Sound of Code Blog

WSO2 Stratos - Open Source Cloud Computing Platform

2010-06-06T19:20:00.003+05:30

Last week, 2^nd of June 2010 just to be exact; WSO2 announced a complete Platform-as-a-Service for both public and private clouds, named WSO2 Stratos.

WSO2 Stratos is our complete SOA middle-ware platform in the cloud. It is based on the award wining WSO2 Carbon platform and is available as a cloud-native runtime.

In the Alpha version, WSO2 Stratos offers the following products in the cloud:

Carbon in the Cloud

Governance Registry (GREG)
Identity Server (IS)
Gadget Server (GS)
Mashup Server (MS)
Business Activity Monitor (BAM).

WSO2 Stratos is available as a downloadable version for those who are interested in having a private cloud within the enterprise. Or, you can just use it on the web! So what holding you back? just give it a try right now! :-)

Data visualization frameworks and Protovis

2010-06-03T23:54:00.004+05:30

Recently, I was going through some data visualization frameworks as I work on our own visualization framework at WSO2. Initially, we aimed to develop a gadget framework which would make it easier for users to develop their own gadgets for WSO2 Business Activity Monitor (WSO2 BAM). However, now it has become a data visualization framework and almost ready for a beta release.

Among all other data visualization frameworks that I have come across; IMHO Axiis and Flare were the most interesting flex/flash based frameworks. Axiis is built upon Degrafa, and I spent some time messing around with it just to find it bit complicated. May be I was not keen enough to understand Axiis very well :P. And the fact is that my taste buds always prefer javascript over actionscript.

Protovis and flot are two javascript frameworks that I used recently for data visualization purposes. flot is a plotting library, to be more precise. Among those two frameworks we selected Protovis as our initial javascript visualization library to write js wrappers. Also, we used Raphael to write some special charts and controls.

I personally ~~like~~ love Protovis and Raphael - the most amazing javascript visualization libraries.

I am not going to write much about the WSO2 Visualization Framework or AKA WSO2vis in this post. Just hold it there for a detailed post about WSO2vis in the very near future. :-) It is always the best to try things out by yourselves. Start from checking out the protovis column chart I embedded here.

new pv.Panel()
    .width(150)
    .height(150)
  .add(pv.Bar)
    .data([1, 1.2, 1.7, 1.5, .7])
    .bottom(0)
    .width(20)
    .height(function(d) d * 80)
    .left(function() this.index * 25)
  .root.render();

USB Guitar for Frets on Fire

2010-03-19T01:57:00.007+05:30

I have been a fan of Frets on Fire for quite sometime now but I had enough time playing it with my laptop's Keyboard. So I bought a toy guitar and a USB Keyboard and I just had to wire the guitar's push buttons correctly to the Keyboard's tiny (not so tiny though) circuit board so that it invokes key presses.

Unfortunately, I noticed that the toy guitar I bought does not really work the way I want it to. Therefore, I might end up with something similar to this. Just need to find a glove and some conductors. ;-)

[What's New]

iDisplay Media App

2010-03-19T01:43:00.000+05:30

These are some photos of a new Media application developed on iDisplay.

It demonstrates the capability of having live and natural interactions between the real world and the virtual world.

A virtual face of a person is rendered inside a defined area by a plastic frame and that virtual face is looking at the colored pluck placed on the display. (Inspired by a Siftables demo).

[ What's New ]

Mahamevnawa TV

2010-02-28T09:59:00.000+05:30

There is a "Medin Poya Day" Live Web Cast (Sinhala) from "Amawatura Mahamevnawa Asapuwa", Malambe, Sri Lanka.

If you have a low bandwidth connection, there is an audio only (Sinhala) version as well.

Grab something meaningful to your life today. :-)

Mass of an Apple

2010-02-28T02:45:00.000+05:30

(click on the image to enlarge)

Open up some Happiness!

2010-02-03T00:13:00.006+05:30

Found it interesting to watch Coca Cola Opening Happiness commercials in different regions. By the way, this is not a paid advertisement :-P.

Sri Lanka - Sinhala

Sri Lanka - Tamil

Singapore

China

Indonesia - "Buka Semangat Baru"

USA (I guess)

Go ahead, open up some happiness. :-)

The most significant

2010-01-24T22:32:00.003+05:30

I still can not figure out what made me to write this blog post. "Oh damn!, I must blog more often!" - saying out loud most of the time when I visit my own blog. However, that state of mind lasts no more than 10 minutes.

It is better to write down all the significant events occurred since my last blog post than just making this a draft and closing out the browser tab.

I believe that twitter should take all the responsibility for me being away from blogging :-P. Twitter is more efficient, effective and easy way to shout out loud and you will get more feedback in a shorter period than getting comments for a blog post.

I won the tertiary category Gold award at NBQSA. I graduated as a Software Engineer and hell yeah one of the best days it was. I joined with WSO2 and went to Melbourne in last December for APICTA. I applied for MIT Media Lab and HitLab NZ.

Thats not all, but the ones written above are the most significant. The small things that matters after all. Even though they do not get a chance to stand with a blog post. :-P

After 7 months

2009-10-03T01:09:00.004+05:30

Why the hell can't I write anything at all? after seven months of trying and still having nothing to write on? :P at least I should try to make this sound as a journal entry.

Well, so many things happened in last few months. I completed my undergrad studies, worked on my project "iDisplay" and submitted a pretty good thesis (at least I hope), joined with GTS, gotta first class, selected for NBQSA finals and straightened my hair :P.

Joining GTS was a really quick decision as I did it because I really liked the project that I was allocated. It was nice to do some R & D work and finally come up with a good result; something like the "first Sri Lankan multi touch table" ;) and for the record it's something entirely different from my final year project "iDisplay".

Still I'm half-filled, making myself to think that something else is my cup of tea.

Who knows, next one might take more than 7 months :P.

Edit: I read this post in the evening (06 Oct 09') and felt like some lines were missing. I think I'm half-filled because I still couldn't work on my postgrad application packages properly. Planing ahead is not an easy task when you really want to keep your vision away from being scattered, always, specially these days. Anyway, I'm really glad that I could join GTS because it is hard to find Sri Lankan companies involved in R & D projects. It's good to have some research at work as what I get paid for, than just staring at the same source code for ages!

Now I really made it a journal entry, didn't I? eh ;)

From No Limbs to No Limits

2009-03-09T00:07:00.002+05:30

Today, I happened to see a Youtube video of one of an international inspirational speaker, posted on Facebook. He was 23 years old, an hell yeah the video was totally inspiring. But there was something else... he had no limbs.

This is Nick Vujicic that I'm talking about, a 23 years old guy born with no limbs but will. It's sure that the day that Nick was born, his Mom, his Dad must felt the unspeakable happiness of having a baby. But the same time they must have worried about Nick because they knew that he wouldn't even be able to dress himself, feed himself or move himself. They would never have imagined that one day their son would become an inspirational speaker who speaks to millions of people, who builds schools in third world countries and help children to study. They would never have thought that Nick would go from No Limbs to No LIMITS! Yeah, he says this all.

Sometime back, I wrote a blog post in this blog about chasing goals titled "a goal". Yeah, you probably remember it so I'm not gonna link it here ;) . In one of his clips there was something about chasing goals and achieving targets in our lives. If we have a target to make a superior movie but we have no camera crew, it's coming. If we have no script and have no money to make it, still it's coming. He says, if we wanna make a phone call we need to go to the phone. It's not gonna something like in Heroes that we can move objects using our mind and make the phone comes to us. Same theory can be applied to the goals and targets in one's life. It's coming, it's coming; if we continue move forward towards it. For that, we should try with our fullest potential.

I know for someone, it might be bit awkward to read a post like this. But I hope this will add something to my last blog post about goals and targets. That's right I mentioned it previously ;) .

I have set of goals, and sometimes I get tired of chasing them. Sometimes I overrun them. But remember not to finish strong, never, ever. :)

diGIT

2009-02-02T00:08:00.073+05:30

I hope you might have already heard about the first ever Sinhala mobile game, "Colomo Ride (Colomba Wate)", developed and released by GTS. As a stepping stone for another contribution towards Sri Lanka's IT improvement, GTS has launched the newest online IT magazine today (1st FEB 09'), named "diGIT".

I'm really glad to be one of a contributer among the whole bunch of contributors of diGIT who made the premiere issue a grand success with 122 pages. :)

diGIT contains vast range of articles included-in different sections. You can browse the magazine online as they have released an HTML version and a FLASH version of it. Further you can download the PDF version to read it from your desktop. Most importantly it is free! :)

Btw, I heard that the guys at GTS are going to launch the next version of "Colombo Ride" mobile game on the Independence Day, 4th of FEB. So don't forget to check that out, too. ;)

-Lahiru.

Winter Holiday Gadgets

2008-12-20T11:03:00.001+05:30

Google Desktop Community has created several holiday-themed gadgets in the past recent years. And now its become a tradition.

In this Winter, there are five more new holiday-themed gadgets to dress-up your Desktop. Read up the special blog post by Google Desktop team.

And the memories of the past holidays should never have been left out. ( 2007 & 2006 ).

Hope you'll enjoy the gadgets. :)

Happy Holidays!

Finger Tracking - Step 1

2008-11-03T17:16:00.005+05:30

I'm just getting things ready for my final year project. Well if I make it quick... the project is based on multi-touch surfaces.

In order to achieve the project goals some considerable work on the hardware prototype is necessary, and as well as the software.

Still I'm having some issues finding the ideal hardware equipments (IR illuminators, IR cams, Projector etc..). So I decided to get more familiar with the image processing library "openCV" which I'm planing to use for the base system; while setting-up the hardware prototype.

This is my first attempt to track fingers using a regular webcam.

The images are captured form my Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 and processed using "openCV". In the original image the dark background helps to create a huge contrast difference.

I just iterated through the grayscaled image and binarized it with a threshold value. So far it's good but have to make it better.

After all it's just the beginning. :)

My MTmini

2008-10-27T02:18:00.003+05:30

Several days back I got a chance to build my own MTmini. It's a very low cost multi touch pad, which can be built within couple of minutes!

It cost me 130Rs (1.3$) for a 18"x14" plain glass and some white papers. My Logitech Quickcam and an old cardboard box were the other stuff that I needed.

All I had to do was putting things together and installing "tbeta". :)

Well it doesn't look perfect, but it works damn well.

Checkout the video on utube. :) Sorry about the poor video quality.

---
Music: Sonic Blue - Room 7 (released under CC).

Its been exactly 2 years !

2008-10-25T12:11:00.000+05:30

Yeah! Its been exactly two years... :)

Back in 2006, on 24th of October, I wrote my first ever blog post which was about the Firefox launch. Just read that post and find out how I put my self on the blogosphere.

Things have changed a lot..

Uhmm.., well it seems like a pebble is blocking my stream of words or that stream might have drained. :P

Anyway lot to write but can't find words. Final year project is the only thing which is visible at the moment, everything just feel like multi touch screens. ;) [ will write more about it sometime later ].

I want to thank all of you who made comments on my posts, who added my rss feed and let their feed readers to fill up with my craps, and specially you! who read this Blog at least once. :) THANKS!

So Happy Birthday 'Sound of Code-Blog' !!! You are a big boy now.

Emoticons on GMail - For Emails

2008-10-25T12:00:00.000+05:30

Time to break the hiatus !

Just noticed the newset emoticons on GMail. This ones are for emails, not the emoticons that we used in GMail-chat. ;)

---

Charity : Water

2008-09-04T01:18:00.000+05:30

The September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

Facebook style pagination

2008-08-01T09:06:00.007+05:30

Facebook provides a great API for application developers. An API which helps developers to make their applications more facebook-fit.

There are many things that a developer can do using FBML (Facebook Markup Language), but pagination. Recently I was looking for a way to add Facebook style pagination for one of the Facebook applications being developed. Though there's no relevant FBML tag, we could have something which works out of the box. :)

I found this solution on the Facebook developers forum which looks promising. :) It's a nice php function and anyone can use it to have a exact same Facebook style pagination on their Facebook applications.

The code itself provides many functionalities including mockajax. I could use the original source code with mockajax straight away, but I had to modify it a little bit in-order to add a loading indicator. :)

Here I'll post the modified php code, with mockajax support + a loading indicator, but all credits must go to the developer of the original source code. :)

How to use :


$ajax_top = array('rewriteurl' => $targetpage, 'rewriteid' => 'mypagination', 'rewriteform' => 'mypagination_form', 'loadingimg' => 'spinner');

"'loadingimg' => 'spinner'" will do the trick. You must put an <img> tag with the correspondent id. (here it's 'spinner'). And the image must put inside the 'rewriteid' (div).


<img src="<?=$callback_url?>/loading.gif" id="spinner" style="display:none;"/>

Modified code with the loading indicator :


/**
 * Facebook style paginator
 *
 * @param page the page number (1-based)
 * @param total_items the total amount of items
 * @param limit the amount of items to show per page
 * @param ajax an array with each of clickrewrite[url|id|form]
 * @param url the url the links point to
 * @param query_string the string to be appended to url
 * @param item name the name of items shown in summary
 * @param position whether paginator is on top or bottom of page
 * @return pagination string to be placed in html code
 */
function get_pagination_string(
        $page = 1, 
        $total_items, 
        $limit = 8, 
        $ajax='', 
        $target_page = '', 
        $page_string = '?page=', 
        $summary_name = 'items', 
        $placement = 'summary'
        )
{        
    // DEFAULTS
    $adjacents = 5;

    // HTML
    $div_bar = '<div class="bar clearfix %s_bar">';
    $display = '<div class="summary">Displaying %d-%d of %d %s.</div>';
    $ul = '<ul id="pag_nav_links" class="pagerpro">';
    $link = '<li><a href="%s%s%s">%s</a></li>';
    $current_link = '<li class="current"><a href="%s%s%s">%s</a></li>';
    $ajax_link = '<li><a href="#" clickrewriteurl="%s&page=%s" clickrewriteid="%s" clickrewriteform="%s" clicktoshow="%s">%s</a></li>';
    $current_ajax_link = '<li class="current"><a href="#" clickrewriteurl="%s&page=%s" clickrewriteid="%s" clickrewriteform="%s" clicktoshow="%s">%s</a></li>';
    $ul_close = '</ul>';
    $div_close = '</div>';
    $div_font = '<div style="font-size:11px;">%s</div>';


    // VARS
    if(substr($page_string, 0, 1) != '?') 
        $page_string = '?' . $page_string;
    if(substr($page_string, strlen($page_string) - 5) != 'page=') 
        $page_string .= '&page=';
    $prev = $page - 1;
    $next = $page + 1;
    $firstpage = 1;
    $lastpage = ceil($total_items / $limit);
    $fiop = ($limit * $page) - $limit + 1;
    $liop = min($limit * $page, $total_items);

    // DRAW PAGINATOR 

    // the footer paginator has no summary and the current page has a different gfx
    $type = ($placement == 'summary') ? 'summary' : 'footer';

    $pagination = sprintf($div_bar, $type);

    // Draw summary
    if($placement == 'summary')
        $pagination .= sprintf($display, $fiop, $liop, $total_items, $summary_name);

    if($lastpage > 1)
    {    
        $pagination .= $ul;

        // First page selector
        if ($page > 2) 
        {
            if(!empty($ajax))
            {
                $pagination .= sprintf(
                        $ajax_link,
                        $ajax['rewriteurl'],
                        $firstpage, 
                        $ajax['rewriteid'],
                        $ajax['rewriteform'],
                        $ajax['loadingimg'],
                        'First');
            }
            else
            {
                $pagination .= sprintf(
                        $link, 
                        $target_page, 
                        $page_string, 
                        $firstpage, 
                        'First');
            }
        }

        // Previous page selector
        if ($page > 1) 
        {
            if(!empty($ajax))
            {
                $pagination .= sprintf(
                        $ajax_link,
                        $ajax['rewriteurl'],
                        $firstpage,
                        $ajax['rewriteid'],
                        $ajax['rewriteform'],
                        $ajax['loadingimg'],
                        'Prev');
            }
            else
            {
                $pagination .= sprintf(
                        $link, 
                        $target_page, 
                        $page_string, 
                        $firstpage, 
                        'Prev');
            }
        }

        // Page selectors
        if ($page < 4)
        {    
            for ($counter = 1; $counter <= min(5, $lastpage); $counter++)
            {
                if ($counter == $page)
                {
                    if(!empty($ajax))
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $current_ajax_link,
                                $ajax['rewriteurl'],
                                $counter,
                                $ajax['rewriteid'],
                                $ajax['rewriteform'],
                                $ajax['loadingimg'],
                                $counter);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $current_link, 
                                $target_page, 
                                $page_string,
                                $counter,
                                $counter);
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    if(!empty($ajax))
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $ajax_link,
                                $ajax['rewriteurl'],
                                $counter,
                                $ajax['rewriteid'],
                                $ajax['rewriteform'],
                                $ajax['loadingimg'],
                                $counter);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $link, 
                                $target_page, 
                                $page_string,
                                $counter,
                                $counter);
                    }                  
                }
            }
        }
        elseif ($page > $lastpage - 3)
        {
            for($counter = $lastpage - min(5, $lastpage); 
                    $counter <= $lastpage; 
                    $counter++)
            {
                if ($counter == $page)
                {
                    if(!empty($ajax))
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $current_ajax_link,
                                $ajax['rewriteurl'],
                                $counter,
                                $ajax['rewriteid'],
                                $ajax['rewriteform'],
                                $ajax['loadingimg'],
                                $counter);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $current_link, 
                                $target_page, 
                                $page_string,
                                $counter,
                                $counter);
                    }                    
                }
                else
                {
                    if(!empty($ajax))
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $ajax_link,
                                $ajax['rewriteurl'],
                                $counter,
                                $ajax['rewriteid'],
                                $ajax['rewriteform'],
                                $ajax['loadingimg'],
                                $counter);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $link, 
                                $target_page, 
                                $page_string,
                                $counter,
                                $counter);
                    }                    
                }
            }
        }
        else
        {
            for($counter = $page - 2; $counter <= $page + 2; $counter++)
            {
                if ($counter == $page)
                {
                    if(!empty($ajax))
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $current_ajax_link,
                                $ajax['rewriteurl'],
                                $counter,
                                $ajax['rewriteid'],
                                $ajax['rewriteform'],
                                $ajax['loadingimg'],
                                $counter);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $current_link, 
                                $target_page, 
                                $page_string,
                                $counter,
                                $counter);
                    }                    
                }
                else
                {
                    if(!empty($ajax))
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $ajax_link,
                                $ajax['rewriteurl'],
                                $counter,
                                $ajax['rewriteid'],
                                $ajax['rewriteform'],
                                $ajax['loadingimg'],
                                $counter);
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        $pagination .= sprintf(
                                $link, 
                                $target_page, 
                                $page_string,
                                $counter,
                                $counter);
                    }                    
                }
            }
        }

        //next button
        if ($page < $lastpage) 
        {

            if(!empty($ajax))
            {
                $pagination .= sprintf(
                        $ajax_link,
                        $ajax['rewriteurl'],
                        $next,
                        $ajax['rewriteid'],
                        $ajax['rewriteform'],
                        $ajax['loadingimg'],
                        'Next');
            }
            else
            {
                $pagination .= sprintf(
                        $link,
                        $target_page,
                        $page_string,
                        $next,
                        'Next');
            }                       

        }

        //last button
        if ($page < $lastpage - 1) 
        {
            if(!empty($ajax))
            {
                $pagination .= sprintf(
                        $ajax_link,
                        $ajax['rewriteurl'],
                        $lastpage,
                        $ajax['rewriteid'],
                        $ajax['rewriteform'],
                        $ajax['loadingimg'],
                        'Last');
            }
            else
            {
                $pagination .= sprintf(
                        $link,
                        $target_page,
                        $page_string,
                        $lastpage,
                        'Last');
            }                   
        }
        $pagination .= $ul_close;
    }

    $pagination .= $div_close;
    $pagination = sprintf($div_font, $pagination);

    return $pagination;
}

Again, all credits go to the developer of the original source code. Thanks a lot for sharing.

missing something...

2008-07-31T23:42:00.007+05:30

I think I'm exhausted... but hey, I'm still trying to write a blog post. It is the matter of perspective; If someone thinks that an exhausted person can't write a blog post because he is exhausted; then fine, that is their perspective.

According to my current perspective I'm exhausted.

Most of the time I spend the day in front of my computer. Trying to learn things, trying to make things better, and I do all these things with a passion..! then why am I getting exhausted ? Definitely I'm missing something.

Recently a stranger asked me what the best day of my life was. I really couldn't give a straight answer to that question. The question itself made me uncomfortable because it was the first time someone asked me that kind of a question. Besides I might not really have an answer. :P

So my weirdness made the stranger to react, this time it was an explanation to my silence though I expected another question. ;) "You might haven't had any close friends for a long time", the stranger sounded.

Ahem... I do have friends :P but are they suppose to ask me questions like that.? If so, don't try to ask me the same question again.. try something new. lol.. The point is I never asked that question from someone else either.

No doubt, technically I'm missing something. Not the carrot, not the iPod, not the porn.

Why too late ?

2008-07-28T23:37:00.008+05:30

I will make it quick. This is the C++ solution that I used to solve Google Code Jam Online Round 1C - Question 1. (it's so dumb, I know).


//
typedef long long int64;
typedef vector<int64> vi;

#define For(i,a,b) for (int i(a),_b(b); i <= _b; ++i)
#define Rep(i,n) for (int i(0),_n(n); i < _n; ++i)

int main() {

 freopen("in.in", "rt", stdin);
 freopen("out.out", "wt", stdout);

 int t;
 cin >> t;
 For(test, 1, t) {
  
  int P,K,L;
  cin >> P >> K >> L;
  
  vector<vi> kk;
  
  Rep(i, K){
   vi vec;
   kk.push_back(vec);
  }
  
  int64 letters[L];
  
  Rep(i, L){
   cin >> letters[i];
  }
  
  sort(AllA(letters,L));
  
  int kx = 0;
  Rep(i, L){
   int64 l = letters[(L-i)-1];
   bool put = true;
   do{
    int s = kk[kx].size();
    if( s < P){
     kk[kx].push_back(l);
     put = false;
    }
    kx++;
    if(kx>=K){
     kx=0;
    }
   }while(put);
  }
  
  int64 minpress = 0;
  
  Rep(i, K){
   Rep(ix, kk[i].size()){
    minpress += ( (kk[i][ix]) * (ix+1) );
   }
  }
  
  cout << "Case #" << test << ": " << minpress << endl;
 }

 exit(0);
}

and this is the C++ solution that I came up after few hours of the contest.


//
typedef long long int64;

#define For(i,a,b) for (int i(a),_b(b); i <= _b; ++i)
#define Rep(i,n) for (int i(0),_n(n); i < _n; ++i)

int main() {

 freopen("in.in", "rt", stdin);
 freopen("out.out", "wt", stdout);

 int t;
 cin >> t;
 For(test, 1, t) {
  
  int P,K,L;
  cin >> P >> K >> L;
  
  int64 letters[L];
  
  Rep(i, L){
   cin >> letters[i];
  }
  
  sort(AllA(letters,L));
  
  int64 minpress = 0;
  int store = 1;
  Rep(i, L){
   if(store>P)
    store = 1;
   
   int64 l = letters[(L-i)-1];
   minpress += l * store;
   
   if( (i+1)%K == 0)
    store++;
  }
  
  cout << "Case #" << test << ": " << minpress << endl;
 }

 exit(0);
}

First solution is useless! and the second solution is far better than the first one. And both solutions provide the same output for the given input values. But I just couldn't code the easy and simple second solution during the contest. Why does it take too long.. ?

Code Jam

2008-07-27T18:09:00.005+05:30

I have never planned to do Google Code Jam this year (2008), but in the last minute I registered for the contest.

The qualification round took place on 16th of July which had three questions to be solved within a day. I solved the first question, which was taken me easily to the Online Round 1. :)

Online Round 1 consisted of three sub-rounds where top 840 contestants were advanced to Online Round 2.

All contestants have to choose the most convenient two sub-rounds according to their time zone, etc.. If someone advance to Online Round 2 from their first assigned sub-round, they may not participate in the second assigned sub-round.

But unfortunately I had to participate in only one sub-round and ended up having the rank 1524. :( It's just because of doing damn silly mistakes in a coding contest with 2hr duration. :P

hmmm... that's how I lost Google Code Jam 2008. Better luck next time.

Vacation

2008-07-01T23:24:00.006+05:30

This is my summer vacation.. haha well I coudn't think about a better way of starting the post. Is there a good old way to start a Blog post.? like we use "Once upon a time..." in story telling.? hmm then there should be a way of ending like "they all lived happily and ever after." ;) never mind.

So as I said before this is my summer vacation and I'm spending my time here in Kandy, my home sweet home. Things are bit different now.. I couldn't find any of my good old school buddies. Seems like they all got their own jobs. ;) Anyway that how it should be.

Vacation period is the most busiest, but staying home could keep everything in an ordered fashion. At least I get enough food here. haha

I watch lots of movies as usual and got back to reading books. Yeah sounds bit crazy but that's what I always wanted; reading books; which I'm not good at. :P

I love coding.. so I don't hesitate to call it my passion. lol. Apart from sinking in research papers, wondering of getting in to Hogwards or flying away like Peter in Heroes, I was doing some ajax stuff, hosted a new project called "qtwitt", played a lot with Google App Engine, had to do lot of work for IIT Gadget Challenge, planned a Firefox launch (beach) party ;) , did some XUL stuff, started working on a research paper :P, switched to "Blogger-Draft" and started working on a Facebook App.

Ah, I kicked the hope of getting an internship @ Google away ( may be Google don't want me to be there :P ) , stopped regretting about Google Summer of Code and lost my web hosting service ( due to financial crisis lol ).

--------------- "And they all lived happily and ever after". ;)

What Matters to You / Me ?

2008-06-26T17:34:00.003+05:30

These are the three wining entries of Vancouver Film School (VFS) / You Tube Scholarship Competition. The creations are awesome ! I just love them.

Google Gadgets for Linux

2008-06-08T22:23:00.005+05:30

It's finally ported on Linux !. I just compiled the latest svn branch on Fedora 9. :)

Checkout some screens.

From Dev Stuff

Thanks Google !

GDkit

2008-05-20T10:18:00.004+05:30

Recently, when I was playing with Google Desktop SDK, an idea of a third party JavaScript library came in to my mind; which made myself to code a small JavaScript class with some reusable features.

That small JavaScript got wings and is hosted on Google Code. ;)

Checkout the newest project GDkit. It's a JavaScript library for Google Desktop Gadget developers. It's an easy way to add several cool features to your gadgets.

We released a BETA version (1.0) of the first GDkit library : Effects. The main goal is to create some wrapper classes where developers can wrap basic elements.

The example use of the 'Effects' library:

var ani = new Animation(elementX);
ani.setDuration(3000);
ani.fadeOut();

Will add fade out effect to the element named 'elementX'.

We are really looking forward to provide some other useful libraries as well. Whilst the 'Effects' library is getting improved GDkit developers are working on another new library called 'Widgets', which is to be released in near future.

Your comments & feedbacks always keep us alive !

Cheers!

[ GDkit is a free software released under GNU General Public License v3 ]