In code we trust

Over 400 posts...

2009-09-24T07:29:00.002+08:00

I've posted over 400 blog entries on blogspot.
I feel that I'll probably stop posting on blogspot.

Post Raya

2009-09-22T10:33:00.002+08:00

Syawal 1.
Logistics. I sent flowers and people to and from cemeteries. Working only half a day. I really really really really don't like to work on raya, unless its coding, but then again I don't like to work anyway and I don't consider coding as work, so I might as well say I don't like to work at all. But since the person ordering me around let me stay in her tummy for nine months, I will work.
Klang cemetery did very well, but Shah Alam cemetery was hit with heavy rain so it did not do so well.
At around 8 p.m we went to my mother-in-law's place.

Syawal 2.
Nothing much. I bought corn. Had ketupat. Played with my niece. I made her cry (not on purpose), we were watching this comercial about a teacher and some pupils, the teacher asked, "What is 4 + 5 ?" and after a while a student answered "9", then i asked my niece, "what is four plus negative two", then she cried.
I watched cicak man in the afternoon and cicak man 2 at night.
I finished, "Tipping Point" and probably I'll buy Blink (Gladwell), The Lost Symbol (Brown) and The Doll House (Gaiman).

Syawal 3
I'm on the net using my wife's celcom beruk band. I'm torrenting The Lost Symbol audio book and getting 95+ kilobytes / second, not bad.

Ah, before I forget,

I am not known for being a polite person,
sometimes I yell, sometimes I shout,
sometimes I call my friends names they don't like,
sometimes I say sexually explicit things,
sometimes I do things that I shouldn't have done,
for all these I ask forgiveness from my fellow friends
and ask the All Mighty to make me a better man and reduce the frequency I do these things.

To all my friends, I wish you well.

Bluetooth mouse problems

2009-09-05T05:40:00.003+08:00

I've been using the Logitech V470 bluetooth laser mouse for a while. I must say, I'm a bit disappointed with it.

Does not require a dongle (++)
Does not work well on shiny surfaces (-)
Does not work at all on glass (-)

It works pretty much like a normal optical mouse. Other than that, I've been experiencing frequent random disconnects. The mouse would be useless for a minute or two, I'd have to use the touch pad for a while, then it would work again. That's a killer.
Given a rating of 1 - 100 in problems, (1 being I don't like the color, 100 being I can't use it at all) I would give this random disconnects a high 90. Its that annoying.
I've searched for this and hope that this patch for Windows Vista would work.

Things to R&D

2009-08-29T05:59:00.002+08:00

Google Gears (Offline web apps)
JTOM (Java open transaction management)
JOSSO (Java Open Single Sign On) / CAS (Central Authentication Service)

Best. Job. Ever.

2009-08-20T08:13:00.002+08:00

I'm working for a great company. Tabuk Technologies (+)
I eat the best sub RM 5 lunch ever. Wafi's Nasi Kukus Ayam Goreng Berempah. (+)
I get to do the thing I like. Java. (+)
I don't have to what I don't like. UI design. (+)
I don't actually have to code. I just look at other people's code and tell them how to fix it. I just go from one cubicle to the next and solve problems. Yesterday, I didn't even have to touch my laptop or start up eclipse.
I don't have to work a 5-day week. I only go to work 3 days a week. (+)
The client site is a bit far. LHDN Jalan Duta <-> Puchong. (-)
The pay is ok. Not the highest I've ever had, but not the lowest either. (-)

A lot of plus points, two minus point.

Trying to get organized: Attempt #1

2009-08-18T05:11:00.002+08:00

I'm trying to get organized.
I bought a labeler and a voice recorder.

LHDN: 1st Day (again)

2009-08-10T08:10:00.003+08:00

Today is my first day in LHDN, again. Last year I worked with LHDN. Hope everything goes well. Maybe I have to re-write a major portion of the web apps.

On a totally unrelated matter, here's my son.

Sorry for doing stupid codes

2009-08-09T23:06:00.002+08:00

In all my years of coding, only once someone looked at my codes and said "this code is stupid". I'm sorry.
Sorry for writing stupid codes.

A day a the zoo

2009-08-03T22:26:00.002+08:00

I can't recall when was the last time I went to the zoo. I can't even recall if I ever visited the zoo.

My son doesn't seem to enjoy it much. Maybe he's too young to like animals.

What do you do when your team leader doesn’t know something simple?

2009-08-01T10:22:00.001+08:00

I read this at stackoverflow

What do you do when your team leader does not know why the following is wrong:
a.SomeProp = a.SomeProp; // no funny side-effects, plain old property

reminds me of

a.setProp(a.getProp());

Hibernate - "packagesToScan"

2009-07-25T22:53:00.003+08:00

Today I discovered this.
Its a Spring 2.5.6 feature for org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.annotation.AnnotationSessionFactoryBean

Before this,
I had to
manually add files into the "annotatedClasses" property
so I added a new entity, i had to add it in the annotatedClasses property as well

I tried the "annotatedPackages" property and specified just the package,
but it didn't work.

So starting from now, I'll be using "packagesToScan", just specify the package and hibernate will know your entity beans. No more configuration.

Side note: DetachedCriteria is my new favourite hibernate feature. Looks like i won't be writing any more hql in favour of DetachedCriteria.

Pepsi - Coke - XXX

2009-07-25T22:27:00.003+08:00

In Malcolm Gladwell's Blink: The power of thinking without thinking, he suggested that, if you take a glass of Coke, a glass of Pepsi, and another glass with either Pepsi or Coke, and ask someone to take a sip from each of the glasses, they cannot identify all the content of the glasses.

This I tried with my wife a few minutes ago.
I bought a can of Coke, a can of Pepsi.
I went to the kitchen and poured the content of Coke in one glass, the content of Pepsi in two other glasses.
I came back and asked my wife to taste each of the glasses once.
The result?

She guessed that two glasses contained Coke and one glass contained Pepsi.

Probably I'll try the experiment on myself later.

Angels & Demons

2009-07-23T08:02:00.001+08:00

Starting on Angels & Demons

Violated

2009-07-18T16:18:00.004+08:00

Recently I lost my phone but I bought a new MP3 player.

A few days ago, someone broke into my car, and stole my SmartTAG.
The passenger side window costs me RM 210.

Who on earth would break into my car?

If you have seen my car, you would say the same thing.

SS 14, PJ is a very dangerous place.

Today I bought new phone, Nokia 2600 Classic.
I just need the bluetooth feature. Its amazing that an bluetooth enabled phone now costs under RM 300.

Da Vinci Code

2009-07-13T07:37:00.002+08:00

More audio book related post.
I'll be finishing up Da Vinci Code this week.
I'm currently at chapter 10.

By the time I'm done, I can probably start with Angels & Demons.
Not sure if I'd read Deception Point or Digital Fortress. Probably not.

USB MP3 Player

2009-07-12T22:56:00.003+08:00

In 2003 I bought a car MP3 player. It was very expensive and I was very young.
In 2006, I gave it away.

Since then, my car has remained without a radio.
I don't really need it. I don't really listen to songs nowadays.

Due to my recent addiction to audio books, I bought an MP3 car player today.
Its less than half the price of the unit I bought in 2003, I can plug in my USB stick and I can the auxiliary input as an output for my Sony Walkman.

Technology is nice.

Horrible code - Malaysian Airlines

2009-07-11T22:20:00.000+08:00

I disabled javascript and went to http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/.
I was shocked to see an empty page.
Right-click, View Page Source.
This is what i saw

var addr = location.hostname;
//alert (addr);
//Malaysia
if (addr == "www.malaysiaairlines.com.my"){
window.location="http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/home.aspx";
}else if (addr == "www.malaysia-airlines.com.my"){
window.location="http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/home.aspx";
}else if (addr == "www.mas.com.my"){
window.location="http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/home.aspx";
}

else if (addr == "www.malaysia-airlines.com"){
window.location="http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/hq/en/home.aspx";
}
....
...
...

I thought to myself, wow, MAS is paying a lot to get crappy code. Congratulations.
I always wonder, why do people pay for crappy codes?

I this could be handled in httpd.conf (or something similar).

Its nothing, but it makes the site looks like it was done with someone with a few hundred hours of computer experience. I mean, at least the front page should be visible even if you disable javascript.

MP3 Player and Phone

2009-07-01T20:12:00.002+08:00

I lost my phone on Friday.
Now i'm using my spare phone, Nokia 1200.

I bought an MP3 player, it comes with 2GB of space. Maybe i should have bought one with a higher capacity.

The problem I had with the previous MP3 player, (I borrowed my wife's MP3 player) was seeking was slow. If was listening to an audiobook and I need to forward to minute 50, it took me roughly 20 minutes. Now, i can forward to minute 50 in around 1 minute.

Come to think of it, my next MP3 player purchase better come with a bookmark function, I guess that's all I need.

I've completed Freakonomics.

Freakonomics

2009-06-27T15:35:00.003+08:00

I've just finished the audio book. Good reading. For instance, if drug dealers are so rich why do they still live with their moms?

No jam?

2009-06-22T09:33:00.000+08:00

For some reasons that I have not been able to figure out yet, traffic was bearable today.

June

2009-06-10T10:35:00.002+08:00

June is great.
My wife's birthday is in June.
My wedding anniversary is in June.
A new version of eclipse should be out in June.

BTW,
A funny thing happened to JSF 1.2 + Tomcat 6.0.18. I'm not sure if its wrong or right,
and if its wrong, who's fault is it, JSF or Tomcat (The evil voice inside me says that JSF is always wrong), but in JSF 1.2 and Tomcat 6.0.18, I keep getting ZERO for my Integer values when I submit an empty space for the text box.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

2009-06-10T03:39:00.004+08:00

I saw the movie.

I haven't actually read the book, but I'm listening the audio book now.

Just started actually.

Since i have no audio device in my car, I'm borrowing my wife's portable music player.

Its always good when someone reads to you.

I'm also reading "The Tipping Point". Its a good book. I've downloaded the audio book for "Blink", and I'll probably buy that along with "Outliers".

I wish I could get an audio book on "The mythical man-month" (once a coder, always a coder).

My wish list for this year, Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. Currently I have just this.

Work is bad. Traffic jam to work is bad. Can't wait for this 3-month contract to end. BTW, I've just served 1 month. 1 down, 2 to go.

Optical Illusion

2009-05-30T11:37:00.005+08:00

Here is a nice one.

It's not an animated image, but it looks like its animated.

QUnit - jQuery Unit Testing

2009-05-21T07:35:00.003+08:00

qUnit

I've been playing around with qUnit for awhile. Its pretty solid.

I used jsTester for javascript testing before this, but qUnit seems so much lighter.

New IDE

2009-05-13T04:02:00.000+08:00

I'm testing a new IDE for java development. Downloading STS now.

Java projects fail...

2009-05-04T19:20:00.002+08:00

According to Gartner, over 70 percent of most large-scale Java projects fail by missing both time and budget projections, mainly due to a lack of developer skills; the solution recommended is to increase developers' productivity, flexibility, and consistency.

I read that here.

I guess every time you do a large scale java project, > RM 20 million, there is a 70% chance of failure.

What to do if you've lost you ASB/ASW passbook?

2009-05-04T12:29:00.003+08:00

I lost mine.

No suprise there, if not for my wife, I'd be losing a lot more stuff.

Anyways,

I called up the ASNB guys

http://www.asnb.com.my/branches.htm

They say these are the steps:

Go to post office, buy RM 10 Stem Hasil (one of each passbook, I lost 3, so 3 stamps)
Go to the ASNB branch with your stamp and your IC.
Pay to take oath
Get passbook

So basicallly, it would cost RM 26 per lost passbook.

Ok, I'm off to the post office.

Smiling son

2009-04-13T11:29:00.003+08:00

I found this pic of my son in my phone.

January 2009:

Git

2009-04-10T21:21:00.003+08:00

I've been using Git for a while in a few of my latest projects. Everything is good. Everything is fine.

I for another project, I choose to use Subversion. I noticed it being slower that subversion.

What? SVN? Slow? I've used CVS and SVN for almost a few years now, but I've never noticed it being slow. Never. Not once.

Since I've used Git, I've not noticed Git being faster than SVN or CVS.

But going back to SVN after having tasted the raw speed of Git, its like having to do manual "delete" in C++ or "malloc" in C, after being used to automatic garbage collection of Java. Its like giving someone a Proton Perdana when all their lives, they are used to BMW 7series.

I keep finding mself asking, why is svn so slow. A question I would never have asked myself, if I've never used Git.

So my suggestion to you, my kind readers. Do not use git, it spoils you.

Friends who haven't updated their blogs

2009-04-05T00:20:00.001+08:00

botakz - no updates in over a year

hijau rumah - removed

meto - no update since 2007

chahaya - private blog

dame-elle - no update in over a year

Death

2009-04-04T19:26:00.001+08:00

Ok.

I think this time my brother's site is ok. There are prices.

http://www.batunisan.com.my/ is up.

5% commision for every sale.

Twistlet

2009-04-04T08:44:00.004+08:00

Hello

I made this site:

Twistlet

It helps people to find cheap air asia tickets.

For example,

You want to go to Melboune in December.

I just typed it in, and it shows flight prices from KUL -> MEL from 01/12/2009 - 31/12/2009

Price ranges between RM 250 - RM 907.

Have a go.

/usr

2009-04-03T22:40:00.008+08:00

The first thing that annoys me is when people say "X-Windows".
Its not X-Windows!
X-Window. X-Window. X-Window.

The second thing that annoys me is when people say "slash user slash bin".
Yes, its "u", "s", "r", but its not "user", its Unix System Resources.

Ok. Enough ranting.

I saw a post on how to sell RM 100 worth of Celcom air time for RM 70 and after you've sold RM 200 worth of air time for RM 140, you get 25% profit.

while number of simpack registered under your name is less than 10

Buy a new sim pack.
Buy RM 100 worth of Celcom air time.
Use it.
You have RM 200 worth of air time (Celcom gives double reward for first reload on new sim pack)
Sell it.

loop

smile

2009-03-27T23:59:00.000+08:00

I have a list of serial number for topup (not eload)
but selling in VERY large quantities only.

DIGI reload RM 10.00 X 500 for RM 4,800.00
DIGI reload RM 100.00 X 50 for RM 4,800.00
DIGI reload RM 10.00 X 1000 for RM 9,550.00
DIGI reload RM 100.00 X 100 for RM 9,550.00

the rate is the same for maxis and celcom
but i think you better buy from this guy,
he's selling it cheaper, but he's not selling digi

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/671952

COD in Putrajaya, PJ, Shah Alam.

Or you can bank in

The reload numbers will be printed on a piece of paper. (one piece of paper, 10 numbers)

I know most of the reload agents are getting around 3% for digi.
a.k.a 9.70 for RM 10.00.

I heard that celcom just changed their margin today, from 7% to 3%.

anways, my rate is 4% flat accross networks and 4.5% if you buy more.

I'm selling prepaids now

2009-03-26T02:26:00.002+08:00

Yes.

It looks like I'm no good in the computer industry.

I can't do CSS.

I can't do PHP.

I can't do HTML.

I can't do Dreamweaver.

I can't do VB.

Yes.

I'll be selling prepaids from now.

RM 10, RM 30, RM 100.

Celcom, Digi or Maxis.

Take your pick.

Operating System Cache

2009-03-23T16:00:00.006+08:00

Using OSCache would screw up the Operating System

I haven't really met a lot of people. The world population as of July 2008 is roughly 6.7 billion people. Mostly, people who don't know anything but pretend to know everything tend to annoy me.

Unfuddle

2009-03-21T08:12:00.002+08:00

For many of us, we can't live without version control. For some reason, pressing the save button isn't enough.

I've been using unfuddle for a while, back when it only supported svn, now it suppots git as well as svn. I must say, I don't only put my codes on version control, I put a lot of things in version control.

I use to mail important to myself so that I won't lose them, but unfuddle is so much better, since its a version control system, it only stores the changes. More efficient that way, I guess.

Car problems

2009-03-14T08:20:00.001+08:00

My car is at the office.

I'm at home.

My car battery died on me yesterday.

Wedding Season

2009-03-10T16:10:00.002+08:00

Yup.

Its wedding season again.

Last week it was Ed's.

This weekend, I'm off to Johor.

Next week is my cousin's wedding.

Sorry for the lack of update.

Features of Garming Nuvi 255W

2009-02-04T17:29:00.011+08:00

Shows you Point of Interests for nearest fuel, food and other interesting locations.

List of Computer Shops close to my location. Distance and direction.

List of food places close to my location. Distance and direction.

Navigation telling what direction you are heading, in this case (S) for south. Current speed (0.0 mph), 21.8 miles to your destination. The rest should be self-explanatory.

List of instructions to get to your destination.

Tools

Navigation, shows where you are, what's your speed, and when you will arrive at your destination (Zoomed out)

Navigation, shows where you are, what's your speed, and when you will arrive at your destination (Zoomed in)

Main Menu

New office

2009-01-28T15:38:00.002+08:00

I'm at my first office in 2009.

I just cut my hair again.

Testing out Java CMS

2009-01-19T23:43:00.003+08:00

This page: http://java-source.net/open-source/content-managment-systems

Lists a lot of Java CMS products. I'm testing them one by one to see which one I like. I'll start with the first one on the list DSpace. My findings will be on the next post.

SSH Tunnelling

2009-01-17T01:35:00.002+08:00

You got a server. There is a service running on it. Say, mysql. It listens to port 3306, but only locally. You cannot connect to it from where you are right now.

But you can ssh to it.

That's good enough, basically you can do a port forward, with a little help from putty.

Previously, when I wanted to tunnel to a mysql server, I had to choose to use Navicat, but apparently you can use any program and treat a remote port like a local port.

Here is where I got the info, maybe it can help some of my readers.

http://www.codemastershawn.com/library/tutorial/ssh.tunnel.php

Boycott Israel products?

2009-01-16T23:51:00.002+08:00

I live in Malaysia. Here, out national religion is Islam but we are not a fully Islamic country. Any ways...

I see a lot of these, boycott Israel related products for fast food, hyper market even diapers.

I mean, sure, if you can get a substitute. But what if your house is made with Israel products? Would you have to get another house?

PHP is an Israel product. Tell me, my fellow programmers, how many of us would change our jobs to boycott Israel products?

vi vs Emacs, mac vs PC, Israel vs Palestine, these holy wars bring nothing good. Why can't we all just get along?

I saw an episode of X-Files once. There was a genie, and there was a wish being made, and being granted. "I wish for world peace". It happened. There was really world peace, the only catch was, there was only one person and one genie in the world. Everybody else was gone. Is that the only way to achieve world peace? Lets hope for our children's sake, somebody will think of a better solution.

Kenny Roger's 15th?

2009-01-15T23:16:00.002+08:00

Well..

We all know Kenny Rogers is NOT 15 years old today. He's probably 94 or something.

But...

I went to Kenny Rogers' tonight. I bought two Kenny's Quarter with 3 sidelines for the price of 1.

15th year anniversary, they said.

Hospital 2009

2009-01-12T21:51:00.002+08:00

My son was was hospitalized for a few days. He's better now. Almost the same thing happened at about the same time last year.
Everything is all better now.
I was supposed to start working today, it seems, i will start work tomorrow.
(This is an edited post. The first post missed out on the "son" part)

I am a spammer

2009-01-04T23:20:00.003+08:00

Well sort of.
I spent most of today and yesterday, sending out e-mails to a lot of people. The contents are the same.

Subject: J2EE Tech Lead / Junior Architect - Available 05-Jan-2009

8 years in j2EE (since 2001)
8 years in JDBC (since 2001)
5 years in struts (since 2003)
8 years using oracle (since 2001)
8 years using tomcat (since 2001 - tomcat 4.1)

Exposure to Web Security and Web Architecture
in july 2008,
exploited http://www.****.com.my/ (government related website),
paying RM *.** for ***** (i've since informed them of the security flaw and paid the full amount of RM **.**)
I'm not entirely sure if they have fixed it.

Been programming since 15 years old

The bait has been set. Let see how many of these companies take it. Chances are, I'll have to lower my expected salary to get a job again, you know, economic crisis and all, but then again, maybe I'll work for Tabuk Tech.

Unemployed

2009-01-03T23:59:00.001+08:00

As many of you may already knew, I was canned in mid December. Its been more than half a month now that I am unemployed. A new record for me. I guess times are really tough now.
I asked peysos to get me a job at his place, so far no calls. I applied at a company that does Islamic banking, they say they wanted me to start in early January, so far, that's all I got. I applied a job with iLaunch too, but no news from them. I sent my resume to manpower, I hope Grace Phang can help me out.

GPS Navigation System

2009-01-01T14:19:00.002+08:00

Thanks to Effirul & family from UK (hardware) and a little bit of help from Nazerim (software), I now have a GPS navigation device. New year resolution 2009, "Try not to be lost".
Happy new year every body.

Google Apps

2008-10-16T13:37:00.002+08:00

I looked at: http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html
It seems like you can delegate your mail server tasks to google. You need to change your MX settings to match google's mail server, but the general idea is, google will handle your mail tasks. And its free.
- "Don't be evil" (Google's motto)

Heroes

2008-10-15T09:32:00.002+08:00

Heroes doesn't seem to do it for me nowadays. I seem to be enjoying The big bang theory and Reaper.
My son tried to injure the maid's bed with his forehead, he did not succeed.
I bought some Public mutual using EPF money (it was on sale).

Camera

2008-10-08T11:07:00.000+08:00

I think I need a camera. My blog posts are usually without pictures.

Disecting Air Asia

2008-09-21T20:06:00.003+08:00

I've been disecting Air Asia over the weekends, in hopes of finding a financial vulnerbility. So far I've found no vulnerbilities.
But I have a few nice facts about Air Asia:

the web application was developed by www.navitaire.com (view sourcecode on https://booking.airasia.com/skylights/cgi-bin/skylights.cgi) which is a Philipino company. Probably philipino web developers are more cost effective? By the way, these guys also develop this site: http://www.cebupacificair.com/
Air asia flies to 14 countries from Australia to Vietnam
Air asia lands on 61 different airports from Alor Star to Vientiane.
Air asia has 110 different flight paths. (KL <-> Medan, KL <-> Perth, ....)
One weird thing is that, although you can book a flight from Tawau to Johor Bahru, but not the other way around. Even if you book a flight from Tawau to Johor Bahru, you will always get this message, "Sorry, there are no fares available on this date", no matter what date you choose.

Initially the search page would pass these parameters:

event=search
module=SB
page=SEARCH
language=EN
mode=
sid=
ref=
travel=2
from1=KUL
to1=HAK
departDay1=21
departMonth1=200812
departDay2=21
departMonth2=200902
ADULT=6
defaultADULT=1
INFANT=2
defaultINFANT=1
toCity1=HAK
toCity2=KUL
departDate1=20081221
departDate2=20090221
numberMarkets=2
selectedUtil=login
alias=
pw=
log_in=0
confNum=
departFrom=
flight_key=
flight_number=
depart_date=
depart_city=
arrive_city=
orig=XXX
dest=XXX
date=20080921
flightnum=

but I have found out that these are the minimal parameters required for the search to work

event=search
travel=2
from1=KUL
to1=HAK
ADULT=1
INFANT=1
toCity1=HAK
toCity2=KUL
departDate1=20081221
departDate2=20090221
numberMarkets=2

Postgres 8.3 and hibernate tool 3.2

2008-09-17T21:53:00.003+08:00

I tried to generate some codes from the database. Java codes from postgres tables, but i keep getting this:

org.hibernate.cfg.reveng.JDBCReader processPrimaryKey
WARNING: The JDBC driver didn't report any primary key columns in XXX. Asking rev.eng. strategy
org.hibernate.cfg.JDBCBinder createPersistentClasses
WARNING: Cannot create persistent class for org.hibernate.mapping.Table(public.XXX) as no columns were found.

This link told me that Postgres tables should be in lowercase and oracle tables should be in uppercase.
http://seamframework.org/Community/SeamGenerateentitiesWithPostgres83

I changed the table names to lowercase and it worked!

Ubuntu mirror in Malaysia

2008-09-15T17:52:00.002+08:00

Try this to get the latest Ubuntu ISO image: http://mirror.oscc.org.my/
If you doubt the authenticity, just check the hash: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuHashes

First post on DELL XPS

2008-09-12T23:09:00.002+08:00

Yay me.

SVN for school work

2008-09-10T09:02:00.002+08:00

I wanted somewhere I can put my assignments so that if the file was deleted or if the hard disk failed, I could still get it.
I tried gmailing it to myself, but i found it to be too troublesome. Especially if you have a few files to take care.
I came across code.google.com, it offers free svn hosting for open source codes, but I'm not doing open source coding, I just want to save my files. So google is out.
Then I found cvsdude which also offers free svn hosting as well as comercial svn hosting. But the free package just gives me 2mb of storage. Currently I'm using around 20mb, so its just not enough
Then I found unfuddle. It give 200 mb space, enough to store all my educational assignment and reference throughout my OUM life. http://unfuddle.com/about/tour/plans
I just put files in the folder, and right click, commit, all the files are synchronized to the repository.
You could ftp the files to an ftp server, but then again, you'd have to figure out which files are changed and which files have not changed. Or just waste time copying back all the files. Storing it to a SVN server also allows me to rollback to a previous version.

Trim in java

2008-09-10T08:59:00.003+08:00

Usually, when you get an input and you want to remove the spaces, you would use the trim function.
Imagine my shock when I came across this piece of code

item.setProperty("text".trim());

but that was nothing compared to

item.setAnotherProperty("".trim());

Fine Print

2008-09-09T12:54:00.003+08:00

If you get an offer letter, please make sure what is your gross and what is your net salary. I was very shocked when the salary stated on the offer letter was, "the cost to the company".
Let me explain.
If you are getting say, RM 4,000.00, then your cost to the company is

basic salary (RM 4000)
epf (12% = RM 480)
socso (RM 50 or so)

after that you have to deduct your

epf (11% = 440)
tax (tax on 4000 - 440 unmarried person is RM 77)
socso (RM 15 or so)

Your net salary is: 3468.00
Your gross is: 4000.00
and your cost to the company is: 4530.00

I am giving you these figures because, I came across an offer letter stating that, "Your salary is RM 4500.00 per month (inclusive all)." Which is saying your basic salary is roughly RM 4000.00.
So be careful and ask for clarification. Don't be like me.

SQL: Updating records

2008-08-23T20:13:00.003+08:00

Today I came across something like this:

Select all rows where condition1 = value1 and condition2 = value2
for each row
update column3 to constant_value3
next row

My head hurts even more. I wish these people would learn that this can be done in one SQL statement, rather than n + 1 sql statements, n is the number of rows matching the criterion.

Update tablename set column3 = constant_value3 where condition1 = value1 and condition2 = value 2

iHack - Conclusion

2008-08-17T23:29:00.004+08:00

I feel like a dinosaur. Old and obsolete. Some of these kids are 10 years younger than me, and probably they are 10 times faster than me.
My team performance was terrible. Capture the flag had 7 flags.

The flag was in the html comment of a 404 page. (everyone got this)
The flag was in the html comment of a page. You need to login to access the page. It took me awhile to get this. Normally we have "select count(*) from users where id = '" + id +"' and password = '" + password + '". But I noticed that the username field can be injected but the password cannot. It took a while, but we got it.
Did not get this one. The flag was near the database password? Hell, I did not even understand the question.
This one, I undestood the question, but could not get the flag. I got a hash and I was supposed to get the cleartext for the hash.
I'm supposed to get the flag in "/var/html/flag.txt". Did not get this one.
Supposed to combine 1+2+3+4+5 to get the flag in /home/ihack/flag.txt. Did not get this one.
The flag was in /root/flag.txt. Did not get it.

We focused on 4 and 5. 2 out of 7. Bad. I think on average a team got 2 to 3 flags. So we were on the low end of the spectrum. Looking back, maybe i could have used netcat and reverse telnet. As painful as it is to admit, this is not my area.

iHack - Day 2 - Early morning

2008-08-16T09:07:00.003+08:00

Here is me and my team member. Roughly half of the participants have arrived.

iHack - Day 1

2008-08-15T23:12:00.004+08:00

I was late. There were 7 questions for the forensics part. There were 5 files to be examined.

Given a compiled binary, and ELF, you have to find out the program's name. I did not get this one.
Given a disk image (I think its a disk image), you have to find out the address of a certain John Smith.
Given a disk image, you have to extract a picture and answer a question based on the picture. This was a bit harder.
Given a network dump, you have to give a password.
Given a network dump, you have to tell what is the website advertised by a hacking tool program.
Given a program, an exe, you have to get some hidden messages inside the exe. I did not get this one.
Given a dll, you have to fix a bug. Wow! Again, way, way, out of my league.

So that was it. 7 questions. I managed to answer 4. My team was the second team to answer 4 questions. The first team was from MMU.

Maxis 3G

2008-08-13T09:09:00.002+08:00

The connection at my workplace is terrible. I subscribed to Maxis 3G.

iHack

2008-08-12T22:09:00.002+08:00

I registered for iHack 08. The event is on Saturday. I may be one of the oldest contestants. I'll probably meet the usual gang, Nizam, Abdul Rahman, SK, Hazim, Abu and Fatah.

Google Calendar

2008-08-10T11:41:00.002+08:00

I've been tinkering with Google Calendar and I think its great. You can put a reminder and it will mail you, reminding you of that event. Like renewing your driving licence. I'm using it to remind me of my tax payment to Majlis Perbandaran Sepang, set every 6 months.

Happiness

2008-08-05T11:16:00.002+08:00

I don't want to write a thousand words.

Portableapps

2008-08-04T15:01:00.002+08:00

I like portableapps. The newest feature I've discovered is that I can customize my wallpaper. I just start portableapps and they change the wallpaper of the current machine to my personal wallpaper. Neat!
Anyway, here is my current wallpaper.

Eventful day

2008-08-02T12:50:00.003+08:00

My first day
It was my first day working in a new company. The environment is good. We are using an old version of eclipse (3.0).

Confession
I confessed to MyEG about bypassing their payment mechanism on Thursday. I spent Friday worrying that they would call me back. After Friday prayers I got a mail from them thanking me for informing them the error in payment and asking me to pay the full amount. That was at around 4. At around 6, I got a call from MyEG, asking me to come for an interview.

Wedding
One of my secondary friends had his wedding last night. Wow! I mean WOW!
It was held at Dewan Perdana Felda. And. WOW!
Congrats Budi Hartono and Izlin.
I've known Budi since he was 13. I saw a lot of old friends. Some changed for the better, some did not. Few are still single while most have at least one baby.

Conclusion on hacking

2008-07-31T20:09:00.002+08:00

I've mailed them, explaining the situation and I will pay them what I owe them. Did I mention I did this on a government web site?

Verisign Secure Site

2008-07-31T17:39:00.005+08:00

While the site itself is secure, the web application is not. You spend hundreds of thousands of ringgit getting all sort of secure certificates for your site, but you write messy codes. It just gives a false sense of security.

Call from the e-merchant

2008-07-31T12:04:00.002+08:00

I got a call from someone from the e-merchant today. I was slightly nervous. He asked to confirm my house address so that he can deliver the item.
So it would seem they have not figured out that i cheated them for RM 36.00. It seems like a small amount. So far so good.
Or maybe they just want to confirm my address so that they can come and arrest me.
Anyway, I don't think I can resist this kind of temptation. Argh. I'm so weak. Is there a seminar to overcome the desire to give invalid input to insecure web applications?
Maybe I need to buy PS3.

Last day working for HP at Telekom

2008-07-31T08:50:00.002+08:00

Today is my last day. I've learned a lot here.
I learned JAX-WS and JAX-RPC for webservices. JAX-RPC is the old way of communicating while JAX-WS is much simpler and annotation driven. I learned that JBOSS WS makes developing webservices amazingly easy.
I learned about EJB Timers and EJB Injection. EJB3 relies heavily on annotation. I learned that some EJB 3 annotation will not work on Tomcat but will work on Jetty. Geronimo comes in 2 flavours and some EJB3 annotation injections (the ones that should be handled by the web container), does not work if I use the Tomcat version.
I learned a bit more on reflection. Javassist allows you to dynamically create or alter java classes.
My Project Manager, Soundir, is really a nice guy. Too nice sometimes.
My Solutions Architect is not as good as Toriq, (probably I'll never find anyone as good as Toriq) but he keeps up with the technology and knows more things than I do. He likes to do R&D as do I.
Today we will do deployment, if everything goes according to plan, I'll be back home around 12:00 a.m. If not probably 4:00 a.m.

Temptation

2008-07-30T16:57:00.003+08:00

Ever go to a website and be tempted? Ever go to a website with an input hidden for its payment amount?
Today I gave in into that temptation. I guess when the website is screaming at you, "Please, please, please, some idiot developed me and thought that a hidden field cannot be changed. Please change it", you just have to do it.
I was supposed to pay a few ringgit, not more than a 100, but I changed it to RM 1.00. I checked my bank statement, they did deduct RM 1.00 for that transaction. Not sure the merchant is smart enough to check. Probably I'll go to jail.
I am supposed to get the goods by next week and I expect one of these things to happen:

I get my merchandise. With value less than what I was supposed to pay.
I don't get my merchandise. I lose RM 1.00
I don't get my merchandise. They hire me as a web security consultant.
I don't get my merchandise. They lodge a police report and I'll get in trouble.

So I'll update you guys on this matter next week.

The A-Team

2008-07-29T21:11:00.003+08:00

Some of you maybe old enough to remember the A-Team. I sure do. When we were "playing" the A-Team, in my younger days, I was always given the part of Face. I wasn't the strongest (rules out BA), wasn't the leader (rules out Hanibal), wasn't the funny one (rules out Mad Murdoc). I was was left with the most un-interesting part of the A-Team.
Anyway, they are making a movie version of The A-Team. I sort of stumbled to it on imdb.

LHDN Project

2008-07-25T16:51:00.002+08:00

It appears that the LHDN project was recently a hot topic in parliament, according to this link.

"Hari ini kakitangan LHDN terpaksa betulkan kesilapan sistem komputer itu satu persatu cara 'manual' dan 80 peratus daripada masa kakitangan terpaksa digunakan," katanya ketika memohon penjelasan dalam Rang Undang-undang Perbekalan Tambahan (2008) di Dewan Rakyat baru-baru ini.

Its a dirty job, but somebody has got to do it.

Next Friday

2008-07-25T14:47:00.002+08:00

Next Friday I will start working for I2SBS.

Me (paid by) I2SBS (paid by) IBM (paid by) Precision Portal (paid by) LHDN

This is the longest chain yet.
And as before, guess who is paying LHDN? Me!

IT Job Trend

2008-07-20T11:16:00.002+08:00

I read this article.

"They will leave and run for the next company that offers 10 percent more," she said. "They also take [the employers'] offer letters and bargain with other companies for higher stay-on or [starting] salaries.

That is so not true. I think 25%+ is the cut off point. As for the bargaining part, yeah, I admit I do that.

Javassist

2008-07-18T12:35:00.002+08:00

I ventured into javassist today. Wow!
Its like writing java codes to write java codes.

String method = "public void printme(){ System.out.println(\"hello\");";

so basically it allows you to dynamically create classes and construct the body at runtime.

Bus ride

2008-07-17T13:25:00.003+08:00

I took a bus ride today, from Taman Bahagia to Giant Kelana Jaya. I cannot remember when was the last time i rode in a bus.

Out of Order

2008-07-12T16:48:00.002+08:00

Strange.
I got an offer letter without any interview. That was a few days back.
Today, I'm supposed to have a phone interview.
I'm not sure how the offer would work if i fail today's interview.

IBM?
Maxis?
Scope?
Only time will tell.

I've been using portable apps for a while, and i must say, I like it.

My niece

2008-07-07T14:41:00.002+08:00

Today, we celebrate. Today I have a new niece. My parents' first granddaughter. Congrats Sam.

Rejoice in June

2008-06-26T19:46:00.002+08:00

Every year, I'll be excited right about this time.
May/June
Summer block busters.
My wife's birthday.
My son's birthday.
My mom's birthday.
Two of my sisters' birthday.
My wedding anniversary.
New eclipse will be released.

Job Hunting Season

2008-06-25T20:41:00.002+08:00

Fadlan, my friend from Pos Malaysia is job hunting.
Peysos, my friend from Pos Malaysia already landed a good job.
Jali, my friend from Hong Leong, already landed a job. He told me, "we should target for 12k, or at least 10k". How I envy him.
Ahmad Izzuddin, my friend from ACS, landed a government job.
Jobs jobs jobs.
I'm sick of it.
Ha, genetic boy, when can we create a startup?

Printed the resignation letter

2008-06-24T23:39:00.002+08:00

Here goes nothing. I feel very bad leaving the HP guys, they really need J2EE resources.

Trac

2008-06-23T23:12:00.002+08:00

Trac 0.11 is out? I can't believe it.
New eclipse should be out this month.

Another Jump

2008-06-23T22:46:00.004+08:00

When I joined Satyam, it was about the cash. Pure cash. I enjoyed my work, but I wanted more cash. Ivy was doing OK. I felt that I wasn't needed. I'm not saying I was not wanted. I feel that I was not needed.

When I left Satyam for HP, it wasn't about the cash. I did not enjoy working there. Sure, I think they needed me, but I did not like the way I was treated.

Now, I'm with HP. I enjoy it. But certain financial events has forced my hand. I think they still need me, but the cost of living has increased. Its not like I enjoy leaving people so close to a deadline. I like the HP guys. I really do. I told my boss about me intentions to leave. He said he can promise me that he will talk to his boss in October. I understand. I think if somebody joined and asked for a raise in less than 3 months after joining, I would not give the raise to him. Under normal conditions, I would have stayed until I'm no longer needed, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Looks like I'll be sending my resignation letter this week to join UST Global next month. Looks like Haris changed his job this month, Anor will be chaning her job soon too. I'll do it next month.

I got a mail asking me to send my resume to work for MIMOS. They said they will give me 5. Thats good. Last time I went to MIMOS for an interview, I did not get the job.

Pros.
Closer.
No toll.
No jam.
More pay.
Permanent position. (Like it matters)

Cons.
I have to wear a tie.
No more flexi hours.
An unheard of company.
Parking might be a pain.

Birthdays

2008-06-22T14:47:00.001+08:00

Yesterday was my sisters' birthday. The twins.
Yesterday Ajip had his first son.
Congrats Ajip.

Vote of no confidence

2008-06-19T08:24:00.003+08:00

It was a dark time. People were unhappy. Senator Palpatine suggested that Queen Padme propose a vote of no confidence. In a blink of an eye, a new power emerged. A mastermind that caused the people to be unhappy was now the new ruler.

Star wars. Phantom Menace. Epidode I.

Could it be, the vote of no confidence will bring out a something sinister in our own little country? Could it be that some unseen power has arranged a lose_little-lose_alot situation for the people? Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
Only time will tell.

Firefox 3

2008-06-18T07:50:00.001+08:00

Yeah. I'm writing this on Firefox 3. I've used Firefox since before Firefox 1.0. The new Firefox looks IE-ish. Me no likey.

Wishes

2008-06-15T01:34:00.002+08:00

Wishes. It reminds me of the story of "Hans My Hedgehog". A couple has been married for a long time but they weren't blessed with a baby. The wife said, "I wish I could have a baby, no matter how he looked.". She got a baby. It looked like a hedgehog.

So, be careful when making wishes, it might just come true.

IBM and their offer. KL and the traffic.

Travian

2008-06-09T08:29:00.001+08:00

I'm starting to play an online game. Travian. Sort of like sim city. Sort of.

Embrace the change

2008-06-08T10:30:00.004+08:00

Cheese
No, I'm not saying, "Thank god they increased the fuel price". I'm saying my cheese has been moved. Time to adapt.
I believe that the less time we spend on complaining and spend more time on enjoying the sub RM 3.00 price, the better. After all, the fuel price is gonna increase again. So stock up. I'm not saying we should be lazing around, I'm saying work smart, enjoy life.
Whining rarely solves anything. Thing are going to get worse from now.

BLR
BLR is going to go up. So almost everyone is going to pay more to sustain their mortgages. Some are wise to have gotten a fixed rate BLR. They won't be affected much.
But then again the FD rates are tied with BLR and probably the FD rates will go up. Rich gets richer, poor gets poorer. I think I'd rather be one of the rich getting richer.

Traffic
Probably the traffic condition will be slightly better, as some will decide to take public transport. I think they will increase the cost of public transport too, but maybe not by 40%.

Tax
Probably they will increase the tax. "The rich must help the poor". Bu****it! I think 70% of tax revenues are being paid by people who earn 3k - 8k. Its quantity. Most people are in this category. So an increase in tax would hurt these people. The middle class. I think in my country. 10% super rich. 10% rich. 10%poor. 70% middle class.

I'd just like to say, adapt and be ready for change. Things will get worse.

Life altering change

2008-06-06T14:20:00.003+08:00

Yes, we all have to adjust to the new fuel price. Some changes are small, others are huge. I read this at chedet.com.

saya yg paling terkena bila minyak naik ni....ini disebabkan saya berulang alik dari cyberjaya ke melaka. Skrang ni pun belanja minyak + tol saya pi keje rm 1000 sebulan....itu minyak harga rm1.92 je....aku rasa klu dengan rate skrang ni rm 2.70 mau kat rm 1500 untuk minyak kereta je!!!! kerajaan bg subsidi rm625 setahun tu cuma belanja minyak saya setengah bulan.

isteri saya pun x sanggup tgk saya sakit poket ujung bulan, malam tadi beliau buat keputusan untuk berenti belajar. dan kami akan pindah balik ke Seri Kembangan ujung bulan ni. Satu keputusan yg amat menyedihkan, tapi kami terpaksa menerimanya. Nak duduk asrama, anak saya nak letak mana pula...tak terjaga. Satu keluarga menangis mlm tadi. isteri nangis sebab dia kena berenti belajar, saya nangis sebab terharu dengan keputusan isteri, anak aku nangis sebab tgk mak ayah dia nangis...terima kasih kerajaan malaysia....

Untuk keluarga yg One Man income mcm saya ni, sure banyak effek...

Tariff elekrik pun akan naik tidak lama lagi, berikutan diesel naik rm 1.....ahhh...malas nak pk apa lagi yg akan naik....

I feel that crime rate will increase and a fear that Malaysia as we know it is no more. Yes, we must change.
We must change our lifestyle, the Prime Minister said so. But for a person who doesn't have to pay for petrol, what does he know.
Want to lock me up for sedition ? I don't think you got room for everybody who is pissed off with the fuel increase.
Ok.
Calm.
Ok.
I just need someone to explain to me how we profit by exporting petrol. And then explain how fuel price increase is bad for an oil producing country.
I do not run petronas, so I do not know. I believe the knowledge would help me understand the price hike.

Looking for a new job

2008-06-06T10:29:00.002+08:00

The economic squeeze has forced me to make more income. But I like working with HP, but family comes first. You know what they say,

Lack of money is the root of all evil

Pedal Power

2008-06-05T17:36:00.001+08:00

I'm seriously considering cycling to work.

Connecting to oracle

2008-06-05T15:13:00.002+08:00

Not every environment is setup properly. Sometimes the environment is not configured with the proper tnsname.ora. So...
this is how you connect

sqlplus scott/tiger@localhost:1521/db

That should work. Toriq taught me this.

Fuel increase

2008-06-04T17:54:00.002+08:00

Now, image that you country produces corn. Everybody will use corn. Some buy it from your country, some buy it from other countries. Image that for some reason, the price of corn increase. People are paying more cash for something that your country produces. Isn't that wonderful news?
Now, replace the paragraph above with "petroleum".

Life Insurance

2008-06-04T15:32:00.003+08:00

No offense to tele-marketers, but, today I got a call from an insurance agent offering me life insurance. He talked and talked and talked. I just let him. You know, increase my maxis bonus, finally I asked, "Is this an Islamic product?". He told me about how Islam wants you to prosper and stuff. Then I told him, "I'm sorry I cannot".
The product as a whole seems good. But then again, its his job to make it sound good. He did a pretty good job.

Web service

2008-06-03T17:53:00.003+08:00

Never thought I'd be able to do a java web service before. Its not that hard.

you need
1. interface file
2. Stateless Session file
3. Service file

done.