AsSaLaMuAlAiKuM....

First of all i will introduce myself, my name WAN MOHAMED ZULFAQAR BIN WAN MOHAMED NAZEMAN, ID NO: IDI 08-07-031 from class DECOM 5D. As we had assigned by our E-LEARNING lecturer, MADAM SUSILAWATI BINTI RAHIM, we have to choose a lecturer and create a blog for his/her. As i being told to do so, i have choose MR SYAHID BIN ALI, lecturer from DIPLOMA IN COMPUTER NETWORKING programme (DCN). Here is my MASTERPIECE....

The Minimum You Need to Know About Java on OpenVMS

Author: Roland Hughes

THE MINIMUM YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT JAVA ON OPEN VMS VOLUME ONE By Roland Hughes REVIEWER: Rod Clark Programmers working, or starting to work with Java on OpenVMS (Virtual Memory System) are certain to appreciate this excellent, hands-on tome on working with this language (complete with accompanying CD)—but as author Roland Hughes makes clear, interested programmers should first read his earlier book, The Minimum You Need to Know to Be an Open VMS Application Developer, since this book builds comprehensively on that one. A sequel (Volume 2)is in the wings. Hughes begins with an introduction that frames the basic reasons programmers are having to use JAVA in these applications and candidly lays out the major pitfalls programmers will encounter when applying JAVA to VMS. He focuses in particular on problems that C and C++ programmers have with JAVA, paying special attention to the momentum of the C and C++ mindset they bring to the table and the problems that can generate. For example, he points out that in JAVA, most things are classes—and while they may look similar in C and C++, they are not. He feels that many of these problems stem from the syntax and the origin of the language. Because Java was originally created as a pure OOP language used in imbedded systems (like the system in your microwave or VCR), almost everything in it is a class. Hughes makes it clear that in order to use JAVA successfully on Open VMS, you need to develop a Free Class Library, and reveals how to create JAVA classes with the Java Native Interface (JNI). Hughes provides a plethora of useful tips for transcending these difficulties, framed in a pragmatic approach that distains expensive shortcuts, and enables programmers to descend into the bowels of the applications with a knowledgeable voice at their elbow. The text contains many hand-on practical exercises that teach programmers to build applications while simultaneously constructing infrastructures, rewriting the same application with each new tool under review. At each step there are detailed explanations, examples and illustrations that allow the reader to move back and forth between the text and the application, providing a rich learning experience in working with JAVA on OpenVMS. Part of what makes the book especially valuable is Hughes’ comprehensive candor about the flaws of JAVA when it is applied to OpenVMS. In addition to discussing the problems faced by C and C++ programmers as they try to change their mindset as they learn to work with JAVA, Hughes’ explores a series of other challenges they are likely to encounter, including problems relating to case sensitivity and case sensitivity inside the compiler, plus problems resulting from the fact that JAVA is only a semi-interpreted language. While conveying much useful substance, the author also engages in lively, cogent (and sometimes humorous) commentary on what is driving the increased use of JAVA on Open VMS in contemporary IT culture. As he looks at not only the “how to,” but he “why” of Java in these applications, it is clear that his sympathy is clearly with veteran C and C++ programmers and not IT management. A significant part of the problem, he feels, lies in the roots of the process and the way a great deal of IT business is being conducted not just with reference to JAVA, but with software projects in general. In recent years, many software projects have had a tendency to turn into monsters, destroying schedules and budgets, and raising programming costs late in the curve—a trend that does not serve IT goals well. As software budgets rise, management is desperately seeking “silver bullets,” tools to cut costs while trying to achieve ever more challenging IT goals. But as Fred Brooks observed in his IT classic, The Mythical Man-month, the root of the problem is not just rising costs, but something inherent in the evolving nature of the information revolution. As the amount of data available rises faster than the ability to process it, programming tasks become ever more challenging. As a result, even as hardware costs are dropping, many software costs continue to rise. To cut costs, many projects start cheap, and are forced to add staff later when problems emerge. Unfortunately, the addition of people to a software project late in the process actually makes things worse. In a similar vein, Hughes suggests that IT management, by looking for a silver bullet, is ignoring the roots of the problem by only seeking short-term cost-cutting solutions. Silver bullets are often advertised, but do they really exist? Hughes clearly feels that in the end, quick fixes and short term cost cutting measures are penny wise and pound foolish. In the final section of the book, “Ruminations,” Hughes engages in a colorful and educational rant about the state of the IT industry and the programmers that work in it, offering useful advice and insight that will be valued by novice and veteran programmers alike. Bravo, Mr. Hughes! Any IT professional using VMS should have this book on his/her shelf, and the “prequel” and sequel as well.

BOOK REVIEW....

Everything Will Be All Right

Author: Douglas Wallace

For the millions of American's who are born into poverty each year, our nation bleeds a darker red, white, and blue than the rest of us can fathom. The social constructs that push us from baby to student to graduate to career are disintegrated like sandcastles on a beach by the tide. Impoverished children don't see a world of possibility and grander, but a barren journey of struggle, where at any moment the rage of an alcoholic father, the threat of starvation, or whims of misfortune may pluck them off like vultures before they make it to the sea. This is the kind of existence that Douglas Wallace was born into, among seven siblings who also clamored toward adulthood under the threats of poverty. In his heartbreaking memoir, "Everything Will Be All Right", he describes the journey that took him from a family who sometimes squatted in abandoned homes to now owning a twenty-acre ranch and being the head of a successful law firm. His book relates the dual face of the American dream, which is as bright and shining as it is dark and treacherous.
Much of Wallace's memoir is told in snippets of memory that take on an episodic structure. He was born into a cycle of poverty that his parents were both from, and at first it's the kind of poverty that one can be content in. His mother collected government checks from her previous husband who died in World War II and his father worked odd jobs. But as their father descends into alcoholism the structure of the family soon collapses. Jobs become scarcer and the Wallace children begin to realize that their father is a violent monster who daily terrorizes their mother and refuses to feed his children.
In one heartbreaking recount, Wallace brings home a dog, who he affectionately calls Blackie, only to have his father pitch it over a bridge suspended forty feet above a river. When the dog finds its way back to the boy, his father throws it in the trunk and takes it away, and the boy never sees it again. Douglas Wallace brings a stark visual element to these stories that force you to inhabit the eyes of the child and see these horrible things. The result is more and more gutwrenching as the memoir progresses, but maintains the element of hope by it's title.
"Everything Will Be All Right" is the kind of breathtaking achievement that comes from watching a survivor cling to the smallest hope in a world awash with decay, and to have that hope rewarded. It is a remarkable and stunning memoir that demonstrates everything that's right with world, and everything that's wrong.

AISAR KPMIM