What’s needed (for a poor windows user):

• Mcabber, a jabber client from http://mcabber.com
• Cygwin, http://cygwin.com
• Ssh package for cygwin, if you need to install mcabber elsewhere and then connect to it remotely.

If cygwin and ssh are new to you, read this to get up to speed.

If you are setting up mcabber on a host machine, you’ll want to setup ssh as a service or daemon on that machine as well. Use the ssh-host-config script to do that.

Quickly, here’s how to get going.

1. Get the latest updates for cygwin using the cygwin setup program. I was missing the latest glib and I didn’t have pkg-config.
2. Download the mcabber source from the website. Run the configure script with no arguments. Take note of any errors; they are most likely related to missing libraries. Get these libraries with the cygwin setup program.
3. Once configure is successful, you should be able to run make, and then make install with no problems.
4. Create a mcabberrc file in the directory ~/.mcabber, note that the filename is “mcabberrc” and not “.mcabberrc”.
5. Put the following into the mcabberrc file to configure it for Google Talk.

set username = <your username at gmail dot com>
set server = talk.google.com
set ssl = 1
set ssl_verify = 0
set port = 5223

That’s all there is to it. Type mcabber and it should prompt you for your password and then connect.

You’ll see 3 different “panes” or frames and the command prompt at the bottom. Scroll through your contacts with Page Up and Page Down. When you’ve selected a contact, just start typing in the command prompt to send messages. The program commands start with a “/” character, type “man mcabber” for a complete list of commands. If you’re in mcabber, you can type “/help” for help on specific mcabber commands.

That’s all for now!

-eokuwwy

The answer is YES!

The Translate Word and Graphical TW project is your gateway to having superior translation capabilities right in your CONSOLE!

Download tw from http://savannah.nongnu.org/files/?group=twandgtw.
I’m using tw-0.1.3.tar.bz2.

Major Dependencies
elinks
http://elinks.or.cz/download
I’m using elinks-0.11.5.tar.bz2.

I’m using Cygwin and I was missing the following:
curl
libiconv
util-linux random utils (For the getopt() function)

The above Cygwin packages can easily be obtained through the Cygwin setup program.

1. Extract elinks. Build it starting with “sh configure”. Then type “make”. After it finishes, type “make install”.

2. Repeat step 1 with tw.

3. Type “tw -h” to test that everything is installed correctly.

4. If everything went well, try typing “tw en-es hello” and you should get the following output:
hello : hola

You’re all set! Now you can quickly translate between many languages straight from your bash shell. Type “tw -l” to see a list of “all” the languages.

Customized Script for Google Translate

Google’s translate service is one of the most comprehensive language translators available. A major benefit of using Google’s translation service is that you can pass in as much text as you want; simply surround the text with quotes. Even though tw does not list all of the languages that Google supports, it is still a bash script that parses input parameters, and it does not do any validation. You can append anything you want to the argument “translate.google.com”. For instance, Croatian is not listed as one of the languages (“hr”). However, all you need to do is append the appropriate language pair to the end of the argument string, like so:
$ tw translate.google.com.en-hr hello
zdravo

To make this a bit more user-friendly, I have created a simple wrapper script (twg) for tw that only uses Google’s translate service. It works just like tw, except you do not have to type “translate.google.com”. You only need to put in the language pair. For example:
$ twg en-es “Hello World”
Hola Mundo

Type “twg -l” to get a complete list of supported languages. You can find more details about featured languages at http://www.google.com/help/faq_translation.html#langpairs.

#!/bin/bash
# author: eokuwwy
# http://reverttoconsole.com
# description: customized tw wrapper script that uses google translate</code>

if [ "$1" = "-l" ];
then
echo "Arabic=ar";
echo "Bulgarian=bg";
echo "Catalan=ca";
echo "Chinese=zh-cn";
echo "Chinese=zh-tw";
echo "Croation=hr";
echo "Czech=cs";
echo "Danish=da";
echo "Dutch=nl";
echo "English=en";
echo "Filipino=tl";
echo "Finnish=fi";
echo "French=fr";
echo "German=de";
echo "Greek=el";
echo "Hebrew=iw";
echo "Hindi=hi";
echo "Indonesian=id";
echo "Italian=it";
echo "Japanese=ja";
echo "Korean=ko";
echo "Latvian=lv";
echo "Lithuanian=lt";
echo "Norwegian=no";
echo "Polish=pl";
echo "Portuguese=pt-BR";
echo "Romanian=ro";
echo "Russian=ru";
echo "Serbian=sr";
echo "Slovak=sk";
echo "Slovenian=sl";
echo "Spanish=es";
echo "Swedish=sv";
echo "Ukranian=uk";
echo "Vietnamese=vi";
elif [ "$1" = "-h" -o -z "$1" ];
then
echo "Usage: twg [sourcelang-destlang (i.e. en-es)] [term]";
echo "twg -h (shows help)";
echo "twg -l (shows language list)";
else
tw translate.google.com.$1 "$2";
fi

Happy command line translation! Now jailbreak (at your own risk) your iPhone/Blackberry/PDA and put tw on there!

$ twg en-es “peace out”
a la paz
-eokuwwy

However, some of you may benefit from what I have learned NOT to do over the past 2 years. I have learned plenty of “DO NOT’s” over time, but the last 2 years, especially the last 7 months has been the grand festival of “DO NOT’s”.

1. Do not let an “expert” with unsubstantiated credentials tell you how to do your job. Better yet, avoid working with an “expert” whenever possible. These “experts” like to talk down to you and blame you for everything that goes wrong. They never admit to contributing to the problem. They also insist that his/her approach is the best, even if God (or other supreme being) were to tell him/her that it’s wrong. An “expert” will try to control you and the project at any cost. An “expert” will no doubt run the project into the ground or into a persistent vegetative state. If you find yourself working with an “expert”, take precautionary measures and have an escape plan.

2. Do not let users perform their daily job duties with an application that is not fully developed or production ready, especially if it’s not even beta ready. Don’t let users rely on an application that is undergoing constant development and hasn’t even been tested. Users will no doubt work their dirty little hands into your project and get you to make changes at the drop of the hat, because their jobs depend on it! Don’t expect a manager to help you out in this situation. If things have reached this point, no manager can simply stop this evil cycle. Now you have a situation where there is a direct impact on the success of the company. Because the application is not even fully developed or tested, there will already be bugs galore. The users relying on your application will find even more bugs that stop them in their tracks. Everything becomes a critical defect. Trust me, if you get into this situation, you will want to die, because you are already dying a slow and painful death.

3. Do not develop in an environment that has absolutely no process. You don’t need to be process gung-ho and implementing CMMi level 5, but you should have some basic sort of SDLC process in place. A development group without processes usually fails to have standards as well. The “as long as it works” mantra comes into play.

In this situation, you will end up with horrible spaghetti code where developers are doing whatever the hell they want. You will have no ability to monitor code quality. You might end up with code that looks like it was written by someone who is half-way through their first programming course (CSCI 101). Hey, they just learned how to write arrays, and want to show off that skill, as much as they can. Your “code review” will take place when you have to take over their project, at which point you’ll ask yourself, “What kind of dumbass could possibly write this &*@%!@#!!!????” Of course by then the bad code has permeated its way into the deep inner bowels of the application, like a virus, making it nearly impossible to correct without throwing it all away and rewriting from scratch. It’s sort of like when Windows gets jacked-up every year or so and your best solution is to “format C:” and start over.

In addition, the extent of your QA will probably be limited to the success of your compiler and a few keystrokes and mouse clicks.

no process = bad applications (hopefully most of you know that already)

4. Do not get involved in a project where a phone call, simple face-to-face conversation, or a note on your desk from a user is all that is required for you to make a change. This is closely related to #3, but it’s worth emphasizing a bit. You need to have a way to document change requests and prioritize those requests, even if it a simple excel spreadsheet on a shared network drive. This is just one more way that you can be trampled to death by users. Not to mention the fact that you are developer and you have no business answering the phone or communicating with a user directly. That’s what BA’s are for. You lack the people skills required to interact directly with users and you should be damn proud of that. Additionally, there is great satisfaction to be had when you can make users punch themselves in the face. By that I mean something like this:

User: “What is this thing doing? That’s not the way it’s suppose to work!”
You: “Yes it is.”
User: “No, it’s not.”
You: “Yes it is, you requested it, see?”
User: “Ah DAMMIT!” (punches self in face)

5. Do not succumb to the “at least we still have jobs” outlook on your career. Yes, the economy sucks right now and layoffs suck. I hate seeing people bringing in boxes to pack up their stuff, especially when they have done a great job at the company for 10, 15, 20 years or more. That’s like saying, “Thanks for all your great years of service, now be a team player and piss off, yeah?” There are other things employers will do to cut costs though. They might squash benefits, slash salaries, and eliminate incentives. This is especially likely to happen if the executives made stupid decisions (likely in any case) that ran the company into the ground. You don’t have to pay for their mistakes. This industry is still viable. You can find good opportunities elsewhere. Don’t be afraid to explore and don’t feel bad for leaving. If you really believe in the company and feel that you want to help “get through this tough time together”, then stay and try to maintain a positive attitude. But remember, you don’t owe the company anything.

That’s it for now. Maybe you learned something, maybe not. You may have only learned that I am just an ass, if you didn’t know that already. Either way, I hope it wasn’t a boring read. I’d better get back to “work.”

We can’t have a local database instance running and having a hsqldb or mysql database would not really give us the confidence of working in the “actual world.” So, How can you have a local Oracle database without all that fuss?

Here is an alternative that I tried and it worked like a charm for me.

1) Install Oracle 10G XE . Its a light-weight version of 10G and its *free*. There is no configuration whatsoever, just the password for admin username, “system”

2) After installation you’re basically done. I use Open Oracle SQLDeveloper for the client. I think its simple and does everything you need. And its *free*. Make a new connection with
host – localhost, port – 1521, SID – xe

Surprisingly, all the above are provided by default! Now, setup a new user for your application. Grant “all” rights.

3) In my web application, I use a top-down approach with a rich domain model with JBoss Seam Framework where the schema is 100% generated by hbm2ddl. For static data, I have an import.sql in the web-inf. All I need to do is, change the hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto value back to “create” (it was “validate” before)

And change the datasource connection to jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521/xe in the jndi datasource in jboss server.

4) Change the jboss http port from 8080 to 8081 from here
jboss-4.2.2\server\default\deploy\jboss-web.deployer\server.xml
(as oracle server uses the same)

5) Start JBoss server

That’s it. All in all, it took around 20-25 minutes. (including the installation)

I now have a new oracle database installed, new tables created, new static data setup and most importantly — I did not add any configuration file(s) whatsoever and nothing in my app was changed except the ds file (which again is outside the ear file). I did not run any ruby scripts, nor groovy scripts and No — I didn’t call my DBA to setup the database or run some data scripts for me.

And the application deployed SUCCESSFULLY.

All this in less than 25 minutes.

This,, I think is agile Domain Driven Development using Seam framework.

I’m wondering if I could’ve done this 5 years ago. Not without hiring a consultant for a project named “database migration.” and not without changing so many files.

*RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIING*
Me: “Hello”
SU: “Why is the application going so incredibly slow?”
Me: “Because I coded it so that if it finds your user ID it will run slower.”
SU: “I’m reporting you to HR!”
Me: “OK, but you’ll be wasting your time.”
SU: “And why is that?!”
Me: “Because I told everyone in HR that you are a stupid b*tch.”
*click*

The user is not “the enemy”, nor is the user “stupid”. Without users, there is no software. Users are simply human beings. Their minds are not bound by physical limits, such as volts, amps, or aerodynamic drag. A human’s mind is capable of dreaming up anything, whether it is possible or not in the physical world. In software we operate within a virtual world not bound by earthly physics. This fact combined with the vast imagination of the human mind is what makes software development so challenging. Without boundaries and limits, you can easily find yourself in a no holds barred situation.

Therefore, it is imperative that developers impose and enforce boundaries upon the user. There are many examples of this: change control boards, requirements sign off, iterative development, etc. While these conventional measures serve their purpose, it is sometimes necessary to take extra steps that may be ethically questionable.

You need to know the following:
1. The user does not really know what he/she wants
2. The user needs to be told what he/she can and cannot have
3. You are in control of the software, not the user
4. You are the technical expert, not the user
5. The user doesn’t care about how the software works, so long as it works

We should not feel guilty about the nature of software development, nor the ways in which we deal with the above facts. To deal with those facts mentioned above, consider the following:
1. Lead the user away from ideas that will result in requiring complex features, while persuading them to accept ideas that will require simpler ones.
2. Be firm with what features can and cannot be built. Remember, the user is not the technical expert. You can bend the truth a bit with your imagination and technical knowledge.
3. Do not ever give control of development to the user. Always require him or her to follow proper procedures for change requests, it doesn’t matter how “urgent” it is. Unless there is a defect causing people to die or the company to lose massive amounts of money, it is not urgent enough to skip the procedures and processes that have been put in place.
4. Do not be fooled by a user who claims to be an expert as a software developer. Unless they are working on the same software that you are, their “knowledge” is useless. Users with strong educational backgrounds love to make these claims. (i.e., M.D.’s, P.h.D.’s) Do not be intimidated. Have confidence in yourself and your abilities. If they are persistent about injecting their own technical “expertise” into your project, do whatever it takes to take them out of the picture. Get his/her manager involved if you have to. If you give in to this type of user, you could very well be jeopardizing the health of your entire project.
5.The user doesn’t care about how the software works so don’t tell him/her. Not only is it a waste of time, but it also keeps them in the dark. That allows you to bend and manipulate the technical truth to your liking if need be.

The last issue I would like to mention is the issue of deadlines. You should set these, not the user. If the user requires a deadline that is not reasonable, then tell him/her you will have to drop features in order to meet that deadline. You cannot give up control. Lie, cheat, and steal if you have to. I can’t really see where you’d have to do the latter, but I am serious here. Do whatever it takes to maintain control.

Again, the user is not the enemy (except maybe those “experts” described in number 4 above). The user just needs stringent boundaries and limits. These boundaries need to be firmly enforced, even if it means engaging in questionable tactics at times. Sometimes you may have to approach your job like you are a slightly less than honest politician. The end result will always be worth it. If you can keep the user in line, you will find your job to be much more rewarding.

So here is the magical one click installer Tool, which installs all the versions as a “standalone” browser(s). Or, if you want them from another source, which has them archived, here it is. Â

In fact it goes all the way to IE 3.0! (Don’t even try to test on IE3, my app crapped the shit outta it)

I rest my case.

Example 1: Not understand how to use NOT logic (aka, the ‘!’)

if ((expDate!=null && expDate.isPast(null)) ||
(effDate!=null && effDate.isFuture(null)) ||
id.getRank() == null) {
//Do Nothing
}
else
return id;

Example 2: Hard-coding Array indices

if(person[i][3].equals("Sam") && person[i][1].equals("17"))
   name = person[i][3] + " " + person[i][4] + " " person[i][5];

This is just so much more readable than:

if(person[i][FIRST_NAME].equals("Sam") && person[i][AGE].equals("17"))
   name = person[i][FIRST_NAME] + " " + person[i][MIDDLE_NAME] + " " person[i][LAST_NAME];

Example 3: Excessive or unnecessary imports

import java.lang.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.awt.*;
import javax.sql.*;

public class MyGreatClass {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      System.out.println("My first Java class is so great!  I am such a noob!");
      System.exit(0);

   }
}

There are a couple different free tools that can achieve this. By far, the most comprehensive is FreePops. FreePops can be installed as a service and run in the background. It is very simple to configure an account using FreePops. You simply enter your username as the full email address. FreePops will know which connection module to use based on the domain of your email address. Then you specify the pop3 server as localhost:2000 or 127.0.0.1:2000. 2000 is the default port and you can change it if you wish.

FreePops does not provide smtp access and has limited features out of the box, but it does work well. This brings me to the second tool I like to use. It’s called YPops! and it is exclusive to Yahoo web-mail. However, it includes SMTP access and has a couple more features that come in handy. For instance, you can limit the amount of mail that gets downloaded, or set it to download new messages only. This is nice for me because I’ve had my yahoo account for a long time, so I don’t want it to download all the messages when I connect, just new ones. The defaults for it are:
Pop3- localhost:110 or 127.0.0.1:110
SMTP- localhost:25 or 127.0.0.1:25

I’ve got Hotmail and Gmail configured through FreePops and Yahoo configured through YPops; all in fetchmail. They all go to the same “Inbox” via procmail and then I can read them with Pine. For more information on configuring Pine with procmail and fetchmail, see Jeff’s post here.

My .fetchmailrc file


set daemon 180
set postmaster "eokuwwy"

Additionally, I appended an alias to my bash profile that makes use of the MailUtil program that you can get for Pine. It can be found here:
http://www.washington.edu/pine/getpine/pcpine.html

This simply checks my Inbox to see if there are any new mails. That way, I don’t need to keep a mail client open all the time.

export WIN_MAILPATH="C:\\devtools\\cygwin\\var\\spool\\mail\\eokuwwy"
alias mail="mailutil check '$WIN_MAILPATH'"


mailutil is already installed in a directory that’s included in the $PATH.

Well that about does it. Happy popping.