Coding

Been using Windows Live Writer as my blog writing tool. Here are some plugins that I would definetly make my life much easier. If you are insterested in writing a plugin or would like to add to these requirements, do get in touch. Extended Link insertion Link to different Search Engines (Google, Google Blog Search, Code search, Sun API search, Technocrati search etc.) Link to various product sites (Amazon, RitzCamera etc) Link to previously exisitng Posts Recent Links Links from clipboard Auto-link insertion based on certain keywords Multiple link inclusion - when this mode is enabled every word that is clicked on / selected should be added to a bucket, which can then be used to create links on. Note-taking Separate interface for storing notes/ideas for blog entries Allow search across notes Auto-complete using phrases from existing notes (optional) Plugin for Firefox and IE to enable addition of notes by selecting text on browsers Monetize # Support for various ad tools like adsense, amazon associate etc. Wordpress Style Support# Review Publishing#* Wordpress plugin that allows to create a set of reviews for various products Allow access of reviews separate from posts. (can use a set of categories for this - similar to asides plugin) Allow posting to this through categories, or allow through a plugin in windows live writer as “write review' Drafts sync# Allow multiple instances of windows live writer to share drafts. upload selected drafts to wordpress check-box for using wordpress drafts instead of local drafts button for pulling drafts from wordpress and adding them to local drafts # - might require extending existing XML-RPC (should be possible with wordpress) * - might require wordpress plugin ...

Though many disagree, and think of software development as a mundane, non-creative task, as Kevin Carlson@DDJ puts it aptly, it is a work of art! “I suppose the question is this: “where are the limits of the scientific approach in software development?” I mean, we are, ultimately, talking about an act of creation” - Kevin Carlson (note the nested quotes! ;) ) Many of my non-IT friends have asked, how I keep myself interested and how I stand to sit (pun intended) in front of the PC for such long hours and not get burned out?! The reason for this question is partly, I guess, because not every developer that writes software, thinks of it as an art form, and hence most software automate mundane tasks .. users often do very boring stuff with computers .. stuff like filling forms, writing email etc. ...

Having joined Novell recently, the opportunity to learn a bunch of new development skills has come up. Novell products make extensive use of the mono platform for applications development. After 4 long years, I find myself in need of re-learning some windows application development. I tried setting up mono on my windows pc, and encountered some peculiar issues. I had installed mono and then went looking around for an IDE. Well, monodevelop sounded kewl, and tried to get in compiled on windows. I found that I needed to setup cygwin if I need to build it, and another 100 MB download is not what I wanted to be doing. ...

JavaScript, MochiKit, PHP, X, TinyMCE et. al.Nice article comparing some AJAX toolkits that are talked about these days. Also Anant is doing a very kewl project for Google Summer of code, called GuideXML, an online AJAXified XML editor that is sponsored by Gentoo! Way to go Anant.

The much talked about and often cursed part of Java development is Garbage Collection. I often say, “Writing code in Java is easy, but writing good code is extremely hard” I have listed a list of links at the end of this article that provides more detailed information. Resources: http://java.sun.com/docs/hotspot/gc1.4.2/index.html http://java.sun.com/docs/hotspot/PerformanceFAQ.html#1

One more little thing that is painfully difficult to do in Java. (I love Java though ;) ) There are two ways of getting it done. a. Cryptic but sweet! bring on the bit manipulators! private long getLong(byte[] mbytes) { long lValue =0; for (int i : mbytes.length) { lValue = (lValue< <8) | (mbytes[i] & 0xff); } return lValue; } b. painfully slow and created a gazzillon objects (sooo typically Java) write byte array to DataOutputStream, and read from corresponding input stream using readLong() ...

There is an issue with installing the latest version of boast machine v3.1. The message displayed during install is this Error message : Invalid default value for 'author' The problem is due to the following code in install.php author INT(10) NOT NULL default ' ', This should be changed to author INT(10) NOT NULL , install patch for Boast Machine 3.1 *Note: Right-click and save target as / Save link as ...

PHP is an incredibly easy to use scripting language and yesterday I had my first meeting with it. Yeah, I know I support and fix some issues in wordpress, but that just requires programming knowledge, and not exactly great php exposure. But yesterday, I wrote a small tool to track some timesheet info, in php and the whole thing took about 1.5 hours to complete. Slick UI, storing and retreiving from DB et al! ...

Started working in VC.NET. The Visual Studio 2005 BETA is out! really kewl stuff. I simply love the IDE enhancements I had to port an application from VC6 to VC.NET. It was such a breeze. a little googling and most of the issues are under control Will post an article on it sometime I also got myself, the GoF Design Patterns book! simply amazing and such a great read, I must say ...

Visual Studio .NET 2003 is kewl.. I mean really kewl! The work flow is a hugely improved. Quick, a breeze to install and work with. and VS 2005 sounds even better, Check out the Express editions at http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/