Rohio saga.. !!

Finding the N th entry of a column in SQL

2013-11-17T20:25:00.000+05:30

Let us take a simple table fruit and look how the query works

SQL> select * from fruit order by name asc;

NAME
----------
apple
banana
grape
orange

#If we need to find the second Maximum entry, The query would be:
#Sort the query in ascending order, then pick the second Maximum entry from the resultant set
SQL> select max(name) from fruit where rowid in ( select * from (select rowid from fruit order by name asc) where rownum <= &n );
Enter value for n: 2
old 1: select max(name) from fruit where rowid in ( select * from (select rowid from fruit order by name) where rownum <= &n )
new 1: select max(name) from fruit where rowid in ( select * from (select rowid from fruit order by name) where rownum <= 2 )

MAX(NAME)
----------
banana

#If we need to find the second Minimum entry, The query would be:

#Sort the query in the descending order, then pick the second Minimum entry from the resultant set

SQL> select min(name) from fruit where rowid in ( select * from (select rowid from fruit order by name desc ) where rownum <= &n);
Enter value for n: 2
old 1: select min(name) from fruit where rowid in ( select * from (select rowid from fruit order by name desc ) where rownum <= &n)
new 1: select min(name) from fruit where rowid in ( select * from (select rowid from fruit order by name desc ) where rownum <= 2)

MIN(NAME)
----------
grape

In order to get proper results, use the right combination of order by desc/asc and max/min feature of Query

Some common ORA- Errors

2013-11-14T18:21:00.000+05:30

ORA-19502 and ORA-27072

For egs :I recently faced an error like this

RMAN-00571: ===========================================================

RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============

RMAN-00571: ===========================================================

RMAN-03009: failure of backup command on ORA_DISK_1 channel at 11/14/2013 06:23:29

ORA-19502: write error on file "/oracle/admin/flash_recovery_area/ENV/backupset/2013_11_14/o1_mf_nnndf_TAG20131114T062322_989j5tgv_.bkp", block number 26880 (block size=8192)

ORA-27072: File I/O error

Additional information: 4

Additional information: 26880

Additional information: 970752

I was wondering what might have gone wrong. It was surprising to figure out the solution for this scenario. This error will be thrown out if you have lack of disk space. So this affect RMAN Backup. So either add additional disk space to the disk or delete some unwanted files. And this worked for me, as RMAN executed the backup without any further errors

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

ORA-19870 and ORA-19573

While restoring database this is one of the common ORA errors.

For Egs:

RMAN-00571: ===========================================================

RMAN-00569: =============== ERROR MESSAGE STACK FOLLOWS ===============

RMAN-00571: ===========================================================

RMAN-03002: failure of restore command at 10/25/2013 00:27:48

ORA-19870: error while restoring backup piece /oracle/product/11.2.0.3/PROD/dbs/7con65m9_1_1

ORA-19573: cannot obtain exclusive enqueue for datafile 1

The culprit here is that, your DB is in open state. So mount it after a shutdown option. So solution is like

SQL>shutdown immediate;

SQL>startup mount;

and then go for restore database

RMAN>restore database;

ORA-04043

For egs:

SQL> desc dba_data_files;

ERROR:

ORA-04043: object dba_data_files does not exist

This has been one of the most common error produced if you haven't ran catalog.sql or catproc.sql. In some cases if your instance is down also, Oracle throws out this error.

So check the status of DB first. In case if its down, bounce it.

Still if the error persists, go to $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin and run catalog.sql and catproc.sql

How to display a score(variable value) in opengl ?

2012-12-20T12:06:00.000+05:30

It was a big task when I started using opengl to design a 3 D game to display a score board based on a variable. Most of my friends thought it would be a tough task to display a scoreboard which will be ticking each and every second of the game. Then I thought of generalizing the task and wanted to utilize my knowledge in basic C to code for the scenario.

The problem with displaying characters in opengl was that, One can only print just single character at a time on to the screen using the command

--> -->

GLvoid *font_style1 = GLUT_BITMAP_TIMES_ROMAN_24;

glRasterPos3f (0.0, 0.0, 0.0);

glutBitmapCharacter(font_style1, ch);

Here, the first line sets the Font type and its size. The second line adjusts the position of the character. Third line plots the character on to the screen, where 'ch' is the ascii value of required character.

So here arises the biggest question:

How can one find the ascii value of the required score and then print ?

Solution is simple:

Split the digits of the score into single digits. Then take the value and add it to 48, which gives the ascii value of that digit.Print the digit, adjust the next character position, find the next digit , repeat the same procedure.

So code wise we can say as,

void scoredisplay (int posx, int posy, int posz, int space_char, int scorevar)
{
        int j=0,p,k;
        GLvoid *font_style1 = GLUT_BITMAP_TIMES_ROMAN_24;

        p = scorevar;
        j = 0;
        k = 0;
        while(p > 9)
        {
            k = p % 10;
            glRasterPos3f ((posx-(j*space_char)),posy, posz);
            glutBitmapCharacter(font_style1,48+k);
            j++;
            p /= 10;
        }
            glRasterPos3f ((posx-(j*space_char)), posy, posz);
            glutBitmapCharacter(font_style1,48+p);

}

here, the Scoredisplay() have folowing arguments

initial X position(Extreme right)

initial Y position

initial Z position

space in between each digits

variable which need to be displayed

Now what ever the value on the variable, the score board will be shown at the required X,Y,Z co-ordinates. I searched net a lot to find this sort of code during my project,to get a hint of how to display my scoreboard, but was disappointed. So when I was successful in implementing this on my project and many of my friend's project, I thought of sharing with you all.

A simpler way to custom your files in ubuntu

2012-12-19T16:28:00.000+05:30

I usually work with lot of files related to my project, majority of them being .c or .cpp files. I always have to right click,open new document file and then type all usual headers like

#include<stdio.h>

#include<string.h>

#include<iostream>

using namespace std;

. . .

This used to make things boring. Then one of my friends shared a new way to custom your templates. Just thought of shring with you all. Its a kind of common pattern used my professionals to make their files look elegant and customized. There has been a folder called templates in ubuntu(/home/user/Templates). There you can create your custom templates.

Step 1 Right click there to create a new file and type what all you need for your frequent usage.

Step 2 Now save the file as required name and extension.

Now see the magic. Just right click to create a new document(You can right click where ever you wish,not only the document folder as shown). You will be surprised to see your custom made file too, there in the list of Create New Document.

So simply select it and you can have all your frequent code part typed in it already.

So similarly, if you want many different varieties of customized files, repeat the same and save them as new names. This can really help one in easy coding as well as in customized manner. Then you needn't want to paste your name and the frequent codes into project files again and again. Hope you all will like this way of customization.

A temple of its beauty

2012-11-06T15:40:00.000+05:30

Long back in books and epics, i have read about worshiping the tree is equivalent to worshiping god. It was only in words until I visited Oachira parabrahma temple, a few km away from Kayamkulam,Kollam District.It was a temple known for its simplicity and ofcourse very famous for the festivals and celebrations. Usually I watch this temple from outside on my way home but never could get down in my first three years of Btech career. When I awaits my bus to home, I finds people who stops their cars near the temple, and offers their money to the hundial near by. Not only cars, many lorry drivers, tourist vehicle drivers and all offer their earning in this hundial. I had always wondered why this much belief had been there for people passing by. But no one would believe that the interior of so called temple is simple and so natural.

It was recently when I went with my friends to this temple, which makes me pen down a few words about its specialty. The temple idols are placed at the bottom of trees, and it seems as if the tree is worshiped as god. All the offerings to god was natural, the garlands, milk, coconut water and all. The temple have a cool and devotional atmosphere all around its premises.

The deities were all the usual one, but a temple with a unique feature of open worship and natural offerings brings thousands everyday to this temple. As many other temple, this temple too provides food for the needy ones and is been a shelter for many a people. The betel garland was the one which attracted me the most. It was looking grand and simple in its beauty. The temple can claim that their form of offerings are eco-friendly as well as 'greeny'. The temple offerings are not done by priests but there doesnt seems any question about its sincerity in their offerings.
History says that, One fine morning onwards Lord Shiva and Parvathy's face were resembled by the leaves of one of such big trees. Believe it or not, I would like to consider it as Tree been given the resemblance of god literally or mentally. With strong base on its roots and wide enough leaves and branches to give the shades, any one would like to enjoy the beauty of these trees and the power of deities resting on its shades.

It was a nice experience for anyone who visits this temple, if you haven't been to any such 'natural' temples.Thus my visit to this temple have been a fantastic experience and I would recommend everyone to atleast feel what I share as a "Temple of its beauty"

Saga from Amazon to Cisco

2012-10-06T11:23:00.002+05:30

My experience with the placements 2012

o Amazon

This was my first experience of placement season 2012. The preliminary round consists of an online exam, which contains technical questions, aptitude questions and coding questions. Each section has its weightages. Answering all sections equally will only give you the green card to next round. Aptitude can be maintained by career launcher preparation at college level, technical is quite tough, coding is moderate but needs to be implemented in efficient way. Me was selected to next round, ie, Interview

My first Interview was really good. I was satisfied with my performance but they weren’t. Things I find from interview were

· Technically they concentrate on Data Structures, Algorithms

· Project is what they concentrate on and prepare it to the best

· Try to impress your interviewers by logic of a code rather than going for the code explanation.

I was not up to the mark of data structures that interview people ask and this was my lesson from my failure #1.

o MuSigma

With all my aptitude and code knowledge, I sat for my second company. The preliminary round consists of 2 sections Quantitative and Technical, but had negative marks. Questions were easy if management of time was taken into consideration. But when result was shortlisted, my name was not there.

Trying luck with negative marks is not an good option was my lesson from this failure #2.

o Tally

Time to test my detailed preparation of data structures, that was my view point for this company. The preliminary round consist of a written test with 2 parts – Technical and Analytical. The technical part consisted of mainly data structures, DBMS, and basics of C programming. It was easy and good platform to test my data structure knowledge. It took nearly one month to announce the result of this round, but unfortunately I was not there in 10 shortlisted students. But the experience was a booster for my further technical preparation, because questions proved that the way I was studying was correct.

The lesson I learnt from failure #3 was to extend the technical preparation to DBMS, programming and get in touch with Interview questions.

o Microsoft

Any CSE student would have at least dreamt of being an Microsoft guy one day, and that dreams had lead me for an intense preparation for this company. The first round was online test consisting of technical and quantitative questions. The questions were really standard and needed good skills to crack this round. Luckily I cleared this round. The next round was a coding round – My best round. Coding was always a passion for me and I was excited about the round. There were 4 coding question and one scenario describing question. All the 4 coding questions I wrote very good codes, but couldn’t manage much contents for the scenario question. When the result came after one week , I couldn’t find my name on shortlist.

Failure #4 : The lesson was to learn the placement rounds fully before attending any company and practice sample papers in advance.

o Thought works

The best company to work for any CSE student, where there is no special cabins, pair programming and agile development is given priority. One thing, I should specially mention is the punctuality of the team Thought works. It was really awesome that they maintained their schedules according to a plan and with proper punctuality. From my part, I have done a descent home work for the company. I looked at experiences of people from net regarding recruitment etc.

The first round of thought works is a set of questions that they are asking for previous 4 years. It is mathematics, logic and diagram related some 15 questions, which one needs to be practiced twice before their original test.
Hope this link can help in passing the first round

http://placement.freshersworld.com/placement-papers/ThoughtWorks/Placement-Paper-Whole-Testpaper-29732

I can assure the candidates that, If you are familiar with this pattern of questions, first round will be very easy to crack. I was selected to the next round. The next round was coding. There were a plenty been selected to this round and thus they wanted to conduct this coding round in 2 phases. In phase one, they asked all to produce an output pattern they shown and asked to code for that. It was pretty simple for any CSE student who is one touch with the basics of coding. I was sure of clearing this round and I knew clearly that next round would be a challenging one. With all my acm-icpc coding experience, I step into next coding round. This was also a good coding question and by God’s grace I could impress my interviewer who was verifying the code. Even though I hadn’t finished my code, Interviewer was satisfied with my explanation and logic of solving the problem. He asked me to finish it asap and I could do it within next 5 minutes and I knew it was my day. Results came and I was shortlisted to Interview rounds.

That night I prepared about company’s recent products and refreshed my technical preparation. I also had good preparation on my project part. All the failures till now were tallied and I was trying to make interview grand. First round of Interview was very good for me and my homework really helped me. I had read in internet regarding one of the experiences of a person who wrote ‘solving logical problems’ in resume and got out of interview since he couldn’t solve a logical problem. It was interesting for me, because it was my hobby in my resume. And with no surprise, I got such a logical question from my interviewer. I could answer that question with full confidence and first time in my life, I observed the smile on my interviewer. They were totally flat by my unexpected answering and I knew that holding technical now will give me my chance. They started from my areas of Interest, went through my hobbies and were relating these two aspects of my resume. The technical questions were really easy and I could do my best with my earlier preparations. At last when I was coming out of interview room, I looked at their faces. They were smiling and I knew well before the results that I can go for next round.

The next round was a HR cum Technical oriented round. They went straight to Achievement part of resume. First line they read ‘Acm- icpc coder’. They were impressed by that achievement and gave me one nice problem to solve. It was the first time I was hearing such a problem. I kept talking to them about the way I was analyzing the question. They kept on giving me hints and suggestions when I proceed with my plans. This went on for half an hour and I was still not upto a proper answer. They told me that, they are going for a walk outside for 5 minutes and by that time if I could, that’s great or else we will move on. By god’s grace, by those 5 minutes, I came up with answer. When they came back, I explained with my full confidence the logic to solve the problem. They were shocked and surprised. I knew that if I can cling on next one hour with this level, I’m in. They went into my project. They went so deep into the subject in which I did my project. I could manage that but still it was not an impressive one for sure. Then they asked me about C++/OOP concepts and their real world implementation. I could explain the concepts well but had some real troubles explaining real world cases. They helped in correcting this part. Then they introduced a very new concept to me and asked to solve that scenario. I tried my level best and nothing was going into my mind at that time. Still I managed the situation by explaining the logic to solve the situation. At this time, we both panel and me understood that my one hour interview have gone upto two and half hours. When I left the cabin, I was sure of its fate. The HR manager told me that unhappy news but told me that panel want to meet me to give a feedback. It was a very positive feedback I received from them. They mentioned that my logical skills were apt for company but needed to improve on my OOP concepts and C++. They openly told that they were impressed the way I traversed through the rounds so far and on my ability to solve the coding problems.

Faliure #5 : Improve on OOP concepts and utilize this experience of thought works for coming company.

o KLA Tencor

It was one day before our journey to ettimadai I came about to know the strange fact of KLA Tencor recruitment @ amrita. That fact was that they will recruit only 1 person from Amrita. Still to try the best, I set out for the company. The preliminary round consisted of two papers – Technical (coding included) and Aptitude. The paper was easy because of the ‘homework’. Luckily I got selected to the next round of interview. It was a half an hour long interview process as they informed. It was basically to test that answers written in previous round. Initially my interviewer asked me some basic questions from my paper and I answered them clearly. Then he went into the coding part (where I was more confident). I had expected his question to improve the code I have written and I had a ready answer available in my mind. As I waited he asked me the same and I could impress him by my new code. He again asked for 2 more ways to solve the same problem (this was not expected), still I could manage this easily. Then he told that he has done with my interview part. I was shocked because it was hardly ten minutes I been there in cabin. I have heard that smaller the time an Interview takes riskier the chance. But my answers were confident enough to reserve me a seat for the next round. This was technical round. They tested on basis of C/C++ programming skills. The beauty of the round was that all the panels had asked same set of questions to interviewees. I had managed my part well but the questions began to increase the intensity and I could imagine my status after the interview.

My interviewer after interview went into a discussion room. I sat near that room and looked inside through the glass. The people out there discussed a lot on my paper. At last I saw one member taking a red marker and moving to the board there. I first thought, they may be writing and analyzing my skills and knowledge part, but it was really different. I saw that member drawing a horizontal line, and I was sure that there was my name on the board and they put an end to my status by that line. Then naturally the HR manager walks out, calls me and convey to me my failure and feed back to improve on my OOP skills.

Failure #6 : OOP is a big subject and my preparation for this subject is still not upto mark and I need to rectify it asap to go forward. This placement process increased my confidence level since I knew I have been one among the few students who reached till this round.

o IBM

I am an IBMer was a dream for any CSE unplaced guy. The world’s most oldest and reputed firm was our ‘first mass recruiter’. With 6 failure experiences and good CGPA, anyone would dream to get at least a mass recruitment when a company like IBM comes. I had prepared myself for a good HR round interview with highlights of my acm-icpc (where IBM was the event sponsor). The preliminary online exam was tough with number series and technical questions. I have tried my level best and sweat a lot to complete my questions. Luckily I cleared this round and moved into next round of letter writing. This email writing round, which was easy for me, but was not so good looking for IBM’ers as they didn’t shortlisted me for the GD. I had heard many of my friends saying that they wrote something and still got selected. It was a painful wait till 10:00 pm in the night to know that I haven’t selected for the GD round. This was a night of sadness because to realize that all my experience and luck haven’t favored me this time. When some 30 of our batch went into for the next round, I even though having sent a thousand emails formally and non-formally getting no spot was a sad feeling. I was thinking of getting placed in at least a mass recruiting company rather than a core and still slipping that spot seemed to be very serious.

Failure #7 : There was no failure from my part for this company. All I have to do now is to prepare more intensely for the next company, do my part and secure an offer asap.

[The very next day was the turning point in my life. Me and my friend Revathy were called to CIR ettimadai campus office and were asked to attend Cisco placements to happen very next day at Bangalore campus. It was a joyful moment to hear for the one who had already lost a mass recruitment company and is looking for a core company. CIR specially mentioned one thing that we are allowed to attend this recruitment not only for ourselves but also for our juniors. It was told to us that, this company wanted students from ettimadai and Bangalore campus only and it was with efforts they made it eligible for Amritapuri Campus with a cut off of 9 CGPA. If we could prove to cisco companies that, our campus too have the potential to crack, next year onwards, our juniors will also be allowed to take part in this placement process. With one day to prepare, I collected as many resources as I can about Cisco, looked for their patterns, prepared on their interview questions and was getting myself ready for the “battle”. The arrangement for reaching Bangalore was made by the help of my brother Ranjeeth Odunghat and his classmates of MTECH Cyber Security wing of Ettimadai campus.]

o Cisco

The company name Cisco had its privilege as they are coming to Amrita for the first time. I had thought of applying for this company by off campus recruitment. With my one day preparation I had a fair idea of the rounds and pattern. I had called George Varghese, one of CSE senior who got placed in the company to get from him the experience and company environment. I had read his blog of experience and was preparing as per the details in that blog.

The first round consist of a written multiple choice paper consisting of 20 analytical questions and 30 technical questions and we get a total of 60 minutes to solve. The analytical questions were easy and my suggestion is to score the maximum from this section. The technical consisted of digital electronics, OS, COA, C programming, Data Structures and DBMS. This was the toughest technical questions I have ever seen. I tried my best at this round. I had no hopes of results but Luckily my name was called for next round. I was really excited watching my name on the shortlisted candidates. We were asked to submit our resume and photograph to HR manager. I was among first five students who submitted it. The next round was Interview round. My friend Revathy told that it was HR oriented from her experience.

As I stepped into Interview room, I had full confidence on my part and all they was looking was the resume, which according to me is my key for recruitment. He asked me to introduce myself and I knew well that interviewers want to catch on my area of interest. And I knew well that I wont utter a word networks, which was never my favorite subject but was theirs favorite one. Data Structures, DBMS and programming , that was my favorites and we had some discussions on these. Then they asked me to tell about Cisco. With my homework knowledge I explained to him what cisco was to me. I added a beautiful line in between my speech that since childhood, I’ve been a user of Cisco product. I was sure he’ll be eager to ask me back what product it was and he asked. I answered, the set top box of my Television is a cisco product and from those days onwards I’ve loved to be a part of Cisco company.

Then they asked me to explain about a project and wanted to explain its implementation. Since it was my individual project I had my full confidence to explain its details. Then the interviewer asked me the trickiest question . There was actually 2 posts to which they were recruiting, IT Analyst and IT Engineer. Interviewers asked me my choice. I told that both posts suits me and to be of my choice I’ll select IT Analyst because my project experience gives me enough confidence to proceed with this post. The other interviewer once more looked at my resume and asked me that ‘See Rohith, you have done a lot of technical projects and also you sounds good at your programming part, then how good will you be in such a non-technical post?’. This was shocking to hear that IT Analyst was a non technical post. I answered that according to me, I considered IT Analyst as a technical posts were my technical knowledge can help and in this case I think my service will be more efficient if I could be an IT Engineer. They laughed. I was a bit down personally due to my contradicting statement. Then they went to my present semester subjects. They asked me specifically the role of Data Mining and its significance in Industry. I could well explain to him the relevance and I could make a good impression regarding my knowledge on these subjects. Later they asked me myself to rate out of 10 for my coding skills and I rated myself as 8/10. Then they asked me openly to judge my performance. I frankly told that switching the post from my part seems to be a bad move from my part. They smiled and told me that its ok, and convinced me that they wanted to give me the job that I suits myself and thus benefitting the company growth. They asked for my questions to them. I asked them about their working experience and what makes them stay with company so long. They answered about the work culture and experience of being a Cisco employee. The handshakes did my last part of my interview.

I personally had gone down with my performance. While my friends Revathy and Agosh (Mtech CyberSecurity, Ettimadai campus) were happy about their interviews. Fortunately when they called for the next round, they called my name too. This was like getting a re-birth or something for me. I decided in mind that whatever is the next round I’ll give my 200% to it. The round was a GD and topic was ‘corruption – can it be removed? ‘The energy I gained during this round was my best of my life. I could speak some 5 times in GD, could contribute many aspects to the discussion and I was for the first time in my life was so confident of my part. Then the HR manager asked all whether we are willing to work if given a posting at Bangalore, anyone trying for higher studies etc. All managed optimistic answers to these questions. Then he told us that, this round was the final round and they’ve done with the placement procedures and asked us to wait for the results. This was a smiling moment for me because to know that a round is final and you know that you’ve performed well on that round, and you know you’re so close to be called ‘professional’.

But when the shortlist came, shockingly I realized my name was not there. The further moments what I experienced were beyond words. It was a mixture of disappointment, sadness and overall ashamed of myself loosing at the final round. This was counted as my failure #8 and I was trying to learn many new lessons.

After one week, I was surprised to receive a mail from Cisco team informing that I’ve been given a full time offer. I was first not believing that was true. I called Ettimadai CIR Dept. and they confirmed my offer. This was a moment of celebration as first time I realized the strength of god and his blessings. Never in my dreams had I expected such a happy ending to my placement process. I utilize this opportunity to thank one and all especially CIR Dept. Amritapuri and Ettimadai campuses for the wonderful opportunity given for me.

CISCO hires me…!!

2012-09-24T21:30:00.000+05:30

I attended Cisco On-campus placement procedure on 11 th September 2012, at Amrita School of Engineering, Bangalore Campus. As per the read information of Cisco recruitment, the rounds were familiar. Cisco is a one of the best product based company one can ever get into. Thanks to almighty for providing a wonderful opportunity for me to get into Cisco.

The day began with pre-placement talk by the company. It was followed by a written test. As expected the exam consisted of aptitude questions, technical questions, and electronics questions. It was 50 questions, 60 minute long exam. One good at aptitudes and technical can easily crack the test. The electronics part is not to be much bothered, because if you are good at other parts, this will naturally follow. Out of some 200 people attended, they shortlisted 33 students.

The next round was interview. The panel consisted of two members. The interview was surprisingly HR oriented rather than technical. They asked me to introduce myself, about Cisco and all. When I explained about Cisco, panel responded to me back my saying ‘You too have done the home work. right?’. I mixed my elegant smile along with courage to answer a bold “Yes”. They read the resume fast and I was waiting for their Data Structure questions. But he asked me to explain what is data structure. Then he asked me to explain my projects. He went into its database part. I took papers and explained each and every table clearly. Then other interviewer asked me the trickiest question ‘What post would you choose if given a turn ? ’ (there was actually two posts for which they were recruiting IT analyst and IT engineer). I answered IT analyst and argued that my experiences with project gives me enough confidence for the post. Then they looked at my projects and enquired whether I have clear idea of post to which I am speaking for. This confused me and explained the post details according to me as an IT analyst. He corrected me by saying that it is purely a non-technical post. He then asked me ‘How confident will you be at such a non-technical post, being so good at technical aspects ? ’. I smiled and told, In that case , I can try for the post of IT Engineer. They smiled. I was a little bit worried on this answer of mine, because you don’t know how your interviewer’s take this view point. Then they asked about my present semester topics and their significance in Industry, especially Data Mining. At last interviewers asked me, ‘how you rate yourself in this interview?’. I frankly told them that ‘I feel I could perform well and could even more if I didn’t have done a switching in domain’. They smiled and conveyed that they have done with interview.

We were asked to wait for the results till 2:00 pm. The HR manager took some 7 of us to a room. He then asked a girl to attend next round interview. Then he took a seat and conveyed that we’re going to have a discussion on topic ‘Corruption – can it be removed ’. We had a good discussion with everyone performing well. Me didn’t expected my entry into this round and could perform at the best of I can. After discussion, HR manager had confirmed details of job post, location of placement etc. He also wanted to confirm from us that we don’t prefer higher studies. Surprisingly, HR manager conveyed that they have done with their rounds and results will be announced later.

They shortlisted some 10 students from Amrita, where my name was not there. But after one week, I received a mail confirming my full time offer. It has been like a dream come true when I received this mail and I thank almighty for providing me this chance to share my successful story of Cisco recruitment.

Web Applications Development

2012-06-18T11:33:00.000+05:30

For beginners of Web development,my biggest advice is to understand HTML and once you think you're done with html basics,move on to other wings of CSS,PHP etc.Here I would like to share my experiences with web development and the journey which I think will help any beginner in Web development to land successfully int their projects.

Two years before, I was wondering how are the web applications been build and maintained ! Then I began to start from its basic element -HTML. Of course to get a good grip on any web designed application , you need to be good at HTML.So I understood the basics tag elements, implementation of forms, styling and table features in HTML. The base at HTML will certainly will contribute towards your progress in CSS. A sound knowledge in CSS is helpful in designing your own outline in web designing. The concepts of div and customizing the elements, will lead to custom outline design of web page.

To advance in dynamic environment of web page, better to know javascript. The functionality feature along with hidden code feature, helps to develop a very good application platform. The form validity feature is the functionality i really liked in javascript. So now once you come through HTML, CSS, JavaScript- i would say you have paved your platform for web applications.

Now to go a step ahead is the wonderful language of PHP. Php acts as a link between your application and and data storage.MySql comes handy once you look for a back end support. Acting as a base, mysql extends the feature to create tables,alter it,update it and many more features which helps in data storage. The basic things to learn in mysql are to design- how to create tables,adding constraints,insert into table, updating tables, retrieving the contents from table based on view and constraints.

Now php supports html inside it .Its really easy to embed html inside a php page.Just put ur each lines of html into a echo "" statement.

So easy I guess to change your html page to php page. Now like javascript , php helps in hiding the code content from being viewed. So it offers security compared to html.Also Php helps to add queries to its page, which helps in acting as a interface between application and tables of mysql platform and helps in transfer of data.

Below is a basic php code of how to connect to sql and retrieve contents from it , verify and step ahead.The code basically connects with mysql, retrieves data and thus takes action on basis of it.

php
$conn=mysql_connect("localhost","root","pwd");//enter password of mysql instead of pwd
if(!$conn)
{
die('COUDNOT CONNECT SUCCESSFULLY:'.mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("dbname",$conn);
$query="SELECT * FROM ACCOUNT WHERE USER='abc' AND PASS='passed' ";
$res1=mysql_query($query,$conn);
$num1=mysql_num_rows($res1);//retrieves number of available tuples corresponding to query

if($num1 != null)
{
}

mysql_close($rohi);
?>

Similarly i would suggest to learn the basic php code of Inserting the contents into table , displaying the contents of a table , which will help you to achieve almost 80% of your tasks in PHP.The basic starting of all these features will be same as above.

So now for people loving Java and JSP, I would suggest all the steps you followed in PHP is equally applicable in java too.Also for lovers of Oracle,SQL, and M' Access , the contents I mentioned about MySql is equally applicable.

For Java the code for connectivity will differ as the example given below:

import java.sql.*;

import javax.sql.*;

class DBConn

{

public static void main(String args[])

{

try

{

Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");

Connection conn=DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:odbc:db_pwd");//

//code for inserting contents

PreparedStatement ps=conn.prepareStatement("insert into ACCOUNT values(?,?,?)");

ps.setString(1,"abc");

ps.setString(2,"pass");

ps.setInt(3,100);

System.out.println("Rows Inserted"+ps.executeUpdate());

//code to retrieve contents

Statement stm=conn.createStatement();

ResultSet rs=stm.executeQuery("select * from stud");

while(rs.next())

{

System.out.println(rs.getString(1));

System.out.println(rs.getString(2));

System.out.println(rs.getInt(3));

}

}catch(SQLException e)

{

System.out.println("Exception" +e);

}

catch (ClassNotFoundException cnfe){

System.out.println("" + cnfe);

}

Now using jsp, we can integrate HTML,CSS along with Java for advanced features.Same like php, here to embed HTML into JSP, we just need to embed html into a statement called out.println();

Similarly the concept of Servlets helps in modularizing the components. So you can take PHP of JSP as the front end of your projects and build on its appearance and functionalities. Meanwhile we can fix mysql/oracle/Ms Access as back end and work on how data are normalized into tables and adding constraints properly to maintain data security.

To begin with basic web development, its very easy once you think you've got enough basics of HTML.For me, HTML have lead me to a point of confidence and passion to learn the other parts of Web applications. I would personally suggest sites like w3schools will definitely help any one in web application development field

Some of the common workable web application projects include student-management system,hospital management system, event managements systems etc.

Anybody who have queries on above contents do post your queries and I'll try my level best to answer your queries.

How can i check intrusion into my system using firewalls?

2012-06-13T19:05:00.000+05:30

I was recently shocked to find that I had downloaded a huge heap of data on a single day as reported by my college authorities. I checked my update history, checked my system updates , but still I could only found was just MB size. So how did i downloaded GB sizes from net???

The very next day, I found one of my other classmate too reporting to have downloaded huge sized data from same wifi. Now I began to think of some intruder being outplaying us.

This made me look into the deeper side of intrusion. I heard from many that there is been a concept called Nmapping, where your ports and even MAC can be spoofed by others. This was a shocking fact for me. It was then very easy for me to think how would have an intruder peeped into my system.But the most fascinating thing I interested to know was 'how would have INTRUDER done so??? '.

First thing I did was to install a firewall to observe the activities within my system.I downloaded and set a firewall. As soon as I activated the security, things were coming in my way. I found there had been a software called Port Locker, which was installed in my laptop recently, and it have been blocked my firewall. Further I detected some 179 intrusions in next one hour !!

The intrusion attempt went to almost 600 around next 3 hours. Then I observed the details of target of intrusion.I found all these were targeted to some folder called port Locker.I was little bit concerned about the issue and approached college authorities.They thoroughly checked system and found that there had been a malicious software called as 'hotspot', which in turns sucks the entire band width of wifi and can be manipulated very easily.So GB size can never be an issue.

Looking into wikipedia, i understood of what hotspot is "A 'poisoned/rogue hotspot' refers to a free public hotspot set up by identity thieves or other malicious individuals for the purpose of "sniffing" the data sent by the user. Such identity thieves will have access to the MAC address of the connecting terminal, which individually identifies the hardware. By examining packets sent, they may attempt to decipher passwords, login names, or other sensitive information."

Further due to thorough analysis, i found lots of unwanted applications and add-ons like yontoo, which was detected as suspicious by my anti-virus. It took a good change on my system and its performance after most of these applications were once removed.

So be aware of such identity thieves around you,even in your same LAN/Wifi and do try the level best to get rid of issues like this. What i found myself to be secure afterwards was,having a good firewall and mechanism to detect the intrusions will always give you an upper hand in being betrayed by these poisoned hotspots in your personal computer/laptops.

Security Code N Nokia??

2011-12-19T09:35:00.001+05:30

Havent you all felt its difficult to remember the security code in Nokia phones ? Its too easy to reset the security code in your phone with the following steps , hardly taking 5 minutes. I recently got stuck with my phone's security problem and solved by following steps. Trust me , it really works. The only thing you have to take care is to save your contacts lists into any PC or device prior to all these steps, since we are trying to bring the phone memory to initial phase.

Tools Required :
- Nemesis Service Suite (NSS)
- Nokia PC Suite
- Data cable

Reset Security Code

Steps:
1. Install Nokia PC Suite
2. Install Nemesis Service Suite (NSS)
3. Connect your phone to your PC with data cable. If the phone prompts, choose default mode or PC Suite mode (DON’T OPEN PC SUITE)
4. Open Nemesis Service suite (NSS)
5. Click scan for new devices button (on top right corner of NSS)
6. Click Phone Info button.
7. Click Scan button.
8. Under Power Mode, click Local and then click Change button. At this part, your phone should restart, and you should see the text Local mode across your phone screen.
9. Under Production Data Edit, click Read button. The textboxes should now contain values.
10. Check the Enable check box beside Product Code.
11. Click Write button.
12. SelectTools button on top
13. Click Factory Settings tab
13. Tick Full Factory button and click Reset button.
14. Final step, go back to Phone Info and click Normal then Change.
Now your security code should be 12345.

Now everything will be as initial phase.It really work.

Now to Regain Your Security Code

Steps:

1. Install Nokia PC Suite
2. Install Nemesis Service Suite (NSS)
3. Connect your phone to your PC with data cable. If the phone prompts, choose default mode or PC Suite mode (DON’T OPEN PC SUITE)
4. Open Nemesis Service suite (NSS)
5. Click scan for new devices button (on top right corner of NSS)
6. Click Phone Info button.
7. Click Scan button.
8. Click Permanent Memory tab.
9. Click Read button.
10. It will read the permanent memory file and save it on the disk at following path.
C:\Program Files\NSS\Backup\pm\.pm
11. Open the .pm file using Notepad.
12. Now scroll until field [308], and on the 5th Record (5=) your security code is saved at there.
13. Like 5=31323334350000000000 (Example)
14. Abandon the red fonts.
15. So, 12345 is your security code. (Example)

Now, here is how to reset your security code.

Counter strike spray images-how to create?

2011-06-03T11:07:00.000+05:30

How to make counterstrike spray from an image?

By ROHITH.O

For making simple spray for counterstrike 1.6 , we just require some image editing software. We need not worry much about its quality and trust me we can

First of all, select an image and open it with any image editing software , say Microsoft Paint.
2.Then resize the image into 64 x 64 pixels :-
1. 1. For this select the resize option

Now save the image as a monochromatic image-say 8ball1.

4. Now again save the image as 256 colour bit map type image , say 8ball1.bmp.
5. This picture can now be loaded into your counter set up folder,i.e, counter-strike/valve/logos/8ball1.bmp
And Now when you open counter strike options, we can observe:-

web security- a technical paper by Rohith.O

2011-01-13T21:07:00.000+05:30

WEB SECURITY: SAFE AT HANDS?

ROHITH.O

Abstract:

The paper discuss about the web security system available now a days around us. The paper briefly travels through the problems that a computer might have to face. One among it is web security. We discuss regarding the curative steps in case of other failures of computer system except web security. The paper clearly describes the intentions behind the security attacks, their method of approach, their traps and methods by which we can resist such traps. We discuss the world’s some of the common heard web threats and their method of approach towards the scenario. The paper discusses the latest available technical support regarding the web security, helping tips which one should never forget to use to secure themselves in avoiding the potential threats of web security.

Index terms:

Secure Sockets Layer, Cryptography, Symmetric key Algorithms, Secure Electronic Transactions.

INTRODUCTION

In the modern era of computers and internet, the security to internet is a relevant issue to be watched out. Internet have become a part of life for majority of this world with in these decade. Hence an issue which affects all around the world as far as an computer world is concerned may be web security. From the moment of creation of computer softwares, many brain have been worked in a similar manner to crack it down. Similarly Internet is also been prone to plenty of such threats available now a days. The recent detection of Bom sabado virus in social community website ‘orkut’ is one of such instants , which show the threat posed by an user in utilizing the day today’s web. The only thing which keep alive such manipulation is the cyber law.Internet is believed to be full of anarchy and a system of law and regulation therin seems contradictory . However , cyberspace is being governed by a sytem of law and regulation called Cyber law. Cyber law is a generic term which refers to all the legal and regulatory aspects of internet and the issues concerning any activity of netizens and others, in cyberspace comes within the ambit of Cyberlaw . The growth of Electronics commerce has propelled the need for vibrant and effective regulatory mechanisms which would further strengthen the legal infrastructure .

In spite of these strict and hard laws of cyber wing , the hackers and cracker’s activities have never gone below a limit and hence comes the necessity of self defense. For every action on the internet , we should be aware of the problems behind the screen. The main reason for the web hacking is the unawareness of users about the techniques and lack of experience in detecting the traps. So we here discuss , the main problems faced by the user, the actions to secure the web use, the actions which should be avoided to be safe etc. The currently available technologies can secure widerange of security threats and hence clearly help us in being safe, but at the same time there are many other techniques by which we can secure our part of web.

DATA WAREHOUSING

Computer security: Basic issues

To begin with web security, we must be aware of the potential threat, a system is subjected to. The security of hardware and software using locks or tags are the first priority. Secondly, preventing damage through system failure (software or hardware) and preventing damage through malicious intentional actions (security attacks, theft). The recent sensational Bom sabado virus belongs to this category of action. The threats to a system includes power outage, corrupted disks, hard drive crashes, at the hardware side and Software crash, Software does not perform as intended/desired at the software side.

Some of the possible methods to cure the intensity of such risks include keeping up back up process before the risk. The back up process include Level-zero backup (copy of the original system when first installed), Full backup (copy of every file on the computer), Incremental backup (copy of all modified files).

Security risks have greatly increased due to the Internet; no computer is an island. We focus on security issues related to the Internet, but this will also include basic security for the user’s computer.

Attacker’s aim & target

An attacker, who breaks the web security of system, definitely will be aiming a task. Here we would like to coin the term hackers and crackers, rather than attacker’s in general sense. The crackers are the malicious programmers who break into secure systems whereas Hackers are more interested in gaining the knowledge about computer systems and possibly using this knowledge for playful pranks. The pejorative sense of hacker is becoming more prominent largely because the popular press has co-opted the term to refer to individuals who gain unauthorized access to computer systems for the purpose of stealing and corrupting data. Now a day’s among professional programmers, depending on how it used ,the term can be either complimentary or derogatory ,although it is developing an increasingly derogatory connotation .Some of such possible target include: Scanning the system for confidential documents, corrupt information on the computer, Modify the operating system by creating security loopholes, steal credit card numbers etc. The information so gained may be utilised for a bargain, make profit, or can be used to create a lot of agonies in future. The attacker can even block access the user’s interface. So the data stored in any PC becomes a source of market for attackers.

Mistakes left by users

The common mistakes committed by user at web are used greatly by the hackers. The user must be very well aware of such mistakes before practicing web security techniques. When we use a website of an unauthorized dealer for setting up an account with an online shop, purchasing tickets via the web, even simple demographic information may be sufficient for identification (e.g. ZIP-code + birthday). Further, various applications and network programs create log files of various activities the user performs. This property of applications can be used to keep track of a user and his activities, which in turn will benefit the hackers. There are many other applications available in web where files on remote web server, contain the details, whenever a page is downloaded. Many other secured systems like Mail logs created by mail server at least contain to address and from address, which are all useful data for a good hacker. The cookie containing the details of the server is a potential threat for an user and an additional bonus for hackers. Now a days , the common web bugs can be simply programmed in HTML, which are capable of alerting a specified web server every time the page is viewed. This is useful for gathering visitor’s statistics , but when used by hackers ,the mission changes. Using these bugs, they are capable of reading e-mails, send personal information encoded in URL.

Methods of security

Web security has not been arised as a major issue due to its safe methods in tackling the hackers. Having the basic knowledge of how the hackers sneak into our system, we can prevent them doing so by following a custom when utilizing the web. First among such custom is to pick up a good password and not writing it down. A password is better if we add some non guessable random alphabets, in both small case and capital cases and includes some sort of numbers into it.

The writing down of a password can adversely affect an user if a physical theft or leaves a chance for others to read out the password, and hence the security is at stake.

Authentication is the term which describes the authority of user to use an application. This authentication can be of different types: What you know, Where you are, what you are, what you have. The type what you know may consist of different passwords and secret keys one know, by which the application can verify the authenticity. The type where you are consist of verifying the IP address at which the application been accessed and hence the unauthorized user from other IP address can be restricted .The type what you are consist of biometric transfer of data which clearly authenticate the user. The fingerprint sensors, face detectors, voice detectors are some biometric standards that keep alive this type of authentication. The type what you have may ask for secure tokens for confirming the authenticity. If any of these trustable authentications are utilized then the chances been hacked or cracked can be reduced.

Some of the after control options after the authentication are to lock the system after three consecutive failure of authentication, removal of easy-guessable passwords .Now on analyzing some of recent developments regarding the password stealing is common password by teacher-Used by students to get their credit score information. The most unfortunate part of such password stealing is the cash theft by an English accountant uses co-workers’ password to steal $17 million for gambling. Again in another case, Helpdesk employee uses passwords of accredit card data base to sell credit reports to Nigerian scammers.

Preventive measures

Now by knowing this much about web security, we should be cautious of variety of items going around us and will be managing them in a different manner. So here we try to analyze many of such situations where we should utilize our knowledge on field of web security. First among them is to avoid spam and junk mails. Users in modern era are unaware of such mails and discard the security. Further, e-mail address of a particular user should be known to only his genuine friends/users, never try to put your e-mail address on your home page. Taking out e-mail id out of online directories would be another safe task to compete hacking. Next, one should always maintain awareness while using public mailing lists and try not to post to public mailing lists. Picking of an unusual username, which the hacker’s can’t guess from your blog/website would be another safe move.

Now to analyze whether an e-mail is spam or not, plenty of soft wares are available now a days in web. For instant: Al technology, confirmation e-mails etc. These antispam services helps one to keep safe the mailing part on the web. Antispam softwares does the same function as there in the web, but it runs on the computer and mail stays where it belongs, and hence system is also secured of such junk mails and its consequences. As we discussed earlier, cookies are a threat to user at some instants, we can utilize the browser options to refuse cookies and perform the surfing. This however is going to help you in diverting from the path of being hacked. Further, secure E-mail senders should maintain a custom to send encrypted messages before the actual sending of safe documents. This ensures the safe traversal of data among the sender and receiver.

Now the safest methods to protect our IP address been hacked include anonymous browsing. Using of a public terminal like that of a public library or internet cafe will always help in securing our IP address of personal systems. since being a public terminal ,the hackers can’t keep track of a particular system and its IP address for securing data and being a common terminal ,ensures ,the user don’t keep much of secured data in such systems .As discussed , the use of anonymous web browsing services will definitely benefit an user in working as proxy servers, and hence security is ensured.

Recent development in the field of Web security includes the introduction of Secure Sockets layer. It uses a cryptographic protocol for sending information over the web. Using this technology , comes to its best when used with web pages :https://…… Browsers will tell whether the current page/ document is “secure”. This would be helpful for those who use credit cards for booking flights etc., since they can understand the potential threat behind the web pages utilizing this SSL technology.

Now on getting professional to computer science and engineering field, we have secured encoding and decoding process. Use of symmetric key for encoding and decoding the content is highly recommended. The availability of large number of possible keys makes it difficult to crack. Further this encoding ensures high level of secrecy. For instant,

Using an 80 – bit key, and assuming that 1 million kegs per second can be searched out, it will take approximately 38 billion years to try all keys. This is something out of human capability and hence so secured.

The common algorithms used for this purpose include DES, Blowfish, RC2, RC4, and RC5.

Another recent introduction into the field of web security is Secure Electronic Transactions (SET).This is an open encryption and security specification designed to protect credit card transactions on the internet. This has highly been useful for e-marketing and hence transactions can be securely satisfied. Using this technology, many of the important threats to web security is solved, including Confidentiality of Information, Cardholder account authentication, Merchant authentication.

In spite of all these available technology now a days , still we can see plenty of hackers and crackers attacking the cyber community, creating a lot of troubles , looting of money from banks, corporate transactions been freeze, creation of new virus and such junk mails been increasing in today’s scenario. This ensures a statement ‘There is no perfect security.’ But it doesn’t mean we can be safe, still, we can be aware of the security risks, and of some of the ways to improve security.

REFERENCES

1. Computer Science And Engineering Archive- Amrita Digital Library

http://vidya/cs/main/computer/

2. An overview on c++ ,Sumita Arora

Rohio saga.. !!

Finding the N th entry of a column in SQL

Some common ORA- Errors

How to display a score(variable value) in opengl ?

A simpler way to custom your files in ubuntu

A temple of its beauty

Saga from Amazon to Cisco

CISCO hires me…!!

Web Applications Development

How can i check intrusion into my system using firewalls?

Security Code N Nokia??

Counter strike spray images-how to create?

web security- a technical paper by Rohith.O

3. IP Security: A Brief Survey, Raj jain

4. www.wikipedia.org

5. www.google.com

6. Authentication and Access Control

7. National level Technical Symposium, kancheepuram