Monday, August 29, 2011

Systemic disorders and juvenile instincts

As I am going through different content being published about Anna's movement, I am observing a peculiar attitude with highly informed and networked groups of people. Lack of moderation on social media in developing countries like india is instilling systemic disorder and juvenile delinquency in these groups.

Though number of people involved in these groups my not be so high, intensity of this disorder could be quite alarming. These groups got exuberant communication skills but due to juvenile instincts they get latched onto unavailing discussions. They get so much so involved with their incessant discussions they actually fall into the trap of  becoming perverse.  Now when you bring them to a table together with others they start feeling themselves as aliens. As I said, numbers may not be so high but the intensity is quite alarming. 

These groups attract teenagers instantly as everything revolves around bashing something that is popular so as to reward themselves as smarter than popular ones.  Actually they get caught in that illusion. But the amount of time they spend and the intensity with which they dissolve themselves in those illusions leads to dangerous systemic disorder. Now I suspect, what we are observing in UK today could be traced back to some sort of disorder of this nature. Repercussions could be completely different but the extent of ability to create harm could be same. Of course I am not a qualified psycho analyst or a seasoned speaker on the subject but I am sensing along these lines. Really hoping for some competent authority to study on this aspect and disprove me. 

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Is ballot process immutable?

Those who agitate against a misconducting priest are not against GOD. Indian constitution is devine, no one is objecting it's greatness. But what to do when priest is misconducting? Unfortunately constitution with its divinity and parliament as sacred legislative house cannot themselves offer governance to any society. There got be a functional government made up of competent people, capable of being representative as well as authoritative to uphold traditions of a particular parliamentary system. 

And the process of selecting such competent people is crucial to make this system work for any society. Such process can't be mere a competency assessment test or proportional representation. First of all this got to be peaceful and then workable, innovative and above of all mutable. Democracy suggests majority vote as one of the mechanisms through which this process can be exercised peacefully. Founding fathers of our nation suggested a workable solution in the form of a ballot which in fact was a popular form of practice prevailed at that time. And in last 60+ years the only improvement we could do is to convert a paper ballet to an electronic one. But we somehow caught in an impression that this process is immutable. Voting system can't be the only possible solution for this process.

Current day advances in network technology can offer more practical solutions for this problem. And the scope of the solution need not limit to electing but could also include selecting the candidates for election. And how can we make selection of a candidate a continuous process and election a periodic process say once in every 5 years?

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Where were these maestros?

Now a days I am getting to know about so many people who are suggesting far superior methods than what Anna is following to fight against corruption in this country.

I don't know that there are so many knowledgeable people in this country who can suggest about intelligent ways to fight against corruption.

But it is quite unfortunate that I could hear and rather know about them only when a 70+ year old man makes a so called dangerous move.

Yesterday, few fellow country men, under the influence of alcohol, came to Ramlila ground and tried to create ruckus. Police came and took them away. I have high respect for them because they had to consume alcohol to behave abnormally. As influence of alcohol lasts for only few hours. I have no concern getting along those fellow citizens as soon as they come out of that influence. 

But I am highly afraid about these intellectual maestros who don't need to consume anything to be abnormal. And there is no hope that they will ever come out of an influence which makes them feel that they can do better than anybody else in this country. Dear friends though I admire your courage and confidence towards that supremacy, I would humbly request you to take that first step towards making yourself acceptable by being dignified when presenting views about fellow countrymen who are also trying to do good for this country at their capacity. May be the methods may not sound reasonable to you, but I hope there is no difference of opinion on objective. 

When you goto Palika bazar and ask for price of a picture, seller may quote 2000. And you may negotiate for 300. Deal could satisfy either party. It happens indeed. What I meant to say is quoting 2000 may sound stupid, but as a seller he/she knows what makes a negotiator happy. When you deal with government you would indeed place riders which govt. want to negotiate so that the middle ground becomes reasonable for either party. Of course if you are a habituated buyer in showrooms you wouldn't have come across such experiences.

But is this the way we want our systems to be forever? Of course no, but let every fellow countrymen make some way ahead to their capacity.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Who owns civil society?

Don't know who owns civil society? Problem lies with media refering any group of civilians as civil society. Looks like media must draft a guideline on eligibility to mention any group as civil society by consulting experts like Aruna Roy, Arundhati Roy etc..

If thy are all fighting for better society, don't they have some diligence that soldiers follow. Fight headon with points of conflict on subject of discussion which in this case is a bill. Why make provocative statements about methods and modus operandi? Let people exercise their freedom and do what they deem appropriate for a situation as long as it is peaceful and non-violent.

It's completely inappropriate to label Anna's movement as a dangerous phenomenon breeding impatience in the youth of this country. Anyway no need to substantiate that, as readers can distinguish it obviously.

Now I don't know if I would get classified as mass, though I have no concern over it, if I say that I don't mind supporting any cause that makes this country better including Anna's movement. Tomorrow if anyone else asks me to support their form of fight, either in the form of a movement or discussion or whatever that could be, I would support it if I see a clear benefit for this country. For that matter I would do so for every other cause to the extent feasible for me.

Everyone got their freedom of speech, but as a soldier fight with spirit against enemy, which in this case is corruption, rather than a tool and method used by other soldiers. Everyone cannot afford sophisticated ammunition, but if a latti is handy, what is wrong if anyone chooses to defend the community using a latti? Do you say they are not defending community and they can not claim themselves as community?

Saturday, August 06, 2011

Checking for integer ranges - C# to C

I had tough time explaining what should be the correct mechanism for checking integer range for a developer coming from C# to C.

Intention is to check a value within the range of 0 to 4. Anything less than 0 and above four is invalid.

Expression written is

((http_method > -1) && (http_method < 5))

I wrote a review comment to change expression as

(Method >= 0) && (Method <= 4))

Comment is not accepted and led to a discussion, rather argument.

I said I have a problem with first part of expression

(http_method > -1)

The '-1' could be tricky depending upon type of http_method.

And in this case http_method is unsigned int and returned false even for correct range.

It took a while to explain the expression is invalid.

Though C# has an 'uint' type, an 'int' would suffice the need in most of the scenarios.

So using correct data type is one part of it. Also when it comes to checking ranges it is always recommended to check inclusive ranges rather than outer ranges. One simple reason for that is test cases. Test cases with inclusive range are considered as positive test cases and boundary range are considered as negative test cases.

Technically there is no binding to follow inclusive range check. But it is a good convention to follow.

Changing diff/merge tool

I have been using Winmerge for years. Never expected that I would find any limitation with it. But it is failing to show diff view of c file modification in git repository with tortoise front end.

Moving to DiffMerge from SourceGear.

Though licensing is not so encouraging, it is a proving to be a good choice.

Shell integration is neat. No noise in diff view. Advantage with reference view and edited view.

So far so good.