k_nitin_r

Hi!I was just wondering - how do all of you demonstrate leadership at the work place?I work with a firm as a software specialist so I advise them about software development technologies and try to influence them as they pick one technology over another, despite their stubborn refusal to go beyond what marketing teams pitch to them. What I do is get a buy-in from the developers to use a different technology and once they're on-board, I get the idea across to team leads and have them send a software requisition for the firm to buy licenses, tools etc. In my experience, having developers who are more than willing to start up argument to defend their existing technologies is just the first barrier along the way.What I do is more of a research job, though I'm expected to do some prototyping and some hands-on work when there's a deadline and they can't find the people with the skills required on a project.I'm curious about how people in other industries, as well as in other I.T. jobs, demonstrate their leadership skills.Regards,Nitin

Hi! An alternative approach that simply involves adding in HTML comments is to use server-side includes. Different web server vendors may implement it differently, but with Apache's mod_include module, you simply have to insert something like this: <!--#include virtual="otherfile.html" -->in your main file. It will 'merge' the files, making them appear as a single file to the end user. You can also use this approach to develop standardized templates for displaying the header, footer, and navigation menu on the page so you do not have to change it on every page of your website if you do decide to change them - they could all reside in just one file with the web server putting them together whenever a user requests for the web page. I haven't looked into server-side includes in Microsoft Internet Information Service (IIS) yet so I can't tell you how to do it in IIS but you can install Apache on Windows too as Apache works on pretty much every major platform (Windows, Linux, MacOS, BSD). Alternatively, you can use PHP. The advantage of using PHP is that you aren't tied to a particular vendor, such as IIS or Apache, since you can install PHP as a module to work with either IIS or PHP. However, you would probably have to deal with security issues if your PHP scripts get complicated. Less software is usually better on servers as you have fewer security issues to deal with. Regards

Hi!First off, let me explain that JAR files are simply ZIP archive files containing a manifest (i.e. information about the contents... think of it as metadata) and Java class files and other resources. To start a JAR archive, you can either run a Java class file within the archive within a command-line environment or create a batch file. A batch file is essentially just a file containing the commands that you type within the command-line environment saved in a file ending with a .bat file extension. You could also use third party utilities to create a launcher for your application, which essentially packages it as an executable file ending. For Windows, this would mean you will have a .EXE file. Third party utilities can do a lot for you, right from packaging the Java Runtime Environment into the setup to having the setup download the Java Runtime Environment off the Java section of the Sun Microsystems website. They can create shortcuts in the Program Files Start menu and on the desktop. It essentially makes your application look like a traditional Windows application.There's a lot that you can do with batch files, such as displaying a menu for the user to select a set of commands, or to enable a user to type command-line parameters when executing the batch file via the command-line environment but most people today simply use it to execute pre-defined command-line statements sequentially. I remember doing quite a bit of stuff in the MS DOS age with batch files instead of having to code it into C or C++ simply because I didn't have to re-compile if I made a change in the batch file.I don't really know what you mean when you say that the game will run off a double click when you delete the .dat files. Doesn't the game normally run when you double-click on the batch file? Or do you simply mean you want the high scores to be cleared when you delete the .dat file? That question isn't really very clear so it would help if you could elucidate more upon how you would like your program to behave on deleting the .dat file containing the high scores.When you give the JAR file to your teacher as an assignment deliverable, you would also want to provide instructions, such as the command-line to type to start up the program. What he/she needs is simple the name of the class containing the main method (program entry-point) to begin execution. I doubt he/she would be capable as a teacher if he/she didn't know how to execute a JAR file, so you simply need to provide the name of the main class along with the namespace.Regards,Nitin ReddyPS: Rename a JAR file to a ZIP file and double-click on it. You'll see that there is a lot less to JAR files than you think!

There's one misconception that I have to address when it comes to the iPod - you really can put on whatever music or video you've already got (as long as iTunes supports the format). If you buy something from the iTunes store, you're probably stuck with the DRM music but for regular MP3s or videos, you can use iTunes to copy the files across. iTunes probably handles the conversion when synchronizing with the iPod.

Hi!@chassidydawnnI think the idea of having a wolf as a pet is kinda cool. Wolves look very pretty and it would be nice to have them around.I would advise extreme caution when dealing with wolves because they are harder to domesticate and can be unpredictable. Also, if a wolf has been bred in captivity, you may not be able to set it off into the wild due to its upbringing. In some parts of the world, keeping wolves as pets is illegal so you might want to make sure what you are doing is completely legal, both in the place you are currently living in, and in any place you might want to move to in future.@iGuestI completely agree with you that when a person gets a pet, he/she should be prepared to keep it for life. Abandoned pets lack the survival skills that a wild animal should have, due to being bred in 'captivity'. Many animal care organizations also suggest people avoid feeding stray animals because when they move away, the animals wouldn't have the foraging or hunting skills needed for survival.-Nitin

Hi!My username is simply my name with my initials. It's quite easy to get without having to add my birth date, the current year, or any other suffixes.I didn't know Schnauzer was a dog breed, but I did hear about Skye Terriers.I always asked people why they picked their email addresses. I had a classmate a long time ago who would always pick words that were opposites, like "hoticicle" or "blackmoon"... an icicle is never hot, and the moon is never black. He always managed to get the usernames he picked as most people would think of such names.-Nitin

Hi!@chrismiller3404You can be whoever you choose to be. A podiatrist is as good a health practitioner as an orthopediatrician or opthalmologist - they are equals, although neurologists tend to be more "equal" than the lot :-PThere are so many little bones in the feet and we put all of our weight on them so although a foot looks rather like an overgrown fat ear lobe, there's a lot more that can go wrong, even if it is as simple as a flat foot.Some people don't see themselves ever becoming podiatrists because they think about smelly feet. If you get your patients to wear the right kind of socks and shoes, it isn't something you have to worry about.-Nitin

Hi!I've noticed that Microsoft Office has been better than the open-source offerings till Office 2007. Ever since Office 2003 was phased out, I've been having problems with Word 2007 updating the screen. I finally got off the Microsoft boat and am using OpenOffice. I might switch to AbiWord for want of something more responsive and quicker.If you are sharing files with somebody who uses Microsoft Office, they wouldn't be able to view your documents correctly although OpenOffice does save in "MS Office format". The MS Office compatibility is probably not a high priority issue for the OpenOffice developers because OpenOffice is free and it is available on all major platforms, including Microsoft Windows. It isn't really that hard to download and install OpenOffice to view files that are in OpenOffice format - if somebody does tell you it is, they are just plain lazy.The format wars aren't going to make life any easier than it already is. With Microsoft trying to promote open document standards and incorporating support for OpenOffice formats, they are now working toward building a better product rather than building a stronger monopoly.Regards

Hi!The cash for clunkers program may be for the environment more than for the economy. The government only pays if the new car is more fuel efficient than the old one, so if you?re planning to trade in a sedan to buy an SUV, the offer doesn?t hold good. Getting people to convert from an old SUV or minivan to a sedan is probably what they hope to achieve through the program. Most people do not have much faith in the program because people are using this as an opportunity to trade-in the family?s second car, which is ageing and isn?t really used much except as a spare car so by having another new car in the family that doesn?t break down, you?ve just added another car onto the roads. Perhaps this isn?t the case, but that?s what the paper is reporting.Many of the cars that are supposed to end up at the salvage yards are missing though. They?re being smuggled into African and Asian countries where they?ll be refurbished as sold as second hand cars. This is exactly the kind of thing that the government should have a check on because having an old fuel guzzler off the streets was one part of their goal, but having it back on the roads in another part of the world would counter the benefits. Having an old can scrapped for parts won?t help much either because most people wouldn?t have second hand spares put into their cars, especially not those that they use to commute everyday. Crushing old cars does seem like it?s going a little toward the extreme. Perhaps they ought to simply give the cars new engines or perhaps even electric/hybrid engines to get them back on the streets. It beats having to melt it, re-process it, and have the car built all over again ? all of that needs more energy, far more of a burden than we can afford with the current pollution levels.I'm not all for selling off an old car that runs perfectly well, but it's the ones that emit smoke and lose their efficiency that ought to be traded in for something that doesn't put much fuel to waste.

Hi!@miladinoskiIf you've used the FTP access to install the plugins, you should be able to log in via an FTP client, such as CuteFTP, CoreFTP or FileZilla! and delete the file, just as you would in Windows Explorer. Either that, or you could use akashi's suggestion and install the filemanager plugin.Regards

Hi!@hajjMeebo works both ways. Either you can sign up with Meebo to remember all your passwords, or you can sign into your messengers with your IM password without registering with Meebo first. It's quite flexible, but it only supports text-chat i.e. you can't use Meebo for voice or video conferencing.Either way, it's a pretty neat alternative to having to install all the IM messengers whenever I use a different computer.Regards,Nitin Reddy

Number three (3) might be from the inspector gadget cartoon. I'm not sure, since that was well over a decade and a half ago. I can't remember number two (2) but from the mention of the sewer, I think it might be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's just a wild guess, though I don't remember ever seeing that quote. Number one (1) seems very familiar but I guess it's because it's been used several times. I think "Remind me to kill you later" was in a Sylvester Stallone film too. -Nitin

Hi!Yes, life changing responsibilities change things.... and so does getting a pet. I was on holiday and although there was a computer right there in front of me, I found the dog to be much more fun. Then, when the holiday ended and I was back home, I was back to the computer and back at gaming. I've had an on-again off-again thing with gaming. I've just about stopped gaming entirely when a co-worker gives me his discs saying, "Please, take them off my hands! I can't do anything productive while they are around me." Now comes the really hard part of self-control versus temptation.I know a couple of people who only play games in a particular genre and when there aren't any new releases, they go into self-imposed gaming-exile. Then, there are others who only play against human players and when there's no one else around to play with, they quit gaming till they find someone again.Regards,Nitin Reddy

Hi!You're probably experiencing a common problem that most wireless users face. I've got a Siemens Gigaset wireless router and I occasionally (up to 6 times a day) have to turn off the router and turn it on again when it drops the wireless connection. Wired connections work just fine though.I've noticed a slightly different problem with a 3COM wireless router... when I got an old HP laptop with a specific wireless driver to connect to the 3COM wireless router, it would go down completely (both wireless and wired) as soon as the laptop starts connecting (i.e. it never gets connected but always manages to crash the router when I turn on the wireless). Installing a new driver fixed the problem.Regards,Nitin Reddy

Hi!When I read the title of the post, I thought you might be discussing the effects of war or about recent wars that we've had :-).WAR files are simply packages containing web applications. Think of them as .ZIP files with a README. A .WAR file typically contains JSP pages, servlets, Java classes, images and other resources. It is essentially the same as a .JAR (Java Archive) file except that it serves as a container for a different type of content.Deployment of web applications on an application server is vendor-specific. We can't tell you how to do it unless we know what you are using. If you do not have an application server, you ought to download/buy and install one.Regards,Nitin Reddy

Hi!@sandeep95For web design, I'd say you could start off with an HTML editor, an graphic design software, and an FTP client. You could use a plain text editor instead of an HTML editor, but you would find it very time-consuming in the long-run. Also, you might want to buy some tools that can quickly create buttons, 3D text, or even entire website layouts. In addition, you might need some tools to create animation (either 2D or 3D).When starting off a business, you might want to buy popular products as you can find staff skilled in their use more easily. For example, when you use the following set of tools, you could put up an advertisement for job vacancies and you'd get LOTS of responses to your ad:HTML editor - Adobe Dreamweaver, Microsoft FrontpageGraphic design - Adobe PhotoshopFTP client - CuteFTPIf you decide to go with free alternatives, you might even end up with better products but you wouldn't find as many people proficient at using them.Regards

Hi!When Yahoo users get messages from MSN, and when MSN users get messages from Yahoo, you don't get the benefits of the messenger-specific features. For example, Yahoo users can't send audibles to MSN users, and MSN users can't send their audible-equivalents to Yahoo users. It's why I run both messengers on my home computer. When running Linux, however, Yahoo has a very old version of the messenger which provides pretty much the same featureset as Pidgin/Meebo, while GoogleTalk and MSN don't provide any Linux clients so using Pidgin/Meebo is good enough.-Nitin

Hi!I use Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and GoogleTalk. I've got friends distributed over all three so I use Meebo.com to access all of them from a single web messenger. I sometimes use the messenger integrated with GMail and Yahoo! Mail but, unfortunately, Hotmail doesn't have an integrated Windows Live Messenger yet leaving it tied to Meebo.I rarely install the IM software though.I've tried Trillian too and noticed its features only work with other Trillian users and it can't provide vendor-specific features, such as Audibles for Yahoo!Pidgin has the buddy pounce feature that I used to annoy my buddies. It can send a message automatically on a particular trigger Eg. Buddy comes online, goes offline, or starts typing.Regards

Hi! @anwii Google Wave is Google's view of how email would've been had it been invented today instead of decades ago. It feels like email and chat combined. It's still a little buggy, but it's a pretty good service. Your URL contains an extra 's'. The actual URL is: https://support.google.com/answer/1083134?hl=en There's a video on the Google Wave website and although it's quite looong, it'll give you a pretty good idea about the Google Wave. It will seem so much like GMail with the integrated GTalk though there are some pretty neat enhancements to it. @delivi, @ashbash I haven't got access to it either :-( I guess I'll just have to wait till it comes out of closed beta. Regards

Hi Mahesh!Thanks for the links to Launch4J and Jsmooth. I never realised we've got open-source products that can create native Windows executables. I guess it's a sign that I've been out of Java development for wayyy too long. I also liked the article titled Java-2-Exe. It makes for an interesting read.Regards,Nitin Reddy

Hi! @kasperooney Yeah, that's happened to me several times. I still have no idea what my ATM card number is but I always walk out with the cash and the card. Either my fingers do the thinking or I should be worried about where I keep my lunch money or it could be me holding up the sign "Will code HTML for food": http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ It's a lot like the time I can remember a face but can't remember the name. @anwii As is the case with passwords, I remember you 'cos of your avatar and not 'cos of your name. You're the SEO expert who wrote about how you got a forum post complaining about Dish TV (or something similarly named) onto the top of Google's search results!!! Oh, and the password length is still up there in the thread! Let's get out the password hackers, type in the length to reduce the domain of possible values, and... (just kidding) Regards, Nitin Reddy

Hi!@mm22I believe the beeping and visual appearance adds dramatic effect.Think about it this way - would you rather watch a hamlet play with the lead actor wearing a suit and a tie, or would you rather have him dress up in the medieval attire... whatever it was with 3/4th trousers, knee-length socks, berets with feathers, and shirts with fluffy shoulders.In real life, time and money matter a lot so people get along just fine with simple-looking applications. You wouldn't see a 3D rotating head in a database of criminals, for example... perhaps just a mugshot... front and side view. There are instances where organizations do spend heavily on the appearance of computer systems. For example, in pilot training, you would expect a flight simulator to look and feel like an actual aircraft and not a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator with a keyboard, mouse and joystick. Similarly, in military planning, the military tries to give its personnel as clear a picture as possible by creating 3D models to ensure that the margin for error is minimized. Unless the need for something of the sort is highly critical (or there's an entertainment value that can be monetized), you shouldn't expect to see it in the real world.Regards

Hi!@tinoymalayilA stored procedure is simply a sequence of SQL statements that are put together in a package located on the database server. The benefit of using stored procedures are: (i) modifying the behavior requires a simple re-creation (drop/create or replace) of the stored procedure with no change to the application therefore eliminating the need for compilation (ii) you can handle some operations at the database level without having to send the data all the way back to the application server reducing network traffic and improving system response time (iii) you can secure your database better by assigning privileges on the stored procedure instead of on the tables and views that are queried by the stored procedure (iv) you can create pre-defined reports as stored procedures if they are too complex to be created as views (v) they can be used as a standardized interface to access the database (vi) you can use them as functions on ORM entity classes instead of having to code in the functionality against the ORM entity classes, sometimes leading to better-optimized codeDepending on which database you are using the stored procedure language would vary. Microsoft's SQL Server uses T-SQL. As Sybase developed the engine for the earlier versions of Microsoft SQL Server, it too uses T-SQL although you would find some variations that both Sybase and Microsoft have added over the years. Oracle uses PL/SQL though you can also write stored procedures in Java.A recent (over roughly the past half decade) development that many database vendors (Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, IBM DB/2) have been featuring is the ability to create stored procedures using .NET, just as Oracle has been supporting the creation of stored procedures with Java.There's quite a bit that you can do with stored procedures. For example, if you wanted to send an email whenever a database row is updated, you can create a trigger (a special form of stored procedures) to call a database mail function. You can also track changes to database rows by storing a copy of the old and new values.Regards,Nitin Reddy

Hi!@tinoymalayilYou could create a batch file or use a WSH script to create an installer. You'll have to give the customer a copy of the Java Runtime Environment too. It's simple and cost-effective!You might want to try using Java Web Start which makes the installation process simpler in many cases.There are proprietary solutions for making a Java application appear to be the same as a native Windows application, but that's commercial software and you will have to purchase software licenses.Regards

Hi!@tinoymalayilOpen-source software is source code that you can use in developing your own software.Think of it as an automobile. Peugeot sells cars, but it also makes the parts available to other manufacturers. Suzuki buys engines from Peugeot and builds its own cars. (This is just an analogy and not an example of open-source)The difference that open-source software has from commercial software is that you don't have to pay to receive the software. You might have to pay for the distribution medium (cost of a blank CD, printing a label on the CD) but not for the software itself.Open-source hardware involves giving away the design for free so you can use the design to build your own replicas or variants.Sometimes, open-source licenses require you to keep your software open-source too (there is some use that is permitted) so if you're building commercial software, you would want to ensure that you read the terms of the license carefully.Regards