Aah. Thats the point cpcgm goes ahead and creates a PKGBUILD and puts it on AUR. You can look at it here and install it (if you have yaourt ) using

 yaourt -S google-talkplugin

This – the self dependence and readiness to understand and fix the systems – is why Arch has the best documentation around , and at the same time a small,close community. I love being a part of it

One fine evening, I got fed up with what I was fdoing at office and decided to read about something. As it turned out, HTML5 was mentioned on HackerNews that day. So I thought “what the hell, I should look at this.”. I googled around, and ended up at the beautifully written Dive Into HTML 5 website. SO I am reading, its very interesting and all. Suddenly I get this email from my colleague asking me to “do something about that defect”. And I alt-tab to ToDo.txt and add my one liner there. Now since this is my blog and I am going to say what I like, I am going to talk about my ToDo.txt a bit.

The ToDo.txt has lived on all my work PCs’ desktops. The way I get work done at office is, whenever I am assigned a task (or figure out one for myself) I add a one liner to the ToDo.txt, along with the deadline datetime if specified. My ultimate goal is to have an empty list so I can go back to reading stuff on internet. Well this ToDo.txt remains open in a text editor from the time I boot my PC to the time I shut it down at the end of the day. Its no big deal. Over the years, it has morphed from a numbered list to simply a list of things. I found out that numbers on the list somehow make me want to organize it more and then make it complex. So now everytime I have a task, I add it to the list. When I am done with it, I comment it out using a #, python style . I thought I would write a python script that will print out my current and past items accodring to the commandline arguments I give it – never got around to doing it. Ooo digression digression !!

So when I read about HTML5′s offline storage, I thought I would try and do something to replace the todo. I have found that writing a program just for the sake of it is different from writing one with a proper goal. Its like “I am going to write a hello world” and “shit I need this to do some stuff for me”. So I read about offline storage in HTML5, and put together a rather sloppy Todolist.html. I also lifted teh CSS for the ToDo from Dive into html 5.

Things I learned: I know jack about Javascript and DOM now – so I headed over to w3schools and read some javascript and DOM stuff. HTML5 is sane- it was made by people who thought that things should get as simple as possible.

Now for some random things I need to write down because I claimed to have read about HTML5. HTML5 offline storage at its simplest is a hashmap that persists between sessions – its called ‘localStorage’.

localStorage["hello"]="world"; // "hello" is the key and "world" is the value.
/*
 * pops up an alert window that says "world"
 */
alert(localStorage["hello"]);
localStorage.length //gives you the number of items in it.
localStorage.clear(); // Clears the localStorage.
localStorage.key(i); // retrieves the i'th value stored.

Now mind you, this hashmap can store only strings. If you want to store numbers you have to store them as strings and then do a parseInt when you retrieve them.

Well now I have a ToDoList.html instead of a Todo.txt, and it lives inside the browser. I close my browser window when I shutdown the PC and when I start the browser next day, its still there.

HTML5 is not just some additions to HTML standard or “fancy” stuff like localStorage. It is about HTML, CSS, javascript and there is a lot of it to learn. It _is_ worthwhile reading through it and adopting it whenever you can. Most browsers support it already – even on mobile phones. If you look at the Todolist.html source, you can see some HTML5 tags in it . Its strongly recommended even if you are not a web developer. Refer:

• Dive Into Html5
• Whatwg.org
• html5rocks.com

I got this email that Narayan Murthy supposedly sent to all Infosys people. This is something that has been going around as a forward for quiet a while. I really do not know if he sent it, but I am slightly pissed off – at getting this forwarded for the Nth time as well as for making it look like people are taking advantage of the company facilities.

The email is here.

It sort of angered me when I read it.

I do not believe that Narayana Moorthy wrote it.The picture it projects is far from truth. And I don’t think he is a liar.

Nobody works straight 8 hours in an office. Not with all the useless chatter, meetings etc. And even without all the interruptions, working 8 hours straight off actually requires that someone stay in the office for at least 9 and a half to 10 hours. Why ? Its because programming is _usually_  an intellectual activity. If you are a programmer or an architect, you solve problems. You get tired even though you are sitting still in your seat and you _need_ breaks. Of course, all this is assuming that the task assigned to the programmer is properly estimated. Let me explain.

Estimating programming time is still a black art – You get it right sometimes – but usually its underestimation. Its like Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law. The primary reason is, when you estimate time, the guy doing it doesn’t have a clue about how long solving the programming problem itself is going to take. Its because the enterprise manager/team lead type are not usually educated enough to realize that some problems might actually be unsolvable. They break down the problem into smaller bit and assume that things can be implemented easily. There are two things at work here – Specifications that are as slippery as eels and the actual lack of knowledge of whoever is assigning the task. Smart designers and architects realize this. They usually try to mitigate and solve the problem in the design phase and _then_ estimate time for expressing it as a program. Their estimates tend to be correct. But who gives a shit !

The particular fact, that the time for implementing a solution to a problem cannot be estimated really well unless you already know the solution, is always overlooked and never given priority when a big company like say, Infosys solicits and builds software solutions for a large client. It is always about delivering fast. In tight deadlines. Since its easier to break promises and apologize later, the programmers are usually put under pressure by the managers/whoever is involved. They first promise the client that things will be fixed in an incredibly short time line, and tell the programmer to do it. The poor guy tries to fix, and fails usually, and by that time the manager plays the situation a bit, pacifies the client and buys the programmer more time. The programmer is happy that he got more time to fix, the manager and the client are happy that situation is fixed (in spite of the delay).

This is how things happen usually. The case stated in that mail, that of the programmers staying back in office to enjoy net and food, its absolute crap. A few might do it. But the majority doesn’t – they are there because of bad estimation and false promises made to the client. They want to get out of office fast. So they finish up stuff and just fucking leave. Of course there are people who use the company resources to download things, they do happen. But that case is rare, and the company usually has a firewall and proxy in place to prevent such things. A big enterprise like Infy has a locked down access – so much so that sometimes looking for legitimate solutions in a webstie will lead to “policy violations” because the site is incorrectly classified as entertainment/personal storage/porn (wtf?)

Programmers do spend a lot of time on the internet reading up on stuff. They read Slashdot/DrDobbs/Arstechnica/HackerNews/YourFavoriteTechSite. And they do check their personal emails. But those usually happen when the poor guys take a break from the work. The company should let them read up on those stuff because a) This is sort of a stress buster/relief for the programmer b) Programmers read these to improve themselves and keep themselves abreast of new developments in their interest areas. If the programmer improves, wo is going to benefit ? Its a disproportionately small price to pay.
I think that email was cooked up by some sad HR people and is still maintained in circulation by the non IT crowd who think that the programming crowd has it better. The real programmers shake their head sadly at the email and go back to their code editors.

On the other hand, these sadass companies insist on silly shit like “dress code”, “signing in on time”, “putting in 8 hours”, “responsible usage of internet”. What a load of bull crap !! Programmers program – they are supposed to be dressed for comfort so that they can sit and code. They will finish a task on time, just dont insist on working the normal hours – some are nightowls, some are early-birds. Its not some mindless repetitive task – it actually requires them to think. Let them choose their hours. And these sadasses who make a ruckus about working 8 hours never bat an eyelid when the guys sit and pull of things in an incredibly tight deadline.

People who think that that email is absolutely spot on about something, you guys must be the non it professionals. That email is a fucking joke. Please do not waste your time forwarding it.

Swathanthra Malayalam Computing had brought out a newer release of the fonts they maintain on July 15 – release announcement is here .

I maintain an AUR script that can be used to install the fonts. I updated in on July 16 , but never did post it anywhere else except on the SMC mailinglist. I am putting this post up here for users who are looking for ways to install Malayalam fonts on their Arch Linux powered computers

I assume that you have installed yaourt. If you have not yet, please do install it. AUR is the install script repository for packages maintained by other Arch users, and yaourt is one of the best tools to install and manage packages from AUR.

To install the latest version of the malayalam fonts, issue the following command from a terminal.

yaourt -S ttf-malayalam-fonts

http://groups.google.com/group/ipgofkerala/browse_thread/thread/2968bb0b0934f46

Independent Programmers Group of Kerala (ipgofkerala) is an attempt to form a   community which is not tied to any particular software vendor. The group targets developers from Kerala,India (Others are also welcome ) and is planning to focus on Computer Programming !.

കാരണം 1 : പണ്ട് പ്രസ്സുകള്‍ കാണിച്ച കൂതറത്തരം കാരണം ഇന്നും ആസ്കി ഫോണ്ടുകള്‍ ജീവിക്കുകയും യൂണിക്കോഡ് ഫോണ്ടുകളെ നാക്കു നീട്ടി കാണിച്ച് ഒരുമാതിരി ഉ ആക്കുകയും ചെയ്യുന്നു. മനോരമയുടേത് പോലെയുള്ള കൂറ ഐ ടി പോളിസി കാരണം ഇന്നും മിക്കവരും ആസ്കി ലോകത്ത് തന്നെയാണ്. ശരിക്കും anachronism. ഇതിന്റെ കുഴപ്പം ( അതറിയില്ലെങ്കി ഇവിടെ പോയി വായിച്ചാല്‍ ഒരു ഏകദേശ രൂപം പിടി കിട്ടും ) അറിയാതെയാണ് ഫൊറാഡിയന്റെ ചെയ്ത്ത് വളരെ വലിയ ഒരു സംഭവമാണ് എന്ന് വാദിക്കുന്നത്. അവന്മാര്‍ പണ്ട് പ്രസ്സുകള്‍ കാണിച്ച അതേ കൂറത്തരമാണ് കാണിച്ചത്. അതായത് ശരിയായ യൂണിക്കോഡ് പോയിന്റില്‍ ആ സിംബല്‍ അസ്സൈന്‍ ചെയ്ത് ഇപ്പോ ഉള്ള ഇന്പുട്ട് മെത്തേഡുകളില്‍ ആ കോഡ്പോയിന്റ് ജെനെറേറ്റ് ചെയ്യാനുള്ള കീ മാപ്പിങ്ങ് ചേര്‍ക്കണം ഇതാണ് ചെയ്യേണ്ടിയിരുന്നത്. ബെര്‍ളിക്ക് മനസ്സിലാവാന്‍ ഒന്നു കൂടെ ലളിതമാക്കാം ( ഇത് ബെര്‍ളി മണ്ടനായോണ്ടല്ല. മടിയനായോണ്ടാ – കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ എന്താണെന്ന് വായിച്ച് മനസ്സിലാക്കാനുള്ള മടി.) വരമൊഴി/സ്വനലേഖ പോലെയുള്ള ഒരു പ്രോഗ്രാമില്‍ “ആ രൂപായുടെ ചിഹ്നം വരണേല്‍ ഈ കീ ഒക്കെ ഞെക്കണം” എന്ന ലോജിക്ക് ചേര്‍ക്കണം. എന്നിട്ട് അവന്മാരുടെ ഫോണ്ട് ഫയലില്‍ ആ ചിഹ്നം അതിനായി നീക്കി വെച്ചിട്ടുള്ള സ്ഥലത്ത് കൊണ്ട് പ്രതിഷ്ഠിക്കണം. എന്നിട്ട് ഇത് രണ്ടും കൂടെ വിതരണം ചെയ്യണം. അല്ലാതെ ഒരു മാതിരി ഏച്ച് കെട്ടി ഉള്ള ആ പരിപാടി കൂടുതല്‍ കലിപ്പ് ഉണ്ടാക്കേ ഉള്ളു. ഇത് അറിയില്ലെങ്കില്‍ “രൂപായുടെ ചിഹ്നം ഉള്ള ഫോണ്ട്” ഒരു വല്യ ആന ആണെന്ന് തോന്നും.

കാരണം 2: കുറച്ച് സാങ്കേതികപശ്ചാത്തലം വേണ്ടത് കൊണ്ടാവാം, മലയാളം കമ്പ്യൂട്ടിങ്ങിനെ പറ്റി അധികം പത്രക്കാര്‍ എഴുതിക്കണ്ടിട്ടില്ല – അതില്‍ കുറച്ച് താല്‍പര്യമുള്ള, ന്യൂസ് എന്നതിലുമപ്പുറം അതിന്റെ വില മനസ്സിലാക്കുന്ന ഒരാള്‍ക്കേ അതിനോട് പൂര്‍ണ്ണമായും നീതി പുലര്ത്തിക്കൊണ്ട് ഒരു റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ട് എഴുതാനാകൂ. പക്ഷെ ഇങ്ങനത്തെ മറ്റേ പരിപാടികള്‍ റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ട് ചെയ്ത് കയ്യടി വാങ്ങുന്ന പത്രധര്‍മ്മം “മാര്‍ക്കറ്റ് ചെയ്തില്ല കയ്യടി വാങ്ങിയില്ല” എന്നേ പറയൂ. ഒരുമാതിരി സെന്‍സേഷന്‍ ഉണ്ടാകുമോ ഇല്ലേ എന്ന് നോക്കി വില നിശ്ചയിക്കുന്ന കൂതറകള്‍. സന്തോഷിനെ പോലെ കാര്യമായ സംഭാവനകള്‍ നല്കിയ, ഇന്ത്യന്‍ പ്രോഗ്രാമര്‍മാരുടെ ലോകത്ത് ബഹുമാനം പിടിച്ചു പറ്റിയ ഒരു മനുഷ്യനെക്കുറിച്ച് അറിയാത്തത് വിവരമില്ലായ്മയാണ് – any tech news reporter worth his/her salt will know this man and his contribution to indic language computing. അതിന്റെ വില മനസ്സിലാക്കാനും സായിപ്പ് വേണ്ടി വന്നു എന്നുള്ളത് ഒരു മറ്റൊരു രസം. ന്യൂസ് റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ടിങ്ങ് എന്ന പണി ശരിക്ക് ചെയ്യാത്തതിന് കൊട്ട് മേടിച്ചിട്ട് മറ്റുള്ളവരുടെ തലയ്ക്ക് കല്ലെറിഞ്ഞിട്ട് ഒരു കാര്യോമില്ല.

എപ്പിക് ബ്രൌസറിനെ കുറിച്ച് ഞാന്‍ പറയുന്നില്ല. അതിനെ കുറിച്ച് ഘോരഘോരം എഴുതിയവന്മാര്‍ തന്നെ അത് ഉപയോഗിക്കട്ടെ. “എന്റെ മെയില്‍ ആരോ ഹാക്ക് ചെയ്തു. ഇന്ത്യയില്‍ ഹാക്കര്മാരുടെ എണ്ണം കൂടി” എന്ന് പിന്നീട് എഴുതാമല്ലോ.

മണ്ടന്‍ റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ടിങ്ങിനെയാണ് സെബിന്‍ തെറിവിളിച്ചത്. അത് മനസ്സിലാക്കി തിരുത്താനല്ല ഇവിടെ നോക്കുന്നത്. അത് ന്യായീകരിക്കാനാണ്. മലയാളം വിക്കിപ്പീഡീയ പോലെയുള്ള ഒരു പ്രോജക്റ്റിന്റെ പ്രാധാന്യത്തെക്കുറിച്ചും വിക്കി ലോകത്ത് അടുത്തിടെ അത് നേടിയ കയ്യടിയെക്കുറിച്ചും ഒരു ചുക്കും എഴുതാത്തവന്‍ വിവരമില്ലാത്ത ടെക്ക് റീപ്പോര്‍ട്ടര്‍ തന്നെ ആണ്. അതിനി ഏത് ശിരോമണി ആയാലും.

( At the bare minimum, read slashdot if someone wants to report IT news around the world – it widens perspective. Of course it is my opinion )

Quiet a lot has changed in the meantime – I am now a Java developer, and out o country for a while.

I am planning to move the blog and site to a django based solution – no clear timelines yet.

Since it was a wee bit older ( it didnt have the extensions feature ), I thought I would update it via Arch User Repository. I had forgotten the exact name of the package so I did a search for Chromium and the following entry popped up on my screen.

“aur/iron 4.0.227-1 (125)
A web browser based on chromium without Google’s tracking ‘features’”

It was then that I realized that even chromium has phone back home features built into it. But it was then that another facet of FOSS world showed itself . SRWare took the source code, removed those tracking features and added features ( like ad blocking and and a later version of webkit ). I uninstalled Chromium right away and replaced it with Iron. I must say that its sweeter than Chromium. I think people should give it a try.

Link: http://bit.ly/4mOrx4

From wikileaks :

“Confidential plans for 1.2 billion ID cards: Creating a Unique ID for every resident in India, Nov 2009

This confidential working paper (49 pp) presents the current plan for India’s Unique ID Databse Project. Numerous RTI (Right to Information ) petitions failed to obtain this document about the world’s biggest citizen identification scheme.
Because the project will likely become a model for many countries the document is of global interest.
Jounalists can contact Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of UIDA, the Unique Identification Authority.
This confidential working paper (49 pp) presents the current plan for India’s Unique ID Databse Project. Numerous RTI (Right to Information ) petitions failed to obtain this document about the world’s biggest citizen identification scheme.
Because the project will likely become a model for many countries the document is of global interest.
Jounalists can contact Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of UIDA, the Unique Identification Authority.”