Thoughts

Effective Java Programming, by Addison Wesley, is one of nice books i have read in software development material. and i recommend it to any developer developing in Java, starter or senior. programming by nature is very flexible. you have many choices. it is like creating a statue using clay. You choose at every point; Class names, methods and variable names. public methods, internal implementation algorithms, structure of the package classes,.. all of those and others are left for the programmer to choose. Effective Java programming comes to introduce a lot of the best practices for Java programmers; to enhance the stability, readability, clarity, reusability and maintainability of their code. it also has guides to the proper use of a lot of the java standard classes. A note inside the book really draw my attention; in item 8, chapter 3, Wesley was talking about overriding the hashCode method, he stated an example of a phone number class and an implementation of a suggested hashCode, ...

i read a nice article with the title " Software Team Turnover: Why Developers Leave (And What You Can Do About It) ". In this article, the writer, Aaron Reed, discussed the negative impact of the fact that some software developers leave their teams and what makes them do that. it is worth to read. Aaron specified three main reasons that causes developers to leave: Money Like any person in any field, Software Developers too are in need for Money to fulfil their human needs. a developer being paid below the market average might be an unhappy unsatisfied developer. and in general, a Developer can increase his income by jumping to a new place more that he can by getting a raise in the same place. being happy with what they do Developer can work in some place or on some project even under paid, if they love what they are working on. in other words.. they also can leave for somewhere else (even paying less) if they were unhappy about they current projects/place/team, if they were b...

enough of the sad desperate attitude... somehow i feel my selection to the previous blog template was little dark. let's move to something more optimistic. :)

recently i decided to explore the world on through Linux.. i had tried in the past to install Ubuntu 6.1 on my desktop at home. but it ended in an MBR issue that i couldn't fix then, and i didn't have the time to track it down. a couple of weeks ago.. i decided to do it again.. encouraged by my Linuxawy fellow. who offered his help, so.. i freed up some space and decided to go through it. we had in installed and i started playing around with it. it is great. so far i'm running smoothly. i feel like my laptop is less loaded. but i encounter eclipse and firefox sudden termination from time to time. the initial programs that we install on windows after a new windows install wasn't an issue. no office, no winamp, no ... etc. no need to keep "sources" directory. Ubuntu uses repository for his packages. it is the same concept of maven handling java library projects. u define the repositories, and get packages through the "Synaptic Package Manager" or dire...

today i was checking the blog of one of my coworkers "Mahmoud Algammal", when i went to a post talking about Binky's power supply... what's the hell is binky?? it seems more like a pet or the PC at home... so i checked Gammal's Binky it totally impressed me that Binky is a server made using old spare parts of PCs. we all upgrade and have useless spare part all over our houses... i always thought using them would be a great idea... but never did. Gammal used them create a machine.. a DHCP, DNS, SVN, Web server.. in a mother board box (instead of the case).. with no VGA card.. with no power switch... it is working fine and even hosting his blog.. way to go man... now i know why u r special.

"In a timeshare deal you can cancel the deal within 10 days and take your money back excluding only 300 EGP as an overhead fees" . said the law of Egypt.

حرمونا سنين وسنين وافتكروا الناس نايميين وطلعنا عليهم يوم خلصنا حقوق ملايين غنوا معايا.. قولوا معايا عاش فلاح الثورة عاش when i heard those words By Nagat, my heart was trembling.. i realized the power of songs like this in encouraging people's and warriors hearts. in the old wars where the swords were used, the leader had to encourage the solders with powerful sentences or acts.. these songs had similar effect. i realized that this song is not played anymore in our Media for more reasons beside that Gamal Abd Elnasser is not here anymore..

Nearly every running business around the world is based on reputation. That's why business owners treat customers with extreme carefulness.. In Egypt though, a lot of people just can't realize that. They think that it is ok to treat some customers in an improper way, because there are a lot of other target customers. They think that what actions that they do pass unseen for the public. What those people don't realize is that we're in a very small world. Nothing is secret anymore. If you want to maintain a good reputation, do not act improperly, do not provide poor quality service, and definitely do not try to hide parts of the law that are not on your side hoping the other party will not notice it. I've seen some people ruining the reputation of their organization by some irresponsible acts. After all, for the customer, the whole organization is represented in that employee they are dealing with. What surprised me is that i saw people who low in the organization hi...

it is strange how adult one can think he is... i was thinking i'm a well thinking person... older than my age maybe... it turned out i'm just hasting foolish child like worst ones i can see around me... like the people i feel pity for... or laugh about their acts.. laugh how they cannot see the so clear reality.. thought i'm a high level analyzer.. it turned out to be that i missed one major analytical fact... when u step outside of the circle.. and look... things look so differently... i thought i'm able to see reality if actions around me.... it turned out that i'm just staying outside the cirlcle... maybe too chicken to get in... when i finally got inside the circle... i messed things up... violating one of my basic rules so simply.. leading myself into critical situation...

learning is actually amazing.. when we were small kids.. we try to walk... move ur leg there.. move your leg highr... don't lean forward or you'll fall.... we actually think of what we are doing.. we think of the details... i doubt if any of us remember his trial.. we were less than 2 years probably... but u can see it in other new kids... u can see it even more while learning to drive a car... the same story... u can't even focus on other cars in the street because u r busy thinking when to put ur leg.. and how much u push.. when u should move the gear to the next level... but for some reason... we tend to forget the magic feeling of learning... of gaining a new ability... two days ago... i was chatting... with my head down on my desk and i was looking to the floor... i actually had my hands on the keyboard and that's it... i didn't think of where that letter is located... text was just being inserted into the screen... it felt amazing... i started to get thirsty...

since i have no time to write something unrelated to my work.. i decided to write my first book... "Guide to OA Support" ya mosahhel..

at last... after more than 3 months of searching.. i found my lovely song.. check the great koko-wawa

I had an experience recently that I like to share.. It started a week ago, the last days of my honeymoon vacation, when i decided to check my email.. i found an email from my mother saying that she has a problem in her college.. my mother - motivated by me - has joined a PhD program.. she's a doctor.. currently making her PhD at the Institute of Public Health. She and my father are staying in KSA currently where she teaches in a girls college. Her problem was that the PhD exam will take place on 24th of June 2007 in Alexandria. Her vacation at her workplace in KSA starts 27th of June 2007. she needed a paper that states the exam date to pass it to the people there so she can take her vacation earlier.. so we needed someone to go get that paper and send it.. i used to handle this kind of tasks. it was supposed to be a 30-60 minutes thing, two hours max including the journey. so i thought of checking it right away, i have the car it would be easier for me to do. my brother would h...

i made the wrong decision again... how many times should one makes it wrong before he learns... a quote once said... "if u made something wrong.. u'll learn and won't do it again... and if u made it wrong a second time... u'll do it a third time and a fourth time and so.." what a terrifying idea... one can see his defects... can realize them... but can't get over them... what a helpless poor pathetic person...

i like to write down my thoughts... have used to be doing so in the past... actually it makes me think clearer.. so the idea of the blog was very suitable and attracting to me.. so i started ironically.. i wrote so little.. though i had a lot in mind.. my posts turned to be complains.. am i the complaining type or people.. never used to be.. but sometimes, when u step out of the circle and have a look at urself from out side u get shocked about how much changes u had without u even feel it.. i thought, and still thinking, of making a separate technical blog... and another blog for books reviews.. as if i read much :).. how silly i am.. when i imagine that a person somewhere on the net that does not know me.. will read my blog.. he'll try to know about me from what i write.. i'll know he'll have some idea about me then.. maybe it is wrong.. maybe it is right and what i think about myself is the wrong.. how terrifying this thought is...!!!!

what the hell is going on?? "a month with zero production.!!!!" outch... how hard to listen to that sentence... and i'm pretty sure it was more hard to say... Learning vs Production... but none is progressing well... it is not about learning.. there must be a leak.. a time leak.. an effort leak.. i guess short term goals are essential now... tracking...i guess i have to be my own tracker now.. sometimes one has a goal in mind... so important and so valuable.. but he simply drift due to a lot of small minor negligable issues.. this is not meant to be... it is to valuable to lose.. at least for me..

suddenly i feel down. a lot lot of things to do.. i can't even sit there manage them.. and the result.. no satisfactory progress in any of them.. it's not just my work.. home too.. other stuff too.. the irritating thing is that when u r working on a task for someone requiring me to go that person. and when i manage to go there and i called him first.. he simply postpones it to another time.. !!!!! ignoring all the pressure i'm going through... i am not able and that free to go there twice a day.. when u have a lot of things to do and someone irresponsibly wastes ur time and effort.. this is very irritating.. i'm going mad because of it.. actually it makes me feel down more and more.. i think i need a ToDo list with priorities... when i was thinking of reducing my tasks to reduce the pressure i realized that i have two sets of tasks: things that i have to do. and things that i want to do. of course there can be stuff that belongs to the two sets at the same time. so what...

nearly 45 days have passed since my last and only post on the blog surprising to me.. and the people who know me (and so few they are).. i used to write my thought in the past in a note book or any pieces of papers available when i feel like writing. usually no one else is allowed to read it.. it's something for me.. i think better when i write things... apparantly this wasn't the case here.. is it lack of time? maybe.. and maybe it is the inner me that no one is allowed to read that prevents me from posting.. till i have some coding scheme so no one will be able to understand :).. the idea is releifing to me.. i've been through a lot of thinking moments recently.. i travelled for somedays. travelling gets u out of routine so u r not caught by daily events.. u spend some time in the train with nothing to do but think.. maybe read.. i wonder why i do not do these things as part of daily actions.. i should do the last few days had a lot for me... and there is more ahead...

here i am.. at my work.. eSpace.. the place i love.. surrounded by people i love and admire.. trying my best to contribute in making it a better place.. i was assigned some sort of un clear task.. well.. the task was clear.. but it was to investigate something that is not clear.. which make things more tough.. it's my job.. that's why it is hard.. if i needed someone to help me with it.. that someone could have done it instead... its complexety is the reason it is left to me.. am i good enough for it? i wish i can be more organized in the way i think... it would have helped a lot..