I'm here for you in 2020

Here we are again, then. At the edge of an annual passage. To the new year, ahoy! To 2020!

A couple of questions, though. Are we celebrating? For real? If not, then what's all the hubba hubba about? If yes, then what exactly are we celebrating?

Usually this time of the year we wish each other well, we pray for our friends, we resolve to help them succeed in the coming year, and we celebrate the fact that we will succeed together. 

Right now, though, how many of us are really thinking about our friends? How many of us have really wished our friends well? How many of us have told our friends that we'll be there for them? How many of us have resolved to help our friends achieve their dreams in the coming year?

I'm safely assuming not many. These days everyone seems to think only about themselves. Nobody thinks about friends. They're not at fault, of course, because they're pressured by our current political system to worry only about themselves and their family. So they're not morally ready to wish anybody else. Sad.

I told my friend that I care, that I'm here if she needs me. And I meant every word of it. So I know what I'm celebrating right now. And I'm proud of it. 

I don't care what our politicians think, they're idiots.

Happy 2020 to all my friends, I'm here for you guys and gals. Just a call away.

Mexican Army Proverbs

Some of the best Mexican army proverbs I've heard:

They tried to bury us; they didn't know we were seeds.

There's no worse struggle than one that never begins. (In chess we know this as the threat is more potent than the execution).

The brave only lives as long as the coward lets him.

The right time to dine is: for the rich man, when he's hungry; for the poor man, when he has something to eat.

There's no deaf man whose than the man who doesn't want to listen.

Wounds from the knife are healed, but not those from the tongue.

Movie Review: Bell Bottom (Kannada)

Watched the movie on recommendation from a colleague who said it was a "detective movie" . 

I give it 4/10. And that's because I want to encourage the actors.

It was a comedy in parts, which is why it was watchable, but there was nothing "detective" about it. In fact, it was brainless rubbish, plus brainless love story, plus brainless emotions.

The acting was good enough considering the lousy plot and story. I think the actors deserve much better.

Wish people don't recommend such rubbish. My time is valuable.

Movie Review: Missing on a weekend.

Here's the latest movie I enjoyed...

Star cast is not famous, but its a good story... And specially the guy playing the cop has acted very well.

These real artists deserve to be famous more than the idiots who play superheroes today.

https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0NYJNCXSAOE1MZAIB2I2HTQG9T/ref=atv_wtlp_wtl_5

Introducing FACT

Introducing, and announcing the readiness of the FACT protocol franework for software developers.

FACT is Franework for Application Communication via TCP.. It is a messaging protocol that wraps around TCP,, and acts as an agent between applications that need to communicate via request/response, and subscription/broadcast mechanisms.

Applications that use FACT need not bother with TCP communication, or with interprocess or network communication; FACT does all that work. They can access remote resources just as simply as they would access a locally available resource: a simple method call, and simple callback handlers.

With all their IT experience, most serious developers are able to develop backend and desktop applications with or without RDBMS support. Communication between sub-processes or with the presentation layer will no more be a challenge if they develop around FACT. All they need to do is exchange a FACT API with the relevant teams, and their applications can integrate seamlessly as long as everyone adheres to the simple protocol of FACT.

Get in touch for more information.

Funny stuff.

Well, there was no war. The opponent showed some respect, so there was no reason to fight.

The trouble wasn't the opponent. The trouble was the people who took advantage of the opponent. All I had to do was be my straightforward self, and their attack fizzed out.

Going Easy on the Eyes

Keeping in harmony with my longing for dark themes in applications and apps that I use, it is only fair to my readers that I apply a dark velvety theme to my blog. If you notice that the text color of any of the old posts conflicts with the new background, please bring it to my notice via the comments or mail, and I shall fix them.

On a related note, wish MS had not removed the option of customizing the thematic windows colors in Windows 8. Now that I have most applications working with a dark theme that is easy on the eyes, having to switch back to see a prickly white Windows Explorer or another system window that cannot be customized is just plain annoying.

Update: An Opportunity to Teach

The classes have gone pretty well. I've rediscovered the trainer in me. Perhaps that is why I have promised my participants one more, final session on the coming Thursday, March 14, 2019. That's when I'll be introducing them to some advanced concepts.

I'll talk at length about Reflection in .NET, and provide them with a sample program to demonstrate its use.

Finally, I'll talk about dynamism -- the ability to dynamically create, compile and execute programs at runtime. In layman terms, the ability to make your program write and run another program on the fly! I've decided to discuss this only because I know these trainees may well be expected to use the concepts in their project. And while I'd have loved to provide them samples, I've been told not to.

Of course, they need to learn, discover and implement some things for themselves. That's when they would really learn, enjoy developing, and gain from the experience.

If they really walk that path, and ever hit a dead-end, all they have to do is turn around, and they'll see me. And if they've really done their homework, I'll propel them around the wall as best as I can.

An Opportunity to Teach

Over the last few days I've been basking in the warmth of a unique opportunity extended to me: training new recruits in a programming language I've come to love.

I call it a unique opportunity not because it is a novelty for me. In fact, I've been a corporate trainer for quite some time in my IT career since 1996, when I was also a consulting developer. I've also trained students, who came out fresh from varsities, in practical nuances that their scholastic syllabus hardly addressed.

I call it a unique opportunity only because this is the first time my current employers (from 2005) have ever asked me to take some time out of my otherwise hectic yet monotonous schedule to officially train four new recruits fresh out of their varsity, in a programming language I've recently taught myself and come to love.

Over the last week, I've really enjoyed myself teaching, preparing notes, and creating fully functional sample programmes to support my lessons.

I'm glad I took this opportunity when it came, and I'm glad I made the effort I did, because it has helped me as much as it may have helped my students. For one, it has given me time to reconcile and consolidate my knowledge.

I only hope that my current students have been enjoying the classes as much as I've been enjoying preparing for them. I hope they take home more than just knowledge, I hope they take home my experience. And I hope they use it to their benefit.