Category: Uncategorized

I’m not trying to curse myself or anything, but this thought occurred to me today. I think that C will outlive all of us, and definitely outlive me. This came to me as I was watching Iron Man 2. In it, Howard Stark left Tony a legacy encoded in the structure of his creations, which Tony was able to decode. Now, I thought what language would be useful in encoding stuff that we leave behind – and I thought C.

You see, while there have been many computer languages invented over the years, the ubiquitousness of C has sort of ensured that it survived every other language. Many others have come and gone while C has remained. If we were to leave Java software behind, who knows if future computers and people would be able to decipher it or even run it. But I do think that future computers and people will still be able to read and decipher C for a long time to come.

That is not to say that the C today will be exactly the same as the C tomorrow. Just like natural languages, C will evolve with time.

I recently read a comment on how high academic achievers make better developers and I have to totally support the comments made. While others may argue that CGPA does not mean anything, I dare tell you that the people who make this argument are probably people who did not excel at school. That’s why they down play the importance of using CGPA as a measure.

While I will agree that CGPA is not useful as an absolute measure, I will say again that it is very useful as a relative measure. A high CGPA tells me just one thing about that person – that the person is obsessed. I may not know what the person is obsessed with, but I know that the person has desire, passion and love for something – whatever that may be.

It is not a measure of intelligence nor is it a measure of skill but it is a measure of someone who cares enough for something to actually bother to take an effort to excel at it. Now, those are characteristics that money cannot buy.

Personally, when I do my hiring, I actively look at the CGPA. I will not consider anyone who has a CGPA of less than 3.5 at all. It is a very useful cut-off point to use. While I may miss out on some real savants, I do not need geniuses who are unable to put their focus on achieving real-world measurable results. It is also a very objective filter to apply.

Of course, different schools have different levels of difficulty. So, it might be easier to say, get a 4.0 in a certain school than another. That is why I said that CGPA is a good relative measure, not an absolute one. They cannot be compared directly with each other. However, they are useful for comparing cohorts from the same school.

Finally, while a CGPA is not everything, it is definitely something. I will not just use the CGPA as my hiring yard-stick but I will definitely use it alongside my favourite yard-stick – sample code. Sample code tells me more about a programmer than anything else. It tells me everything that I need to know – coding skills, knowledge, expression, discipline, diligence.

Believe you me, code can really show all that.

As the video below illustrates, Google Chrome is literally: faster than a speeding bullet. Even faster than lightning!

I was at a church last weekend, during both Saturday and Sunday services, to help out with some volunteer work. In addition to my normal gang of volunteers, the church provided us with a number of their own volunteers. So, we had to explain and guide them on how to do the task.

At one point, I told everyone that they had to copy in the address details exactly as shown on the card, no ifs no buts. After that, I noticed that everyone had failed to copy the details exactly. I had to strongly remind people to copy the details exactly. I had already come to expect that, since I understand human nature pretty well and our inability to comprehend and follow simple instructions.

Selangor Darul Ehsan is not the same as Selangor and 19, Jalan SS is not the same as No 19, Jalan SS at all.

I even had to remind them to copy the gender exactly as it says on the card and not to assume that someone is male or female just based on appearance.

I read this random article entitle, “Perkasa demands ‘blue ocean strategy’ for Malays”. After giving it a read, I decided that although I should not be giving a dumb and racist organisation like PERKASA any space on this blog, I had to say something about how dumb they really are. According to the article, PERKASA is asking the government to help out the Malays when it comes to business, in order to even out the economic disparity between them and the other races.

Queue laughter.

The problem is Malays are entering existing markets with little or no support from the government. Existing markets which are dominated by the Chinese are part of a red ocean strategy.

This statement alone speaks volumes on the kind of idiots that are running the organisation. If you want to be an entrepreneur in Malaysia, you have to look beyond our shores. Otherwise, you are just being a jaguh kampung (village champion) and that is not what our dearest PM has called for in his vision for a New Malaysia. We want global champions – Malaysian companies that can compete globally.

Now, once you stick your nose out the window you will see that existing markets are most definitely not dominated by the Chinese. Even the Chinese companies are struggling to fight for their corner of the market. The funny thing about the global marketplace is that it is great at filtering out bullshit like PERKASA. The market is king and whomever makes a good product will win in the end.

I will give PERKASA the same advice that I give any budding entrepreneur who is willing to listen. Go for the niches. When you are small, you cannot afford to play with the big boys. So, go and service the market niches that the big boys have ignored because it is not worth their time to do so. After you build a strong foundation at the niche, you can then broaden your base and intrude upon the market space of others but not a minute before.

In fact, this advice applies just as well to us as a nation and not just for individual entrepreneurs. Malaysians should all come together and carve our niche in this world. We cannot afford to compete with the big countries in the world market. We cannot compete against our neighbours for low-cost labour and we cannot compete against the advanced countries in skills-based labour. Before we disappear into nothingness, lets just focus on trying to attack a niche.

India has cornered the business-process outsourcing niche in IT. China has cornered the low-cost manufacturies. Our government is trying to position Malaysia as a global Islamic finance hub and regional educational hub. Now, there is nothing special about Malaysia that will ensure that these niches stay ours forever so we need to actively work on developing and defending these niches. So, instead of asking our government to help them out, PERKASA should be actively identifying and targeting niche markets where Malaysians can all work together and go into.

There is no reason to fear the Chinese because the world is too big a place for the Chinese to conquer (as much as they would like to do so).

A random thought went through my head today and I asked myself if I found religion or if religion found me. Some people are born into it, some are converted into it while some find it themselves. Since I was not born a Buddhist, I can reject the first possibility, which left the other two possibilities.

After some mulling, I came to the conclusion that I found Buddhism, even if I was first introduced to it as a child by my parents. The reason that I came to this conclusion is because of my character. I was born the way that I am. My kind of personality can never accept any sort of faith-based religion. I was born as a man of science, which explains why I took to this subject so easily as a child. Any friend of mine can tell you that I am a man of logic and rationale.

Therefore, I would have to say that my religion is actually science. However, of the many major religions in the world, the only one that comes close to the logic and rationality of science is Buddhism – it does not ask you to believe anything but actively encourages you to constantly question accepted dogma and to strive towards finding the truth.

In that sense – it appeals to the scientific man in me. I do not need to reconcile what I know versus what I believe in – they are both in-line with the other.

The world is a beautiful place.

Got myself a new toy today – the Acer Aspire Timeline 1810TZ! I decided to buy it from a local Harvey Norman for just two reasons – they accept credit card payments without any surcharge (that is very difficult to find in Malaysian computer stores); and they gave me seven free gifts that include a lock, mouse, USB hub, ear phones, cleaning kit, keyboard protector and fan – basically a whole load of cheap stuff. All this cost me only RM1849 at the end.

I think that it is the best deal that I can get around.

Since the new Kubuntu will only be out tomorrow, I will be spending the weekend installing and setting up the new machine. Then, I will probably put it through the works for about a week before I bring it out with me. I fully intend to push the batteries to the limit to see how long they can really last. It is a Timeline series and that means that it should last about 8-hours on normal use. Just in case, I will turn down the power settings to see if I can push it to 12-hours.

For now, it is just sitting there idle on my old laptop. It has a very glossy finish which means that smudges are everywhere. I will probably need to do something about that at some point, such as getting one of those new fangled laptop skins and sticking it on the cover. Although it comes with a sleeve, I doubt that it will last very long. So, I will be getting a new messenger bag to keep it in. I wonder if they sell them in 11.6″ sizes.

Looking forward to stressing it out!