Shantibhushan Naik

Blog

  • Comparing C, and Java

    I never learnt C. I learnt Java. And I was glad I started with Java as my first real programming language (well my first one was Visual Basic actually).  I appreciated the OOP, and at some point got overwhelmed with jargon. I decided to switch back to C, a language that has lasted decades and yet is easy to begin with, get’s obscure as you start getting deeper.

    I thought it would be a nice idea to do a very simple comparison of these 2 powerful languages. It becomes easier to see how things fit together in either world, yet once you understand their similarity, it’s the same language in it’s roots.

    C Java Comparison

  • My views on Steve Jobs’s biography – Microsoft is here to stay

    I am reading Steve Jobs’s autobiography. Quite a detailed memo of Steve’s background as person who he was. The book is fantastic, and I recommend everyone should read it (atleast those in IT).

    One thing that got me thinking was the philosophy behind Apple’s products. These are never intended to replace any Microsoft products – ever! So why the heck do these seem in competition?

    As (it seems) Steve himself used to say ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal’, it easily could have been the case where Windows copied Mac. No point in arguing that further. But for how long?

    Windows 8, surface tablets, Androids, Dell Ultra books and so on … all trying to sell the same piece of technology and making wild predictions on attacking the same user base which Apple has.

    Personally, I’d be happy to use iPhone as a iPhone, and my Windows as a Windows machine. I wish they didn’t bother ordering what they think I need for me anymore.

  • Is recent IT talk just a show of hands

    I recently attended Oracle Events at Westin Hotel here in Ebisu. My topic of interest was to see what’s the future for a product we’re using that now has been acquired by Oracle.

    Quite interestingly the first session from a senior, hi-ranking Oracle official failed to woo me. I mean, c’mon. Just piggybacking on stuff that’s so prevalent nowadays with Apple doesn’t really make a case for Oracle to progress ahead. Big words were just thrown out on every page, every sentence. I sometimes wonder do these guys actually value much as far as the company is concerned. Oracle seems to be calling their new (but nothing novel) buzz as “Oracle Experience” to demonstrate an end to end service to their customers. Every experience you know about purchasing a thing is the exact same thing Oracle wants to offer?

    Just what is the customer these days? A lump of flesh, an idiot, or a baby who needs your constant attention, and love to continue using your product? Much recently, the Apple has garnered alot of attention, craze, hysteria within the so call consumer market. Now everyone wants to try it out – suddenly everyone’s got ‘it’.

    The Oracle Event was a prelude to their sudden attention to their customers. Surprisingly, I didn’t come across a single presentation that meant anything for the ‘customer’. Every statement was proclaimed as seen from where Oracle stands. At times I felt trouble just bearing the innate nonsense these guys keep churning about every keynote presentation they make.

    Make a genuinely good product that last forever, satisfy what the customer needs, and …

    just stay out of the way for f*k’s sake.

  • Jawbone – Data structures in Javascript

    I have just posted a project for essential data structures using Javascript. These data structures form the backbone (hence the name jawbone) of many advanced formats to store, retrieve data

    The project is hosted on GitHub as well as Google Code

    Happy learning!

  • All is not lost yet

    First it was supposed to be Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, now it seems to be Google’s Chrome browser.

    All is not lost yet

    Such apologies should carry a warning sign about what you’re supposed to get into.

  • Upgrade treadmill

    With everything becoming easier to market over Internet, it appears big names – Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook – want to offer us more. And more. And more.

    Trouble is, how much can we have? The old-school law of diminishing marginal utility is apparent to everything new that comes out there.

    The iPhone was a very aggressive push for me. It came all around me, everywhere I went, whomever I met. So much that I bought myself my first Apple product – iPhone 4S after a long deliberation. Yes, I took my time trying to really make myself switch over from my 5 yr old Windows phone. I frankly admit, I love it.

    But I also frankly admit that making my iPhone 4S look ‘older’ with sudden, aggressive upgrades isn’t making me happier either. In fact, slowly I might get a resentment if I feel left behind.

  • Complexity in software programming

    I believe most of complexity in today’s software programming arises mainly due to decisions – conditions present in if, while, for loops. The decisions are not the only factor, but I believe this contributes to majority of the complexity. It is very easy to visually see a condition working in front of you, indirectly building checkpoints in the program flow.

    I do a lot of program code reviews, analysis as part of my job. With majority of IT software built by eager, champion programmers, the fallacy of writing a simple condition in an ‘if’ decision is not apparent till expectations of the same piece of code grow over time Full Article.

    Even with well-seasoned OOP practitioners, unless the discipline to avoid decisions within program code is followed, old-style procedural programming flavor creeps unconsciously into OOP programs before one realizes it.

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  • How I see Google

    Google has a very deep relationship with us. There isn’t a single day going by for anyone unless they use the Internet. Most of it is browsing, but majority is discovered through search. Google has indeed nailed this aspect down, and they continue to maintain the ease of search outstandingly.

    In many ways I can compare Google to a big departmental store. Actually much more like an avenue for multiple departmental stores. People come in, some looking for one thing in particular or some just looking around if something interesting catches their eye. Some people ask too for anything they came in specifically, and the only job of the sales person is to guide to the section where one can find it.

    Searching is something at the core of our habits. If searching becomes so easy, we hardly need to remember or maintain a list ourselves. In some ways this allows disorganization trickle along the way, but a mastery over search easily dismisses that concern. Yes, I do use search savvily, even to a point of intentionally searching whether I know where to find something. This has very much worked for me, and although I am a well-organized person,  search has always made my organization more appealing and fun to use.

    Obviously I’ve broken the topic around comparing Google with departmental stores, suddenly into searching disorientation. But in many ways I think the message is simple – searching a needle in a haystack seems no longer valid whether it’s that particular coffee brand I’m looking for, or that file I am sure I downloaded but cannot for the hell remember where it was.

    Just ask for it.

  • Situational Leadership and Coaching

    Situational Leadership defines four learning mechanisms.

    Direction: where a learner is given tasks and direction
    Coaching: where the learner is doing the task
    Supporting: where the learner is doing the task but lacks confidence
    Delegating: where the learner is no longer a learner but is actually doing the task


    Situational Leadership and Coaching | Greg Young.

    Nice read!

  • Friendly urls

    Just had a random thought if you could type keywords in your browser bar, and press a button that takes you to correct website. The concept is not new, even FireFox jumps from your address bar to Google search. I was thinking a further step, similar to using “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on Google search. One way to directly jump to first known correct website by typing keywords in search bar in FireFox would be to tweak about:config, and set keyword.URL, keyword.enabled as in below screenshot.

    Another option is using bookmarklet concept to select some keyword on screen, and directly jump to first known correct website. To do so, right-click Friend.ly, and choose Add to Bookmark. That’s it! Whenever browsing a page, you can select the keyword using your mouse, and click Friend click over here now.ly link on Bookmarks Toolbar. It will directly take you to most logically correct website that Google would recommend.

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