Nirmal Jayasinghe

Messenger 9 sporting Graffiti theme

Can’t believe I’m writing a testimonial for Y! Messenger, but it’s true and worth a mention. Around last Thursday I got Y! M’s 9.0.0.922 Beta version, and it just fitted in. I was stuck with the production 8.1 rubbish. It was bulky and resource intensive and crash-prone. But this is more like GT. Sleek, lurks under and works.

I started off with Y! 8.1 the days I came in, but there were problems with it and I got GAIM. It was cool but then again had file transfer probs and compatibility probs with other engineers who were all Y!. Then there was this one friend I wanted on my list who wouldn’t budge an inch from Microsoft Network, and those buddies were invisible in GAIM. I had MSNM for sometime actually but it was quickly replaced by GT. So I had to somehow endure with 8.1 for Y! and Microsoft Network, til last week. Glad the Purple Brigade engineers from Sunnyvale came up with something this qool. Ode Messenger 9!

(reflections from last time)

Yesterday has been campus reunion 2008. My first since graduation. And probably may be my last atleast for quite a bit of time time, perhaps a time that might be enough to miss on the beat of everything. That aside, yesterday was awesome and better than, come to think of it, the couple of reunions I attended last. Pretty bad it got held in March madness and D couldn’t make it.

As usual I arrived way early although by my own standards I was late, and had to checkout on others. Also as usual booze was in unofficial abundance, and everyone was like ‘havin’ a half/quarter’ in their backpack :) Music was kinda OK for an amateur outdoor event, but could’ve done with a bit more balance, really felt it. The Mr event was already over when I landed, but didn’t regret. I can imagine the scarce audience :). In the Ms event they gave it away for the wrong contestant; guess that’s what you can always expect from a panel of pure academics, all D’s and P’s. Anyway it used to be dead boring til everybody showed up.

It rained, and I stumbled upon our gang in a steaming entrance foyer. Almost all were there except D and V. We couldn’t really ‘get out’ cause the suburban showers that intermittently broke down, but about an hour later we made it, swayed around a bit, and then got hungry and went for a munch. The ‘dog’ was worth every penny as N and I concluded. We topped it up with some collective kottus and drinks. I couldn’t remember whether I asked mum to leave dinner and was glad to gulp something. N was in the other end: had ordered dinner at home but was wondering how to eat it now :). He was happily clicking away with Laks’ Cybershot. I can’t wait for the self-proclaimed “shameless pics from others’ cameras” to emerge in daylight.

Things wound down after about 2230, and we sat down and tried to regain some strength. Some of the people had classes right away this morning and I dunno how they managed it- I woke up past 0830 today, and that was given I had lost some sleep during the last few weeks and I had work. TDR trio had the cars brought in and I guess everybody had something to hop in. DoS picked us up as usual. But now I wish I didn’t have him to, cause in the middle of it he had to witness that one thing I’d need him to see last; and he filled up mom. Oh well..

For me, reunion is ain’t about dressing up, ain’t about music, ain’t about booze or dates or anything. It’s just about catching up. That’s almost about what I miss from good old undergrad school, and that’s what keeps me coming back. Thanks for being there boys. And send out those pics.

(amazon.com photo)

Been reading Rapid Development by Steve McConnell. Got it from the library but couldn’t wait till I finished and rushed to get my own copy. It’s the best project-management title I read after Steve Maguire’s Debugging the Development Process, and generally the best about software I’ve read so far. It’s in a class with the best software development classics I’ve found, like the one mentioned above, Code Complete, Writing Solid Code, and stuff like the Mythical Man-Month. Too bad we didn’t have any at the college library.

Software engineering is ever plagued with the problem of getting better programs out as fast as we can. If you’re unfortunate, you may be with the school that even drops the better programs part, and struggle madly to ship something in the timeframe. Rapid Development is mainly about that: how to get that project out as soon as possible: and realistically and professionally, with ‘project managers and marketers who want it all and customers who want it all now!‘.

The book starts with an introduction to rapid development; to most of the people is code (sorry, hack) like hell. That’s an approach, maybe worked for your college online programming test (no, assignment), but rapid development is about something more calculated, controlled and transparent. The first part describes in detail RD strategies, classic mistakes in RD, development basics and managing risk. It’s mainly about efficient development, without which one can hardly, if at all think about running an RD project: it’d be like trying to save on your power bill with 100+W lamps blazing about each time you try it.

Part II is head-on about rapid development itself. It focuses on core issues in it, planning the lifecycle, estimation (!!), scheduling, customers’ role in RD, developer motivation, teamwork, team structuring, controlling product features, productivity tools and recovering projects. McConnell is no mere armchair professor, but an industry veteran with years of experience including consulting with Microsoft, and his style is a pleasure to read. Basically he’s been there and done that, and I think it’s basically the reason for his work to be so digestible and easy reading. Rapid Development gives real-life advice, and I even found its case studies to be true enough, as I usually hate out of this world case studies. Even for a manager, tech lead or engineer who isn’t in a proper RD project (who isn’t?) this book provides countless insights, tooltips, and tricks of trade. It’s a must-read for anyone who is in software engineering or especially managing software projects.

The final part of the book presents a large number of practices that can be deployed in an RD project in a quick-reference style. Each is reviewed briefly with pros and cons, and is referred back to the main content for lengthy description. Some are accompanied by their own descriptions where applicable.

No other author have I seen writing with so much research on a broad spectrum of sources [McConnell cites valuable articles extensively], and with so much real world know-how as to make a 600+ page chronicle feel like a breeze. Each advice given here is somehow or other applicable in a professional environment, and it works. The book presents tried-and-tested methodology in industry and is no plain concept textbook, and it makes all that difference. Excellent work, highly recommended.

Lak wants an N95, so I should at least need this. Liked it the moment I caught it on C3 review. It’s got WiFi, the major thing I need from my next phone, and some decent memory and synch, and some plus marks on email setup. Seemed pretty cheap for its class, too. hmm..

O.K. then, where’s dad??