I c#de, therefore I exist ;

Back!!

2011-09-14T22:14:00.002-07:00

Decided to write something here soon.. Been so so long indeed!

Microsoft Maren

2009-06-30T23:01:00.003-07:00

We’re pleased to announce that today the Cairo Microsoft Innovation Center (CMIC) is releasing Microsoft Maren, a Windows extension that allows you to type Arabic in Roman characters and have it converted on the fly to Arabic script. Maren integrates seamlessly with Windows and works in most Windows applications and websites.

We are inviting you to download and install Maren from: www.GetMaren.com

So please help us out and spread the word:

· Tell people about GetMaren.com

· Join the Facebook group

Debugging Tools for Windows

2009-05-06T15:28:00.001-07:00

Visual studio debugger tools (including Spy++ & Remote Debugger) are great, but we always need to go beyond visual studio capabilities and that's when debugging tools are really useful.

I am writing this post for mainly two reasons, The first one is to share some of my favourite debugging tools that are powerful to use & know about; The second one is actually for documentation purposes to act as a guide/reference for me & others who search for a debugging tool that help in doing a specific task.

Below are some tools I used them myself & found them really useful and neat to use:

1- DebugView for Windows, This tool tracks any OutputDebugString/ DbgPrint and displays it without the need for a debugger.
I see this tool is idle when quick debugging is needed on a clean machine (with no visual studio installed), no process attaching required .. etc

2- SysInternals Tools are indeed so powerful tools and I guess you will always find what you are looking for there (that's why microsoft acquired it ;) ). I tried WinDbg one -for commands lovers- , Process Explorer & Process monitor.

Process monitor is a very good choice for monitoring everything on your computer, starting from the registry, till process monitoring with filtering options.. it is indeed a very cool tool.

3- Auto Debug for Windows , a tool for APIs monitoring & tracing, maybe it has other features, but this was what I was interested in mainly.. the bad news is that it is not a free tool, however the good news is that it doesn't block you when you run the trial.

4- Dependency Walker , not a real debugging tool, but you will probably need it when things not work due to missing files/modules, it just does what it says & sometimes that's all what you want !

That's all for now, everybody is welcomed to share his favorite ones too.

The Undocumented Feature

2009-02-13T01:30:00.006-08:00

Hello everybody,

Well, I just want to mention a small trick that many may already know, but many may not.. It's about copying & pasting the text that appears in a MessageBox, many times that is needed during development, but yet it is not documented in msdn or any other Microsoft resource..

The thing is that you can indeed copy text in a message box using simply (Ctr+C) and then pasting the copied text in any editor (Ctr+V), and it ends up having sth like that..

   ---------------------------
   Caption
   ---------------------------
   Text
   ---------------------------
   OK
   ---------------------------

I can imagine that this feature was made out of a dev's passion :) .. anyway, It is really a useful thing to know.. Happy development !!

Gaza strip, the untold story

2009-01-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

The least we can do is prayers & trying to spread what Israel is truly doing in Gaza..
Sameh, a Palestinian 23 years old blogging from inside Gaza..

http://gazatoday.blogspot.com

Allah be with them..

Where do you want to connect today?

2008-10-07T03:58:00.001-07:00

Long time no posts..
Anyway, I'm here now to share that website with you..
It just saves the time u take to write or modify a connection string to any data source..

http://www.connectionstrings.com

I wish I learned.. (survey)

2008-09-02T03:57:00.002-07:00

I decided to make that survey in order to see people's different opinions, The survey is about things you wish you leanred at college & that are related with the market or your career.
so I want everyone to tell me 5 things or more, he wished he learned at college before he starts working OR things he self-learnt by himself and he thinks that they are important for others to learn. (including technical (maybe certain technology), non-technical things)
Waiting for your comments..

Saving a Bitmap

2008-08-03T01:11:00.034-07:00

A friend of mine came through a problem while dealing with Bitmaps after writing some code that should open an image.. do some operations & finally save it in the same path. (overwrite the old copy)... the code looked as follows :


  Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(@"C:\Pic.jpg");
   ..
   //Do some Operations on bmp
   ..
  btm.Save(@"C:\Pic.jpg");

An Exceptions is then fired on the bmp.Save(..) statement "A generic error occurred in GDI+"

At the first look, it seemed strange to see the exception esp the "Save" method should handle the overwriting process..
Yet, here was the mistake.. After creating the first bitmap from the image file, a lock has been done on the file in the memory, & then later, we are trying to save the bitmap in the same file (which is currently locked) & that's why we get that exception.
It will work in case you wanted to save in different paths, but not in case of overwriting..

so the suggested solutions was to create a copy from that bitmap, make the operations on that copy.. then dispose the bmp object (to release the lock) & later on save it (using the copy).. the new code should look as follows :


  Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(@"C:\Pic.jpg");
  Bitmap copy = new Bitmap(bmp.Width, bmp.Height);
  Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(copy);
  g.DrawImage(bmp, new Point(0, 0));
  ..
  //Do some Operations on copy
  ..

  //release the image file
  bmp.Dispose();
  bmp = copy;
  bmp.Save(@"C:\Pic.jpg");

That's it..

Acrobat.com

2008-06-04T03:53:00.005-07:00

Adobe is providing a suite of online services on their website Acrobat.com that you can use to create documents together and share them with others,
If you are a fan of google docs , then I suggest you try Buzzword.. Buzzword is one of those services that allow you to create documents & share them.

Another service is Create PDF that allows you to convert many files formats to PDFs & much of more converting PDFs to flash to be embedded in web pages (It's really good, I once tried it here)

But what I really liked most is Adobe Connect now, it is indeed one of the very nice services that allows you to make an online meetings that involves desktop sharing, video & audio conference calls & chatting... when I tried it, it was kind of slow but I think the reason was my internet connection..

Anyway, I truly like their services.. give them a try..

MIT OpenCourseWare

2008-05-29T02:16:00.000-07:00

That's reallly coool, maybe this news is from a while, but I just knew it now :)
MIT is opening its 1800 courses for free download (materials, audio & video) including graduate & undergraduate courses, Here is the link.. ENJOY :)

http://ocw.mit.edu

Open Sourcing - Security Package

2008-05-12T02:40:00.006-07:00

As me & my friends has previously done with our image processing package, we are sharing our security package too on google code ::

Security Package (Source)

The project doesn't have a good UI, but it contains an implementation for most algorithms in security (except for the RSA & Hill Cipher, they have restrictions in implementation due to limits in time)
Hope that's useful for anyone :)

Best & Worst Languages

2008-05-01T03:27:00.009-07:00

Maybe when someone read the title, he
thinks that I will write here about the best & worst languages of all languages, which isn't a valid topic to talk about simply because there are no best & worst languages.. for every application there are best & worst languages to use to develop this application...

Anyway, what I wanted to share is that table in the post, I came through it while reading Code Complete , & I thought that this is what anybody would need before thinking about which language to use to develop/implement an application..
(ie: this is a common question for students starting to work on their graduation projects)..
I liked it, so thought about sharing it here..

What's new in C# 3.0 ?? - Part 1

2008-04-01T11:00:00.023-07:00

I'll be writing -in shaa Allah- a series of posts about the new features in C# 3.0.. I'll start this one with the improvements that were done on C# 2.0..

1) Auto-Implemented Properties:
How much time does the one spend writing private members in a class & writing their public properties.. too much ha? .. I hear someone saying "you can use snippets" .. ok, that will be fine yet this is still too much.. so here is one of the enhancements done in C# 3.0 which is the auto-implemented properties.. instead of writing sth like this..

class Employee
{
 private string empName;
 public string EmployeeName
 {
     get{   empName = value; }
     set{ return this.empName; }
 }
}

All you need now is to use the auto-implemented properties instead..


class Employee
{
  public string EmployeeName { get; set; }
}

The question regarding accessing private members from inside the class, well.. as there's no private members (or they are hidden), you have to use the properties to access them too..

2- Object Initializers:
Sometimes we want to set a lot of properties of an object while initializing it, but yet this isn't supported in any of the class constructors..so here comes the importance of the object initializers feature.. which will be very helpful while working with win forms & many of the .net libraries in setting properties more easily..


static void Main(string[] args)
{
  Employee e = new Employee () { EmployeeName = "Roaa"};
}

3- Collection Initializers:
The same concept as the object initializers, but the difference is setting the values of a collection, It can be used by any collection which implements IEnumerable..


static void Main(string[] args)
{
  List<Employee> employees = new List<Employee>()
  {
      new Employee () { EmployeeName = "Roaa" };
      new Employee () { EmployeeName = "Someone" };
      new Employee () { EmployeeName = "Roaa"};
  };
}

4- var - Local Variable Type Inference
For an example as the follows, we notice the redundancy of information of the type..


Dictionary<int,Employee> employeesDict = new Dictionary<int,Employee> ()

As the matter in fact, the compiler can be intelligent enough to find out about the type of the variable when a value is specified in the assignment statement.. so here comes the use of the 'var' which makes writing the code more smoother & easier..


var employeesDict = new Dictionary<int,Employee>

but there are some restrictions on using 'var'.. as it is clear, it is for Local use only.. can't be used in return values, arguments.. etc..
Another thing, the use of 'var' doesn't affect the performance by any mean..

To be continued...

Finally, EDC 2008

2008-03-28T11:30:00.004-07:00

I wrote a previous post about the timing of the EDC, finally the registration is now opened...
Check out the details at http://edc2008.com/
It is for 2 days (13th & 14th of April) in Cairo international Conference Center..
See you there in shaa Allah..

Microsoft Student Festival 2008 Wave..

2008-03-19T13:03:00.005-07:00

Ahmad Fathy -MSP in Engineering, Alexandria university- is making a series of posts on his blog about Microsoft Student Festival..
He asked me to contribute in the Microsoft Student Festival 2008 Wave by sending my experience in MS Internship booth, check the post here.
Thanks Ahmad & waiting for more interesting posts !!

EDC 2008

2008-01-28T02:37:00.000-08:00

Many did ask me about the timing of Microsoft EDC (Egypt Developer Conference) - previously known as the MDC- , so I'm publishing it here
The EDC will be on 13-15 April in intercontinental City Stars, The Reservation is still closed but I'll put the link as soon as it's available in shaa Allah..

Open Sourcing - Image Package

2008-01-04T09:36:00.002-08:00

During the past days, we were delivering our projects for this semester after long days of working & coding..
At the end of these days, I started to think with my friends "what are we going to do really with this code?" .. I thought a lot about the end of previous years projects & I found that all of them are just resting in a folder called "projects" on my PC .. so I had a different idea this time.. "what about making our projects open source for anyone to learn from it??".. my friends approved & that was the beginning..
so here is the link for our image processing package (version1) on Google Code ::

Image Processing Package

(Image.cs (contains most of the implementation) & the exe uploaded only till now, Full version will be uploaded immediately after some bugs fixing in shaa Allah)

VS 2008.. reasons to upgrade

2007-12-24T10:09:00.005-08:00

I came through a document about the top ten reasons to upgrade to Visual Studio 2008, so I thought about sharing them here:

Top Ten Reasons to Upgrade
1. Work with data in a unified and integrated way.
2. Work with user interface designers.
3. Employ the latest web user interface techniques.
4. Build stunning applications for windows vista.
5. Build higher quality applications with integrated unit testing.
6. Enjoy great support for designing web applications.
7. Build applications that runs on multiple versions of the .net framework.
8. Build office-based applications
9. Use workflow & communication tools.
10.Benefit from performance & stability across the board

For more details, read here...

ANARC 2007

2007-12-07T01:21:00.002-08:00

The Past days were the 10th Arab & North Africa Regional Contest (ANARC)..
My Team participated in it (Why Not!? Team).. Although we didn't get a good ranking (21th), yet it was a very good experience & that's why I'm writing about it here..

I'd like to mention the mistakes that I feel we did.. I'm writing them for anyone to learn from:
- Time ran so quick that we didn't notice the time except when there were only 2 hours left..
- We didn't read the problem statement of one problem very well which lead to getting WA for one test case..
- 75% of Regional contest problems are trivial adhoc problems & the other 20% are dynamic ones.. we focused on other algorithms before traveling, but that wasn't helpful in the contest.. we should have practiced testing silly adhoc problems maybe !!
- In some cases, Don't use strings, use character arrays instead..
I don't remember more now, but I'll update in case I did..

I won't talk about personal feelings here, but all I can say that I truly feel that if we participated next year, I think it will be different in shaa Allah..

7 deadly sins of resume design..

2007-11-04T10:51:00.002-08:00

I read that article & thought about sharing it

7 deadly sins of resume design

MIX..

2007-10-30T16:02:00.000-07:00

This is a website hosted by Microsoft that contains demos & videos.. It's a very good one, just thought about sharing it here..

MIX online

On Channel 8 !!

2007-10-19T21:03:00.000-07:00

Channel 8 is the place to be for Students who want to code, connect and create technology ( msh el kanah el tamna beta3etna :D )... Channel 8 is sth like Channel 9, but for students..

The interviews we (me & Marwan -AAST MSP-) made during the Expression Around the Clock event are now in the 'recent news' on Channel 8.. Check it out..

Expression Around the Clock, Cairo

Feedbacks are welcomed..

Programming Languages History

2007-10-17T20:29:00.000-07:00

I remember, when I was @ ITWorx, I liked that huge portrait with the programming languages history.. & its nice to find it online after all..

Programming Languages History

Mixed Assembly

2007-10-07T01:12:00.000-07:00

C++ supports interoperability features that allow managed and unmanaged code to coexist and interoperate within the same assembly or in the same file. C++ assembly which has both native and managed code is called as mixed assembly. They contain machine instructions as well as MSIL instruction. An existing application consisting entirely of unmanaged functions can be brought to the .NET platform by re-compiling just one module with the /clr compiler switch. This module is then able to use .NET features, but remains compatible with the remainder of the application. In this way, an application can be converted to the .NET platform in a gradual, piece-by-piece fashion. It is even possible to decide between managed and unmanaged compilation on a function-by-function basis within the same file. Assemblies compiled with /clr can call managed and unmanaged functions at will, including CRT functions such as printf, and are free to use .NET Framework Platform Invoke features to call unmanaged functions inside DLLs.

C++ supports the use of ATL, MFC, SCL, and the CRT libraries as mixed assemblies compiled with /clr. These mixed libraries allow you to use all of their existing functions when your code contains a mixture of native code and MSIL code.

Performance Consideration while using Interoperability: Regardless of the interop technique used, special transition sequences, called "thunks", are required each time a managed function calls an unmanaged function, and vise-versa. These thunks are inserted automatically by the C++ compiler, but it's important to keep in mind that cumulatively, these transitions can be expensive in terms of performance.

For .NET languages such as Visual Basic and C#, the prescribed method for interoperating with native components is P/Invoke. Since P/Invoke is supported by the .NET Framework, C++ supports it as well, but C++ also provides its own interoperability support, which is referred to as C++ Interop. C++ Interop is preferred over P/Invoke because P/Invoke is not type-safe, so errors are primarily reported at run-time, but C++ Interop also has performance advantages over P/Invoke.

Both techniques require two things to happen whenever a managed function calls an unmanaged function:

The function call arguments are marshaled from CLR to native types
A managed-to-unmanaged thunk is executed
The unmanaged function is called (using the native versions of the arguments)
An Unmanaged-to-managed thunk is executed
The return type and any "out" or "in,out" arguments are marshaled from native to CLR types

Try it.. (In order to enable compilation for both native & managed, change the project properties (Project properties >> General >> Common Language Runtime Support >> Choose Common Language Runtime Support (/clr)))

For Extra info check the MSDN

Photosynth..

2007-10-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I attended the Expression around the clock event.. It was a nice day.. & from the very things I liked in those sessions was the Photosynth (A live lab project) , It was really so much amazing & innovative idea..

I just like to end with a sentence said by Blaise Aguera when we made an interview with him.. he said ::

"Knowledge of Math & Physics is unbeatable"

Windows Live SDK

2007-09-29T04:51:00.000-07:00

The Windows Live Platform puts a deeper level of control into developers' hands by offering access to the core services and data through open, easily accessible APIs. Now you can build applications and mashups that combine your innovation with the power of Windows Live services and social relationships..

Visit http://dev.live.com to know more about other services and developer offerings from Windows Live.

& check this for more information about Windows Live SDK

Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR)

2007-09-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

Adobe® AIR™, formerly code-named Apollo, is a cross-operating system runtime that allows developers to use their existing web development skills to build and deploy rich Internet applications to the desktop.

Download Adobe AIR

Windows Live SkyDrive

2007-09-17T08:18:00.000-07:00

Microsoft is offering you 500MB free space to upload & share your files, also including some other features like :: getting back to recently visited files, Thumbnail images, dragging & dropping ur files & embedding you stuff anywhere with html links..

In my opinion, It looks professional than any other files sharing website.. Try it..

Read it

2007-09-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

I wrote that post on my other blog & thought to put a link for it here

Re-think...

I am an MSP

2007-09-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

I've just received a mail from a while from Mohammed Wahby (Reponsible for Academia programs at Microsoft) with an invitation to Microsoft Student Partners & now I am officially one of Microsoft Student partners (known as MSP)..

What is MSP?

The Microsoft Student Partner program consists of the brightest and most innovative student developers and technology enthusiasts from universities around the world.

As a Microsoft Student Partner you will get a set of global benefits:

Welcome Kit will include the following:
Certificate of Recognition
Microsoft Recruiting Opportunities
MSDN Premium Subscriptions
Access to Worldwide Microsoft Student Partners Website
Invitation to local Microsoft Events
Latest Products Training
& more...

I really wish to make good use of this & help in spreading knowledge... I wish to make sth really different in my last year at FCIS.. Dreaming of Leaving Footprints in FCIS...

MS Internship.. The End

2007-09-04T22:17:00.000-07:00

4th of September, The closing ceremony of Microsoft Internship 2007..
Started by the early morning in one of Microsoft rooms where all the teams started to get ready to show off their projects.. The ideas every team got was really so nice & innovative.. The EMS team had his T-Shirts & a big banner printed.. QAlert team made really innovative ideas (I liked that invitations & evaluation cards guyz) & finally our team with a small banner hanged form the ceiling & our T-shirts with our project name & our names written on it with ink (we have it now filled with looots of signatures)..

Anyway, By 3:00 pm.. The event started with all Microsoft employees, our instructors from different companies (ITWorx, Link.net, OMS.. ) & We -presenting our projects-.. & it ended up with Kareem Ramadan (General Manager of Microsoft Egypt) giving us our certificates..
It was really gr888 experience, gr888 team spirit (reminded me of INETA days) & a gr8 company..
This is a picture for all the teams members with Kareem Ramadan & our supervisors..

so, That was the end of Microsoft Internship 2007.. I'll miss those days & I'll miss the challenging & team spirits we all had..

I like to end up with some points..
1- If you are a 2nd year student going to your 3rd year, I really recommend trying to get a place in MS internship 2008 next year in shaa Allah.. (Contact me at that time if u need help)

2- What I liked most about that internship.. well, actually 'Technical experience' can be easily got when u start working or maybe a couple of days in any company can let u now how things go in real life, But that internship was really unique cause it gave me sth I really needed which is "Community".. I was able to meet many of the special IT-guyz in Egypt from big companies like ITWorx, Link.net.... & of course Microsoft.. (that's why I liked the fact that our instructors weren't from MS) & not only that, but it was enough for me that I knew those who were with me in the internship... Another thing I liked was that this was a perfect chance for anyone to improve his 'soft skills', presenting & talking in front of expert people is an wonderful chance that made a big difference to all of us (I think)..

3- What makes a company like Microsoft different is that they know "how" to make things.. so maybe that's sth to be learned from a big company like that.. Always follow a "win2win" strategy...

4- Thank Allah that I had that opportunity.. & Thanks to everyone who commented on my first post & encouraged me to go (u helped in making that difference) :)

So, That's the end of my long post & two-months Internship..
c u next post in shaa Allah..

MS Internship.. (3)

2007-09-02T23:09:00.000-07:00

We were back again to Microsoft to start our 2nd month (start working on our projects)..
That day we had a meeting with Mohammed Karam (from ITWorx) explaining to us how things will go..
Well, They wanted to make a simulation for us for a real working environment, so they were going to divide us into teams randomly , assign projects randomly & assign supervisors randomly too.. (In real life you don't choose those you're gonna work with ;) or the project u gonna work on )
Another thing that they mentioned & I really liked, they considered that its non-ethical for any companies to let its trainees work on real project for the company & get profit from that (Actually all companies in Egypt does so).. so, the projects we will be working on will not be sold in the market, they are just for us as a trainees..
Anyway, We were divided to teams & assigned different projects.. The projects ideas were really challenging.. Our projects supervisors were from ITWorx stuff too (btw that company is really a company to respect)..
We started working on our projects during all that month, it was really a gr8 experience, gr8 team & gr8 supervisors really..
Our Last day at Microsoft was 28th of August, the next day we went to ITWorx to make a presentation about our project in front of some of the ITWorx crew & Today 3/9 is our final presentation there too in shaa Allah..
Tomorrow -in shaa Allah- is the closing ceremony at Microsoft, we will be showing our projects & there will be lots of things that I will narrate in the next post in shaa Allah ;)

MS Internship.. (2)

2007-09-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I'll be continuing on the previous post..
After the assessment test (which I heard was done that way due to confusion between management internship & ours) but anyway we started to understand more how the internship will go..
MS believes that other internships are not done in the right way (actually they are absolutely right), as trainees come to the company & as usual the company either handles them any trivial work to do or they involve them in real projects & in both cases, the trainee has to depend on himself to learn & gain the experience..
So, According to the previous things.. MS internship was divided to 2 months.. The first month we will be attending sessions made specially for us & the second one will be a project we will be working on..
In the 1st month, They choose the topics of the sessions so that they cover the things that we all don't take in college & in the same time, are so much needed when u enter & work in the market.. The start of the sessions was very nice, it started with "Time management" course driven to us by Logic (one of the biggest management consulting companies in egypt - people who goes to zedny knows that ;) ).. It was really one of the most sessions that I liked (I'll leave talking about it in a separate post).. then we switched to different topics :: networking (infrastructure & core structure) , MSF , VSTS, Testing, Business intelligence, MOF... & more

Another thing, the sessions were "not" given to us by people from Microsoft, they were given to us by people from MS partners.. Logic, Link.net & OMS.. that's wt I remember now.. maybe anyone will think this is a bad thing, actually this is from the things I really liked in that internship (I'll tell u why later)

Anyway, The 1st month passed & It was nice, one did learn new things & esp I got to know the people I am taking the internship with more.. btw, we are about 20-23 persons from different universities.. 90% from us are going to their last year in college.. It was really so nice to know such people, its one of the best things that I gained from that internship..

To be continued in shaa Allah...

ACM ASCIS..

2007-07-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

Today was the ACM-ASCIS senior summer contest, our team got the 2nd place el 7amdolellah.. & It was a nice day..

Another thing that happened today was announcing the new steering committee for ACM-ASCIS.. & I was chosen as the Vice President.. mmm.. I feel responsibility, great responsibility.. Hope I deserve it & be as good as the former committee, they deserve all the respect really..
Hope to make a difference & help in spreading knowledge...

SilverLight..

2007-07-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

Watch out for the new technology coming from MS (still in beta)..
Microsoft® Silverlight™ is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications. Silverlight supports fast, cost-effective delivery of high-quality video to all major browsers running on the Mac OS or Windows..

Check it out http://silverlight.net/

MS Internship.. (1)

2007-06-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Edited on 17th July::
Well, I was mistaken about the internship, It turned to be a technical one.. not pure technical, but that is wt makes it interesting.. MS working environment is more than gr8 & I'm enjoying wt I do esp the new people I got to know there..
That's all..

---------------------------------------------------------

Well, during exams I was told by a friend of mine that MS egypt is finally making its first internship to accept trainees, I applied & was expecting an assessment test by 14/6.. later on it was postponed to 24/6 & I was told that the test is from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (total of 8 hrs!!!)..

Anyway, on 24/6 I went to MS in smart village & when I entered there were another 14 from AUC & AAST.. & then we were told to enter a room for the test... & here was the shock, They told us that the test is not related to programming, it will be a self-evaluation test!! ... at first we didn't get why.. then they told us that the internship is a non-technical one.. some of us discussed that with the person responsible for this & finally she told him sth like "in case u are accepted, you can go through another coding test to see if u can join the development team or not but still I'm not sure about this"... anyway, we started the assessment test, The assessment test was a practical one & according to ur actions in each activity, u r evaluated... They wanted to see how good u r in presentation skills, self-confidence, team work.. etc..
Well, It was really so FUN (I admit) .. but this is not why I went to MS Egypt !!

Anyway, Today I received a mail that I was selected from those who are granted the internship.. & I am still really so confused.. To go or not to go !??
I'm sure it will be a gr8 personal experience, but it has nth to do with our profession..

I dunno really.. Should I go or not !?

Which Programming Language are you?

2007-06-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

Which Programming Language are You?

Evaluate yourself...

2007-06-08T03:43:00.001-07:00

As vacation is coming nearer & Searching for a company to train/work in is getting closer.. which means that also interviews & assessment tests are approaching, sooo I think one must start getting ready for that..
I liked Microsoft Assessment Tests & thought about sharing this here.. Its a good way to evaluate yourself..

Microsoft Assessment Tests

Hope everyone finds a suitable & good training/job... Allah be with us..

DirectX 9.0 Game

2007-05-24T11:13:00.001-07:00

Well, pretty nice fish :)
This is a screen shot from my graphics project.. Its a 3D game, I called it "Fishy".. Fishy is a blue hungry fish that swims in an ocean & you should try to fill fishy's stomach to 100% by eating smaller fishes.. & don't forget to watch out for the sharks ;) else fishy may die :(
Well, The exe is on the way.. I am just adjusting somethings & will put it here soon isAllah (maybe after exams to have all things done be ezn Allah)..

Fishy-by Roaa Mohammed: Copyright reserved

& the Projects start...

2007-05-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

Last post was long ago.. anyway, here I am again..
well.. we started working on our college projects during these days.. yesterday was our analysis project delivery.. I won't talk a lot about it.. but there's sth I learnt from that project which is.. that I can NEVER be a system analysist... not because I'm bad in it (el 7amdolelelah we did a good job in our proj) but beacuse this job doesn't fit me at all.. I really can't imagine working one day as a system analysist.. :S

Anyway.. about other projects.. we are still working on the archi ,graphics package & those boring database systems.. & like last term, I am opening suggestions for our graphics project cause till now we didn't decide anything to do.. Its should be done using Directx 9.0... If anyone has any ideas, comments are very welcomed.. :)
Waiting for any ideas.. (Note: The idea must be applicable to be done in less than 2 weeks!!!)

c u next posts..

INETA Event...

2007-04-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

Portable Software..

2007-03-25T05:01:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I wrote a post here...
well, As usual the title is clear wt this post is about.. "Portable Software"... How many times you were about to use a PC to show someone sth on ur USB & then you find things like "ops, the software is not installed".. so I really like that solution so much.. "Portability"..

Maybe its not sth very new to technology, but I just knew about it recently.. With portable software, you can take your programs with you on ur USB drive, mp3, ipod.. etc & so u can never worry about whether the software that you are using is installed on any PC or not.. all that without leaving any personal data behind...

Not only application programs.. OS too can be portable.. I once used "Windows XP Live CD".. Just insert the CD & have windows running on your machine enabling you of accessing ur drivers as if u have windows installed.. it was pretty interesting..

Check out these ones (Most of them are OpenSource ;) )
Firefox Portable (I really like having my favorites anywhere with me)
OpenOffice Portable
Anti-Virus Portable (To protect ur storage from our nice FCIS virus)
PDF Viewer Portable
7-Zip File Archiver Portable

Yahoo !!!!

2007-02-07T22:59:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, while I was checking my yahoo mail.. the number of unread mails made me surprised !!
I'm sure you are now thinking about (1000 unread) ones or sth.. but here's wt I found in the title of my page : "(-9 unread)" !!!!!!!!

Its one of the funniest bugs I ever saw :D :D .. so I just thought of sharing this here.. the only excuse is that Yahoo mail is still in Beta.. Anyway, here's the screen shot..

C# Problem..

2007-01-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

I know the title looks strange.. but this issue is provoking me to a very high extent...
I'll tell u why I wrote so...well, When we were testing our Algo project b4 delivering it, we noticed a strange behavior in the performance of our code..
Let me explain wt we were doing first... well, we wanted to calculate the approximate time taken to run the algorithm.. so we made an object from Stopwatch class.. our code looked sth like those lines:

Stopwatch s = new StopWatch();
s.Start();
OurFunction();
s.Stop();

Then later on we display the elapsed time.... Where's the problem then??.. well I will tell u.. the first time we try calling this function, the elapsed time is 4.xxx ms.. while when we try the same input once again (while the exe is still running).. the elapsed time is 0.xxxx.. a gr8 difference !!!!
well.. we noticed sth in our function like creating an object from a class we created.. ex:
Class c = new Class(Var1,Var2); //inside function's body

we thought that this was the reason (sth related with memory allocation , variables initialization.. etc..) we tried initializing everything globally, but still the same thing happened.. we thought about many things (We with the help of Dr Karim), but all in vain..

So, I still don't know why that happens.. mm.. Maybe C# is googling for the place of the function in the memory when we call it for the first time ,so it takes more time !!???

Anyway, please, If anyone has any idea about why this may happen.. Comments are very welcomed..

You are a Programmer IF (Cont)...

2007-01-02T20:01:00.000-08:00

This is a completion to a previous post You are a Programmer IF

16- You have a volatile Memory like RAM..
17- You write C++,C# or Java better than u write your own language..
18- You don't think wearing sports shoes with a suit is strange..
19- You remember all your passwords, but fail to remember you own birth date..
20- The world 'Engine' reminds you of games more than of cars..
21- Anytime you see a penguin, you think of Linux..
22- You have a LAN in your room..
23- You're the highest-paid yet the worst-dressed person in the office..
24- You follow the instructions only if everything else fails..
25- You use F1 instead of SOS..

(Most if them are Copied.. Copy right reserved)

Algorithms project

2006-12-29T02:26:00.000-08:00

The day before yesterday was our Algorithms project discussion.. Our project was to implement Prim's (Minimum spanning tree) algorithm..
Well, There isn't much to say.. Thank Allah, It was good (at least for me), Dr Abdalah didn't ask me a question actually.. The only bad thing was that we had to wait a lot till an assistant is free to ask us.. & also we waited a looot again for the Dr for the oral exam..

Anyway, I'm dial-up now.. so I'll upload the exe & put a link for it here when the DSL is back in sha2 Allah...
(Actually, the DSL is back.. but I dont feel like uploading things & putting links.. later on isAllah.. )

Assembly Project..

2006-12-26T08:15:00.000-08:00

Today, was our Assembly project discussion..
First, About the project.. we were intending to make a text editor (Windows Application) then we were afraid that the Dr may not like that (as most code is invoking & using for Windows APIs using Assembly which is new for him -for sure).. so we decided to include Encryption & Decryption in it (just in case).. Anyway, we called our project "Texryptor" (Text Editor that encrypts & decrypts).. It doesnt look very nice --esp made in buttons not in menus cause we didn't have much time :( --
(but after all its windows application by Assembly ;) )

Anyway, Thank Allah the project discussion was good (Dr Kareem & Dr Mahmoud Hossam.. wt do u expect).. & Thank Allah that the Dr was praying when we entered...

I just want to mention sth.. sth that happened today to our colleagues.. They made a very nice project.. & when the Dr saw it.. he became angry & shouted at them "I didnt require that from u.. seems u got it from somewhere online.. & .. bla bla bla... !!!"
Really I'm very very angry.. I really can't find words to say but "7asby Allah w na3ma al wakeel"..

Anyway, Still the Algo is left tom isAllah... Allah Al Mosta3an...

Prolog Project..

2006-12-24T09:29:00.000-08:00

Today was my prolog exam & project discussion... Thank Allah, I did well..
Our Project is an implementation to A* Algorithm..
Here's a link to view our prolog project.. (of course, after my team mates permission ;) )

A* Algorithm Implementation using Prolog (5.2)
(Note: you must also download the pictures from here & unzip them to the D:\ directly)

Project Documentations

BTW, today was the best project discussion for me (since I entered FCIS).. I mean "best" by HOW the assistants discuss the project.. Today, I was not asked much neither was I left after hearing nth but "nice project..it looks nice".. but instead we had a discussion about the Algorithm, some observations like "you'd better have done so & so....", how A* is used in games... etc.. (Dr Mahmoud showed me sth like our project idea made in C++ & animated.. it looked really gr8).. bgd Thanks a lot Dr Mahmoud Zeidan...

Anyway, Hope next projects are better isAllah..
oh, I almost forgot.. Waiting for ur feedbacks :)

My Memorizer..

2006-12-20T07:24:00.000-08:00

Well, This is one of the best services I ever found in the online services world..

My Memorizer.. Its a web calendar with a very nice feature, which is that you can make the reminder by "sending sms" to ur mobile to remind you with the things you set on ur calendar (2 sms/day) & it also sends u a mail (if u want)..
I tried this today & I recieved the sms on my mobile on the time I specified...

Give it a try, its really good.. http://www.mymemorizer.com

You are a Programmer IF...

2006-12-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

1- You have more than a document file on your desktop called "To Do"..
2- You start counting from zero...
3- You can find some code in a folder on ur PC & you wonder when & how you made this code !?
4- You may stay awake a whole night trying to fix a bug, then when u go asleep, you dream of the solution...
5- You don't like most of the softwares in the market...
6- You forget to eat or sleep cause you were too busy writing some piece of code..
7- You stress the words IF, THEN .. ELSE.. while speaking..
8- You always search for the undo button (ctr+z) when u mistake in doing any handwritten stuff..
9- Most of your speech is not understood except by your colleagues in college or work..
10-You find yourself writing a semi-colon at the end of any sentence instead of a full stop;
11-You estimate lengths better in pixels than in meters & centimeters..
12-You use the eye-drops as frequent as you use the toothpaste...
13-The First words you write when trying sth new are "Hello World"...
14-You never used that device that looks like a computer screen & called "TV"
15-You -every now & then- wake up with the keyboard imprinted on your face..

(To be Continued...)

(Some Copied & some written... Copyright reserved)

Projectsss

2006-12-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

Nowadays, we are at the end of the first semester & there are projects that we should do before the practical exams..
Time is really so limited & also the Doctors are not helpful at alll..

Algorithms project --> Minimum Spanning Tree (Prim's algo)
Assembly project --> still not done & also we are having many problems cause we are afraid from the Dr's reaction..
Prolog project --> Not Determined yet.. please if u have a good idea, let us know..

I just wanted to write this post as a kind of motive to myself cause I'm really upset from many things & I'm losing my spirit...
Pray for us please...
isAllah, I will send links for the projects after they are delivered..

Zamzar.. online file conversion

2006-11-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

Zamzar is a free online file converter.. It can convert files to another formats without need to install any software on ur PC..
It can convert images, music, documents & vidoes to & from different formats.. U can check the files format list here : Conversion Types
Try it .. its really easy & nice.. Zamzar

Scrybe

2006-11-17T21:24:00.000-08:00

Another gr8 service added to the online world.. Scrybe, the online/offline organiser ;) ..
Scrybe is an online organizer that has also the capability to work offline.. I think its the best online calendar & task manager (rated better than Google calendar .. althought its still in Beta)

I was really in bad need of sth like Scrybe (I think also every programmer with a gr8 memory like mine ;) ).. I really like their service so much..
Sign up if u want to give it a try : Scrybe ..

Programming Language Inventor or.... ???

2006-10-21T01:22:00.001-07:00

This is really so funny & coool quiz.. I couldn't hold myself from putting a link for it here..
Take the Quiz

Enjoy ;) .. & tell me ur scores.. I got 10/10.. I'm safe, thank god :D ..

Google Code Search !!

2006-10-08T20:24:00.000-07:00

Google labs is making sth innovative as usual.. 'Google Code Search'

Now, you can search billions & billions lines of code for code samples, similar functions u want to code... etc
U even can custom the search for a specific language (C#, java, C++..)

Thanks Google.. :)

Google Egypt

2006-09-21T01:01:00.000-07:00

Our mission is to facilitate the creation of a Google Development Center in Egypt...

What??
* Attract Google to open a branch in Egypt.
* This means many IT jobs for Egyptian developers.
* Participating in the development of Google's latest high techs.
* Give a chance to Egyptian Developers to work at World Class level.
Read more...

Gr8 news.. Seems Google is going to open a branch here in Egypt finally... horray...
http://www.itp.net/news/details.php?id=21702
http://stravinskyss.blogspot.com/2006/06/google-opening-middle-east-regional.html
http://googlified.com/2006google-to-open-office-in-egypt/
http://www.ginside.com/buzz/egypt

PHP vs ASP.NET

2006-09-19T13:01:00.000-07:00

I read that article comparing PHP & ASP.NET for building web applications.. its a good comparision, check it out PHP vs ASP.NET

The only logical answer...

2006-09-11T06:13:00.000-07:00

Why do u need Microsoft Excel while u have Google SpreadSheets , NumSum , IRows ??

Why do u use Microsoft Word if u can use Writely, ThinkFree, Windows Live Writer , Zoho Writer ??

Why do u install Msn Messenger, G-Talk or Yahoo Messenger while u can replace them by Meebo, E-Messenger, MSN WebMessenger or Yahoo WebMessenger ??

Why don't u use BasePortal web-based database platform for the creation of databases for simple webpages??

Why do u keep attaching files many times to send them in e-mails while u can just type links to the files in ur Box account or Google pages??

Why do u need "My Videos" folder while u have now Google Video & YouTube ??

Why do u have problems sharing pictures while u have Picasa WebAlbums , Windows Live Gallery & Web Gallery Mate ??

Why don't u use a Web Operating System like YouOs & EyeOS to customize & access ur desktop from anywhere ??
or maybe use EyeOS Virtual Desktop ??

& many more "Why" questions.......

I think the ONLY logical Answer to all the previous WHY-Questions can be...

"I don't have an internet connection" :) ..

Trying Box.net

2006-09-09T02:36:00.000-07:00

Box.net is an online storage service.. There's a feature here where u can send ur files to ur blog, I'm just trying it...
Anyway, its nice (althought is only 1 GB), try it urself www.box.net

BTW, This is "Art of Programming contests" book for anyone interested in ACMing :)

Dual-Core & HyperThreading

2006-09-08T00:22:00.000-07:00

Many of us heard about 'Dual core' processors that intel has recently made.. wt's new in this processor?? Actually this processor is sth like two single-core processors working together.. dual-core enable twice the thread-handling capability of any other processor...

The Q here is 'wt do I -as a developer- have to do with this??'
well.. when u have a dual-core processor & u don't make ur application HyperThreaded its the same as when u have a car that can run on the fifth gear while u insist driving it on the first gear... so, we -developers- must learn how to make any application hyperthreaded in order to full use the cababilities of the hardware & have high performance for our applications..

Talking about HyperThreading.... I'd like first to clarify the difference between Multi-tasking, Mutli-Threading & Hyper-Threading:
Multi-tasking is the ability of the OS to execute more than one program simultaneously, but in reality no two programs can be executed in the single processor at the same time.. The CPU just switches bet programs so quickly that appears as if the programs are executing at the same time..
Multi-Threading is when the OS can execute different threads of a program at the same time..
Hyper-Threading is simultaneous Multi-threading allowing two threads to be run in parallel..

You can check the following link to understand more about HyperThreading: Introduction to HyperThreading

How to make an application hyperthreaded??.. actually, I'm still a beginner in that.. but wait for a coming post containing some code samples so soon isAllah..

That's all for now..
c u next post isAllah..

-------------------------------------------------------------------

btw, This topic was introduced to me in the 'HyberThreading' session that was made for us in ShadiSystems company by eng/Ramy (intel developer)

3D Desktop

2006-09-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

DGP has developed their own 3D desktop prototype that uses physics to arrange the icons...
It's 3D, physics-ruled environment looks like an actual desktop where you can pile ur icons, stretch them everywhere on the screen, Drag & cross... etc...
It really amazed me.. althought it might not be of any use (at least for me)...

Watch the Video

Pair Programming

2006-08-20T10:20:00.001-07:00

Weeks ago, They made us a session at the company... The session was about Software Engineering techniques.. It was mainly about "Extreme Programming"...

Extreme Programming (“XP”) is a new, lightweight approach to developing software... I wont talk in details about that cause that's not the title of the post :) .. The thing that attracted my attention was a new aproach in software engineeering called "Pair Programming"...

Pair programming is the practice of having two people working together on all production code. They do this as full partners, taking turns typing and watching, to provide constant design and code review..

Imagine u r a manager of a company... u have 10 developers working on 10 PCs... with Pair Programming.. u can have 10 developers working only on 5 PCs with better results... This is not the main point.. but .. the REAL benefit in 'Pair programming' is that its really so productive.. & also gives more efficient results... also its sth related with the nature of the brain of human beings... There is something about the brain that makes it very difficult to think at a high level at the same time that you are doing a lot of hand-eye coordination... so that's why Pair Programming is always more productive...

Also, for me -as a developer- I prefer Pair Programming so much.. its really so fun & also it saves a loooot of time... the funny thing that we always prefer pair programming without knowing that this is a known technique..
but unfortunatly not many people are convinced with it (Here in the company for example)...

That's all now.. Hope the post wasnt that boring..
c u next post isAllah..

A Bug in Atlas..

2006-08-08T00:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while I was working on some ASP pages @ work.. I finished a screen that was required from me, I used some atlas features in that.. It was working just fine.. I just changed in some code to make my page a content page to a master page..
The code looked sth like that:

< % @ Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="~/MasterPage.master" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="CodeFile.aspx.cs" Inherits="_Default" Title="Examinations & Remedies" % >

Then CTL + F5.. I tried any control in the page (that was in an updatepanel) & I got a msgbox with "UnKnown Error ! "
Anyway, I tried everything... the reason was clear that its sth from Atlas as the page worked after removing the updatepanel..
After a lot of search..I found out the nice reason... Actually the reason was in that part "Title="Examinations & Remedies"
cause simply atlas doesnt support the "&" character in the titles of content pages & that causes Atlas to stop working...

Atlas doesn't support some characters in the titles.. Althought the "&" works in titles of normal asp pages using atlas, it doesnt with content pages using atlas..
Anyway, for anyone who will use atlas, I recommend reading this Unofficial Bugs b4 spending half a day trying to figure out wt's wrong in ur code..

Good Luck everybody..
c u next post isAllah...

Atlas framework

2006-08-04T00:53:00.000-07:00

What is Atlas?
This is a new web development technology from Microsoft that integrates cross-browser client script libraries with the ASP.NET 2.0 server-based development framework.. Its even considered an extension for ASP.NET...
Atlas is Microsft implementation of Ajax.. instead of using Ajax & sometimes writing a lot of javascript code, Atlas has same Ajax techniques with more simple & easy use...
I will write here about the 3 MOST nice features I found in Atlas..

Using Update Panel:
This is a gr8 thing really.. Anything you will put in an update panel will work without refreshing you page.. This can be done by using 2 simple steps..
1- Enablepartialrendering=true in the scrip manager part
2- Put ur controls in the 'content tempate' in the Updatepanel & events in the 'triggers'

Code:

Using UpdateProgress:

This is a very nice thing actually.. its mainly for displaying stuff, but it looks nice.. After the Update Panel.. u can add this to show to the user that the page is updating & sth is working.. & the output should like like this pic..

Code:

Using Auto-complete Extender
Instead of writing a loooot of JavaScript Code to make an auto-complete textbox.. now with atlas, its really so simple... I just couldn't believe I can do it by ONLY 3 lines of code!!!!
Just make a [Web Method] that returns array of strings that are suppose to appear in the txtbox..& specify the Method Name & path in the code... simple, right??? ;)

Code:

That's all for now... I hope this was of any use to anyone.. for further reading & downloading the framework, check the Link ..
c u next post isAllah...

A new Experience

2006-06-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

Last sunday was my first day to work at Shadi Systems company.. This week was just a training & real work will begin isAllah next sunday...

It is a totally new experience, I really did learn a lot the past 5 days.. & isAllah looking forward to learn more... I will send about the new things I leant here so soon isAllah...

From the most important things I learnt the past days..
1) xml.. javascript.. html... etc are VERY important to be very WELL known & understood..

2) One has to keep up-to-date & read a lot about the new technologies & tools that comes by every now & then..

isAllah, I will edit this post frequently...

Minesweaper

2006-06-18T12:53:00.000-07:00

u know minesweaper??
who doesn't know minesweaper :D... I like that game.. anyway,during the college days I decided to make my own minesweaper -with big cells cause my eyes hurt me from those tiny one :D- (actually it wasnt my idea, I just heard some collegeues talking about that w tala3o el mawdoo3 fe dema3'y).. so I started in it & later, one became so busy & I left it...
During exams, I just thought about completing it & wish to leave studying to complete it... so this was the first thing to do after taking the vacation.. (I completed it thursday morning ;) )
I finished it, but actually NO UI interface at all... that's why I am not putting a screen shot here ;)

well, its so simple to be implemented... maybe the main problem that you will face is that there is no 'right click' event handler in c#.. so u will have to make one yourself ;)
(I dont know why didnt Microsoft make an event for the right mouse click.. even in .net 2005 ^o) .. )

About handling the mines.. a good ACMer will do that (cause there is a problem called minesweaper in the problemset in the OJ ;) )...

Maybe later I will send a screen shot here, but I dont think I will waste my time for making a good UI for this.. :huh..

c u in next posts isAllah.. There will be a looot of posts coming isAllah..
Keep in touch :)

Trying Office 2007 (Beta)

2006-06-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

I am using Office 2007 (beta)... I like the layout so much… its my favorite blue color… :)I am just trying to publish a post through this office… hope it works…

Really, I like it so much… I like the new features…Anyway, if any of my dear blog readers would like to try it, just let me know, I will send it to u as soon as u want… or maybe you can sign up at Microsoft’s web site for trying the Betas… I really do wish to try the windows vista… so soon isAllah…gtg now… salamo 3alikom….

OOP Project 2

2006-05-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

Here I am again...
I took a break 4 a while & just thought about completing the post..
btw, I heard today that there is competition or sth like that for the projects & a friend confirmed that... I dunno, but maybe I will think of enrolling.. I dunno if its too late or wt.. 8-)

Anyway, back to the proj.. still I wanna show u 2 more things.. The print preview & the notification...

About the printpreview... sure u will wonder what's new in that.. actually I posted before a post here about "Multipages" printing.. I couldnt before support that in any application I made.. but this was solved.. mmm.. just make a function that returns bool to check ur current y ... & in case its true, make the e.HasMorePages = true;
//here is the imp part:
if((CurrentY > pageHeight - pageMarginBottom)&&(!pageLandscape))
{
return true;
}

Here comes the last thing in the proj that deserves watching..
Its a notification at the right side of the screen (as that of msn , yahoo.... ).. its idea is soooo simple, but the output looks nice..... now in order to make a notifier, we need to know the resolution of out screen in order to determine where will our form apear.. actually this can be solved easily with the function: Screen.GetWorkingArea(this) then with little math calculations & good use of timers to make the moving effect, u will get wt u need.. :)

I gtg now to complete studying a small part then go to sleep ISA.. :)

Exams are coming &.... Hope we all do well ISA.. :)

OOP Project 1

2006-05-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

e7l.. the project has been delievered yesterday.. I won't talk in details about the delivery for many reasons.. the main is that I didn't do it for just taking marks + this has nth to do with wt that blog is made for + I wasn't happy with wt happened....

Talking about the project... Actually I didn't add more functionality to the project...(simply cause I wasn't convinced with the design they made & I didnt want to add any tables to it...), I did nth more than the requirments.... just some short reports at the main page (actually, it wasn't my idea.. Thanks for suggesting :) .. ) I was much concerned with the interface & making the other requirments so perfectly...

what are the new things I learnt from that project ?
- some GDI+
- Dealing with events handlers & delegates more flexible.
- Code reusability (make good use of wt others do instead of doing it from scratch) .
- Making good use of the controls & components of the .net to produce sth that looks good.

----------------------------------------------------

This is the Interface of the application... Hope its clear enough :) .. mmm.. There are buttons on the left for moving between forms.. I think buttons are more practical esp for things that are required a lot for the user (as making a reservation & checking rooms availbility).. I added some menus at then end cause almost All people told me "its better to make menus".. don't know y!! .. anyway.. I still don't like menus.. but maybe I can add both & the user have to choose (as many applications we use in daily life...)

BTW.. I used a class that was made by someone on code project to play sounds.. I used it in to make some effects for the mouse moving on the buttons + some few visual effects...

----------------------------------------------------

Here comes the most important form in the application & the most one that made me tired (esp as a functionality)...mmm... about the shape.. (simple use of GDI+)... & added some mouse event handlers to be able to move the form freely...

I'm now so tired.. I will go to sleep now..

To be continued ISA..

Changing Forms Shapes..

2006-05-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

I decided to take some rest b4 studying so I thought of writing somthing useful here...

Sometimes we get bored from standard forms.. Learning GDI+ helps a lot in making cool shapes for forms.. Here, I'm not going to talk about how to use GDI+ to reshape ur forms (maybe I'll do next post).. I will talk now about a very simple way that can change the way ur form looks..

Let's begin..
First Design a nice picture for ur form...Here, I downloaded a pic from google images :) (I'm a programmer not a designer ;) )
After designing.. set the background of ur image to a unique colour that u will never use in ur form or in any font in ur application (simply cause anything having this colour will disappear)
ok.. that's the pic I chose & I set the background to dark grey...

Now, Go to ur form & set the background of ur form to this image...
& then u have to change some properties in ur form..
FormBorderStyle = None
Transparency Key = "colour u chose for ur pic background" (& this doesn't work in most cases due to sth related to screen colour quality.. I'll tell u how to manage that in the coming lines)

ok.. now done..
we have to add some things.. the Most imp thing is a button to close our application.. & this can be done easily by adding a button with mark "X" & in its action this.Close();
ok.. now ur form is almost ready..

now, if u run it, the transparency key doesn't work...so.. here is a piece of code to make this thing work just fine.. but first don't forget to put ur pic beside the .exe

System.Drawing.Bitmap Img = new Bitmap("background.bmp");
Img.MakeTransparent(Img.GetPixel(0,0));
this.BackgroundImage = Img;
this.TransparencyKey = Img.GetPixel(0,0);

I think the code is clear.. he sets the image to the form backgournd & gets the colour of the first pixel in ur image & set that to the transparency key...

Now, not finished yet.. :D .. there is still adding some Mouse event handlers so that u can move ur new form.. (I will leave u do that cause I have to go to study :D , its 11:00)

now I will just show u the final view of our form...

just remmeber that ur final form look depends on ur image quality...

Hope u enjoyed it..

Running my 'OTC code' application

2006-04-19T21:36:00.000-07:00

sure, anyone read the title wondered what is the 'OTC code' (maybe its sth related to programming 8-)??!) , Actually No... It's an application I made for my sister & her collegeus in college, They wanted to make a program that can be used in any pharmacy to check on the Drugs interactions.. (As some drugs may interact & cause toxic doses & many commplications w 7agat kedah...) & that is sth VERY common here in Egypt..
Anyway, they collected the Data & it was my task to make the program.. Actually it was not complicated at all, but it really made me feel Happy... cause its my first time to make sth -u know- USEFUL...

Anyway,back to my main point (the reason that made me write that post)... After I finished the application, I gave it to them to show it to their DR.. but.. ops.. I forgot.. We all know that any program made on .net won't run unless there is .net installed on that device...
mmmmm... I thought.. what should I do then.. I really worked hard on it.. so, I got an idea...mm... just make the CD containing the program an autorun that asks the user to install just the FrameWork of the .net... & after installation, everything will work just fine...
I tried that method & e7l.. my application worked :) .. & ISA they will deliver it next saturday...

so, for anyone making any application on .net... Always remmember that the user is not a programmer like u & doesn't have .net framework to run that application (cause I almost forgot that)...
maybe many who will read that post know that b4, but maybe some doesn't...
Just an experience I wanted to share...
In case anyone has a better solution, Comments are welcomed :)

(BTW, I became a popular character there in the faculty of pharmacy :D)

Multi-Teaming..

2006-04-15T17:47:00.000-07:00

I don't know if there is sth called "multi-teaming" or not.. but I made up that expression from my mind...
Maybe this post is NOT very related to what I usually post here -maybe I'll delete this post later- ,but I just wanted to talk about that issue so much as its related to my programming life...

Let me begin explaining my title first...
Programming field has a very important concept called "Team Work"... I don't have personal experience in real job or work (cause I didn't work till now :) ), but I think college is enough to teach us that concept (through projects, acm ... etc)

All my life, I always like to work in teams (maybe being in a team since 9 increased that inside me...) , When I joined college, I searched for a team mate -althought I have many friends- ,but I found NONE...
later on, I began to find persons having common interests like me.. I joined in with them & made what is called "Teams"...

What is "Multi-teaming" then !!
I'll tell u... When you have the same members with u in a certain task or goal, then u can call yourself a "Team", The idea is that I have many Teams, & Can u imagine that noone is repeated in more that a team!!... mmm.. let me make things more clear...
My ACM team, Hend & Asmaa... My C++ Team, Sally & Shimaa... My Open GL Team, Heba 3essam, Abdel r7man M., Abdel r7man E..... My projects Team, Aya Nabil, Yasmine...etc....

As you can see.. Many Teams & all are different members...
This is what I call "Multi-Teaming"...

Talking About Multi-Teaming... I think it has Advantages & Disadvantages...

About the Advantages:
-"Multi-teaming" widen your thiking (I believe so) cause you think & create new things with different minds & different ways of thinking...
-"Multi-teaming" make you exchange information with different people & that -surely- always teach u sth new...
-"Multi-teaming" make you always enthusiastic about each team's task, I mean when u have new persons in each team.. they always think in one direction towards that team's goal & that always help u keep up in the same performance in each team...
-"Multi-teaming" strengthen you relation with people around u in ur community & helps in the interaction between people..

About the Disadvantages:
-"Multi-teaming" doesn't make you enjoy the taste of "Team work"... Imagine that u have many things to work on today... You go with X & Y to do sth, then after hours.. you go with A & B to do sth else... kind of unsettlement...
-"Multi-teaming" LOADS one so much... If people u work with are with u in everything, you will have the same palns, same tasks (not exactly the same, but I mean ... nearly the same ) ,but in "Multi-teaming", you always have to do many things & in the same quality as your team members (who in most of the time, do nth except that task..)

Till now, I don't prefer "Multi-teaming" so much, maybe "Di-Teaming" or "Tri-Teaming" would be enough :) ,but the problem is that I can't find someone to share me all my interests...

Till now, I'm still so confused about Multi-Teaming... sometimes I adore its advantages & other times, I just hate its disadvantages...

anyway, just wanted to share a personal experience, here in my blog...

Rotating Earth.... Horray...

2006-04-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

Now, its one of the happiest moments in my programming life (till now :)) e7l...
I finally could make it.. I made a rotating earth with Open GL...

About MY earth... :)
You can change to Night & Day vision (light/darkness) also you can (zoom in/zoom out)...
with cabability of controlling the rotation in x, y & z directions...

Here is a shot for the earth, zoomed out
& in Day vision..
(rotating for sure,but that isn't clear :D)

While here, the Earth is magnified
in Night Mood...

Hope you enjoyed the screen shots ;)..

There is still a loooooooooot to learn, but I will never forget this moment..

(BTW, now its 2:00 am.. It really worth mixing my timetable)

Playing with Open GL..

2006-04-05T23:34:00.000-07:00

I was playing with Open Gl... (BTW... I Like it veryyyyy much) .. I made that rotating twinkling star... I know this is an easy task... but I think everyone starts from Zero.. right ;)

The Star rotates in x, y & z axis.. & also changes its colour from red to yellow & vice-versa...

I'm working now on a rotating, translating, keyboard controlled sphere.. so Hope I will make it.. ( I will send it here sure after I finish it ISA... ;) )

Some solution paradigms for acm problems...

2006-04-01T06:35:00.000-08:00

Here is some things that you need to consider when designing your solution :)

Generating vs Filtering
Programs that generate lots of possible answers and then choose the ones that are correct (imagine an 8-queen solver) are filters. Those that hone in exactly on the correct answer without any false starts are generators. Generally, filters are easier (faster) to code and run slower. Do the math to see if a filter is good enough or if you need to try and create a generator.

Pre-Computation / Pre-Calculation
Sometimes it is helpful to generate tables or other data structures that enable the fastest possible lookup of a result. This is called Pre-Computation (in which one trades space for time). One might either compile Pre-Computed data into a program, calculate it when the program starts, or just remember results as you compute them. A program that must translate letters from upper to lower case when they are in upper case can do a very fast table lookup that requires no conditionals, for example. Contest problems often use prime numbers - many times it is practical to generate a long list of primes for use elsewhere in a program.

Decomposition (The hardest thing at programming contests)
While there are fewer than 20 basic algorithms used in contest problems, the challenge of combination problems that require a combination of two algorithms for solution is daunting. Try to separate the cues from different parts of the problem so that you can combine one algorithm with a loop or with another algorithm to solve different parts of the problem independently. Note that sometimes you can use the same algorithm twice on different (independent!) parts of your data to significantly improve your running time.

Symmetries
Many problems have symmetries (e.g., distance between a pair of points is often the same either way you traverse the points). Symmetries can be 2-way, 4-way, 8-way, and more. Try to exploit symmetries to reduce execution time.
For instance, with 4-way symmetry, you solve only one fourth of the problem and then write down the four solutions that share symmetry with the single answer (look out for self-symmetric solutions which should only be output once or twice, of course).

Solving forward vs backward
Surprisingly, many contest problems work far better when solved backwards than when using a frontal attack. Be on the lookout for processing data in reverse order or building an attack that looks at the data in some order or fashion other than the obvious.

Simplification or in technical terms: Problem Reduction
Some problems can be rephrased into a somewhat different problem such that if you solve the new problem, you either already have or can easily find the solution to the original one; of course, you should solve the easier of the two only. Alternatively, like induction, for some problems one can make a small change to the solution of a slightly smaller problem to find the full answer.

References:-. USACO training gateway

Small problem with a MFC application..

2006-03-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

While I was coding with MFC with my C++ team mates Sally & Shimaa.. (we were doing the hacking task which was quite an easy one).. we faced a tiny silly problem... The problem was that when displaying an int value in a messagebox, the value appears as strange characters..

For example, if u wrote:
int x = 2;
CString str = x;
MessageBox(str);

then u willl get strange characters in the Message box..
mmm.. I tried type casting.. (static_cast string str = <>(x); ) but.. the same thing happened again... I tried _itoa(x,str,size); ...but again & again.. it doesn't work well in all cases....actually I didn't knew how to fix it till I went home & googled for the solution... & here we go... just made good use of the "CString" class & everything went just fine... (Thanks Google)

I tried this Code as a sample:
int value = 1000;
CString string ;
string.Format(_T("%d"),value);
MessageBox(string);

IT WORKS.. :D ..

Here are some more additional information about the CString::Format method (got it from msdn )
Parameters
nFormatID : The string resource identifier that contains the format-control string.
pszFormat :A format-control string.
argument :Optional arguments.

Remarks
This function formats and stores a series of characters and values in the CStringT. Each optional argument (if any) is converted and output according to the corresponding format specification in pszFormat or from the string resource identified by nFormatID.

Just wanted to write this here in case anyone faced the same problem..
Still enjoying the MFC till now..
Meet u in another problem I face with programming ;)

Print preview in C#

2006-03-12T10:49:00.000-08:00

while I was playing a while with the print preview function that we took in the programming.. I faced a problem in making it "Multi" page... I tried everything... but I failed... so... I googled for a solution for that... & here is what I got from www.codeproject.com

The person who wrote that article made a class called "MultipadPrintDocument " (as his application was called Multipad)

Here is some explanation as mentioned by him for how the print preview works...

MultipadPrintDocument implements the virtual methods OnBeginPrint() and OnPrintPage(). OnBeginPrint() sets the pointer to the current character (_offset) to 0 and the current page number to 1.
OnPrintPage() has one parameter of type PrintPageEventArgs. When the system calls OnPrintPage(), we have to typeset the page using the Graphics object in the PrintPageEventArgs parameter. We typeset the page by printing lines of text until the page is full or until we reach the end of the text. The PrintPageEventArgs parameter has a property MarginBounds which contains the page size. Unfortunately, the dimensions are expressed in hundredths of an inch.
In .NET, there is no GraphicsUnit which represents a hundredth of an inch. Because we're going to measure strings in GraphicsUnit.Document (1/300th of an inch), we convert the page dimensions by multiplying them with 3. Now we're ready to start printing the lines of the text.

First, we create a StringBuilder which will hold the text of a single line. We also create a GenericTypographic StringFormat object. It's very important to use GenericTypographic because otherwise, MeasureString() and DrawString() wouldn't behave as expected. We also set the tab stops: if a line of text contains tabs, the text will be formatted correctly (the tabs will not be replaced with spaces, they will act as real tabs). Finally, we set the PageUnit property of the Graphics object to GraphicsUnit.Document.

Before we start filling the page with lines, we check to see if there is enough space to print at least four lines: one line of text and three lines for the page number (two empty lines above the page number). If there isn't enough room, we simply leave the page blank. This situation should rarely occur.

Now we're ready to break up the text in lines. We read the text string one character at a time. We add the character to the line buffer (the StringBuilder object), except if the character is a NewLine or Eos (end of string). Note that NewLine is "\r\n" in Windows or "\n" in Unix, so we have to keep in mind that we don't simply skip one character but Environment.NewLine.Length characters (yes, we strive to perfection). If the character is a space or a tab, we save this position because when the line is full, we don't want to break the line in the middle of a word, no, we will print the line up to the last tab or space. For example, if we have the line "The quick brown ... lazy dog." and the line overflows at the 'd' of "dog", we will begin the next line with "dog" instead of "og". If the last character is a space or tab, we continue to add these characters. This way, the next line will never start with white space. If the line overflows or we encounter a NewLine or Eos, we print the text in the line buffer. Then we increment the y position of the next line and empty the line buffer. If there's still room for a new line of text and we still have text to print, we continue the loop; if not, we exit the loop, print the page number at the bottom of the page, increment the page number and set the property HasMorePages of the PrintPageEventArgs parameter to true if there's still text to print, otherwise we set it to false.

Here I am... modifying my code.. still I have some mistakes in the final view, but really my eyes are in their worst state now.. :S (Note: I lost my glasses which makes everything worse)
so.. I will go take a rest now & complete my code later..
sure I will tell u in case i discovered sth new...

Way to Game Programming...

2006-03-09T20:13:00.000-08:00

- A team in my college is starting a game programming project... I'm one of the members in that team.. we are starting ISA in the coming period.. that's y I'm reading about OpenGL..

What is OpenGL? (for those who don't know)
OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a specification defining a cross-language cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 3D computer graphics (and 2D computer graphics as well). The interface consists of about 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. It is very popular in the video games industry where it competes with Direct3D (on Microsoft Windows)

OpenGL is a method for rendering 3d images. GL stands for Graphics Language. OpenGL is the "open source" version of GL. id software is a huge proponent of OpenGL because it is platform-independant, unlike DirectX which is Windows-specific.

Why OpenGL?
-Device independence
-Simple, easy to learn
-Powerful, flexible feature set
-Cross-platform portability
-Established: many tools and resources already available
-Performance(varies with hardware...)

To be Continued...

Some nice statistics..

2006-03-04T14:19:00.000-08:00

In conclusion, if we look at the data available to us, especially as presented in the final, normalized chart above, we can see that there are broad patterns in language usage. Beyond the overall ranking, it is also possible to see whether a language is more used (jobs) or promoted (ads), and also whether it is used for open source projects, where presumably the participants have chosen a language because they feel it is truly the best choice, rather than dictated by management or commercial needs. We feel this is an important sector to keep an eye on, because it's where a lot of interesting things are happening, and because software really is a field in constant evolution, where today's niche player may become tomorrow's giant. These results should also be taken with a grain of salt, because it's obvious that our calculations are based on data that is not extremely accurate, nor detailed. That said, I stand by them, because I think they do correspond to what I see and read in my field.

A new strategy

2006-01-18T13:35:00.000-08:00

I thought about making a good use of the blog... Actually, there are some things that influenced my decision.. most important one of them is seeing another very useful blogs.. I remember one of them is "Spot the Bug"...

I will be publishing articles or any interesting programming topics I read anywhere.. that can help us increase our knowledge in programming & programming-related stuff (as Algorithms..)

so.. wish u enjoy it..