500 patents, as jonathan pointed out. And what do they do when they're gifted a better operating system? Call the benefactor "evil" and "a bed-fellow of MS". The bias became even more obvious when a story-submission regarding the relevance of IBM's patents was simply rejected outright at slashdot.No surprises there.
-Bharath"

IBM's "donations" to the community (which community?Medical?Mechanical Engg?Gel embodiment?)

Quoting Jonathan:

"ps. You've got to love IBM's ability to play the community. Going through some of the patents they "donated" to the open source community a few weeks back, it looks as if they all, curiously, seem to be due for payment - and thus potential expiration - this year. Were they destined for the bit bucket (turns out IBM is among the largest patent expirers in the world, along with its largest issuer).

And some of the patents have nothing to do with open source software - my favorite in the heap is this one. Not sure that's going to be quite the comfort the community's looking for. Here are a few others - for those working in gel embodiments; and for the open source doctors in the crowd.

We know we need to help the community understand how to take advantage of our grant - but at least all 1600 of the patents we've granted to the world were for operating systems and software (USPTO 700, for the wonks in the crowd)."

Nothing like snubbing a slashdotter

Got really infuriated by a posting by stupid linux-only idiots on slashdot (on the eve of sun releasing the sources for solaris.) This was my reply...

Numbskulls like you deserve to be sued the shit ouf of, by someone like SCO. Learn to give credit where it's due. All you ingrates at slashdot will one day realise that calling sun evil & throwing the Linux buzzword takes you nowhere. Can you count upto 10 million? No? That's how many lines of code sun will be giving up. They're opening up their crown jewel.They didn't have to do that. S10 has enough great features to make it scorch the market, beating your low end, kick ass cheap linux servers hollow. They did that to reiterate their commitment for the community. They've ALWAYS given more to the community that IBM or HP. The latter 2 are the evil ones, hoodwinking shortsighted slashdotters by throwing the Linux word. Yes. Linus torvalds did a great thing by giving away the kernerl free. But so will sun now. FREE.OPEN SOURCE. Enough is enough. You now have a SUPERIOR OS open sourced. Go with it or be left behind, using some ancient linux version and dancing to the tunes of IBM & HP. btw, look at the 500 patents IBM has given out & the 1670 that sun has.You'll see that sun's patents pertain to current,hot, bleeding edge technologies. And of course, i shouldn't even mention HP. Who cares even they give out the code for ALL their rickety management software and the legacy HP-UX. They're just an integrator, an imaging & printing company. They never have & never will matter.Time you saw the light, ungrateful, dim witted slashdotters!I'm sick of your brainless anti-sun rhetoric.Use some logic.Get your grey cells working. There's nothing wrong in supporting another open source initiative for a superior OS. And this has nothing to do with M$, for chistsake.

Here's the original thread...
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/25/2116230&tid=102

Amazing quote by Swami Vivekananda

This is the actual source : "We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far."

Sun's the #1 Unix server seller. Really comforting. :-) (I didn't know this.What an idiot!!)

I read about that in this article that talks about the release of DTrade sources.That's the first installment of OpenSolaris:Sun to release first OpenSolaris tidbit Tuesday .

"Rivals have responded differently to the arrival of Linux. Hewlett-Packard and IBM, the No. 2 and No. 3 sellers of Unix servers after Sun, embraced the operating system years before Sun and did so with more enthusiasm. IBM and HP see Linux as a way to advance their favored processor designs--IBM's Power and Intel's Itanium, respectively..."

And the geek shall inherit the earth...

Hee Haww!!!I found the link to this test on Alan Hargreaves' page and took it up.And,guess what...



What does it mean?Well, this was the final verdict, after the test...
"Overall, you scored as follows:
17% scored higher (more nerdy), and
83% scored lower (less nerdy).

What does this mean?
Your nerdiness is:

High-Level Nerd. You are definitely MIT material, apply now!!!"
Now, how flattering is that? :p

Ever heard of Kenneth Anderson?

For all his invaluable contributions to literature, to local heritage and to wildlife conservation in this part of India, there's no more than a cursory mention of Kenneth Anderson in the literary circles.After several painstaking search-criterion-filtering and googling, I managed to retrieve some articles that write atleast a paragraph about him:

1)History Today: Jungle Book memories - wildlife preservation in India "Curiously, when wild animals existed in large numbers in India, some British hunters established reputations as conservationists. They included Kenneth Anderson, born near Hyderabad in 1910, the descendant of Scots who had lived in India for six generations. The jungle and its creatures were his lifelong obsession. As a big game hunter he became famous in south India as the saviour of villagers preyed upon by man-eating tigers and other beasts. Before his death from cancer in 1974, Anderson wrote books about his exploits which revealed his concern for the environment. In Man-eaters and Jungle Killers he wrote: 'I know localities where until 1930 the moaning sough of a tiger or the guttural sawing of the panther were normal sounds in the night - now the night passes without a sound'. And in The Tiger Roars, he noted that in the Mysore and Salem districts tigers and panthers have been almost wiped out by villagers who used a poison supplied to them almost free by the local government as an insecticide to protect their crops'."

2)"Jungle Tales"(The Hindu, Sunday, September 17, 2000)
"KENNETH ANDERSON (1910-1974) has often been described as South India's answer to Jim Corbett, though I would imagine that he himself - and his fans - would rather call Corbett the North- Indian equivalent of Kenneth Anderson ... Well, not quite perhaps, but near enough.

When I collected these two chunky volumes for review, I blanched. There was close to 1,500 pages of reading material here, and largely my own fault as I had never read any of Anderson's books before. Here, in volume 1, were Tales From the Indian Jungle; Man Eaters And Jungle Killers and The Call Of The Man Eater. Volume 2 contained The Black Panther of Sivanipalli; The Tiger Roars and Jungles Long Ago.

So, like a city slicker stepping into the forests for the first time, I started reading with some trepidation. And was hooked within minutes, and just three weeks later, was breathlessly done. One thing was apparent right from the start. There was a sense of technicolour 70mm. Hollywood melodrama in most of the hunting stories and encounters that Anderson described. And occasionally you found yourself stepping from incredulous belief to sceptical disbelief .... Could man-eating tigers and leopards, and rogue elephants, really be such evil geniuses as to plot and counter-plot their strategy and attacks in such a superhuman cunning manner, as Anderson has described? Well, maybe that privilege is not a prerogative of our species after all, but it does chill the marrow a bit, to realise that a man-eating tiger seems to know exactly what is going on in your head and is counter-plotting on that basis .... Also, some of the encounters and hunts seemed so implausible that, conversely, they must have been absolutely true - that old thing about truth being stranger than fiction. To pep them up further, Anderson probably just added piquancy to the way he unravelled his yarns.

And, by God, the man knows how to tell a story all right. He has an inherent sense of plot, the skill to clearly describe a locale (though maps would have been nice), and the knack of gradually building up the tension to give you a heart-thumping audio-visual feel of the situation, before exploding with a suitably blood- curdling roar. Occasionally, he does digress, and while this does slow down the pace a bit, some of the digressions are interesting in their own right. And then there are the hare-brained, dare- devil counter schemes that he comes up with in order to outwit his devilish, crafty quarry. Like waiting for a man-eater's return in its own den. Or setting up himself as bait. But, inspite of these seemingly gung-ho actions, there is always fear, and a great deal of it. Anderson knew full well the danger he was putting himself in and makes no effort to hide the fact that, often, he was petrified.

Not all the stories or anecdotes in these books are about hunting down man-eating tigers and panthers, or rogue elephants. There are accounts of ghooming (roaming) in the beautiful forests of South India, character sketches of various jungle denizens (wild boar beat all the big boys for courage), accounts of the wild animals he and his wife kept as pets (and a hyena was a sweetie), encounters with ghosts, and dabblings with the occult, and of course, his relationship with his "aborigine" friends and trackers.

Anderson, who was a Bangalore based planter, obviously loved the forests and their denizens and lamented the wholesale destruction of both. The accounts and anecdotes are infused with his own feelings and fears. What comes through clearly is his great love for the simple outdoor life and the spiritual upliftment it provided, the wonderful timelessness of India which again, he loved, his affection and respect for the "aborigines" of the forests, and his loathing of the bureaucracy, who often drove him up the wall. He comes across himself, as a colourful, rough-hewn personality, always ready to give as good as he got. "

A fundu quote (from RD)quoted by Vij on his page...

Quoted from RD: "'Everything you do, everything you experience, everything you think affects who you are.You have an incredible amount of input into the creation of yourself.'"

A grand finale to the Bengaluru Habba

Had a fantastic evening at Palace Grounds with the curtains coming down on the habba in glorious fashion. Only a week ago, mbk, his sister deepa, his mother and I had visited the stalls on the boulevard on M.G.Road on the inaugural day on the habba. And we had to bid a heavy-hearted adieu to this magnificent festival. Last evening at Palace grounds, the concerts that truly deserved a mention were the folk percussion ensemble (led by a flautist) arranged by Anoor Anantahkrishna Sharma and the breath taking performance (though below par) by Ganesh-Kumaresh. The latter duo have SOME talent. Probably the most talented musicians i've ever watched/ listened to. Beyond words. It was as if the violin was an extension of their very beings. Brilliant.What coordination they had ! It was worth weathering the bone chilling icy winds (on an empty stomach) at palace grounds. I almost had a frost bite. mbk & his sister found my plight very funny, though X-( Sadists!!!
Yes, mbk, his sister and I had been there.A fantastic time, all in all. Of course, it took some effort to ignore the mischief mongers and the philistines at the venue and concentrate on the music. Worth all the troubles in the end. You know why. ;-)

Deccan herald's article follows...

Spirited performances draw Habba to close - Deccan Herald

BANGALORE, DHNS:

If Prince Edward, standing on his lonely vigil in Cubbon Park, was seen looking wistfully in the direction of the Palace Grounds on Sunday night, he really couldn’t be blamed. The rock shows that had been held at his feet till a few days ago weren’t too bad (he had even headbanged a bit on the last of the shows), but they hardly came close in spirit to what was seen on the last day of the Bangalore Habba.

And spirit, Kathak danseuse Nirupama explained to Deccan Herald, is one of the four pillars of classical Indian dance. (Body movements, sound and costumes are the other three). Nirupama, her partner Rajendra and their team put up an enthralling show that aimed to bridge the gap between the classical an d the modern, the Indian, European, Caribbean and African. Spirit, however, wasn’t confined to dance alone. It was evident in the show put up by Anoor Anantha Krishna Sharma and his team.

Percussion instruments of almost every kind were on stage, as were artists who knew what exactly they were for. They just jammed up on stage, with the dozen instruments or so that came alive singly and together, to the near constant accompaniment of a flute. There was a breathtaking array of instruments of all shapes and sizes, of which the tablas and mrudangams were only a part.
These musicians, sadly, were somewhat disappointed at the lack of spirit in the response from the audience. Violin duo Kumaresh and Ganesh also performed, as did Shankar Mahadevan, who played with ‘Silk’. (Their show, it might be mentioned, recieved a more spirited applause.)

Then there were the other, rather more alarming, sort of spirits all over the venue. The only obvious traces they left were sweaters, handkerchiefs and jackets left on apparently empty seats.

These apparitions were real enough for those in adjacent seats too, with the latter presenting convincing arguments as to why those chairs should not be occupied by the passing onlooker, desperately looking for a place to park himself.

An evening with Ruskin Bond

5.22 pm.November 22nd 2004.
Just returning from gangaram's after meeting ruskin bond. I'm just smiling within (yes, my mind is suddenly in peace, feeling good,almost in a sweet sleep, in some beautiful,dreamy land - the kind of place that bond describes in his beautiful compositions.He's such a nice, gentle human being, just as i had imagined after reading his books. It was almost like meeting my grandpa. His demeanour is so completely steeped in Indian mannerisms. I was also struck by the resemblance that his manner of greeting people and wishing them bears with that of my grandma ; a polite "hello" to everyone who wished him while receiving his signature, and a parting "Thank you", all with a genuine, benign smile. in a chequed half sleeve shirt, he seemed every bit the author he his.
His scheduled arrival was at 4.30 pm. I was there at 4.20. And, he arrived there absolutely perfectly on time and assumed his place behind the desk. I was seated at one of the middle rows of the chairs arranged in front. A few people had already gathered by then.He first smiled pleasantly at the people and very patiently waited for the organizers to lend direction to the proceedings, chatting to his aides in between. But the autograph campaign had a sudden beginning when a lady walked up to him & requested his signature. The rest of us quietly queued up & waited. In no time, the queue swelled to a huge one. I counted myself fortunate to have arrived there early.What made the queue slow moving was that several old ladies had bought 5-6 books of bond & were getting each of them autographed in the names of their friends/kin. Poor Mr.Bond patiently signed every one of them without a fuss. I bought 2 books:Ghost tales from the raj & a collection of Ruskin Bond's himalayan tales.When my turn came, i said, "you showed me the india i never knew existed.Thank you." and he gave his well known happy laugh, a touch embarassed, and said, "oh, thank you".The first book, he signed for me in my name and for the second one, he asked "whose name shall i put?". I said, "siddarth". (In the first page of another book of his, he writes "To siddarth.Good luck, little one".So, there's a siddarth who matters to him too). As i expected, he asked, "who's siddarth?". I said, "My nephew". I could spot the added warmth that his eyes assumed for that split second. I collected my books with a "Thank you so much", leaving behind bond and his followers (if i could say that). I was also tempted to ask him whether he actually did, with his servant Dukhi, push his step father into the well, as he describes in "A job well done". I know i'll continue to smile within for the rest of the day & cherish those moments all my life. He's taught me the importance of simplicity,of dreaming and has given me the assurance that not all's wrong with this world.That there is place for a dreamer.And you can dream big & achieve big. He might not come around to bangalore again, but i'll hopefully travel in time to meet him early at his residence some day.When i look back at my stay at HP and wonder what i got out of my stay there, this is one of the things that'll appear as the answer. The proximity of this office to M.G.Road really did help.So did the flexibility of working at HP. I must say thanks for that.
I'm posting a conversation that i had with mbk on this..
(He was of the opinion that the world is in greater need of forward looking writers, not those that will talk of the good ol times. One of the few occasions when i disagreed with him)
--Conversation begins--

reachbach: real nice chap.amazingly simple person. the stereotypical author.and for a 70 year old, he's in pretty good health & spirits. the hills are taking good care of him.
mbk: thats nice - where does he live?
reachbach: mussorie
mbk: Yes - there's no way a good writer can thrive amidst these traffic jams
reachbach: right.
reachbach: and he has made sure modernization doesn't disturbed his state of mind.some female asked, "could i have your e-mail id?" and he said, "i don't have one. i can give you my address though. you can drop me a card". and his mannerisms are so indian!just like my grandpa.nothing british about him.
mbk:
mbk: A young author cannot afford to be so though
reachbach: why?
mbk: You need to be abreast with the way social life is changing
mbk: to be able to write about society
mbk: Ruskin Bond may not know how a big section of people live their lives
mbk: on IM for instance
mbk: using emotes
mbk: social life is changing so fast, people dont enjoy evening walks anymore
mbk: nor do they listen to light music or have light conversations after dinner - they watch soaps on tv
mbk: they just dont drop into a friends house - they call up first and get an appointment
mbk: "I'll call you back" is perhaps one of the most popular phrases used on phone these days
reachbach: he doesn't write about society.that's not the intent ofhis books.his books tell about a time gone by, when jonathan schwartz didn't use his blog to clarify his stand and market sun.his books also make you realise that, even today, if your friend is close enough, you can just barge in.that there's still a place for a dreamer like him.and we need such a person who can help us sit back and breathe for a while & reflect before running on our career paths at break neck speed.
mbk: yes, thats true. he lives his age in his books
mbk: not all writers can be so - we will need contemporary, futuristic writers too?
reachbach: right.we need all kinds.his books serve a different purpose.like old people today say, "in the good ol times...". feels nice to read about such times and see those places through his eyes.it's not necessarily an escape from the present.when it comes down to day to day living, you need the contemporary, futuristic writers.

--Conversation ends--

The Solaris community's response to a wise guy from HP

cuddletech: unix hardcore: "A community response to Martin Fink, HP's Linux Vice-President" Ben Rockwoods helps out martin fink with some Computer Science basics & some common sense. Hope fink'll do his homework better in future (wonder what he did at school).

Setting HTTP Proxy settings in a Java application

If you've been struggling with getting your network-based java application to work through a proxy,here're the property settings to use:

For HTTP:

System.setProperty("http.proxyHost","Proxy-Server-host");
System.setProperty("http.proxyPort","Proxy-Server-port");


For HTTPS:

System.setProperty("https.proxyHost","Proxy-Server-host");
System.setProperty("https.proxyPort","Proxy-Server-port");

Hex floating point operations in Tiger

Apparently, tiger allows literals to be directly mapped to corresponding bit positions of a float or a double.It can get rather ugly.Read david flanagan's article on this...

Hex Floating Point: 0Xf.aP1 == 31.25

The tiger is roaming the jungle; the lord and master of all he surveys...

Have this inexplicable festive mood today, as if a child was born in the family. The reason? J2SE 5.0, the biggest, most significant modification/addition since Java 2, is out!! Tiger's Chief Architect, Graham Hamilton, speaks..
Tiger Roars: The Release of Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) 5.0