.Net.ph

Sabbatical

2009-04-08T07:59:00.003+08:00

I was here~!
I'm so sorry for not posting this in advance~! Anywayz, I'm currently on a sabbatical until next month, starting this holy week :) Here's some projects that I've been working on:

1.) Ubuntu Jaunty ~ April 24 launch, I hope they get the ATI drivers ok by then...
2.) Dot Net Project #1 ~ Simple Compression/Encryption/Hashing Library
3.) Dot Net Project #2 ~ A signature game/webapp, my project in my subject in Masteral, Analysis & Design
4.) Dot Net Project #3 ~ Ragnarok Online Calculator ~ coming not so soon, maybe in another month :P
5.) Hajime No Ippo: New Challenger ~ Anime Review~!
6.) Rohan Online Ph ~ Moar Impulsive Reviews~!

So, I guess I'll see you in May~!

Super Mario Jazz

2009-04-01T00:25:00.002+08:00

April 1 ~ Conficker, Jaunty & ATI

2009-04-01T00:20:00.003+08:00

NY Times TECHNOLOGY News
Bits: The Conficker Worm: April Fool’s Joke or Unthinkable Disaster?
By By John Markoff
Published: March 19, 2009

The sophisticated Conficker worm, which has infected millions of computers worldwide, will activate on April 1. But what will it actually do? Read the rest of the article here.

Beware people. I'm just glad I just switched to (buggy) Jaunty.. ~_~ Although right now I'm regretting it. An update though~ ATI hasn't released a patch for their vid card for Jaunty. That means the graphics are really crappy (no opacity support?!).. so If you have an ATI card, might want to hold off upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04 until April 24.. hopefully the problem's fixed by then..

Press Start to Begin

2009-03-31T14:49:00.000+08:00

Jaunty Jackalope

2009-03-30T01:51:00.003+08:00

April 23, 2008 is the official launch of Ubuntu 9.04, but since the beta is now available, I decided to try it out! This is from the ubuntu wesite itself:

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 on a desktop system, press Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release '9.04' is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

Here's the upgrade log~

11:51PM ~ Alt+F2, "update-manager -d" showed ubuntu's update manager with a new button on top, telling me that there's a new distribution release. After a warning page, the update started.
11:56PM ~ Another warning page. Told me that 13 Packages are gonna be removed, 111 Packages are gonna be installed and another 1105 Packages (!!) are gonna be updated, amounting to a 684MB download, or 13 Minutes with my connection.. Pressed 'start update' afterwards.
12:46AM ~ Fetching file 1170 of 1216 at 226kbp/s, 3 minutes remaining
12:50AM ~ Installing Updates
1:30AM ~ Encountered errors in updating ca-certificates, then the upgrade manager died on me. ~_~ I typed "update-manager -d" again at the Run prompt, but the new button isn't there. Update Manager told me that my "system is up to date".. decided to restart @1:33AM
1:34AM ~ Rebooted, Grub told me that I was booting Ubuntu 9.04~ I guess the upgrade went well.

So, what's my first impression? Well, Ubuntu messed with my video card the first boot, and I had to Ctrl+Alt+F1 then Ctrl+Alt+F7 to restart it. Gnome-Do isn't working, and Compiz Fusion's Expo was really slow (Although all other effects is faster). Oh, and Alt+Tab logs me off the system. So yes, the upgrade was a disaster, but I guess that's to be expected with a beta release. Now, excuse me guys, as I have to find a way to make this work~~ :( Until next time, Ciao!

Installing the Environment: Part 2.5

2009-03-26T13:57:00.001+08:00

$ vbnc

gives a command not found. Even an 'apropos mono' doesn't show the vb compiler, even though the C# compiler is there. So I asked around and found put that VB.Net comes in another package, seperate from the core Mono 2.2, which only comes with the C# compiler. Here's a quick set of commands to set the VB.Net compiler up in a few minutes.

1.) As with any other Linux Installation tutorials in the web, I'll start with the following command~ We need root powers. Type in your administrator password after the line below.

$ sudo bash

2.) The next set of commands will download, extract & install the Visual Basic.Net compiler to your system PROVIDED that you have successfully installed Mono 2.2 as per the last tutorial (Installing the Environment: Part 2).

# wget http://ftp.novell.com/pub/mono/sources/mono-basic/mono-basic-2.2.tar.bz2
# tar xaf mono-basic-2.2.tar.bz2
# cd mono-basic-2.2
# ./configure
# make
# make install
# cd

Again, the cd at the bottom is not really needed- I just want to get back to 'home' for the next tutorial ^^

3.) The installation was awfully quick compared to the Mono install, so to make sure everything's a-Ok, type 'vbnc' at the terminal now. 'Visual Basic.Net Compiler version 0.0.0.5913 (Mono 2.2 - r)...' should appear~~

Now, lets get on with the show! Mono-Develop is a free GNOME IDE primarily designed for C# and other .NET languages. It looks a lot like Visual Studio.Net, except it's not picky when it comes to operating systems. Let's start the installation. (Note: Don't forget to 'sudo bash'!)

1.) Install Mono-Dev Dependencies & Documentations. The application has three main dependencies (and one documentation package), and although all three are quite small and their installation are all simple, make sure that you do this correctly. Messing the dependecies up will cause you trouble later. The first is the Mono Add-ins 0.4~

# wget http://ftp.novell.com/pub/mono/sources/mono-addins/mono-addins-0.4.zip
# unzip -q mono-addins-0.4.zip
# cd mono-addins-0.4
# ./configure
# make
# make install
# cd

The next is GTK# 2.12.7

# wget http://ftp.novell.com/pub/mono/sources/gtk-sharp212/gtk-sharp-2.12.7.tar.bz2
# tar xaf gtk-sharp-2.12.7.tar.bz2
# cd gtk-sharp-2.12.7
# ./configure
# make
# make install
# cd

The third dependency is called Gnome# 2.20.1

# wgethttp://ftp.novell.com/pub/mono/sources/gnome-sharp220/gnome-sharp-2.20.1.tar.bz2
# tar xaf gnome-sharp-2.20.1.tar.bz2
# cd gnome-sharp-2.20.1
# ./configure
# make
# make install
# cd

And the last one's the documentation:

# wget http://ftp.novell.com/pub/mono/sources/monodoc/monodoc-2.0.zip
# unzip -q monodoc-2.0.zip
# cd monodoc-2.0
# ./configure
# make
# make install
# cd

This one might take a while, since its an 18MB download. I'm not sure if this file's really needed, but I recommend installing it just to be safe. ^^

2.) Installing Mono-Develop. I'm sure you've noticed the pattern here~ ^^ Download the tar file using wget, uncompress using tar/unzip, configure using ./configure then compile using make- these are the basic principles in installing from source files.

# wget http://ftp.novell.com/pub/mono/sources/monodevelop/monodevelop-1.9.3.tar.bz2
# tar xaf monodevelop-1.9.3.tar.bz2
# cd monodevelop-1.9.3
# ./configure
# make
# make install
# cd

After that's done, try Mono-Develop out by clicking Mono-Develop at Applications~Programming~Mono-Develop!

3.) Additional Add-in: Database support. Soon, Mono will be able to use LINQ, the revolutionary technology that makes data manipulation a breeze (the september Mono release should come with full LINQ support). But even without LINQ, databases are essential to most applications. Here's the source files of Mono-Dev database support. Just follow the instructions above to install.

OK! That's that for Mono-Basic & Mono-Develop! As usual, your comments, suggestions and questions are most welcome! Just click the post-it note at the right side of this post's title.. Next up is to try everything out with the quintessential "Hello World!" App~! See ya tommorow!

Darkfall Review?

2009-03-26T12:06:00.001+08:00

Installing the Environment: Part 2

2009-03-24T15:28:00.003+08:00

$ sudo bash

Note: 4Linux Newbs~ you don't actually write the dollar sign before the commands, it just signifies the 'command prompt' of the terminal.

3.) Get the dependencies needed by Mono 2.2 to run. If you're using Ubuntu 8.10, then this will be minor updates since Mono 1.9 is already installed.Type the commands below, then press Y (for yes) if prompted. The default repositories should be fine.

# apt-get install build-essential swig autoconf gawk mono-common binfmt-support bison pkg-config libglib2.0-dev

Note: 4Linux Newbs~ yeah, it's a sharp now which signifies that you have root powers cuz' of the earlier command.

4.) After a few minutes, the updates will be done, and you'll be back at the sharp prompt. This time you're going to need a dependency that's not in the normal repositories (yet) because its still unstable. Type the next line into the terminal

# wget http://ftp.novell.com/pub/mono/sources/libgdiplus/libgdiplus-2.2.tar.bz2

It's 1.9 MB, so the download should be fairly short. This is the library needed to support System.Drawing, and to unzip & compile: type in the next lines

# tar xaf libgdiplus-2.2.tar.bz2
# cd libgdiplus-2.2
# ./configure
# make
# make install
# cd

This might take a while, but be patient. There's still quite a low chance of hiccups during this part.. I haven't encountered any thus far. Take note that after installing the package, I added a 'cd' at the bottom to get back to the home folder, but it's not really necessary.

5.) Ok, Next~ It's time to install mono itself. Just like the last library, Mono 2.2 is also unstable, meaning it is still not on the repositories (it will be soon though, come Ubuntu 9.04 on April). So, first get the source files, then just like the library above, unzip then compile. All of the code you need is below~:

# wget http://ftp.novell.com/pub/mono/sources/mono/mono-2.2.tar.bz2
# tar xaf mono-2.2.tar.bz2
# cd mono-2.2
# ./configure
# make
# make install
# ln -s /usr/local/bin/mono /usr/bin/cli
# cd

This WILL take a while. The download alone is 23MB, and installing a whole new framework may very well take 10 to 15 mins, so just leave it alone 4 a while. It's safe to browse the net or watch a move in another workspace though, as long as you don't crash the whole O/S ^^ Got a minor hiccup though~ The download stopped at 59%. So I just hit ctrl+Z to stop the command, used the 'rm' command to remove the incomplete files before executing the wget commands again..

Also you may notice the 2nd to the last line above, the ln. That stands for link, which allows you to execute mono applications directly through the shell.

6.) After that's a-Ok, Mono should be correctly installed to your system. Type the command below to confirm

# mono --version

Mono JIT Compiler 2.2 should be a part of the output. But here's a more surefire way to check if you've done the instructions above correctly:

# echo 'class X { static void Main () { System.Console.Write("My first mono app worked!\n");} }' > example.cs
# mcs example.cs
# mono example.exe

should output: My first mono app worked! in the console. If you copy this executable to other platforms, it should still run (as long as mono is installed there~).

It seems that I've reached my word count limit ~.~ I'll continue this tutorial a bit later as Part 2.5: Mono-Develop ^^ Sorry~! For comments, suggestions and questions, click the post-it note at the right side of this post's title! Stay tuned, see ya soon! ^^

Neuro-Linguistic Programming

2009-03-24T07:10:00.000+08:00

“I can’t do ANYTHING right.”
And so you can’t.

“I don’t have what it takes.”
Indeed, you don’t.

“I’m not very good at this.”
I can tell you’re not.

“I have trouble finishing things.”
And so you won’t.

“I’m not very pretty, you know.”
Yes. I’ve noticed.

A brief interlude.
Thoughts transformed.

“I’m about to get it right.”
An expectation.

“I’m developing what it takes.”
Corrective action.

“I’ve gotten better at this.”
A sign of progress.

“It’s time to get this done.”
Your goal. Achievable.

“I’m pretty in a thousand ways.”
You’ve begun to shine.

© 2007 Mark Pearce

Installing the Environment: Part 1

2009-03-23T15:22:00.004+08:00

Here's how I installed my whole Application Development Environment for Dot Net Applications from a clean formatted Hard Drive. Take note that the whole thing took about half a day (not including the ISO & update downloads) but of course results may vary. I'm not telling you to reformat your PC~ Just take what you need and leave the rest.

ADE4dotNet Installation Roadmap:
Part 1 ~ Ubuntu 8.10 & ndiswrapper
Part 2 ~ Mono 2.2 & Mono-Develop
Part 3 ~ Hello Worldz!

Let's get this parteh started!
~+~+~+~

Part 1 is all about Ubuntu 8.10, and how to get it running smoothly. Now, why did I choose Ubuntu, and not Linux Mint or Debian? Quite simply because it is statistically the most used Linux Distribution out there, which means that there should be more support people available in case something goes south.

So, first things first: Download the ISO from here (ubuntu.com) then burn it to a cd. If your computer has multiple processors (such as dual or quad core PCs), the 64-bit versions will provide an extra speed boost. I used the 32-bit since my old PC only has a pentium 4 (a single core). ^^

Next, Reboot with the Ubuntu CD in the drive. Hit the F8 or F12 key (depending on your BIOS) to select the CD/DVD-ROM as the boot device. Select your language when asked (Defaults to English), then hit enter on "Install Ubuntu" at the next menu.

Ubuntu is one of the easiest Linux distros to install - in fact, hitting 'Forward' until step 5/7 is common. But lets do this one by one:

Step 1/7 ~ Select your language. The default is English, and If you're reading this FAQ right now, I'm guessing that there's no reason to change the default.

Step 2/7 ~ Select your region. This is for the Time & Weather functions of the system. Pick your city (or the nearest one available, typically your country's capital) then click forward.

Step 3/7~ Select your keyboard. It haas been my expirience that whatever the default selection is usually correct, but if it aint, the normal keyboards are USA, USA - Dvorak and USA - Macintosh.

Step 4/7 ~ Hard Disk Partitioning. The most complicated part in the mix.Just hit Guided - use entire disk, then click Forward ^^ eheheheh :) But If you're a bit more adventurous than that, click Manual then create a partition that's 125% of your RAM as a Swap File Partition (I have 2 GB RAM, so my swap partition's 2.5 GB), then reformat the rest as an ext3 file system for Ubuntu. That would be the optimum configuration for a clean install.

Step 5/7 ~ Who are You? Just fill up the forms, and make sure your passwords are secure. Unless you're absolutely sure you know what you're doing, avoid checking the 'Log In Automatically' option at the bottom.

Step 6 & 7 ~ Just hit Forward then Install. ^^ It should take 10~20 minutes before your PC restarts, then boots up to the familiar ubuntu desktop.

Of course, the next logical step is to update Ubuntu and make sure all the hardware are working. Check them out one by one ~ I didn't really have any problems (except for one, which I'll tackle in a bit). Ubuntu detected my Graphics Card & Monitor, automatically resized the desktop for maximum resolution (1366x768). The sound card & speakers worked without any configuration, and the bluetooth dongle didn't need to be installed (like in windows) and the CD/DVD drive burned disks out of the box without any driver installs.

However, I can't update without internet, and Ubuntu didn't detect my WiFi Ethernet Card. If you also encountered this problem, here's how to resolve it.

1.) Insert the Ubuntu CD back to you CD Drive.
2.) Search for the deb files, ndiswrapper & ndiswrapper-util.
3.) Install ndiswrapper-util first by double clickin' it, then clickin' Install Package at the dialog box.
4.) Install ndiswrapper (exactly the same way as above)
5.) Go to System ~ Administration ~ Windows Wireless Drivers
6.) Click "+ Install New Driver" then search for the .inf file at your WiFi Card's bundled CD. Use the drivers meant for XP though I'm not sure why the Vista version drivers aren't working for me.
7.) Click close, then reboot. Ubuntu should detect your WiFi network now! ^^

I guess that's that for Part 1! If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, just click the post it note at the right side of this post's title! Tommorow, I'll post part 2, which is all about Mono and Mono Develop, until then, Ciao~! ^^

Weekly Links

2009-03-22T20:30:00.003+08:00

400+ Creative Business Card Design Inspiration
A huge collection of business cards. I love the google search one, btw.. ^^
22 Photoshop Videos To Turn You Into An Expert | Creative Nerds
Lots of videos, but not for the newbs out there~~ :p
40 Free Beautiful Blogger Templates, Part III
A superb collection of Blogger Templates ~ I actually got the template for my blog here ^^
43 Incredibly Useful Collection of Tutorials, Resources, Inspirations etc To Discover The Best Of The Web In February - Opensource, Free and Useful Online Resources for Designers and Developers
A collection of collections ^^ 4 teh Designers out there..
60 Layout design tutorials | AREA 1
Layout Tutorials 4 teh interwebs ^^
And Then There Was None | Public Static
A sad story. A five minute read, but definitely worth it.
20 Useful CSS Tips For Beginners | How-To
StyleSheets are one those things that I know how to do but don't know what to do with. I'm just not that creative.. ~_~
10 Galleries of Creative Logos | Build Internet!
I thinks I'm gonna need a logo before long.. ~_~
How Two Coke Fans Brought the Brand to Facebook Fame - Advertising Age - Digital
I <3 Coke. Nuff Said.
How the Linux kernel works | TuxRadar
As you all know, I'm currently exploring Linux (specifically Ubuntu 8.10) and this article neatly explains some of the inner workings of torvald's kernel.
50 Great Photoshop Tutorials for Clever Beginners - PSDTUTS
More Photoshop Tutorials~! It seems that the web has an unlimited supply of this things...
28 Must Read Articles For Growing Your Freelance Design Business | The Design Cubicle
A freelance developer/designer needs a lot of tools: here's a nice compilation.
50+ Freebies Every Web Designer/Developer should have | Desizn Tech
A collection of freebies 4 moar inspiration
Take the Linux Filesystem Tour | TuxRadar
I didn't really know the filesystem of linux (I assumed its the same as windows) but the post is an eye opener.
Why Gandalf Never Married
From Fantasy to Sex to Witches to Equality. What a ride.
43 Creative Examples Of High Quality Free Icon Sets - Opensource, Free and Useful Online Resources for Designers and Developers
Novo Dango Icon Set FTW!!! ^^ Ahahahaha (Clannad fans rejoice!)
Top 237 Twitter Users Who Will Follow You Back | Social News Watch
Twitter-mania rages on.. Follow this guys, then tweet important stuff. And please, no one cares if you "got up a little late" :P
I' Been to Ubuntu: Extra Repositories for Ubuntu 8.10 You Might Want
A collection of must-have repositories.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

It's Pikachu!

2009-03-20T15:58:00.001+08:00

Ubuntu & dotNet ^^

2009-03-19T00:48:00.006+08:00

You maybe wondering why I'm dabbling in Ubuntu when I'm supposed to be specializing in the dotNet languages. Well then, welcome to my very first Dot Net post! ^^ I'm sure you've noticed the apparent lack of dotNet support in my blog, and that's because I'm still looking for ways to...expand dotNet's inherent boundaries. For example: The dotNet IL Interpreter turns the dotNet Language into a common intermediate language before being run by the Windows System (an oversimplification), here's a diagram:However, this is not an optimal 'plan'. The language itself is 'portable', but the system where it can be used is not. Wouldn't it be more efficient if the Intermediate Language can be interpreted in other machines too? like this:Enter Mono. The software, not the disease. ^^ I'm not sure why Microsoft didn't pursue this path when they conceptualized the dotNet Framework. It's more portable than Java, and (potentially) more powerful if more languages develop dotNet Interpreters, like what Ruby and Python did.

Ok, introductory F.A.Q time:

Q: What's this blog all about?
A: Me, my work, my hobbies, and most importantly~ the development of Dot Net Applications on a Linux O/S by a Filipino soon-to-be professor.

Q: Who teh fsck are you?
A: I am Erik Gaius Capistrano, a bachelor in Computer Science. I am currently a studying in Letran-Calamba, M.S. Management in Information Technology. ^^ I like playing Ragnarok Online and Magic:The Gathering, and enjoy watching anime.

Q: What do you use to develop applications?
A: The software I use are all open-source.. Ubuntu 8.10, Mono 2.2 and MonoDevelop 1.9.3 are my primary tools. I'm also learning how to use Ruby on Rails on NetBeans 6.5. My Office suite is OpenOffice 3.0. On the hardware side, my PC is a Pentium 4 3.2GHz, with 2GB memory and a 50GB Hard Disk.

Q: So, What Now?
A: After 2 months and 33 posts, I finally got to the primary purpose of this blog: Helping other dotNet Developers with the use of free and open-source tools.

Q: What took you so long?
A: I was experimenting with the Windows O/S, and Visual Studio Express. After quite a lot of failed attempts and system upgrades (XP~Vista~7) I got tired and opted to switch to developing a multi-platform application: Mono. Also, I'm looking for free tools to use, and VSExpress is powerful but its limitations are quite severe.

Ok, I guess that's that. My next post will be about setting up a development environment in Ubuntu 8.10, or specifically, the installation of Mono 2.2 and Mono-Develop. See ya tommorow!

Toaru Majutsu no Index 1

2009-03-18T02:36:00.005+08:00

A quick synopsis: Tōma Kamijō is level 0 esper living in Academy City and has a unique ability that allows him to nullify psychic, magical, and divine powers, but also his own good luck. His unique ability allows him to survive a reluctant duel against Mikoto Misaka, a powerful level 5 psychic capable of controlling and generating electricity. However, the duel ends when Mikoto causing a citywide blackout and Tōma awakes the next morning to find a young nun from the Church of England hanging off his balcony. Introducing herself as Index, she reveals that she is being chased by magicians because she 'has' 103,000 grimoires. The two become friends after an embarrassing incident for Index to prove the existence of magic and Tōma to prove the power of his right hand and they part ways. However, when he returns home, Tōma finds Index laying on the ground bleeding and behind him a man who calls himself a magician (wikipedia).

The review: The animation style is superb, with very smooth transitions from hand-drawn look to computerized (like when Index was annoyed and flailed her arms around) to 3d (the coin-bullet of the 'rail gun' and Index' books), although some of the emotions were a bit too much (such as the level 5's reaction to Toma's little rant).
Graphics: 4 out of 5

The music and SFX was normal, although the opening song was a bit too futuristic & electronic for a light fantasy-themed anime (on another note: I love the ending song~).
Music: 3 out of 5

The Story was a bit too convoluted at the beginning. The narration style (first person from the protagonist's PoV) made it worse ~ I mean, an esper power lets you shoot lightning from your fingertips, but it's not considered magic? I thought esper WAS magic (spoiler: It's not). The character design was rich though, with the protagonist showing his true colors early on. Maybe if there's a narrator who can explain things, it would be a bit clearer.
Story: 3 out of 5

Total Score: 3.3 Caramelldansen out of 5 ^^

The series is worth the wait if you're downloading in high definition, but if you're planning on getting an original DVD, maybe you should rent it first and make sure that this is your kind of anime. That said, Toaru Majutsu no Index is an amazing anime, and I'm definitely looking forward to its next episodes.

Sorry 4 the Late Updates

2009-03-17T01:01:00.001+08:00

It's currently midterms week @Letran (including the graduate school) ~_~ so I'm kindof really busy. But I'll try to update the site and avoid 'two weekly links in the front page' problem..

Anyway, sorry for the delays and thanks for understanding! ^^ See ya soon!

Intrepid Ibex

2009-03-16T15:31:00.001+08:00

I installed Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) on my PC five days ago, and I must say: there's a lot of features that I'd love to bring back to Windows XP. It's really funny that I'm a Linux Certified Application Developer, yet have much more expirience with the Windows system - even specializing in a microsoft-only family of languages (dotNet). Anyways, here's a quick rundown of the features I liked:

1.) Repositories. In my relatively new opinion, this is the best feature of the Linux OS, aside from being Free Software. Most of the software that I need + automatic updates + very easy un/installations + Free (in both sense of the word) = Love.

2.) Compiz Fuzion. Nuff Said.

3.) Much cleaner font, although I did modify them to match a Mac OSX :P

4.) Multiple Desktops! (which are called Workspaces, btw)

5.) The Cairo Dock looks (and functions) a lot like OSX's dock, which is cool. ^^

6.) I didn't really notice a boost in speed, but maybe that's because my windows installation is really optimized to work with my hardware. I didn't optimize ubuntu, and its still quite fast.

I'm missing the window shortcuts of XP though such as the double clicking the upper left window icon to close the window. Also, I noticed that I can't right-click drag, which is annoying when working with archives. Another BIG problem with Ubuntu ~ no Google Chrome. I hope google would provide a linux version soon -___-

I guess that's that for my initial impressions for Ubuntu 8.10. I'll post more after I tinker with it in the next few days.. until then, see ya!

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed yet, I'm no longer blogging in tagalog ^^ I looked at the analytics of this blog and noticed that very few visitors from other countries go back here :( I'm guessing they can't read Filipino.. Oh well. Good thing (most) filipino students can read english..

Weekly Links

2009-03-15T20:30:00.003+08:00

10 Games That Deserve Sequels and Remakes | Random Ravings | Hellforge | Forging a Passion for Video Games | Diablo 3
FF7 definitely deserves a PS3 remake. Even at $150 (w/ Tifa Figurine) most fans would be more than happy to buy copies of that.
Blog Archive - 40+ Beautiful Hand-Drawn Websites - CSS Gallery of Best Web Design
Moar Inspiration
Exclusive Download: Ten Must-Have Gmail Filters Available for Download
The filters (available 4 import to GMail) works best on a Firefox browser because of the Better GMail Fx Extension.. I wonder when Chrome gets its own set of extensions...
25 Best Tech Interface Photoshop Brushes Ever Created | Web Design Ledger
Can't believe that these are actually photoshop brushes.. ~_~
6 Totally Essential Photoshop Skills Even Your Mom Should Know - Page 2 | Maximum PC
The bridge between a beginner and an intermediate photoshop user ^^
50 Surprising Ways to Boost Your Brain’s Performance | Best Online Colleges
Coke + Chocolate = Happy ^^
Secure deletion: a single overwrite will do it - The H: Security news and Open source developments
A single overwrite is more than sufficient to permanently delete a file? Then how does the file recovery tool 'Recuva' work?
danieltenner.com — Starting up with a friend
The tips here work for almost every relationship - in business, relationships, love..
What does one TRILLION dollars look like?
The jump between 1 Billion & 1 Trillion is huge...
Wolfram Alpha is Coming -- and It Could be as Important as Google | Twine - Annotated
A look at the engine behind 'the next big thing'™
Two Days Without Mac OS X Leopard: Ubuntu 8.10 Review | Tux Geek
A few tips & a number of apps for those who're migrating from Mac OSX to Ubuntu 8.10
70 New, Useful AJAX And JavaScript Techniques | Developer's Toolbox | Smashing Magazine
Copy+Paste-able AJAX Resources ^^
bit-tech.net | Feature - How AI in Games Works
State Machines & AI "Real-time" Planning
Splashy Icons - free icons for prototyping
Moar free (speech, not beer) icons ^^

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Ubuntu Wallpapers

2009-03-11T15:53:00.001+08:00

I'm tinkering with Ubuntu 8.10 right now (Do Not Disturb! :P ) and I couldn't help but notice the number of sexy ubuntu wallpapers on the net.. ^^

VB6 Myths

2009-03-10T13:32:00.006+08:00

Warning: Some code shown in this post should NOT be used.

I learned visual basic 6 during my junior year in high school, and it was really fun compared to c++. However, I've found out that visual basic is hell of a lot slower than C, so I searched for ways to improve my application's speed. Some tricks worked, but most didn't. Here's a list of myths I discovered from then till now:

1.) Variables and when to initialize them. This code:

For i = LBound(myArray) To UBound(myArray)
    Total = Total + myArray(i)
Next i

Is as fast as this code:

Dim LB As Long, UB As Long
LB = LBound(myArray)
UB = UBound(myArray)
For i = LB To UB
    Total = Total + myArray(i)
Next

In fact, when compiled, they look exactly the same. Also, omitting the counter variable at the end of the for..next loop doesn't help anybody (It even reduces the code's readablity)

2.) One-liner Conditional Statements.

If condition Then statement

Is as fast as this:

If condition Then
    statement
End If

All the first example did is reduce your code's readability, nothing more.

3.) More one-liners

Dim newObject As New MyClass

..is Actually slower than this..

Dim newObject As MyClass
Set newObject = New MyClass

due to 'auto-instatiation' used by the VB6 compiler. Every time you use the one-liner, VB will check if it should be instantiated.

4.) Bang (!) Operator, or the operator used by adodb (database objects) to simplify data access, is actually slower than fleshing the whole code out. Just like the example above, smaller code doesn't mean faster execution time.

I guess that's that for today's tips & tricks! See ya tommorow!

Perspective: Coding

2009-03-10T13:29:00.002+08:00

Speed is King

2009-03-09T13:09:00.001+08:00

A 1~2 second speed delay is huge, especially if your app is a web service. Kailangan ang isang web application ay almost instant ang loading. Dapat streamlined ang architecture - less queries, more data per cycle.

Isa to sa mga pagkakamali ng developers today. Inuuna ang development before optimization. In my opinion, dpat sabay un nangyayari. Just look at google - overly simple design, super fast engine. Kahit tumingin ka sa competitors ng google, like yahoo or msn, makikita mo na kahit gano karami ang content, mabilis parin mag load ang page (considering na dynamic ung page).

So, teh tipz 4 teh day is this: Speed is King. Design apps with speed as one of the priorities. Optimize early - wag mung hintayin matapos ang app bago mag optimize. Instant load times is one of the keys. Hanapin mo kung saan tumitigil ang application mo, at gawan mo ng paraan para mapabilis un.

A few solutions:

1.) Cache - Kung palagi mong ginagamit ang isang piece of data, ilagay mo sha sa memory- wag sa database. Example: Kung bawat form ay kailangan ng data XYZ, gumawa ka ng variable na maghahandle ng data na un. Wag kang magquery sa database every time you need the data.

2.) Avoid JOINs - Try to place all data in a single table. Avoid using views unless absolutely necessary. Kung nasa dalawang table ang data mo, halos mag ta-times two ang load time.

3.) Lazy Evaluation - Delay a computation until the result of the computation is needed. Kung hindi pa kailangan, wag muna gawin.

Disclaimer: Stop at the business layer. Doing low level optimizations are best left to trained professionals ^^ ahahaha I mean, If you're using a low level language (Java, C++), may mga optimizations na medyo overkill kung early on plang gagawin na, such as bytecode editing.

That's it for now, at malaking pasensya po dahil medyo naging busy ako last week. Medyo maluwag na ko this week, so I'll be regularly blogging again. ^^ See ya next post!

Weekly Links

2009-03-08T20:30:00.002+08:00

Six Valuable Things Web Design Clients Won’t Tell You
Some of the items are also true for developers. ^^
40 Beautiful Examples of Vintage and Retro in Web Design
Design Inspiration + Vintage Art = Damn Nice Web Pages ^^
10 Things To Consider When Choosing The Perfect CMS | How-To | Smashing Magazine
CMS: Content Management System. In english~ Blogs ^^
Aaron Greenspan: Why I Sued Google (and Won)
Maybe everyone whose account was cancelled, should [sue google]. ^^
10 Tips to avoid designer’s block.
A nice collection of tips to avoid not just a designer's block but all kinds of blocks ^^
Why 99% of Entrepreneurs Fail: Because they don't do anything | Jessica Mah Meets World
"Lots of ideas, lots of implementations, and absolutely no focus" ~More common than you might think.. especially right now during the recession
drplokta: Imminent Death of the Net Predicted
Catchy title, though the article doesn't really talk about the death of the internetz.. A good read though.
It’s Time For An Apology : 101 Dead Armadillos
Best Buy and their stupidity. ^^
arc90 lab : experiments : Readability
A very insteresting bookmarklet ^^
Stunning Videogame Locales - Exotic and Fantastic Locations That We Wish We Could Visit (And Some We’d Take Guns To)
Where di you want to go/play today? ^^
How to Fold a T Shirt in Two Seconds - wikiHow
A very handy trick ^^
14 Most Useful Web Design Cheat Sheets | Web Design Ledger
Keyboard shortcuts, quick tutorials & syntax lookups ^^
Minimalism Around the Web: Design Inspiration & WordPress Themes - Tutorial9
I <3>
Quote of the day: 'Social media is like teen sex' | The Social - CNET News
Wow. Just. Wow. "When finally done, there is surprise it's not better" ^^ Ahahahahaha
Microsoft Office Labs vision 2019 (montage + video) - istartedsomething
A very very cool insight to the future, where Microsoft Surface pervades every aspect of everyone's lives.
The Most Incredibly Outstanding Site Templates - NETTUTS
I'm looking for a new blogger template since my blog is currently looking a bit too.. green ^^
40+ Free Vector Graphics and Photoshop Brushes For Commercial Use | Qbrushes Blog
Inspire yourselves with moar Brushes & Vector Graphics ^^
8 Little Things We Still Can’t Stand About the iPhone
UI Inconsitencies? Soooooooo un-apple-like.UI is one of the things that distinguish Apple from MS...

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Programming 101

2009-03-06T10:45:00.002+08:00

ps. Sorry for the flood of picture posts, I'm kind of busy with my masteral.. ^^ I'll make up for it next week, I pwomizeee

Windows Environment

2009-03-04T10:41:00.001+08:00

Isang beses may nadownload akong program na parang CCleaner.. simple lang ang ginagwa nya, which is clean the registry of unused keys.. anyways, natapos ung DL then dinobol click ko ung file- at nagulat ako kasi lumabas sa splash screen nung program ay "Good Morning Erik".

o_0; Pano nya nalaman kung sino ako!?

So nag experimento ako sa Visual Basic kasi gusto ko rin gumawa ng psychic na program ^^ ahahahaha nun ko natutunan to:

MsgBox Environ("USERNAME")

At marami pa pala kong pwede malaman using the Eviron function.. try nyo to.. gawa kau ng listbox at pngalanan nyo shang "List1" (npka creative!) then lgay nyo to sa form load event:

    Dim i As Integer
    i = 1
    While Environ$(i) <> ""
        List1.AddItem Environ$(i)
        i = i + 1
    Wend

Ang Environ function ay nka link sa windows mismo (so ndi sha gagana sa Linux) at ang ibig sabihin ng Environ ay "Environmental Variables". Pwede nyo sha maaccess using API Calls kung C++, pero using Visual Basic hamak na mas madali using the Environ() Function.

Take note ngapla na pwedeng String or Integer ang input sa Environ, pero kung need mo ng specific na data, String ang gamitin mo (such as "USERNAME") kasi ung integer nagbabago per computer..

Edit: Environ() = Environ$()

Aus ba? ^^

Motivational Poster

2009-03-03T09:53:00.001+08:00