Anyone who uses windows operating systems will need to know how to optimize their Windows registry, or pay a computer engineer a high price for doing something that is simple if you have the correct software. An advanced registry cleaner and optimizer will get rid of errors in the windows registry which are likely to cause operating problems and help to improve the operation and speed up a slow computer.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Detroit Java User’s Group presentation from Josh Holmes on Application Simplicity.  Walking into the presentation, I, along with most of the people that attended expected the typical UX presentation (keep it simple, stupid! among other common slogans), but I was pleasantly surprised at one of the tangents that we went across.

“If you have to think about how to explain the solution, it is entirely too complex.”

We then went into a great dialog about how you can best arrive to the most simple solution.   One of the things he kept drilling to us was this : If you don’t understand what your code is doing in the background, you can’t write good code.

Today, we live in a world of code-hinting, code-wizards, code cookbooks, and frameworks that write our applications for us.  Far too often I’ve been asked to help debug an application or help solve an issue where the person really has no idea what their code is really doing in the background.  Dragging and dropping a data-grid onto the stage, dragging a database connection to it and publishing the application is great — but can you actually tell me what is happening in the background.  Would you be able to explain why it starts to slow down after running the application was running for 5 minutes?

In the United States we tend to have two camps of people who create applications.  Some people are based in computer science or computer engineering.  These people have taken some sort of formal classes in computer science theory and understand memory management, multi-threaded computing, etc.  The other camp is primarily developers — people who typically don’t have formal CS/CE training, and often will require the use of tools or frameworks to complete their projects.  The difference is either engineering software or developing software.

Do you know what kind of code your tools or frameworks are creating?  How much overhead does storing that variable as a string vs. a boolean have?  How about creating your own class?  How does your framework / language manage CPU cycles when you store large amounts of data?

Just things to think about.  Knowing how your underlying code works, and not just relying on a tool to create your application can help you write better code.  Anybody can use a tool to connect a web page to a database, but not everybody can engineer an application.

Top 10 “Megaregions”

by Richard Florida

From: www.bnet.com (http://www.bnet.com/2403-13070_23-193140.html)

Adapted from “Who’s Your City?: How the Creative Economy Is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life” by Richard Florida.

The core of the U.S. economy is made up of roughly a dozen megaregions that stretch into Canada and, in some cases, Mexico. They generate the great bulk of America’s output, and are increasingly becoming magnets for top talent and jobs.

1. Bos-Wash

Where: Stretches some 500 miles down the East Coast of the U.S. from Boston, through New York, to Washington
Population: 54.3 million
Economy: $2.2 trillion
Leading sectors: Finance, media, biotech
Key creative-class jobs: Computer engineer, fashion designer, investment dealer, lawyer

The Bos-Wash corridor is the world’s second-largest megaregion in terms of economic output — only Greater Tokyo is bigger. Today, it is home to more than 18 percent of all Americans, and its economy is bigger than that of France or the United Kingdom — and it’s more than double the size of India’s or Canada’s. Though broadly based, its economy has considerable specialization and strengths. New York is highly specialized in finance and business services, as well as arts and culture. Boston is known for its biotech industries and education resources.

The region will prevail as one of the most resilient megas. Not only does it contain the seat of U.S. government and banking, it boasts two of the top tech clusters in the world — the Dulles Corridor near Washington, D.C., and Route 128 outside of Boston. In her study of high-tech industry in Silicon Valley and around Route 128, the University of California’s Annalee Saxenian found the superior performance of such clusters turned on the adaptive capabilities of the region’s well-developed networks of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, technologists, and newly minted university talent. Those trends tend to scale in a super-linear fashion.

2. Chi-Pitts

Where: It runs from Pittsburgh and Cleveland through Detroit, Chicago, and Minneapolis
Population: 46 million
Economy: $1.6 trillion
Leading sectors: Manufacturing, transportation, commercial real estate, retail
Key creative-class jobs: Industrial and mechanical engineers, logistics and supply chain managers

The Chi-Pitts megaregion is anchored by America’s “second city,” Chicago, whose economy is larger than Sweden’s. Chicago’s lakefront renaissance — its incredible 20th-century architecture and marvelous refurbished neighborhoods — illustrates how older communities can highlight their own brand of aesthetics. Much of this is due to the efforts of Mayor Richard Daley, who has reached out beyond landmarks like the new Millennium Park and improved lakefront to bolster many of the city’s neighborhoods by refurbishing smaller community parks and gardens, planting trees, installing public art, and adding hand-painted benches and flower beds.

Those visual characteristics are some of the ties that bind talent to affluent communities. In 2000, more than two-thirds of the residents of downtown Chicago held college degrees — levels that are more typically seen in wealthy suburbs.

But this urban core likely will prosper at the expense of many older industrial cities, suburbs, and outlying rural areas in the Chi-Pitts megaregion. The Clevelands and Pittsburghs of the world will find themselves increasingly squeezed between twin pincers as top business functions gravitate to larger regions like Chicago, and production shifts to centers like Shanghai, China.

3. Char-lanta

Where: It runs from Raleigh-Durham, N.C., through Charlotte, N.C., to Atlanta
Population: 22 million
Economy: $730 billion
Leading sectors: Finance, biotech, telecom manufacturing
Key creative-class jobs: Computer systems designer, systems analyst, chief scientist, bioprocessing technician

Think of this mega as a tripod: The regional headquarters center and talent magnet of Atlanta is the main leg, and the other two are made up of the regional financial center in Charlotte and a regional tech center in the North Carolina Research Triangle. Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, and Charlotte have the highest concentration of young residents (between the ages of 25 and 34) in the United States, and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill ranks No. 1 in the country for having the largest percentage of young people with a bachelor’s degree or higher education (45 percent). Looking forward, one can already imagine Chat-lanta and Bos-Wash forming a super-megaregion along the eastern seaboard of the United States, with the territory anchored by New York in the north and Atlanta in the south.

4. SoCal

Where: It runs from Los Angeles, through San Diego, and into Tijuana, Mexico
Population: 21.4 million
Economy: $711 billion
Leading sectors: Entertainment, finance, biotech, digital technology
Key creative-class jobs: Entertainer, agent, CFO, accountant

Los Angeles boasts preeminence in film, entertainment, and popular culture. It is also a major port and a key destination for finance, banking, and technology firms. San Diego adds world-class information technology, telecommunications, and biotechnology. And Tijuana brings one of the world’s largest manufacturing centers, specializing in television, electronics, and high-tech production. This is a powerful combination. The region is one of very few in the world that combines cutting-edge creativity and innovation with the ability to manufacture products in a relatively low-cost environment.

5. Tor-Buff-Chester

Where: It runs from Toronto through Buffalo, N.Y., and Rochester, N.Y.
Population: 22 million
Economy: $530 billion
Leading sectors: Arts, finance, film, information technology
Key creative-class jobs: R&D project manager, investment banker, marketing executive

A more appropriate name for this region might be “Tor-Buff-looMon-tawa,” because this mega stretches much farther than its three anchor cities: from Waterloo and London, Ontario; eastward to Ottawa, Montreal, and Quebec City; and down to Syracuse, N.Y., Ithaca, N.Y., and Utica, N.Y., in the south. It makes this international mega the fifth-largest region in North America and the 12th-largest in the world.

Toronto is a significant economic center with superb universities, leading arts, entertainment, design, and culture industries; it also has what is arguably the most diverse population in the world. Like London, but unlike most major U.S. cities, Toronto offers schools that work, low crime, and safe streets. Unlike London — or New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco — Toronto also remains reasonably affordable, which allows it to retain residents from a wide mix of social and economic classes. Nearby, Waterloo, Ontario, provides a major technology center, housing Research-In-Motion, the “BlackBerry company.” On the U.S. side of the border, Rochester, though losing residents, remains one of the world’s leading centers for opto-electronic and research-intensive companies like Xerox, Kodak, and many of their key suppliers

6. NorCal

Where: It surrounds the San Francisco Bay area, from Silicon Valley in the south to the Napa Valley wine region in the north
Population: 13 million
Economy: $477 billion
Leading sectors: Biotechnology, software, digital content, computer and telecom design, manufacturing
Key creative-class jobs: Venture capitalist, winemaker, software engineer, Web designer

Venture capital is a useful indicator of where high-tech industries cluster. In the first quarter of 2007, three regions — Silicon Valley, San Diego, and greater Boston — accounted for 60 percent of all venture capital investment. More than half of those investments went to Silicon Valley, which commands between 20 and 65 percent of all venture investments in a wide range of high-tech fields. And Silicon Valley shows no signs of slowing down. Despite the costs of doing business in the Valley, high-tech firms continue to flock there, bringing jobs with them. A 2006 Wall Street Journal story titled, “New Hot Spot for High-Tech Firms Is the Old One,” noted the relocations of five companies to Silicon Valley: Mobius Microsystems, a maker of technology that regulates timing pulses in microchips, moved from Detroit; VideoEgg, a Web-video company, and LicketyShip, an Internet firm that facilitates local deliveries, both moved from New Haven, Conn.; Meetro, a maker of mobile social-networking software, shifted from Chicago; and Box.net, an online file-storage and file-sharing site, relocated from Seattle.

The average annual wage for high-tech workers in the Silicon Valley that year was some $50,000 higher than the national average, but the resources offered by the cluster more than offset these costs. “There’s a unique set of resources in Silicon Valley that don’t exist in other places,” Matt Sanchez, one of VideoEgg’s founders, told the Journal. “So if you’re going to build a tech company, this is the place to do it.”

7. SoFlo

Where: The southern half of Florida, which includes Miami, Orlando, and Tampa
Population: 15 million
Economy: $428 billion
Leading sectors: Tourism, health care, trade, real estate development
Key creative-class jobs: Nurse, pharmacist, real estate developer

This mega’s strengths include Miami’s role as a gateway for Latin American banking and investments. It also boasts entertainment and design, with considerable capability in arts and entertainment technology in Orlando, which is also home, of course, to Disney World — a major incubator for pop culture. West Palm Beach is an up-and-coming biotech and marine biology research center. It also boasts one of the country’s two wealthiest metropolitan regions: Naples, Fla. — the other is Silicon Valley. The origin of wealth in those regions is strikingly different: Where wages make up less than 25 percent of income in Naples, they are responsible for more than 90 percent of all income in San Jose, Calif., the center of Silicon Valley. In terms of Florida as a whole, it has been ranked the fastest-growing state in terms of population for several years.

8. Dal-Austin

Where: A substantial economic triangle that encompasses Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, Texas
Population: 10 million
Economy: $370 billion
Leading sectors: Computer and microchip manufacturing, banking, real estate development
Key creative-class jobs: Semi-conductor engineer, financial manager, wind developer

With an $800 million new Toyota truck plant in San Antonio, Daustin is America’s fastest-growing automotive manufacturing center. The region is also home to a growing wind-energy industry, as Texas has now surpassed California as the nation’s top producer of this post-petroleum green technology. But Daustin’s core value-added employment is still concentrated in the chip industry in Austin, which is also home to the world’s largest personal computer-maker, Dell. Roughly 40 percent of the work force in Austin is employed in creative-sector work — four times as many as the national average. But Austin will face increasing competition, not only from Silicon Valley but also from up-and-comers like Bangalore, India; Dublin, Ireland; and Tel Aviv, Israel.

9. Hou-Orleans

Where: The sunbelt that runs from Houston to New Orleans
Population: 10 million
Economy: $332 billion
Leading sectors: Energy, coastal infrastructure development, aerospace, other manufacturing
Key creative-class jobs: Petroleum engineer, geoscientist, civil engineer

The oil sector is a key creative-class employer: More than a third of America’s petroleum engineering jobs are in Houston. It’s also one of the three most affordable major metropolitan regions in the country (alongside Austin and Minneapolis). But oil is a double-edged sword: Houston may not hold a candle to Manhattan in terms of real estate, but rising gas prices are destined to affect the former in worse ways than the latter, simply because New Yorkers are more likely to utilize mass transit than their Texan counterparts. On the upside, Hou-Orleans will have one of the highest surges in the next decade of workers under the age of 25, largely thanks to a boom in the Latino population.

10. Cascadia

Where: It stretches from Medford, Ore., and Portland, Ore., through Seattle, and into Vancouver, British Columbia
Population: 9 million
Economy: $260 billion
Leading sectors: Software, e-commerce, global retail, tourism
Key creative-class jobs: Aerospace and forestry engineer, software developer

Coupled with its historical strength in aerospace manufacturing — local anchor employer, Boeing, earns more export revenues than any other American company — it is also a global center of software and Internet-based industries with companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Real Network. It also is home to leading lifestyle and consumer brands such as Starbucks, Nike, REI, Nordstrom, and Costco. You can see the comparative advantage of high-powered cities like Seattle to older industrial metropolitan regions in the east: The trends for residents with graduate degrees show a similar pattern. In 2004, more than 20 percent of the adult population in Seattle held advanced degrees, compared to 4 percent in Detroit.

Additional reporting by Paul Kaihla.

originally uploaded by Ahmad Al-Junaid

Dr. Abdulhay Yusef of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at King AbdulAziz University wrote the following poem in English.

I am the Muslim Engineer
Qur’an is my Book
Sunnah is my Manual
I perform my duties
Whether daily or annaul.

Allah has guided me
To be a MIslim Engineer
My message is clear
Just to “repair” the world,
And that is why I’m here.

I’m to Glorify My Lord,
With everyway and mode,
Through a machine or a keyboard,
Through data transmission with very high baud,
I know the right way to pave my road,
With such a view, wide and broad,
I’m the Muslim Engineer.

I’m to spread Islam on a plane or in a bus,
Through an interface or data bus,
My message is clear with no fuss.

I’m to draw on every face a nice smile
I’m to reshape the world in a new profile.

Allah is My Lord
Muhammad is His Messenger
I’m working at full load,
I’m the Muslim Challenger

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Ever need power and need it fast? Would you rather not breadboard a power supply when your creative juices are flowing or just want to have a lot available? I haven’t really…but I expect to in the future when I finally have some more time to myself…so I built the one and only DC Power Supply! As far as I can tell, nothing like it exists. Multi-output bench supplies are expensive and “DC Power Strips” all seem to be one voltage…and if you’re working in digital electronics like I do, +15V isn’t really that useful.

Here’s the short version: I created this by gutting out a $7 power strip from Wal-Mart. A carefully selected DC power supply was fitted into the left portion of the power strip to get me +15VDC from +120VAC. The voltage outputs, as shown in the picture, are +15 (straight from the DC supply), +10, +5, +3.3, then two adjustables from +1.25 to about +13. Each of these is connected to a SPDT power switch threaded straight into the gnd plug on the adapter. LEDs serve as indicators when a certain voltage is active. Each output voltage has a stranded wire with a pin header soldered to the end for easy connection to a breadboard. It turned out very nicely.

Want to learn how to make one yourself? Here’s what to do:

Supplies:

• Power strip
• (x6) SPDT switche (I used mini guitar toggle switches with a thread diameter of around 6.5mm or so)
• (x6) LED
• (x2) 1k pots (Keep them as small as possible, I used the 392JB1K)
• (x2) Dial of your choice to go on top of the pots
• A bunch of header pins
• A good length of stranded wire
• (x3) LM2937 (+10, +5, and +3.3 versions – one of each)
• (x2) LM317
• (x5) Heatsinks for your regulators
• Resistors – 1/2 Watt: (x3) 750 ohm, 510 ohm
• Resistors – 1/4 Watt: 240 ohm, 160 ohm, (x2) 110 ohm
• Capacitors: (x5) .1 uF, (x5) 10 uF
• 15 V DC Power Adapter (I used the EPS150080UPS-P5P-KH)
• Other connecting wire
• Hot glue gun/glue
• Semi-opaque paper
• *You may need other supplies – I’ve tried to cover them all but could have missed some

Tools:

• Dremel/Cutting Bit
• Soldering Iron/Solder
• Wire strippers
• Wire cutters

Safety:

• Safety glasses
• Protective gloves

SAFETY NOTE: You will be dismantling a power strip and likely be plugging it in while it is open so you can test your circuit. This is very dangerous and can cause death or serious injury. Take every precaution when handling the live nodes and ideally do not leave them in the open when live at all. Also, don’t cross the wires…the Ghostbusters may be able to get away with it, but real people can’t – I only tripped the breaker once…

Step 1: Plan

Yes, plan what you want to do. It’s unlikely you will do it the exact same way I did…and you probably don’t want to either . Learn from my mistakes! Make some sketches and get an idea of what specifications you need. Do you want to do digital logic only or do you want to do crazy op-amp stuff with negative voltages?

Step 2: Gather Some Supplies

The first thing you need to do is pick up a power strip and a DC power supply. You probably want a larger power strip made of plastic to make things easiest. Mine was made of ABS plastic, which is very soft. You may choose a metal strip, but be prepared to be extra careful…although you could make a VERY nice one enclosed in metal if you do it right. Once you get the power strip, carefully pry it open. Mine didn’t have any screws and so it just took a bit of patience. Make some careful measurements and search for a DC power supply that will fit inside. Don’t plan on having a lot of extra room when you take the casing off your power supply – they don’t build them with a lot of space to spare. My choice adapter was roughty 45×61 mm.

Step 3: Get the Rest of Your Stuff (& breadboard)

If you have a power supply that fits in your power strip, then you’re set to go. Go ahead and order the rest of your parts, then breadboard them. You want to actually be sure your circuit works before you spend all that time putting it together.

Step 4: Dremel Out the Inside of the Power Strip

In order for all of the electronics to fit, you’re going to have to dremel the extra plastic out. I used a simple cutting bit (it was actually a bit too large) and did my best to cut things away. The soft ABS tended to melt and smell, but it wasn’t terrible if I worked quickly. IMPORTANT: Always wear proper safety gear including safety glasses and protective gloves. A dremel is a dangerous tool. I recommend putting the power strip in a vice if possible before cutting so you can control the dremel with two hands.

Partially dremeled out power strip. Oh yeah, it produces a lot of dust, too.

Step 5: Solder Everything Together

At this point it’s really all about putting the electronics in. Technique here is sort of up to you, but I’ll share a few tips.

While it would be a whole lot easier to remove the bulky power cord while you’re working, you probably want to test your work as you go. Try to secure the power strip so it doesn’t move while you work.

As mentioned: test as you go. Finding problems early is key!

I used some nice semi-opaque paper over one of the “eyeholes” on each of the 6 power strip outputs to diffuse the LED. I also placed the LEDs in parallel (physically, not electronically…although both are true) to get a unique “square” light source. (See image below)

If you get the right type of toggle switches they will actually thread nearly perfectly into the ground holes. Mine fit perfectly with no additional support and they are quite sturdy.

Use protoboard if you like. I opted to use air…which was kind of difficult, but it worked out OK. Everything is basically floating around and my power strip is sort of a mishmash of wires soldered together. It worked out OK for me, but you may want to solder a bunch of “units” together. That would actually probably be better…

Before you start putting all the stuff in, figure out where you want your pots to stick out and dremel or drill out some holes for them. This is a lot harder when everything is already together, trust me.

When you run your output wires, use some nice stranded wires. If it’s thin enough that it slides around easily, tie a knot in the end so you don’t pull on your solder joint. I used some coaxial RCA cables I had lying around. I don’t really need coaxial , so  Just used one of the layers. It’s thick, sturdy, and worked quite well. I soldered some pin headers onto the end and secured it with some electrical tape for good measure. This way I can plug them into a breadboard very easily.

Well, that’s it! This is my second DIY project. You may be interested in reading about my

DIY Light-Up Picture Frame

Feel free to leave me a comment if you have any questions, suggestions, critique, etc! Thanks!

Many times over the last few months I have been contacted by laptop users with various hardware faults, mostly the fault is with the with laptop LCD screens. The biggest problem when asked about a cost for a repair is whether or not it is cheaper and quicker for the customer to buy a replacement laptop.

With many new laptops costing less than £300 they are fast becoming disposable items once outside the warranty period. There are also lots of companies offering free laptops to consumers when they purchase other items such as broadband, be it for home use or mobile connectivity.

To repair a faulty laptop it takes time for an engineer to dismantle and diagnose the fault, order the component (which is usually expensive), followed by the time to replace it. The price to carry out this task is either close or more than the actual cost to purchase a replacement laptop.

While IT support is still required for laptops within warranty, it is fast becoming a headache for computer repair companies when dealing with these issues.

So much for a greener environment!

Madhuri Dixit had the world at her feet when she tied the knot with Los Angeles based cardiac surgeon Dr. Sriram Nene at a ceremony in the US. The Dhak-Dhak heroin (actress) preferred to go in for a traditional Maharashtrian Brahmin alliance, with family members consulting horoscopes before going ahead with the match. The wedding ceremony, conducted according to Vedic rites, was held at the Los Angeles residence of Madhuri’s brother Ajit, a computer engineer. the ‘family-only’ event was followed by a symptuous vegetarian lunch of Shrikhand-puri and masale-bhaat

Dorothy Fagan unveils her new book and paintings of Mathews featured in it  including views of New Point, Bethel Beach Preserve and the Piankatank River.  SEE THE PAINTINGS>

Dinner with the Muse: The Yellow Door Cottage is an illustrated romance novel in which two sisters are off for a weekend at a sleepy little Southern village on the river. One is an artist, the other a chip engineer who has recently quit her job and is volunteering at the Center for Literacy in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. They come together in a quaint retro 1960’s cottage for a painting demonstration and exhibit at the local gallery.

Unwittingly, the two unlock the door to their yellow cottage and discover it is the key to creating their dreams. Sitting on the beach, their conversations take flight. Then they watch Dorothy’s painting demostration video and discover how The Yellow Door works. $12.95 ORDER THE BOOK>

I want to be a computer engineer when I earn my degree.  I will use my degree to get a job for a big computer company such as Sony or sun micro systems. I would need to know how to build computers and know the development process of creating and completing a computer project. I would also need to have extremely well round problem solving abilities.

I would have no problem speaking and doing the hands-on work, but the writing of long draw out papers would be a hassle.  I could improve on my reading skills as well, but my math and programming skills are good and will increase with practice very easily. The only major improvement I might need is getting better at problem sovling in a wider perspective.  Doing all of these things would build my skills and make me a better computer engineer allowing me to get a great job.

Note to computer engineers: Go out and beat those communication engineers! We are counting on you.

This isn’t mine (I swear it!). Its an extract of what we can found in the book Computer Networks (p. 570), written by Andrew S. Tanenbaum.

Anyway, would anyone like to join me?

Huah.. tak terasa sudah 3 tahun, aku menuntut ilmu di ITB. Sudah 3 angkatan aku lalui di kampus penuh kenangan ini. Sekarang aku harus menentukan kemana langkah akademis ini kan ku perjuangkan. Sekedar nostalgia, dulu aku ingin memilih jurusan teknik informatika. Kenapa? Karena memang sejak kecil aku memang tergila-gila dengan komputer. Mungkin ini juga salah satu alasan kenapa aku tidak memilih pacaran, ya iyalah…. cinta tertinggi setelah kepada Allah dan Orang tuaku aku persembahkan kepada komputer. Tapi, Allah tak jua mengijinkan nilai TO ku menembus angka sakti itu. Selalu mentok di passing grade teknik elektro. Banyak penasehat yang aku wawancarai. Bagus mana, keukeuh memilih informatika di lembar isian pendaftaran SPMB, atau berpindah ke lain hati, yaitu jurusan elektro. Sampai menjelang hari-hari penentuan, kegundahan hati belum juga tertenangkan. Informatika, atau elektro? Atau, tidak sama sekali? O, tidak. Jangan ambil pilihan yang terakhir….

Barulah hatiku teguh memilih teknik elektro saat ku mengunjungi sendiri situs resmi jurusan ini di itb.ac.id. Satu hal yang membuka mataku. Ternyata di elektro ada sub jurusan Teknik komputernya! Mantab. Tak ada keraguan lagi. Jemari lentikku mulai lincah mengisi lembar pendaftaran spmb. Pilihan satu aku isi dengan kode jurusan Teknik elektro ITB, pilihan dua, aku isi jurusan Teknik Material. Alhamdulillah, tak ada kegundahan lagi pada saat itu. Dan aku telah memuatkan tekad, that this is my destiny. To be a computer engineer!

Kesenangan diterima di pilihan pertama ternyata tidak berlangsung lama. Banyak qodoyya baru menghantuiku di masa-masa dewasaku (cieehhh..). Buku-buku kuliah yang super tebal, berbahasa inggris dan banyak istilah tekniknya sempat membuatku shock. Beda banget sama kehidupan SMA. Di kuliah serba sendiri dan mandiri, jadwal kuliah juga tak seragam di tiap harinya. Kualitas dan cara mengajar dosenpun beragam rupa penampilannya. Tapi alhamdulilah aku bisa cepat beradaptasi dengan kondisi ini.

Sekarang, TU jurusan udah ngumumin tentang KP, alias kerja praktek. Sebuah simulasi. Kita magang kerja di sebuah perusahaan selama 2 bulan, membuat laporan, beradaptasi dengan lingkungan kerja, budaya perusahaan, dan orang-orang yang berbeda latar belakang keilmuannya. Bekal yang lebih dari cukup sebagai persiapan kita kalau nanti akan melamar pekerjaan.

Melamar pekerjaan.

Apakah aku memang akan melamar pekerjaan? Inilah yang menjadi dilemaku saat ini. Aku tak tahu bagaimana masa depanku setelah mendapat titel ST dibelakang namaku. Apakah aku memang akan mengirim surat lamaran pekerjaan ke perusahaan-perusahaan komputer? Sebenarya ada beban tersendiri dalam hatiku jika nanti pada saatnya harus melamar pekerjaan. Aku tak biasa menjadi orang yang disuruh-suruh. Kalau kerja sebagai team sih tidak masalah. Tapi, kalau jadi bawahan yang harus nurut sama atasan? Ih, males banget.

Justru sekarang pikiranku melayang kemana-mana. Kalau aku tidak mau jadi bawahan, maka aku harus membuat perusahaanku sendiri. Lagipula, aku bukan tipe orang yang memperjuangkan sesuatu hanya karena insentif atau gaji. Sampai sekarang aku masih idealis. Artinya, aku mau hidup ini berarti, bukan hanya untuk mencari uang. Seandainya hidup ini tidak harus mencari uang maka aku hanya ingin berdakwah selamanya. Tapi hidup tidak sesimple itu. Aktivis juga harus kaya.

Ada beberapa ide yang nyantol di pikiran. Pertama. Aku ingin membuat portal Islam terbesar di dunia. Prinsipnya simpel. Kalau ada orang—siapapun itu, baik muslim atau non muslim—yang ingin mencari tahu tentang islam, maka dengan pergi ke website yang aku bangun maka mereka akan menemukan jawabannya. Seperti Virtual Islam Community Center lah. Whatever you want to know, whatever you want to ask just click Virtual Islam Community.Com, then you’ll get lot of inormation about islam there. Is it reliable? IT IS!!

Ide kedua, adalah membuat Ensiklopedi terlengkap mengenai Islam dalam bentuk DVD, atau blue ray. Konsepnya mirip ensiklopedia Encarta. Tapi ini Islam.

Ide ketiga adalah adalah membuat perusahaan multimedia islami berskala lokal, lalu nasional, lalu internasional. Ide ini lahir dari keprihatinan yash melihat perkembangan da’wah islam yang kurang di sisi penguasaan multimedia. Yash ingin membuat film islami, kartun islami, software islami, game islami, dan multimedia islami lainnya. Langkah ini sedang dirintis dibawah bendera Ayyash Creative yang yash bangun bersama team.

Seperti kata orang besar, kebesaran itu bermula dari mimpi. Maka setidaknya yash sudah melalui fase embrio ini. Tinggal mimpi ini akan yash apakan, apakah dibiarkan menjadi pikira dan tulisan, atau direalisasikan.

Ayyash. I’m Sorry goodbye my friend, we’ll meet again on syawal ok!

It sounds a lot better than “Programmer,” and it looks much better on one business card, job interview and even in your bank account.

Unfortunately it’s often mistaken.  Engineering is, after all, the application of technical principles to develop systems that are tough, efficient and elegant.

I’ve encountered very few software engineers, for example, who have clean, crisp and readable coding styles—an essential element of elegant software design. 

I’ve also encountered a preponderance of cryptically written functions, clumsy software abstractions and bizarre spaghetti code.  To my dismay, I’ve discovered that even among computer science graduates, many reduce object-oriented programming to the mere use of private data, public functions and object instantiations.  It’s enough to break a teacher’s heart.

Now, I won’t go so far as to say that most programmers write spaghetti code.  That would not be fair.  However, I do think that relatively few programmers have a deep appreciation for the artistry of software development.  That’s not to say that they’re ignorant of such things, not at all.  Rather, it’s more that the engineering aspects of elegant code design are all too often neglected.

I think this happens because modern programming tools have made proper code design seem like a nuisance.  In the early years of computing, people were forced to write out their software designs, pondering many fine details before they ever sat down in front of the computer. 

Nowadays, with our fast compilers and interactive debugging systems, programmers often find it more convenient to simply sit down and start coding, with just a modicum of software design. 

Mind you, I do understand that this is sometimes more efficient—when the programming task is fairly routine, for example.  However, when such design-as-you-go software development becomes standard practice, then you have the makings of utter chaos.

In part, this problem is also rooted in the malleable nature of computer software.  No self-respecting civil engineer would design a bridge by slapping girders together until he has something that works after all, if the bridge collapses, it could take months to rebuild it. 

Similarly, no sensible architect would want to build a house without blueprints and floor plans. 

Yet it is commonplace for programmers to develop software using poorly chosen functions and only the sketchiest of designs.  After all, if the software doesn’t work, they can always find the bug and fix it—at least, in theory.  In practice, these bugs are often difficult to detect, and fixing them can require extensive surgery.  The consequences of an ill-designed software program can be disastrous indeed.

For this reason, I believe that high-tech companies need to give software engineering the respect that it deserves.  They need to develop a true culture of systematic software design, instead of merely settling for “whatever works.” 

A company that’s looking toward the future must pay proper devotion to the principles of software maintainability, proper documentation and elegant, robust design.  It must also inculcate a culture of true software engineering among its employees. 

The failure to do so may work in the short-term, but it is a recipe for long-term disaster.

Here’s the article written from my master thesis about biped control program under supervision of Prof.Prabhas Chongstitvatana, during my degree in computer engineering at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

Abstract: This work presents an automatic method to synthesis robot control programs. The proposed method is based on Evolutionary Computation. The problem of biped robot walking is chosen to test the proposed method. Walking motion is divided into six stages and the evolution of control programs is carried out stage-by-stage. The locomotion is restricted to forward walking on the flat and smooth surface with static balance. The synthesis process consists of both simulation and the experiment with a real robot. The result of the experiment shows that the biped walking is achievable and stable.

C.Chaisukkosol and P. Chongstitvatana) “Evolving Control Programs for a Biped Static Walker”, IEEE International Conference on Humanoid Robots, (poster paper), Waseda, Tokyo, November 22-24, 2001. [PDF: 5 pages]

>>> Read full master thesis (in Thai, with English abstract) [PDF: 69 pages A4]

>>> See master thesis presentation [PDF: 16 slides]

See video of my self-constructed wooden biped robot in experiments during developing the control program.