Almost 2 years and no new posts on the blog. Good job, Procrastination!
I was just going through all my previous posts and I realized how much I've changed. I'm not sure if it's for good or bad, but I've changed.
The best thing is that I realized that this is a great way to know how you were some years back, to live through all the associated memories. It's like a good horcrux, if that's possible.
I'll start blogging again, new place, new content. Soon.
I and Guido van Rossum (creator of Python) use the same phone (Nokia 6630). We both think it's great.
Does that imply something ;-) ..... Nah! Just having fun :-)
Thanks to stupid #@3825#@ing Blogger my comments system was down and I had no idea about it.
And Thanks to Bandan Das I came to know about it and fixed it. It reminds me of Wikipedia/OSS philosophy - there are equal number of good and bad people in the world :-)
A promise to myself, my new website is coming up in two weeks.
Last week after watching Zinda (an awful copy of Oldboy)I had literally lost all hope in Bollywood. I thought they have somehow mastered the art of making bad movies.
Thankfully it’s not that bad yet. They actually can make good movies. And Rang de Basanti is a fitting example. There are some flaws like the too long and boring movie-auditions in DU scene. But still, it’s a must watch for any serious movie lover.
Thanks to Rashmi for the excellent review which made me watch it in the first case.
I (finally!) uploaded some pics from my Musoorie trip to Flickr.
Also these are the first set of pics taken by my Nokia 6630. So check them out if you are planning to buy this phone.
So, after weeks of thoughts and scores of reviews I finally bought my new phone - Nokia 6630.
Yes, I am switching from CDMA to GSM. Well, no particular issues against CDMA but I wanted a Series 60 phone badly and I had no options in CDMA. My new number is coming up soon but right now it's time to open my new phone box!
So here is the phone (pictures courtesy my Palm Zire 72)
Front.
The curve is thankfully not as big as it seems.
The camera looks cool, doesn't it!
That's the 4th one in my home!
This was a surprise change. It's a lot better than DKU-5. No pulling your hair, unlike DKU-5, it works simple and smooth.
They look cool, are sturdy and do their job well.
It's half the size of a normal MMC card. Comes with an adaptor for normal devices.If you are feeling bored, try Yahoo! Answers. It really is addictive (and informative).
I have been biased towards C++ ever since I learned it in school. But even after years of using it, I still don't find myself writing C++ programs effortlessly. I tried other languages like C, Java and Visual Basic but found none appealing enough.
In last few months I read a lot about Python. But, I wasn't in any mood to learn a “scripting language”. I am embarrassed to admit that I thought scripting languages like Perl/Python were for kids not real programmers. Also, I hated scripting ever since my undergrad Unix course where I had to write ugly looking, error prone shell scripts.
I started learning Python just to try a book I downloaded - “A Byte of Python” by Swaroop. After reading a few chapters, I was quite impressed. Python worked for me perfectly. Unlike most people, I loved the concept of whitespaces for code blocks. In my belief, It's the perfect way to force people to indent their code.
Also, I am mostly able to write error free Python code in the first go. I don't know whether it's common but I almost always encounter errors on first compile/run in my C++ programs.
Now, after finishing the book, I love Python so much that I have decided to write all new programs in Python. Currently, I am writing a Matrix class to allow matrix manipulation like Matlab. After this, I'll start wxWindows (a GUI Toolkit) and Python Imaging Library.
I must say, If you love (or used to love) programming, give Python a try. It'll remind you of the reason you loved programming originally.
Today, I switched from MS Office XP to OpenOffice 2.0. I installed OpenOffice just for fun but it turned out so good that I decided to switch permanently. The best feature is the flawless 'Export as PDF' option. I used PDF Creator to do this but that is too slow and buggy.
Also, I have decided to switch to Wordpress for my blog and website. The basics are already in place. I bought ChiragGupta.com from Yahoo at $6 for 3 years. Isn't that dirt cheap!! Also I got free 100 MB Linux web space courtesy AIPPG and Dr. Mutha. Thanks a lot again, Sir. Now as soon as I find a good theme I'll start the shifting process.
Lastly, I am planning to switch to del.icio.us from furl. Two reasons for this one.
First, when I heard Yahoo is buying it and when I checked it out again and found that it works great now. Last time, I chose furl over it because I found it better.
Second, today only I realized that it spells delicious! Now isn't that a great name for a bookmark manager.
My first semester at IIT Roorkee is finally over. The result is out and I got 8.36/10 and I am quite happy with myself because this arguably is the first time I studied decently for exams.
I must say at IIT exams are very different from my undergrad institute. There, unlike here, exams were quite fun. We mostly had open book exams with a few design questions which meant I never studied for exams :-D.
But that also meant I never studied any course book at all. All my knowledge was (and sadly is) limited to what I heard in lectures or read casually (out of interest) from Internet. I guess such exams are best for places like MIT/Stanford or for PG/PhD students who have gone through their course books thoroughly and are interested applying the knowledge to practical applications. For UG students it's best to have theory exams so that they at least read there course books properly once.
Anyways it's better late than never. Now I always make a serious attempt to read my course books whether I am interested or not. And I think it is working out well!
