Software Architecture, Technology, Tools & Toys

EJB 3.1 (Asynchronous Beans)

2010-01-17T12:33:00.001-08:00

Enterprise Java Beans specifications have finally matured to a point where it may actually help with performance: container-managed Asynchronous beans.

You can now specify a Session Bean (and/or a method) to be asynchronous. End-user perceived wait times can be significantly reduced with an asynchronous programming model that doesn’t force the complexity of AJAX, MoM or application-managed server threads.

With EJB 3.1 when you call the method from your client, the container will take the request and return immediately. Then it will dispatch the request to a bean instance within the pool of SLSBs.

The return type for async methods is either void or Future. The Future interface provides methods to check whether the operation has completed, gets the result – with options for a timeout and also cancel the operation. A concrete implementation of Future is AsyncResult which is available in the javax.ejb package.

Stateless EJBs may choose to return the AsyncResult object with any type returned. Transaction propagation is simple & limited - REQUIRED=REQUIRES_NEW attributes. If your client is already in a transaction, or your beans are in a transaction, the async method is called in a totally new transaction with no propagation (as in synchronous methods). This makes a lot of sense, because the entire purpose of asynchronous calls are to decouple a process orchestration to speed up things. However, it does complicate compensation and atomicity. Software architects need to trade-off between transaction demarcation and generally ACID properties across various calls. Any application exception that gets thrown by the bean for a void return type cannot be handled by the client. If your bean can encounter an exception and your client cares about handling it, then return a Future<V> form the bean. The client must handle the exception on a Future.get and getCause from ExecutionException.

An entire bean (itself or via it’s super class) can be marked as @Asynchronous. Sometimes it makes sense to expose the same business function as a synchronous and an asynchronous interface, using the @Asynchronous tag can provide the cohesion with a decoupled interaction model. This opens the door to multiple use-cases that need a simple way to conduct asynchronous calls without the complexity of MDBs or managing application owned threads. EJB 3.1 has built upon the POJO model for EJBs with an excellent way to realize asynchronous server-side models.

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Google Chrome @ 5% (almost)

2010-01-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Google Chrome is now the 3rd most popular browser in the world.

According to recent reports here and here, Google's Chrome has overtaken Apple's Safari in the browser wars. While still at less than 5% chrome is no match for Microsoft's Internet Explorer which is slightly above 62%. Chrome is gaining strength quickly mostly due to two quality attributes: speed and reliability. Chrome is noticeably faster than Opera, IE, Firefox and Safari. It's reliability is unsurpassed due to its multi-process architecture.

Coming in at #3 just months after it's GA release is commendable. With new features like bookmark sync and support for themes and plug-ins it will rival the # 2 spot in a couple years, eating away Microsoft's and Mozilla's share.

ADSL on Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)

2009-12-08T04:07:00.000-08:00

Working with ADSL modems on Ubuntu 9.10:

Configure: pppoeconf

sudo pppoeconf

Check: rohit@lenovo:/etc/network$ more interfaces auto lo iface lo inet loopback iface dsl-provider inet ppp pre-up /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up # line maintained by pppoeconf provider dsl-provider auto eth0 iface eth0 inet manual
Start: pon
rohit@lenovo:/etc/network$ sudo pon dsl-provider Plugin rp-pppoe.so loaded. RP-PPPoE plugin version 3.8p compiled against pppd 2.4.5
Stop:poff
sudo poff
Log:plog
rohit@lenovo:/etc/network$ plog Dec 8 16:37:45 lenovo pppd[11102]: Plugin rp-pppoe.so loaded. Dec 8 16:37:45 lenovo pppd[11102]: RP-PPPoE plugin version 3.8p compiled against pppd 2.4.5

This method works well for BSNL's ADSL lines in Kolkata.

Download HD Trailers from Apple Trailers

2009-01-11T15:45:00.000-08:00

Apple movies now 'stream' mov files, they cannot be saved (like they us. for example, if you view the HD movie trailer for the movie "GOOD" - the URL on the page leads to this stream:
http://movies.apple.com/movies/ifc_films/good/good_1080p.mov
Saving link creates a mov file of 75k - not the movie.

In order to download, add the letter 'h' (Hidden) to the movie file name:

wget http://movies.apple.com/movies/ifc_films/good/good_h1080p.mov

HD-Trailers.net has an article on this and a tip for Yahoo HD Movie Trailers - which I've never used...

Initialize Interpid Ibex

2008-11-29T13:39:00.000-08:00

Well well - I decided to remove Vista from the Vostro, downgraded to XP and dual-booted with Ubuntu 8.10

Installation was smooth as ever and grub worked perfectly. Dell ships with these broadcom network adapters that need b43 drivers - thankfully these are provided with the new dist.

There is a bunch of software that I typically need/want/desire - here are the steps to get it

I don't mind free closed-source software, so edit /etc/apt/sources.list & enable what's disabled.

Enable medibuntu:

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/intrepid.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

Now go for the mass install - remember Google & Sun want you to agree with their license terms - so keep an eye out for those when the time comes tab to Ok and hit enter.

sudo apt-get install python python-central python-gtk2 python-compizconfig compizconfig-settings-manager amarok flashplugin-nonfree amule audacity azureus banshee bluefish dvdrip filezilla msttcorefonts gnucash gstreamer* gtkpod-aac sun-java6-bin sun-java6-javadb sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin k3b kino mplayer mozilla-mplayer quanta kompozer scribus xchat-gnome bittornado bittornado-gui sound-juicer helix-player mozilla-helix-player googleearth acroread mozilla-acroread non-free-codecs ubuntu-restricted-extras libdvdcss2 opera xine-ui xine-plugin xmms2 xmms2tray xmms2-plugin-airplay xmms2-plugin-alsa xmms2-plugin-ao xmms2-plugin-asf xmms2-plugin-asx xmms2-plugin-avcodec xmms2-plugin-cdda xmms2-plugin-cue xmms2-plugin-curl xmms2-plugin-daap xmms2-plugin-faad xmms2-plugin-flac xmms2-plugin-gme xmms2-plugin-gvfs xmms2-plugin-ices xmms2-plugin-icymetaint xmms2-plugin-id3v2 xmms2-plugin-jack xmms2-plugin-karaoke xmms2-plugin-lastfm xmms2-plugin-m3u xmms2-plugin-mad xmms2-plugin-mms xmms2-plugin-modplug xmms2-plugin-mp4 xmms2-plugin-musepack xmms2-plugin-normalize xmms2-plugin-ofa xmms2-plugin-oss xmms2-plugin-pls xmms2-plugin-pulse xmms2-plugin-rss xmms2-plugin-sid xmms2-plugin-smb xmms2-plugin-speex xmms2-plugin-vocoder xmms2-plugin-vorbis xmms2-plugin-wma xmms2-plugin-xml xmms2-plugin-xspf vlc vlc-data vlc-dbg vlc-nox vlc-plugin-arts vlc-plugin-esd vlc-plugin-ggi vlc-plugin-jack vlc-plugin-pulse vlc-plugin-sdl vlc-plugin-svgalib thunderbird skype

Note: When you run Google Earth ensure that you have not Desktop Effects enabled.

This should provide nearly all the functionality that's needed for a baseline O/S installation.

Recover Dual Boot XP, Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)

2008-07-20T12:51:00.001-07:00

Issue: I needed to reinstall Windows XP on a dual-boot machine. No new partitions were needed, there were 2 O/S partitions - one with XP and the other with Ubuntu. After reinstalling Windows - the machine would simply boot into Windows XP (no dual-boot menu)

Solution: Boot from Ubuntu LiveCD - choose to demo. Then open terminal.

rohit@rs-dimension:~$ sudo -i
[sudo] password for rohit:
root@rs-dimension:~# grub

[ Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For
the first word, TAB lists possible command
completions. Anywhere else TAB lists the possible
completions of a device/filename. ]

grub> find /boot/grub/stage1
(hd0,4)

grub> root (hd0,4)

grub> setup (hd0)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (hd0)"... 16 sectors are embedded.
succeeded
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 (hd0) (hd0)1+16 p (hd0,4)/boot/grub/stage2 /boot/grub/menu.lst"... succeeded
Done.

This setup grub in hd0 on my system - bringing back the boot menu. Simple

iTunes Audio only Podcast & Video only Podcast SmartList

2007-12-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

(I) Unplayed Audio Podcast smartlist that plays 100 audio unheard unskipped podcasts starting from the earliest added.

Podcast is true
Play Count is 0
Skip Count is 0
Kind does not contain MPEG-4

Limit to 100 items selected by least recently added

To create a Video podcast just change the Kind parameter on the smartlist to "contains"

You can sort the list so it will play by artist, album (most Podcasts have album names consistent), genre etc

Setting Video Kind to Movie admits most video podcasts however others get filtered out - so avoid this parameter.

Mule ESB Distribution

2007-08-08T10:38:00.001-07:00

So I started playing with Mule starting Feb 2007. Mule is an integration platform that allows for pluggable connectors to other types of systems. There are so many descriptions of ESBs and architecture styles, and almost everyone claims to be an expert in the space.
IMO Mule is basically a container-type framework that rests on various open source products...
if you go to the 1.4.1 distribution's opt folder the listing is as such:

05/22/2007 08:23a 444,463 acegi-security-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:28a 443,432 antlr-2.7.6.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 1,599,570 axis-1.4.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 31,191 axis-jaxrpc-1.4.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 18,979 axis-saaj-1.4.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 126,771 axis-wsdl4j-1.5.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 327,810 backport-util-concurrent-3.0.jar 05/22/2007 08:28a 490,136 c3p0-0.9.0.4.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 193,391 carol-2.0.5.jar 05/22/2007 08:28a 324,238 cglib-nodep-2.1_3.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 36,342 commons-attributes-api-2.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 188,671 commons-beanutils-1.7.0.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 30,117 commons-cli-1.0.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 46,725 commons-codec-1.3.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 571,259 commons-collections-3.2.jar 05/22/2007 08:28a 33,976 commons-dbutils-1.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 139,966 commons-digester-1.7.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 71,442 commons-discovery-0.2.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 279,781 commons-httpclient-3.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 83,613 commons-io-1.3.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 285,104 commons-jxpath-1.2.jar 05/22/2007 08:17a 245,274 commons-lang-2.3.jar 05/22/2007 08:27a 180,792 commons-net-1.4.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 62,086 commons-pool-1.3.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 38,830 cryptix-jce-api-20050328.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 296,386 cryptix-jce-provider-20050328.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 30,258 cryptix-message-api-20050405.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 276,885 cryptix-openpgp-provider-20050405.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 16,652 cryptix-pki-api-20050405.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 486,522 dom4j-1.4.jar 08/08/2007 01:41p 6,205 ds.txt 05/22/2007 08:22a 19,759 geronimo-ejb_2.1_spec-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 36,396 geronimo-j2ee-connector_1.5_spec-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 19,259 geronimo-j2ee-management_1.0_spec-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 34,263 geronimo-jaxrpc_1.1_spec-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 31,397 geronimo-jms_1.1_spec-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 14,637 geronimo-jta_1.0.1B_spec-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 8,097 geronimo-qname_1.1_spec-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 24,611 geronimo-saaj_1.1_spec-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 82,923 geronimo-servlet_2.4_spec-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 2,356,373 groovy-all-1.0.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 10,832 groovy-engine-1.0-jdk14.jar 05/22/2007 08:28a 2,208,240 hibernate-3.2.2.ga.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 386,591 hivemind-1.1.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 74,662 hivemind-lib-1.1.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 72,741 howl-logger-0.1.11.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 405,545 javassist-3.0.jar 05/23/2007 08:15a 226,915 jaxen-1.1.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:28a 603,060 jbpm-3.1.4.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 11,670 jcl104-over-slf4j-1.3.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:11a 153,253 jdom-1.0.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 124,316 jotm-2.0.10.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 5,798 jotm_jrmp_stubs-2.0.10.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 11,292 jruby-engine-1.0-jdk14.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 10,250 js-engine-1.0-jdk14.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 31,906 jug-2.0.0-asl.jar 05/22/2007 08:20a 120,640 junit-3.8.2.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 10,250 jython-engine-1.0-jdk14.jar 08/09/2007 08:33a 0 list.txt 05/22/2007 08:21a 367,444 log4j-1.2.14.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 56,164 mockobjects-core-0.09.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 148,213 mx4j-impl-2.1.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 261,174 mx4j-jmx-2.1.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 167,410 mx4j-remote-2.1.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 485,831 mx4j-tools-2.1.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 149,445 nanocontainer-1.0.jar 05/22/2007 08:24a 167,958 ognl-2.6.9.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 682,351 org.mortbay.jetty-5.1.12.jar 05/22/2007 08:19a 65,425 oro-2.0.7.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 112,635 picocontainer-1.2.jar 05/22/2007 08:30a 405,607 quartz-all-1.5.2.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 251,039 retrotranslator-runtime-1.2.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:25a 14,921 script-api-1.0-jdk14.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 12,231 slf4j-api-1.3.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 6,869 slf4j-log4j12-1.3.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:30a 188,221 smack-2.2.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:23a 2,694,134 spring-2.0.5.jar 05/22/2007 08:28a 31,020 spring-modules-jbpm31-nodeps-0.8a.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 26,514 stax-api-1.0.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 113,780 stax-utils-20040917.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 83,820 wrapper-3.2.3.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 148,522 wsdl4j-1.6.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 505,825 wstx-asl-3.2.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:28a 86,956 xapool-1.4.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 1,212,965 xercesImpl-2.8.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 131,384 xfire-aegis-1.2.6.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 28,705 xfire-annotations-1.2.6.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 423,888 xfire-core-1.2.6.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 25,055 xfire-java5-1.2.6.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 8,074 xfire-jsr181-api-1.0-M1.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 195,119 xml-apis-1.3.03.jar 05/22/2007 08:26a 127,961 XmlSchema-1.1.jar 05/22/2007 08:21a 24,677 xpp3_min-1.1.3.4.O.jar 05/22/2007 08:22a 349,667 xstream-1.2.1.jar 94 File(s) 24,263,547 bytes

94 files make up the optional open source distribution shipped with Mule.

Writing a web-service is as simple as creating a POJO & modifying the configuration file with the right parameters.

Dump Google Sync for FoxMarks

2007-06-29T08:16:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I would have to write a bookmark sync tool for my machines, I stumbled upon Foxmarks. It was like someone read my mind of the design I had thought and just coded it. Brilliant, thanks Foxmarks you have saved me weeks of coding & deployment! I am a happy user of it, it sync my bookmarks across machines effortlessly.

Recommendation: Dump google synch, del.icio.us, tag for Foxmarks. http://www.foxmarks.com/

Web 2.0

2007-02-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

A good video that explains Web 2.0 (without the particular technology implementation details)

Corporate Politics

2006-11-12T07:22:00.000-08:00

Corporate politics, what the heck is that ?

Consider this statement: "Achieving a goal is often not as important as the way its achieved". Balderdash? Confused? Disagree? Read on.

If you don't know what corporate politics is yet, then you are either new to the job market, naive, or an agnostic. If you are new to the job market - you will learn over time, unless you are naive and continue to be one. If you are agnostic then you must think that you can find a small cubicle in your company and get into "heads-down" work, try not to bother anyone, not let anything or anyone bother you. My friend, you have a lesson to learn. I used to be an agnostic. When it comes to politics, I say you should not be agnostic.

If you are one, the symptoms are telling. Things happen to you at work, i.e. you are not in control of those things or your own career. You never decide the work you want to do, things don't fall in place as you would expect. You aspire to get to the next level, but simply can't shake off the isolation you are in.

It is time to get up from you easy office chair and look beyond your gloomy cubicle walls. People in your office are out and about. They are talking to key individuals, they are comparing notes, going out to lunch, golf and beer. You are working hard, producing results and hoping your manager will notice how great you are at what you do. You are in great danger. If you stay the course you are bound to get into conflicts, distance people, be primarily task-oriented and pigeon-holed for the rest of you career. You will be labeled if you aren't already.

You will do what you are doing for the rest of you life if you are lucky. If you are like the rest of us, things will change, and the change may not be what you agree with. Learn about politics, because that is what I have done & recommend strongly. Importantly, don't learn destructive politics. I believe in karma, and I believe politics can be positive for the organization. Negative politics is destructive & in the long run is a "lose-lose".

Politics in this context of can be defined as "the total complex of relations between people ..." [ref Webster's]. The age old adage explains politics - "It is not what you, it is who you know that matters". According to Kathleen Kelly Reardon it's all politics. She believes that winning in a world where hard work & talent aren't enough is possible. In her book "It's All Politics. Winning in a world where hard work and talent aren't enough", she describes several political advantages one should work to develop:

Develop an uncanny attentiveness to what others say & how they act
Develop empathy - what others have to say & how they think and feel
Prepare in advance all outcomes of a discussion. Prepare, prepare, prepare.
Ability to see things as others do is critical
Convey a strong interest in what other people are saying. Don't impose views - rather manage interactions to synergize
Each of us is at least 75% responsible for the way we're treated
Become a skilled interpreter of meanings at a number of levels
If it quacks like a duck it is a duck. Be able to communicate with a duck

Once these principles are learned, they must be practiced. Books & blogs may teach you about a topic, unless you practice it, you will never truly learn it. Try to learn it, not about it.

Learn positive politics. Basically, craft your skills to achieve. Get things done. Reardon proposes the ACE method. What is it ?

The ACE Method:

Appropriateness - what others are doing
Consistency - what a person like you would do
Effectiveness - what will get you what you want

These are boundaries within which one must operate. Learning to be appropriate (with seniors, peers, juniors & external team members) is critical. As a leader, consistency and effectiveness are the other two sides of the triangle.

You may cringe when you hear the word "power", this seems to conjure up several negative images & feelings. However, I do believe that power in the right hands is a blessing. In order to achieve what you need in your job, you need to acquire and craft enough power to intrinsically influence a group or another person to do what needs to be done. Reardon describes clean power crafting & maintaining strategies.

Power crafting/maintaining strategies

Appearances

Impression Management: craft your reputation
Surroundings: attend to the decor of your office/work area
Credibility: Aim to get the respect, trust & confidence of your co-workers
Commitment: Be busy & in demand - but not overwhelmed
Charisma: Be charming & humorous
Value: Link what you do to company/division goals

Relationships

Attraction: Make people feel good about working with you or for you
Similarity: Be like "the duck" in some important way
Favor bank: Remember the value of reciprocity
Mentors: Seek out advisors. If you don't have one - get one. Select carefully though
Connections: Get to know people in power who can be helpful to your career

Communication

Information control: Use caution when giving information to others
Conversation management: Avoid dysfunctional habits & going offtrack
Style management: Adjust your style to facilitate conversation
Open to input: Do more listening than telling
Facework: Avoid causing other people to lose "face"
Flexibility: Remain open to creative ways to achieve your goals

Structural Power

Job status: Assess the power of your position and ask yourself where you career is headed
Limit access: Be a team player but don't tell everyone everything you're thinking
Rewarding allies: Be sure to thank people who help you, and remember to help them too
Selective availability: Help out, but don't be over available

Knowledge Power

Keep learning: Never stop learning from people at every level of the organization
Recognize: "Regimes of Truth": Identify organizational philosophies
Be where knowledge emerges: location informational sources and be around them
Create knowledge dependence: Find out what areas of expertise those in power look for

Caution! Don't flaunt power. Acquiring respect & power is a lot of hard work. Don't blow it away by being cocky and insolent. Having a helping nature, zero ego and a respectful attitude are primary ingredients to maintaining power. Respecting others is to let others make mistakes and not penalize them punitively. Let the other person save face. Spare the reputation of others.

Recognize negative & destructive politics: "credit snatching", "career threats", "targeting", "scapegoating", "patronizing", "double bind" or moving target, "lording" or when everything is a power issue, "embedded spy", "gossip", "belittling", etc. Reardon cites examples of each and suggests specific things to say and combat each scenario.

One principal concept of politics is the art of persuasion. Aligning thoughts is a way of doing this. Reardon calls this "Framing", A framing effect happens in a communication. When a person sees a situation in a different light and expresses his frame of reference. Others react and realign. This is framing.

Several such techniques exist and there are lots to learn. Your intrinsic attitude and disposition will dictate much of your career path. Just be aware there is something called corporate politics that plays a major role in your work life. First know about it and learn to participate. Remember there is the right side & dark side to politics. Positive constructive politics is the only long term sustainable path.

Bookmark Sync by Google is Disappointing

2006-06-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Goggle labs have offered a Firefox plug-in that promises to automatically synchronize the state of the browser across machines. To download it Click here
I installed the plugin on 2 Firefox browsers
(1) Firefox 1.5.x on a Windows 2000 SP4 2.5GHz 1.5GB RAM
(2) Firefox 1.5x on a Windows Home SPx 1.60GHz 760MB RAM
(3) Firefox 1.5x on a Windows 2000 SP4 1.8GHZ 1GB RAM

The first machine was run behind a firefall and proxy server, the other was connected to the internet with no proxy. Depending on the network I connected the first machine in
I was disappointed by a major flaw in the plug-in. If the browser cannot connect the Internet, then it will not work.
Uninstalling the browser is easy, but once you re-install it the Google browser synch is not uninstalled. YOu can delete it from the extensions either because to do that you will have to start the browser, but the browser does not start.

Reputation: Guard It

2006-06-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life

According to Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power, reputation is the cornerstone of power. Reputation alone can intimidate and win. Vulnerability will invite attacks from all sides. Reputations should be unassailable; one should be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. According to Greene, one should destroy enemies by opening holes in their own reputations and after the holes are opened, stand aside and let public opinion take over.
Notably a person in recent political history was a victim of such reputation damage. He was not able to recover from it and finally offered his resignation; of course a different reason was cited for this.
Colin Powel is a highly decorated military personnel. Before Operation Desert Storm was executed, he publicly opposed several of George H.W. Bush's administration officials who advocated the deployment of troops to the Middle East to force Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to withdraw his armies from neighboring Kuwait. Powel believed that the dictator could instead be contained through sanctions and a buildup of forces around Kuwait.
Before the War on Terror in Iraq, Powell, who was by then a prominent figure on President Bush’s cabinet where he served as the Secretary of State, was able influence Bush to present a case for war at the United Nations. Powell also found himself presenting questionable intelligence to the U.N. to make a case of WMD presence in Iraq. The intelligence was proven to be false; no WMDs were found and the weapon sites revealed nothing. Powel, with his reputation severely bruised, decided to step down from the Bush administration's cabinet. Powell, who had an impeccable record, found his reputation tarnished by this. But it was too late.
Could he have done things differently?
On one hand he had to support his president and on the other hand he had to support his core values and beliefs of war. He was probably torn between the two choices. He went in half-sure. He was vulnerable. He should have guarded his reputation with his life. He should have quit sooner, with honor. Had he not appeared before the United Nations at all, the history books would be kinder to him. When we will look at Colin Powell, as a highly decorated individual, we will also see a vulnerability that was exposed through political ineptitude that caused his reputation to take a severe beating on the world stage. Guard your reputation with your life.

You can buy the book, first read the heartless list of the laws. If you read the book, read it with a grain of salt. Do not loose your values, beliefs and ethics.

The Eccentrics Versus the Uncouths

2006-06-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

The Eccentrics Versus the Uncouths.

This article is inspired by this one.

I argue that the difference between a Geek versus Nerd is the same difference that separates the eccentrics from the uncouths. Also, most often the nerds are the ones that are geeks, the geeks are often nerds, some nerds are not geeks, and some geeks are not nerds. A nerd is an uncouth person a geek is an eccentric. I think geeks are odd, and are not really the talented few who run the show in corporate America. The genius may be a nerd, a geek, neither, or both. The leader in corporate America may not be nerdy nor geeky, unless the leader is a perceived genius.

Eccentricity.

Webster defines someone who is eccentric as:
a: deviating from an established or usual pattern or style
b : deviating from conventional or accepted usage or conduct especially in odd or whimsical ways

Take notice that an eccentric is not uncouth, just bizarre. Oddities in behavior are often traits of the genius. The reverse does not work. So if you acquire odd behavior, that does not make you a genius. Such people are pretentious and once discovered they attract disdain.

Scientists, mathematicians, engineers, software gurus are often seen as eccentrics. In corporate America, most IT staff thrive on geekdom. Most border on nerdiness, however I can say that most of the people I know are not nerdy. They (the geeks) enjoy being perceived as problem solvers. Geeks often carry the latest gadget on them. Cellphones, PDAs, & blackberrys are always within bluetooth range. They are always ready to receive a call, send an e-mail, plan the next meeting. Geeks derive power from skill. Ccommunication is usually not their forte. Geeks are simply eccentrics. They are well mannered, well meaning corporate citizens. They don't burn bridges and they don't knowingly step on other poeple's toes. They are the unsung heroes of corporate America. These are the analysts, production support personnel, engineers & programmers.

Uncouth

Webster defines someone who is uncouth as:
a : strange or clumsy in shape or appearance : OUTLANDISH
b : lacking in polish and grace : RUGGED <uncouth verse>
c : awkward and uncultivated in appearance, manner, or behavior

Nerds are not oriented towards solving problems, rather they are inclined towards "technology for the sake of technology" they are not usually self-aware and are neither aware of their surroundings (people, reactions etc). They talk a lot. Loud. Such behavior results in faux pas, ill manners and eventual social boycott. Nerdiness directly translates into bad manners. Nerds=Uncouths. Sometimes they are pompous uncouths.

Geeks are Eccentrics, Nerds ands Uncouths. Uncouths can be eccentrics, and eccentrics can be uncouth, people can be neither or both. Corporate IT citizens, please try harder to be neither.

Leadership by heuristics or empirical research ?

2006-05-23T21:53:00.000-07:00

Leadership has been studied from various perspectives. The first recorded approach to leadership was embedded in traits. It was believed that leaders are born not made, "Kings are born, not made", it was said. "Greatness is in the blood", was commonly believed. Several views on leadership emerged as our civilization evolved. Over the past 30 years our understanding of leadership went through a major shift. Our collective new understanding of leadership has been presented nicely by Peter Northouse. He provides a very good overview of leadership in his book Leadership Theory & Practice (LTP). Various perspectives on leadership have been acquired over time through scientific research. Northouse writes about several approaches to leadership in his book including the trait approach, skills approach, style approach, situational approach, contingency theory, path-goal theory, leader-member exchange theory, transformational leadership, and team leadership. The book presents captivating work in the field of leadership. Each approach to leadership is well cited, documented, explained and critiqued. The reader will find it easy to associate the theory with his daily practice. My favorite theory is the style approach to leadership, the famous Leadership Grid is the product of research conducted by Ohio State University and Michigan University.
Diametrically opposite to empirical research in leadership is a heuristic approach to leadership. To summarize this approach is akin to the live and learn approach, learn by your mistakes approach, and a generalize by personal experience approach. Belasco & Stayer have written an oddly titled best-selling book in first person based on these principles of leadership. Flight of the buffalo (FOTB ) is a joint venture that dives head first into experiences of running companies, heuristics of leadership, visual analogies, gut feel, earthly common sense and best practices of "leadership". The oddity of the title is explained early in the book.
The book begins with the authors' journeys into leadership and various related concepts & ideas. Amongst others ideas like intellectual capitalism, leadership vision, focus, direction, obstacles (removing them), developing ownership in employees, self-directed action & learning to be the leader (lead goose) are discussed. Every chapter is littered with short stories and a moral. There is an Aesop's Fables like feel to the book. Real-life examples are touching and real, however, if you have read Northouse's LTP previously, you can draw parallels to Belasco and Stayer's experiences. Specific leadership theories presented in LTP can easily experience the wise words the authors present. The book is enjoyable, and almost actionable. Some of the advice is basically common sense best practices in action. The writing style is patterned by "try,try again until you succeed, or decide to do things differently".
The authors introduce interesting words and concepts. I liked the word authors invented to mean the inverse of leadership - "status-quo-ship". Another favorite is the concept of "lead goose" in the "intellectual capitalism era". Good advice is provided on every page of the book, obvious common sense is prescribed often. For example, "Leaders proact, not react" is treated as a chapter, the basic premise is that leaders should prevent problems rather than solve problems. Basic management tenets are also provided for the uninitiated, Deliverable (What will be delivered ?), Measurement (How will we know it is done ?), Date (When will it be done ?), Person Responsible (Who will do it ?). The authors recommend that every employee do a process analysis by asking "what can i stop doing?" - remove obstacles. Expectation setting on staff, customers and oneself is disccussed. Henry Kissinger is cited as asking "Is this your best work?". The author(s) push for excellence through action.
I found the authors doing a good job in the area of potential and reaching it. What's the difference between those who reach their potential and those who don't ? Those who do, bring a discipline with them to every task they face. They are willing continuously to challenge themselves. They keep learning how to get better because they do not accept falling short of their potential.
This book can become suddenly interesting and intensely revealing if you decide to read Northouse's LTP first. It is the perfect anti-dote to analysis by knowledge (knowing too much, but acting too little).
But really, what is the best approach to leadership ? Heuristics or empirical ? IMO learn the theory, read about experiences (it is cheaper than having your own) then go out to the field armed with your knowledge and the experience of the authors. Practice.

Directed Project/Thesis Defense

2006-04-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

The thesis defense was succesful. I was looking forward to it. Tanya and Nikhil accompanied me for the presentation. Mark set up the projector, Dr.Newton, Dr.Latif, and Dr.Newton entered Knoy 569. I introduced all to Nikhil and Tanya. Dr.Elliott played with Niknil and said that they were gathered to meet with him and my presentation was just a side show.
After everyone settled, the proceedings began. The light was dimmed, and I began. After about three slides into the presentation Nikhil started acting up. Tanya took stolled him out and waited in the lobby.
For the next hour I was in the groove, slide after slide I talked and answered questions interactively. At one point, during the presentation Dr.Newton murmed, "This is important work". The professors were satisfied.
At the end of the presentation, the lights were switched back on. Everyone was beaming with satisfaction. Dr.Newton asked if she could use the statistical part of my paper to teach her six hundered level course. I responded before she could complete her request with a confident smile and a blunt "YES". She commented further to the department head that this is definitely worth a PhD. Dr.Elliott, my chair said he was very pleased with the work and saw no issues. He offered to co-author an artcile to be published in a scientific journal. Dr.Latif, the department head, said that I was young and I should consider teaching, if I ever decide to teach at Purdue, even part-time, this would be a great help. He asked me what I thought of the program and I answered honestly. Mark took down my feedback, not sure why. Over all it was a satisfactory defense. I am quite pleased with myself.

EJB 2.0 SLSB versus SFSB

2006-03-05T06:10:00.000-08:00

Almost every engineer I talk with is riddled with apprehensions about EJBs. I can understand why they would consider Entity Beans as "useless", "c

One benefit of SFSB is that they can receive transaction notifications by implementing SessionSynchronization interface. The transactions can span multiple methods, across multiple calls (with BMT).

The interface provides 3 hooks "afterBegin","beforeCompletion", and "afterCompletion", these methods provide significant control over the transactions. Horizontal application functionality can be placed in these hooks for transactions.

Several applications of this interface come to mind, one could log certain transactions, notify support on all rollbacks, add a simple layer of authorization etc.

Ethical Power

2006-02-27T18:25:00.000-08:00

According to Paula Caproni, author of "Management Skills For Everyday Life", there are six universal forms of influence.

Reciprocation
Committment & consistency
Authority
Social proof
Scarcity
Liking

Power emanating from these forms of influence can be considered ethical.

Founding principles:

You should tell people explicitly what you want.
Organization's interest and others' interest is at par or above your own.
You treat everyone fairly, follow process and do not abuse.
You leave yourself reasonably open to be influenced by others.
You back your points with valid data.

These founding principles and ethical form of influence is in direct contrast to the Robert Greene's "The 48 Laws Of Power" in which he shockingly suffocates any breath of ethics. The book is laced with a dark sense of human power perversion. For instance, #31 Control the options: Get others to play with the cards you deal. #32 Play to people's fantasies and #36 Disdain things you cannot have do not play to long term interests nor do they breed contributors who care for the greater good.

Caproni's book brings a breath of fresh air to the taboo "Power", it certainly explains in detail, and backed by research, the ethics associated with power - and how it can be put to good ethical use.

Breaking Trust: A Tutorial

2006-02-18T09:56:00.000-08:00

Trust Breakers

Here is a list of behaviors & traits you should demonstrate, practice and implement at work in order to break the trust of your employer, employees, co-workers and clients :

Advance your own interest at the expense of others.
Be blatantly and pompously self-promoting.
Use inconsistent standards to evaluate employees.
Allow some people to break the rules and expect others to follow them.
Do not care about performance problems until the time to rate your employee.
Enable poor-performers to stay in your organization unchallenged.
Pigeon-hole your employees.
Take credit of your employee's work.

Withold important information.
Be closed minded to diverse ideas.
Act disrepectfully towards others.
Lie or cover up, rather than admit to mistakes.
Break promises, or use words cheaply.
Betray confidence by saying one thing and doing another.
Spin by communicating selective facts, and by lacing tone to imply a different context.
Act inconsistently; be incongruent in body language and intent.
Have frequent negative interactions with co-workers and subordinates.
Hide incompetence by making excuses.
Plagerize others' ideas and work.
Don't listen to others' opinions then punch holes without understanding the issue completely.
Don't teach others to fish, rather bring them the fist.
Make people dependent on you for daily work.
Be unconcerned about personal needs, be pompous and self-promoting.
Don't be humble or meek.

There are surely more ways to break trust and it is fairly simple to do so. Remember, that establishing trust is a time consuming process that requires consistency, congruency and solid principles. Leaders who are meek rise to the top and stay there. Read about meekness in Jim Collin's "Good To Great". Humility and meekness are different attributes, but I think both are equally important. "People with humility don't think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less" - Ken Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale in the Power of Ethical Management.

The above is synthesized from Fernando Bartalome's "Nobody Trusts the Boss Completely, Now What?" (Harvard Business Review)

Diffusion Rates Will Increase in 2006

2006-02-02T14:21:00.000-08:00

We have seen more advances in science and technology in the last 60 years than in all of previous history. The rate of technology diffusion has progressively increased as well.
According to K.H.Hammond (2001), it took the telephone 35 years to get into 25% of all homes in the United States. It took TV 26 years. It took radio 22 years. It took PCs 16 years. It took Internet 7 years. It probably took cellphones less than 5, DVDs less than 3, and iPod, XBox, PlayStation, less than 2 years. In a hyper-competitive global market, technology will seamlessly cross boundaries quicker than ever before.
By the end of 2006, I think that successful technology products will proliferate markets in months, not years.

How to make people like you in 90 seconds or less.

2006-01-26T17:51:00.000-08:00

Introduction
An intriguing title for a book! This small book (less than 200 pages) is written by Nicholas Boothman. It covers a pretty broad range of topics. From my perspective, the book did a decent job of bringing body language, communication skills, and behavior together. It covers a lot of ground with everyday examples. One of the acronyms that is fascinating is KFC. Know what you want, Find out what you are getting, Change what you do until you get what you want. The key is the "K" know what you want. Once you know what you want, you can direct your attitude, synchronize appropriately, communicate effectively by using the preferred senses.

Attitude
The book focuses on achieving rapport when it does not come naturally. Boothman calls his technique "Rapport by Design". In this technique, you the reader, will assume the characteristics of the person you are engaged with temporarily,"The key to establish rapport with strangers is to become like them". He describes various ways of doing that, especially through body language and the right attitude. The author describes to general types of attitudes. A "Really Useful Attitude" and a "Really Useless Attitude".

Really Useful Attitude	Really Useless Attitude
Warm Enthusiastic Confident Supportive Relaxed Obliging Curious Resourceful Comfortable Helpful Engaging Laid back Patient Welcoming Cheery Interested	Angry Sarcastic Impatient Bored Disrespectful Conceited Pessimistic Anxious Rude suspicious Vengeful Afraid Self-conscious Mocking Embarrassed Dutiful

The whole idea to list the useful and useless attitudes is to get a picture of what is needed and what must be avoided. Attitude is the core of interpersonal skill.

Synchronization

There is significant talk about body language and synchronization at the subliminal level. Boothman states "When you meet someone new, immediately point your heart warmly at that person's heart. ". Such gestures, he claims are universal and cross-cultural. He adds, "There is magic in this.". He explicitly calls out on closed body language and gives examples of what not to do.
He cites Albert Mehrabian, professor at UCLA, who has studied communication in detail. His studies suggest that 55% of what we respond to takes place visually; 38% of what we respond to is the sound; and 7% is the content. The author suggests that we synchronize our attitudes,body language (gestures, posture, gesticulations, movement, tilts, nods, expressions, breathing and rhythms), and voice (tone, volume, speed, pitch, rhythm, words).

Communication
Boothman declares two types of communication methods, one that opens up the conversation (through open-ended questions) and the other, that closes the conversation (questions that ask for a yes/no response). The author encourages questions that begin with "who, what, when, why, where, how" compared to "did you, are you , have you".
A "location/occasion" conversation methodology is recommended to break the ice. It is even better to use sensory specific words like "See, Tell, Feel" in a conversation. The author offers situational advice for regular day-to-day scenarios. The strongest point the author makes about communication is that most people do not know what they want out of a communication. It is of paramount importance that you know what you want before you open your mouth. If you do not want anything, make sure the other person knows and ensure that you are not wasting any time theirs or yours.
Boothman explains nicely the difference between "active" listening and "parrot phrasing" by providing excellent examples. All facets of communication are touched upon, at one point in the book Boothman explains how to receive compliments and advises not to flatter, "cheap flattery, tired cliches, and patronizing remarks reek of insincerity & can be insulting".

Senses
What makes this book different from other books is how Boothman classifies people by their preferred senses. He claims that there are three type of people: Visuals (55%), Auditories(15%) & Kinesthetics (30%). The author claims that it is more effective to select words in a conversation depending on which type of person you are talking with. The book offers techniques to determine the type of person. There is a good description of the type of eye-movement to expect when a person is visualizing, re-hearing, or re-feeling to retrieve information. A self-test is also offered in the form a questionnaire that determines your favorite sense. From a communication perspective, Boothman says to use metaphors, he claims that it appeals to all types because metaphors exercise all senses.

Conclusion
This book concludes easily by bringing all the four major components together. It ends with food for thought. The author urges his readers to get their imagination under control and install some Really Useful Assumptions. Assume rapport and trust, assume likability, assume synchronicity, assume forgiveness, assume impact, assume positivity and above all assume disposition to connectivity. He reminds us that when greeting someone new use this metaphor: Open-Eye-Bean-"Hi!"-Lean.

Management Skills for Everyday Life : The Practical Coach (2nd Edition)

2006-01-22T11:14:00.000-08:00

An excellent book by Paula J. Caproni. This book covers important topics that will impact your personal and work life.
Topics covered by the author include success predictors, self-awareness, trust building, effective communication, ethical power & influence, relationship management, cultural diversity, creating high-performance teams, and crafting a life. Sounds a lot for 459 pages ? It is. The material is covered in sufficient detail.
One thing that strikes you while you read the book are the quotes. Famous quotes are printed on the margins, contextualized and related to the content. One of my favorite quotes can be found in the first chapter. "Learn as if you were to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow" - Mahatma Gandhi.
Every chapter is well researched. The end-notes are documented at the end of each chapter. This book should appeal to all.

IT Timeline

2006-01-22T08:01:00.000-08:00

Information Technology Timeline

1642 - Blaise Pascal invented the mechanical calculator
1834 - Charles Babbage designed the analytical engine
1890 - Herman Hollerith created the statistical tabulator
1936 - Alan Turing described the universal machine
1947 - Bardeen, Shockley, and Brattain invented the transistor

(To Be Continued...)

IBM WebSphere 5 Classloaders

2006-01-22T07:13:00.000-08:00

Abundant articles are available on WebSphere classloaders.

Just to reiterate one important point:

Several issues in WebSphere version 4.x have been resolved in WebSphere 5.x.
For example: If in a WAS5 ear there are multiple WARs and each WAR needs to reuse a utility jar and the reference is given in the manifest, the jar class loader will load up the utility only ONCE.

In a project I was working there was debate and almost certainly a hack was planned by delinking wars from their manifests and adding those manifests in a shell EJB projects (!)

Here is a sample classloader hierachy:
Application is set to Parent First
War is set to Parent last.

EJB ClassLoaders
com.ibm.ws.classloader.ExtJarClassLoader
sun.misc.Launcher$ExtClassLoader
sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader
com.ibm.ws.bootstrap.ExtClassLoader
com.ibm.ws.classloader.ProtectionClassLoader
com.ibm.ws.classloader.CompoundClassLoader

WAR Classloaders

com.ibm.ws.classloader.CompoundClassLoader
com.ibm.ws.classloader.ExtJarClassLoader
sun.misc.Launcher$ExtClassLoader
sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader
com.ibm.ws.bootstrap.ExtClassLoader
com.ibm.ws.classloader.ProtectionClassLoader
com.ibm.ws.classloader.JarClassLoader

You can view your hierarchy with the classloader viewer, read and download from here.

What is Architecture ?

2006-01-22T07:11:00.000-08:00

"Architecture is a set of structuring principles that enables a system to be comprised of a set of simpler systems each with its own local context that is independent of but not inconsistent with the context of the larger system as a whole."

This definition can be easly contextualized to information systems.

A good film on ethics

2005-12-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed a film a while ago and I have always forgotten its name. While I did rememeber the vivid details of the motion picture. Facts that glue the movie together - for example Shutruk Nahunte the King of Elam. The movie is a must see

This movie focusses on the ethics issues that have been ingnored by corporate America. This film looks at the lives of a middle-school class of a private school and follows them through their successful careers. A close look at values of the students, especially one is questioned. Without revealing any more details, this movie is a must-see.
The Emperor's Club

2 Thumbs Way Up

- Rohit Sood

Communication Skills : Males - Females

2005-05-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

Suggestions for Women (when you talk to men)

Be more competitive

Use less tag lines

Say what you mean

Speak with assertiveness

Sit side by side

Ask questions when you are looking for answers

Be more direct use less emotions

Speak up offer more opinions

Don't be submissive

Suggestions for Men (when you talk to women)

Don't interrupt

Make eye contact

Not a win-lose situation

Make listening noises/gestures

Actually listen (read between the lines)

Stop what you are doing

Ask indirect questions

Pay attention to body language

Don't dominate conversation

Start conversations

Don't focus on solving the problem right way