Subversion With Windows, Anyone?

I would have to admit that I have not been a hardcore developer for a very long time as I have started to move towards becoming a competent software architect. Nevertheless, even being an architect, you can not get away from coding altogether. In fact, it should be mandatory that being an architect, the code craft should be more refined. But that's another topic for another day.

Anyway, there are things which I can not live without, and that is having my code "sit" in a proper home, i.e. a code repository. The code repository is not only used to store code but also to provide version control to ensure that codes are managed properly.

Having used a little bit of RCS (from Uni days), Microsoft Visual SourceSafe (VSS), CVS and more recently, Subversion; I have come to love Subversion for its ease of use. Not only that SVN is gaining popularity amongst the developer community but I find it to be a good introduction to new developers who needs an introduction into managing software configuration and quality. Unless you have taken a course in Software Quality Management, many developers are not aware about the issues involved when sharing code between two or more developers.

Enough said, I spent a good two hours today, (including download and installation time), getting my Subversion installed and configured for my use. (^_^)

I was able to get Subversion 1.4.2 installed on my Windows XP Pro laptop, configured to use Apache Web Server 2.0.59 as a means to allow developers to access the repository via the web. I have tried to use the latest version of Subversion, version 1.4.3 but found that there were some problems after I modified the Apache Web Server's httpd.conf file and could not get it to start. (-__-)

Anyway, I was able to install Subversion using steps from this series of blog entries by Aaron West, on setting up Subversion.

The following links should also prove useful as a start:

• Subversion - http://subversion.tigris.org
• Subversion Book - http://svnbook.red-bean.com/
  
• TortoiseSVN (GUI Subversion Client) - http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org
• Apache Web Server - http://httpd.apache.org/
  

Hope this would help you out in setting up Subversion for your development use! (^_^)

Need Hardware Lists from Lowyat?

I'd guess by now, everybody knows that Lowyat is the "heaven" for us geeks - from M'sia and abroad.
(OMG... It even has an entry on Wikipedia!!)

I've got colleagues in UK who are dying to drop by M'sia just to visit this place. LOL!!

Anyway, for all of you out there who recall that back in the day, the Lowyat.net site used to host price-lists from most of the big shops, including those which were "scanned" from hardcopy. However, these scanned price-lists were removed after a while and I'm not sure why it was done so.

So, if you're looking for the big price-list, this site has it --> http://www.hardwarezone.com.my/priceguide/

Have fun salivating over what your next purchase would be!!

BTW, PC Fair is coming to KL in April.. BE PREPARED!!!

Amazing Story...

This is an amazing story about my friend's cat and dog.

Over the weekend, I had to meet up with this friend because we needed to visit another friend who had her baby last year. I did not have time to visit during the CNY holidays because of the various activities which occurred then.

Anyway, my friend mentioned that her cat had been missing for a few days since Thursday night. Her cat is very special, it only has one eye. He was rescued when my friend found him in Bangsar as a kitten, wandering around the place with a very badly injured eye. Through the goodness of her heart, she took him to a vet to get his eye fixed but unfortunately, the eye had to be removed.

Cornelius

He was aptly named Cornelius and I often joked that he's named after the wise and curious character from the movie "Planet of the Apes".

My friend, being very distraught that Saturday morning said that she was worried that he had been stolen or something. I thought that he might have gotten lost. He was let out a few times before but always came back in the morning, "meowing" to let people know that he had returned home.

I tried to reassure her that he'll eventually come back. Probably he is lost and does not know the way home or hopefully, someone has picked him up and taken care of him.

Anyway, just a few moments ago, my friend messaged me on MSN...

Friend: ANGIE!! THE CAT'S BACK!!!!

That was certainly good news! (^___^)

However, the most amazing part of it is that it was the DOG who brought the cat home!!!

My friend has another dog, named Rusky and she's a sweet girl. She did growl at Cornelius for a while when he first arrived but since then, she has accepted him as part of the family/pack.

Rusky

Anyway, Rusky was let loose to go wander around and when she got back, Cornelius followed her back as well!! My friend heard the "meowing" and found Cornelius back home. The poor cat was dirty and hungry after being lost for so long. My guess is that Rusky used her doggy instincts to bring Cornelius back home.

What a sweet end to an amazing story!!

This reminds me that even though Cats and Dogs are sworn enemies, but in the end, it is stories like these which inspire to think about how we all could learn to live with one another and help each other out in our time of need. Wouldn't it be better if we all got along a little better?

Note: The pictures of both Rusky and Cornelius were provided by my friend. ;)

EV Bites...

A lot of people ask me why I call my friend - "EV".

Here are some reasons:
1. EV stands for "Emotion Vampire"
- Do not underestimate EV's ability to suck the life out of you by talking about her emotions and just being "emo"... After a "Emotion Suck" session with her, it is best to replenish your energy by taking loads of "healthy" products - think alcohol.

2. She really is a Vampire
- I have some photos of EV baring her teeth and yes, her canines are longer than most people, hence, the vampire-ish look.

3. She bites...
- I am not joking about this. She really does bite using teeth and all. I don't recall how it all started but I'm guessing it had to do with food and her being very hungry.

** FLASH BACK **
- 1997, Somewhere in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...

EV: I'm hungry.
Me: You're always hungry. Eh, Why those ppl so late-wan??
Friend: Dunno. I'm getting kind of hungry too.
EV: I'm hungry.
Me: We know.
Friend: Yeah, "tahan" a bit... They won't be long.
EV: I'm very very hungry-le...
Me: Sorry, I got nothing to feed you. Can "tahan" a bit or not...
EV: I don't care!!! I'm hungry-la.. Going to get "gastric" soon... (-____-)
Friend: Hahaah!! OK, OK, Nah... Have this-la ** Offers left-arm **
EV: OOOOooooooo... Nice..

** NGGGIAAAAMMMM **

Friend: AAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY YOU BITE MY ARM???!!!!

EV: Yum, yum... Very nice - taste like sausage...
Me: **speechless** (o___o)

Friend: Aiyooo.... Pain!! **Sniff Sniff** **Strokes arm**
Me: **looks at arm** Doesn't look so bad-le
Friend: WHAT NOT BAD!! Look!!! Got teeth marks!! ** points to arm **
Me: What have you got to say for yourself??
EV: Ehhh... It taste like chicken??

Friend & Me: ** SHOCKED BEYOND WORDS - Mata Terbeliak **

Ever since that day, both of us have avoided EV whenever she announces that she is hungry. I think whenever EV does show her teeth, my friend remembers about that day when EV bit her arm.

Sick...

Note: This happened about a couple of weeks back during the final days of the CNY holidays. Since then, I've gotten sick again.... *sweat*

It has been a while since I've fallen sick.

Anyway, I had to wait at the clinic for over an hour because the doctor came in late. The clinic was opened early but the doctor came in only at 9:15am.. (-___-)

I actually saw him walking from his really nice Merz, parked opposite the clinic. I believe it to be a SLK but I didn't bother as I was really sick as a dog.

After all that hassle, I went home with all my medicine to rest. Prior to that, the night before, I called EV to kacau her about something...

Me: where are u?
EV: at home-la!
Me: what u doing?
EV: having sore throat, fever, bodyache and runny nose.
Me: WAHAHAHAAHA.... U-la, eat too much CNY stuff...
EV: what???!!!! i like ma!
Me: kekeke... i'm starting to feel sick too, how-lar?
EV: ehhhh... take mc-lo!
Me: ceeehhhhh...

Anyway, after my visit to the doctor, I called back and this is what happened...

Me: Harrrrlllooooo... (soft voice)
EV: wahhhh... What happened??
Me: sick-lo...
EV: ahhh.. like that how?
Me: mai take mc-lo...
EV: ohhhh...
Me: eh, can u torture me less today?
EV: cannot!! I got questions to ask u!!!!
Me: .... (天啊啊....) *Translated as "HEAVEN-ARRHHH"

EV has been pondering over a few life changing questions for the past few weeks. Anyway, after much haggling and when she noticed that my voice was going off, she decided to say, "Bye-Bye" and left me alone... to suffer...

This is one thing which I don't like about CNY, if I don't take enough water, the weather and food will affect me. Needless to say, I did a bad job in controlling my food intake, which caused me to not only gain weight, but fall sick too!

Guess that in the next couple of months, I've got to seriously detox and lose all that weight!!

The months of suffering are to come... I need to motivate myself... *chuckle*