Goodbye Adobe Photoshop, Goodbye Paint.NET, Good Bye Greedy Pricing Schemes

I lately found this wonderful image processing application named PhotoPlus Starter Edition and I'm now no longer using either Adobe Photoshop nor Paint.NET.

From serif.com:
http://www.serif.com/FreeDownloads/

Automatic Java Class Diagram Generation Using ObjectAid

I was looking for a tool that would allow me to view my classes graphically, until I bumped into this question from stackoverflow.com:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1120032/what-is-your-favorite-automatic-class-diagram-generator-for-eclipse

And after trying several tools, I think ObjectAid beats'em all.

Object Aid Website:
http://www.objectaid.com/

15 ways to make great websites for less

http://www.netmagazine.com/features/15-ways-make-great-websites-less

This article contains wonderful tools for creating websites.

Kuler - A tool to help you select color themes for your website

http://kuler.adobe.com

Its online. Its free.

Microsoft PowerToys

Add convenience to your life ...

Try these free tools:

1. Alt-Tab Replacement
When using Alt-Tab, this will show you a small thumbnail of the program you are switching too. Very helpful when switching to multiple instances of the same application.

2. Power Calculator
Enhanced calculator for your OS.

3. Open Command Window Here
Allows you to open the command window for any folder you are currently in.

4. Image Resizer
Resize images on the spot.

5. ClearType Tuner
This PowerToy lets you use ClearType technology to make it easier to read text on your screen, and installs in the Control Panel for easy access.

Download any or all at:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx

The 3arabeezy Habit

In the old university days, whenever I met someone speaking half english half arabic, I usually felt so intimidated of such personalities. I used to think of them as people whom try their best to show off by mixing sophisticated english terminology with verbal mingled arabic pronounced english sounding words. At those days, 3arabeezy for me was a 100% Yukk.

Today, I became one of them (A 3arabeezist). I just cant stop it, I keep mixing english and arabic whenever I speak, I dont know how it came up to be, it just happened. Gradually, I started substituting english words for words that I cant find an arabic alternative for, and vice versa.

It seems that mixing two languages makes me feel smoother. Its not only in verbal languages. Its also in computer languages. You need to write Embedded C in Java code for certain functionalities, and to write PHP extensions using C in others, or even assembly in some C code, mixing languages could be an advantage.

However, mixing arabic and english proves that you are proficient in using both simultaneaously, but very weak in utilizing one at at time.

Even when trying to talk completely in English... one or more 'ya3neeez' have to slip through the conversation. And when I talk in complete Arabic, one or more 'simply', 'basically', 'soon enough', 'I think' have to slip in between.

In funny cases, I'm also starting to use the plural form of arabic words in english form... examples are 'Raheeebz', 'Raw3az', '7abaaaybax' and 'Jee3aanz'.

Lets jump to the lessons learned of this post. I guess there's one really serious lesson to mention. 3arabeezy aint that bad, but could make you look REALLY bad in first impressions. So here's my advice:

1. When introduced to new people, dont use 3arabeezy whatsoever. Stick to one language. Talk professionaly. Dont mix. It will only leave an impression of either a show-off or an improficient talker.

2. In public speech, dont use 3arabeezy unless the audience are people you've worked with before.

3. When dreaming, feel free to use 3arabeezy. Totally acceptable.

4. Sometimes you need to use 3arabeezy when talking to people who know neither arabic or english. This raises the chances that there could be an arabic or english word that sound something similar to their native language.

5. Only use 3arabeezy if you feel that a certain word has a better alternative in the other language that will ease up understanding. Again, this proves weakness in the former language.

Till then, we'll meet again in a next epi-post of 'Lost in the Code Carribeans'.

The Best Free Utilities

Check them out at:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best_46_free_utilities.htm

Enjoy. I liked the sticky notes utility ;)

The Programmers Notepad

If you're one of those people whom dislike thick fat development IDE's, and at the same time you miss many of those rich highlighting and search/replace features in your simples editors.

Then go no further...

Try "The Programmers Notepad".

1.3 MB in size, free, wonderful, and very light-weight.

I loved it from first 'site' : /
at http://www.pnotepad.org/

I think I'll let go of EditPlus. My X-Favorite Editor.

Big Downloads Cause Big Frustrations

These days, I'm downloading different IDE's, database binaries and (non microsoft) service updates from the net. The minimum download size is about 40 MB and the maximum was the new release of JDeveloper which is currently still being downloaded. Its about 508 MB in size.

This is the third time I try to download this 508 piece with a failed connection frustration.

Until... I found this wonderful free tool. Its a download manager named 'free download manager' that can be downloaded from http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/download.htm.

Enjoy downloading. No more connection disruptions. No more frustrations.

ref: Thanks Quazy (IT support team)

In Search For A Convenient Java IDE

With all the years of VI programming on linux as my ultimate IDE. Being introduced to some civilized java IDE's exposed me to a cultural shock.

With all the impressing stuff, I'm still trying to find the best out there. Trying to find the best by comparison then by elimination. First of all, they all look great. The Java IDE's sum up to the following:

1. Eclipse
2. NetBeans
3. JBuilder (by Borland)
4. JDeveloper (by Oracle)
5. Intellij IDEA

The best link I found that does a fair comparison is this one:
http://www.mojavelinux.com/wiki/doku.php?id=javaidecomparison

I'm trying them out one by one. Please note that my evaluation will be based on the best IDE for creating desktop applications.

I've just tried JDeveloper today and I think its the best. Eclipse, NetBeans and Intellij IDEA I've tried a bit. But the one that provides the best convenience I believe is JDeveloper, specially when it comes to creating GUI Desktop applications.

The problem with Eclipse is that it doesn't support Swing/AWT ui elements, but rather have to be purchased from thirdparty commercials (most notably MyEclipse).

Netbeans is good. But the layout facilities provided are so cumbersome. To that, NetBeans lacks alot of features, and its intellisense makes me mad from time to time. When I'm in the middle of typing a function name, and go back by pressing delete, intellisense dissapears. This doesn't happen with JDeveloper.

Intellij IDEA. I have to be frank here, I didnt give it a full try. Its commercial for $500 and looks great. Also lots of features, a big community, and lots of plugins, the only problem is that I didnt give it a full try since the GUI layouts it provided were a bit like NetBeans. I'm sure there is an option that makes it like JDeveloper. But I didn't find it fast enough.

The only one left to try is JBuilder from Borland. I dont think I will get there. I'm so happy about JDeveloper I dont think I'll ever go anywhere else ;)

Reverse Engineering Tools That Are Not.

I've been researching for the last week for a good reverse engineering tool that would simply get handed in a large C++ codebase and would automatically walk through all the classes, functions, variables and interfaces for the purpose of generating a visualization of the live flow of code.

At the end of my research I was able to find a good reverse engineering tool called Understand for C++ and Understand for Java. This was one of the best I found. I decided to use it, was impressive, but not too impressive, it still lacked lots of stuff I needed.

Looking around, I felt a bit hopeless, until I got introduced to automated document generators.

A code documentation generator would prove as the best reverse engineering tool ever. For reverse engineering purposes, I dont think I need to go any further.

Power Shell versus Bash

A good command prompt has always been a weakness point in MS Windows. Compared with bash scripting in Linux/Solaris/UNIX, the command prompt simply lacks a command prompt.

Microsoft aggressively striked back this time with Microsoft's new Power Shell. You can download it from the following link or read more about it here. Expect better automation tasks and large bash scripts to be so common on Windows.

Monitoring Tools with Zoom In Capabilities

One thing I learned when purchasing, using or even building a monitoring tool is the following:

"Monitoring Tools with no Zoom In Capabilities are Worthless!"

So make sure not to waste your budget or time in any monitoring tool that does not provide zoom features to exactly trace sources. An example would be an httpd weblog analyzer. With all the fancy reports generated using tools on the web, if I just cant click on the graph and zoom in into more detailed information, then thats a big problem.

I'm happy to monitor thirty people entering my website on thursday, but I would like to zoom in the same graph to see at which hours of the day, further zoom in to see which countries where they from, then further zoom in to see which pages a certain visitor has gone through then further zoom in to see the amount of time he stayed on the website. Thats what monitoring tools all about.

Same goes to network monitoring tools, same goes to employee monitoring tools, task tracking tools, code analyzing tools, its just that, you either have a built-in magic zoom button or stop soliciting your monitoring software.

The Problem With The PeePee's

With all the paparazzi surrounding PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby, in my opinion, I see them as lacking a 'major' attribute that I cannot live without. This attribute is extensibility; using existing codebases and libraries written in C and/or Java.

The largest code bases and libraries in the world are either written in C or Java. What use do I get if I cant utilize those libraries? Some might argue that it is possible to call C API from PHP or the others, but have you ever tried writing a PHP extension that wraps a C library? have you tried that in Python? Perl? Ruby?

The amount of learning curve, buggy constructs, and lanuguage intracies you have to deal with make your life suck when it comes to extensibility from those PeePee's (most of them start with the letter P).

Every piece of new hardware, every new database, every robot, each and every mobile device, is guaranteed to provide you a C and/or Java API to communicate with. None have ever provided you with a PHP/Python/Ruby/Perl API. All those API's come as wrapped up contributions of the C or Java version.

This problem does not exist in either C or Java. Java uses the JNI (java native interface) to talk with the C language APIs which could add a learning curve; however, unlike other learning curves, this learning curve aint wasted simply because those two languages are guaranteed to survive for at least the upcoming decade with continuous SDKs sourced out from new technologies.

The PeePee's are useful tools, useful languages, but dont base heavy code bases on them. One day you'll discover that you'll need to start porting your code, let this day be early enough with limited losses.

This Week's Quick Peeks

Here I'll mention some interesting tools I came across from friends and websites:

1. Notepad++. A wonderful light-weight and powerful editor program.
2. Guerillamail.com. Create a disposable email that lasts for 15 minutes for use in registration forms. Ver practical.
3. Whats Running. A tool that lets you control your startup programs, and view all system processes, loaded dll's, threads, services, etc. Simple, wonderful and free.
4. Java Excelsior. The best java commercial native compiler on earth for both windows and linux.
5. HowStuffWorks.com. A site that explains how stuff works.
6. Krugle.com. A search engine for developers. Check it out.
7. Handling Back Pain. An interesting article on how to relieve, prevent and exercise to rescue your back. Simple and easy exercises for "Belly Coders" (thats me).
8. A list of the top programming languages. Most recent ranks of who is at the top, is it Java, PHP, C, C++, or * ?

Please donate a comment below to keep this website running.

Whats Running?

One thing I used to hate about Windows in general, was the lack of transparency of processes, services, startup programs, threads, network sockets, etc. There might be some techniques I'm not aware of in viewing all these entities within the system. But I dont think I need to learn any of these hidden techniques after finding this free useful tool by the name of "Whats Running".