Peer Classes

A friend of mine was asked recently in an interview, "What are peer classes?". I decided to find out what a peer class is.

For example if you desire to use a c++ class code in a java program, an approach of doing this is creating a java class which is equivalent to the c++ class. The java class is the peer class and tracks the state of the c++ object.

You can see this here

Tracy

Tonight I submitted Tracy (the final version). I'm satisfied with the outcome of this project. The images Tracy produces is far better than the OpenGL graphics.

In case your wondering, Tracy (Beta version) is my ray tracer. Here's a starter pic:



There she is rendering shading, illumination, reflections, shadows and the whole package. Beautiful isn't it? I hope you agree. Here's another image for those of you who are doubting Tracy.



Take that you paranoid readers out there. It took me quite some time to render these images. Of course I wasn't working full time on it, so maybe thats why.

Now I have my fingers crossed for a proper grade in this and the previous assignment. I still have a neural networks project to do for this coming Sunday (thats in 6 days). Since I'm taking tomorrow off as a rest between the hurricanes, that leaves me with five days. Lets hope for the best.

I'm going to create artificial life. I plan on developing a neural network that controls the actions of small creatures in an artificial environment. I've decided to call these tiny creatures ... I don't know what I'm gonna call them. Have to think of something. The C# neural network library I plan on using was created by a guy called Franck Fleurey and can be found at . I've just taken an initial look at it and downloaded the source code.

This is the time when the hurricanes collide. The time just before the end of the semester, when everything just starts to fall and fall and your left clambering behind. This semester is the last semester I will take courses in. The next semester and the one after will be left for my thesis. Im getting frantic about the thought of thesis. I still havent made up my mind on what field im gonna go for. The ones im surely interested in is AI, graphics and pervasive systems. I believe that anything I do, I will have to apply some AI to.

Lets leave this for further posts where I set out to discover which field to do my thesis in.

Quaking Quake

I just tried out Quake 4 and this is a game not to be taken lightly. I previously thought my laptop was a monster, with a ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 which has 512 MB of RAM. It also has 1.5 Gegs RAM. Unfortunately my thoughts were not matched when I put this game in. It would not run at the maximum video setting. Even in the minimum video mode, the graphics sometimes screwed up in the middle of gameplay. I thought I have a above average gaming system here. Maybe or maybe not...

Quake 4 is a very gruesome and bloody game. From the very beginning I felt its darkness and evil. The first scene shows soldiers floating in space with missing eyes and limbs and bloody faces and bodies. Ouch! Anywayz I started playing and I was chilled up the spine from step 1 as I faced the first Strogg. They produce a sickening growl before they attack and one of them has a sharp metal arm that he pokes you with and as you get poke you loose focus and the screen distorts as if the spike is actually hitting you. My heart was pounding all through the short time I played it and I jump up in my seat suddenly every time a monstrous Strogg came out of no where. And they don't die straight away, they take a beating to fall to the floor.



Respect to the graphics. I read about the real-time ray-tracing technique that Quake 4 utilizes for rendering and collision detection. The shadows too are done very well. The game is very dark. Pretty kool stuff, I must say. Quake 4 uses the same engine as its predecessor and Doom 3. The funny thing is I'm taking ray-tracing in the graphics course I'm taking. Only yesterday did we discuss the differences between ray-tracing, using z-buffer algorithm and BSP object rendering. Im new to all this, so its all very exciting!!! I cant wait to do my next project.

Im starting to dread the moment when I go back home tonight after work and after my masters class and play the evil Quake 4 in the darkness and solitude of my own room. "Its just a game" - they always used to say. We will see...

Graphics Premiere

I created my first openGL graphics composition. This was our first assignment in a graphics course Im taking. The whole idea of the project was to draw graphics on a buffer without using openGL functions. Once the buffer has been drawn on, we only use openGL to output the buffer to the screen.



Of course the composition you see above has animations, color changing, color filling and size changing. I tried to experiment with all the basic techniques in 2D.

I hope the grade I get for this lives up to the effort I put in. InshAllah.

My next challenge will be trying to create a 3D corridor with a box in the middle with fog, lighting effects and (something i'm dying to do) image wrapping. This will be my ultimate goal. After this I want to experiment with 3D modeling and importing real 3D model characters like Warcraft orcs or something and do some animations.

Until my next blog entry...

Which game console is the greenest of them all?

One guy was probably soooo bored that he decided to discover the "greenest" of the three major game consoles in the market.

He measured the power consumption of the Nintendo Wii, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. To no surprise the Xbox 360 proved to be a monstrous energy sucking creature taking in 194 watts. This was followed by the PS3 with a 171 watt energy footprint. The Wii sips in 17 watts and has been declared the greenest game console.



So the little Wii has beaten its bulky brethren at the "Greenest of them all" contest. If you want to help keep energy consumption down to a minimum, buy a Wii instead of the other two.

Copyleft

Copyleft is an interesting term i came across. It is kind of the opposite of copyright. It uses copyright law to remove restrictions on distributing copies and modified versions of some work and force any further modifications to also apply this.

Am I a geek? A nerd perhaps...?

According to a t-shirt I got from the Microsoft store @ Microsoft HQ in Redmond, a geek is a excessive computer user. With this, Im definitely a geek.

According to Wikipedia a geek is the following:
1: a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken, bat or snake
2: a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked
3: an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity

Hmm. I dont qualify for 1 or 2. 3 sounds more like me. I am an enthusiast and a bit of an expers in some technological fields. I am after all a software engineer.

So I guess I do qualify as a geek. What about a nerd? I was once called "Closet Nerd". What this person meant was that I studied my ass off in secret and did not like to show I was studying. This was kind of true, but not for the fact that I wanted to hide it, but because I was unable at the time to study in groups. I found it very distracting and inefficient.

According to Wikipedia again (my favorite source of information) a nerd is:
A person who passionately pursues intellectual or esoteric knowledge or pastimes rather than engaging in social life.

Well right now I definitely classify as a nerd and a geek...hehe...

The Halo Effect

Im sure if your a gamer then you've heard of Halo 3 (the third part to the XBOX's killer app). Its believed to be the biggest entertainment release ever. In the first 24 hours it made 170 million dollars.

This of course smacked me right in the back, coz I was dying to be a part of the whole hype about the game and try out the revolutionary MMO (massive multi-player online)
FPS (First Person Shooter). I dont have an XBOX, and believe you me, when I say Im dying to buy one now to try out Halo 3. In order curb my vein-racketing urge to play it, I decided to check out the history of Halo and go out and buy Halo 1 : Evolved Combat, the first game in the Halo trio.

I bought it from a local shop and started playing. I must say it has been one of the most enjoyable games Ive ever played. The storyline is catchy and the way you can ride vehicles and fly Banchees really really appealed to me. It satisfied my current surge for computer gaming.

Well Ive just finished the game in easy mode. Took me around 3 sittings to finish the game. Unfortunately Halo 2 runs only on Vista and I dont have Vista. So Im still thinking of buying an XBOX but I read some reviews about it and there are many complaints. People are complaining of the Red Light Of Doom (RLOD), I think its called. The console freezes up and stops working and displays a red ring of light. They have claimed to have fixed the problem in all newer versions. The slight probability that this could happen to me, has made me rule out ordering it from abroad. If I do decide to buy the XBOX, it will be from Egypt for a higher price.

Hmm, I dont really know, maybe I should wait a while until i cool down a bit and my gaming hormones settle down.

I also finished Splinter Cell - Pandora Tomorrow around a week and a half ago. I bought a multiplayer game called Battlefield 2142 which seemed interesting, but I got fed up of the limited single player mode.

As you can see i'm in a gaming frenzy...

Which game am I going to try out next!!!! Oh I bought Quake 4 which I anticipate to be awesome, but there is something wrong with the setup files. I'll return it. I cant wait to play it, now that im done with Halo.

Imagine working in a game studio in Microsoft and developing something as complex and enjoyable as Halo 3. I can only dream of working in something like this. If I ever do (inshAllah), I hope it lives up to my dreams, and I live up to my dream.

Splinter Cell

I was so bored I decided to buy a book and game from Virgin megastores. I bought "The Rule of Four", said to be "The Davinci Code - for people with brains" and "Splinter Cell" (a PC game). I started reading the book. Its interesting but for the last two days Ive been mesmerized by the game. It is not a new game - the version I have was created back in 2005. I bought the espionage pack, so its basically two versions of the game for the price of one.

The game is pretty cool and when I bumped up the graphics settings in the game, my 512 MB ATI graphics card showed its power. The game itself is intense, lots of situations where your trying to figure out where you went wrong. Im still on level 3 so much more to enjoy! :D

The book is pretty cool so far. It talks about an old book called the Hypermacatia or something like that, that has baffled people for years and contains a hidden secret. Cant wait to find out what the secret is all about!!

So this is how I turned my boring weekend into a jovial two-day festival...lol...there is still a pending graphics assignment I need to finish by next week. T out!

HAHA.....A hilarious time!!!

The funniest sheizer ever! Shows how much fun we had in South Korea. Check it out! Its from a self-record booth called Hello World in the Imagine Cup competition in Seoul. People go in and record themselves doing the craziest of things and talking about random issues. It was published on channel8.msdn.com. I am proud to declare myself evident in the clip with the rest of the Egyptian team and my Korean friend I talked about in a previous entry (haven't seen him for 11 years and then met again on facebook). Enjoy...

http://channel8.msdn.com/Posts/188/

When the light shines

El humdulilah. This last month has been an extremely exciting one.

I met Bill Gates. As I told you in the previous post about meeting a prominent person. This person is Bill Gates.

Our group was selected out of the 40-something teams participating in the Imagine Cup world finals this year. We were one of the lucky 10 who were invited to Redmond to present and demo before Bill Gates, Craig Mundie (Microsoft CTO) and other high ranking executives. It was unbelievable and as I sit here reminiscing, I still cant believe it. I think we did quite well too. Although I usually speak better in public, I dont think I was very bad as I was reassured and rewarded by a convincing nod from the richest person in the world.

As things come fast, they go fast and now Im sitting in my new job. I just got back from Seattle the day before yesterday. On the way back we stopped in Paris for seven hours. Thanks to Cherif Naggar, a friend of mine, I was given a flash tour of Paris. I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Arc and its famous boulevard and even had time to see the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. All this was in little less than 3 hours.

We have approximately 40 days left until the actual competition in South Korea. It will be hell, but inshAllah will pay off. Ya Rab.

Time has flown

Time has flown since I last blogged. The world has spun out of control lately. The following took place:

- 525 has ended...successfully el humdulilah.

- Imagine Cup has taken a twisted turn, bringing with it a dream. Unfortunately with every dream there comes a sacrifice or a time of great hardship. Next week we are supposed to be meeting a prominent and world-famous figure. I would rather not talking about it before it actually happens. InshAllah no obstacles block our path. Right now I'm drowning in my own stress and tension as we are preparing for this major event. Ill tell you all about it after it happens and happens successfully inshAllah.

- Im changing jobs, this week may be my last here at IBM. I feel weird. This could be because I'm listening to the latest Linkin Park album and filling up with emotions.
I will definitely miss the people here. But life is a bunch of stepping stones, moving from one phase to the next, ultimately trying to optimize your condition.

Time is limited as usual. Life is a perpetual battle against the element of this universe that cannot be overcome (TIME). I will do my best...

525

Just a number? Hardly a number! Its the number of a course. Its not just a course. Its more! CSCI 525 is a graduate (master's degree) course given in The American University in Cairo.

This course has been the most mind-boggling course I have ever taken. It has been one of the hardest and most demanding. At the same time it has been very displeasing. On the other hand I don't think I have ever enjoyed a course like this. It has been so challenging to the extent my mind was not powerful enough. LOL, I find this relevant to the subtitle of my blog: "An insight into a mind. A powerful tool, but only when tamed". Despite the tiring mind-boggling stress I managed to pull off a good grade in the second midterm. I was pleased with this...el humdulilah. There is still the daunting task of preparing for the final exam which is comprehensive and writing a literature survey paper of the Weighted Max-Sat problem. The person who writes the best paper will win a bump up in his end grade. WOW, I would love that. Fortunately and unfortunately I'm up against a lot of competition and im short of time since I have another final next week.

Life is hardship. If things came easy, there would be no self-pride and success...

Nitros time >>>>>

Its time for Nitrous time. The start of another phase of the project I'm on is starting at work. It is starting next week and unfortunately I have my masters final exams next week too. So i'm in a bit of a swamp... I got a paper due on Saturday, a paper due on Monday, and exam on Tuesday and my last one on the Saturday after that. Ufffff...Its going to be a few days in hell.

There is a possibility I maybe changing jobs. We will see what happens next week as I'm expecting InshAllah a reply from them. Wish me luck everyone! Thanx for the support. I know no one reads my blog but it feels good to report on life's events. I hope to enrich my blog a bit with clips, images, ...etc.

Its now time to push the button and go into Nitrous mode to be able to compress time into my current being and finish studying and work as soon as possible in time to be ready for the finals and deadlines!!!!!!!!!!!

Einstein proved it with his law of relativity. The faster you run, the slower time flies by. So the faster I work, the better Ill do InshAllah!

Korea...here we hum

Seoul is coming up soon. The competition is in two and a half months and no progress so far. We have been putting it off since we are all getting screwed in finals and work. I hope we quit the humming and start something concrete soon!!!!!!!

thats why!

I know the title of this entry may not make much sense to most people, but it does to me - so your going to have to lump it this time. The night of the 16th of April was one of the best nights of my life. I had been working hard for the Imagine Cup competition and it finally paid off. My team and I won the local Egypt competition. I seriously did not expect to win at all. My mind was being tormented with thoughts of quiting and wasting my time. Thank goodness I did not. We were the best el humdulilah. My only hope now is to continue this hard work and win the world cup in South Korea inshAllah. Wish us luck and Ill update you every few steps of the journey. We are already winners, all we need to do now is excel and enhance this win into something that will change the world we live in.

Looking back - I see the reasons my life took the agonizing twists it did in December. I fell into a depression due to the unfortunate events that happened in that month. Now, I see why...SobhanAllah! I see why it all happened! At the time, I was thinking what the hell could be waiting down the road to prevent me from working for the company I was looking forward to joining. Now I understand, I comprehend that something bigger, better and more promising lay waiting further down the road. El humdulilah!

At the time, I was blinded by what I wanted more than anything. When I failed the last interview I was so angry at myself. I was so depressed. Now I see that if you fail to achieve something you want so badly, this could just be because a bigger and better thing awaits you. So don't get all depressed about it - "All good things come to those who wait".

El humdulilah

Out of the mud

Finally I passed the SOA Solution Designer exam. I am now a SOA solution designer. The youngest in IBM, el humulilah. People who have it are years ahead of me (IT architects). Thank goodness I passed after failing many times. It's finally over and I have at last updated my CV.

Its amazing how time conquers everything. Every time I face a problem in my life, somehow time sorts it out and the next thing I know is Im looking back down the staircase at the steps I have accomplished. But then I look back up the staircase still unchartered and I go back into pessimism. Life is a rollercoaster!

Proof

There are only three types of proofs:

1. Proof by Induction
2. Proof by Contradiction
3. Proof by Direct Method (simple linear steps)

People who prove a problem by Induction are considered the elite and elegant people of the mathematical society. And then comes proof by contradiction and then the commoners are the people who use direct method to prove.

Its been ten years...

Today a friend of mine from high school added me on facebook. Its been around ten years since I last saw him in The Continental School (later renamed to The British International School of Jeddah). WOW...its been ages! Im surprised his name is still in my brain. Time flies! When I added him on facebook, I found a bunch of other people who were in my class back in upper school. Im just speechless now...Nostalgia!! The memories are flowing!!!!

Give developers their private space!!!

The article is about how giving private space to developers is a major enhancement to any software development organization....hope u enjoy it :D

Check it out!