Lakshya

I have always been baffled with this Question: " What am I going to do in my Life?" .I tried asking that Question to myself but could never manage any Decent Answers though.
Well.. all my friends around me have decided to either do MS@ US of A or go for MBA and some others are going to grab a job.
I thought I would review my chances for each of these Options :

1) MS/Post Grad:
I am really interested in Algorithms and Distributed & Parallel Computing.But Then I haven't began Preparing for GRE and Short-Listing Colleges.I have Personally seen that Short-Listing Colleges and getting an I-20(Acceptance Letter) is more Stressful than actually Preparing for GRE and after getting an Acceptance Scheduling an Interview in the Consulate is a more Daunting Task.I am more of the view that Having Work Experience works better (it is just my view ).

Deterrent for doing MS :

* Choosing Field of Study and really good college.
* Scoring Higher in GRE is bigger factor.

2) MBA :
Management has never been my cup of Tea though I am not really Pathetic at Understanding Core Principles of Management. Plus I am well Versed with Concepts of Finance and the Financial Situation in India & Indian Stock Markets.Still Cracking the CAT/other exams is the single biggest factor while considering doing MBA in India.Applying in Foreign Universities deal with issues along the same lines as doing MS.

Deterrents for doing MBA :

* CAT/GMAT and other Entrance Exams.
* Is MBA the best Move for me ?

3)JOB:
Well.. the easiest of Choices so far.Still getting a Job Demands Clearing Writtens during On-Campus Recruitment which is again a Rat-Race.I love Programming and solving Complex Real-Life Problems with use of Technology.I am not really good at it though I am trying to Improve.But the Recession has reduced the Scope of Choice so getting into the Job Pond doesn't seem to be the best Option.Plus I still feel I am too childish to be owning Positions of Responsibility.

Deterrents for Joining Company :

* Other Options.
* Work Pressure and Corporate Life & Responsibility.

So,Finally after weighing all Options I am still in the same Position that I was long time ago. (World is Indeed Round... :P ) I guess I ll let my Instincts decide the Future Course of Action.

PS :I saw Lakshya for Inspiration but it didn't help much.

CopyCat 1.0

This Post is about CopyCat 1.0 (StandAlone Application in Java) which has been developed by nitd_developers for the College Tech-fest.

We had been approached with the Requirement for a Stand-Alone Application which could generate a Random Path so that Each Team is assigned a slightly Different Path with similar Constraints like the No of Turns being fixed and the max of steps it can take in a particular Direction till the next turn is encountered. We also took it up as challenge as we had never worked on Random Path Generation before.

Things weren't coherent at the beginning as to what was required to be done so that the Random Path generated strictly adheres to the Constraints. Then Swapnil came up with a set of equations which Govern the no of steps to be taken before a turn is encountered and also constraining the equation with another variable which keeps note of the turns.

Now,using this Governing Equation we could come up with 2 different set of Paths which Different Constraints.

Then,as an addition to the Random Path Generation ,We Provided support for Team Registration and Assigning Randomly Generated Paths to each Team Beforehand and then Viewing the Path assigned at a later Stage.


Few Screenshots of CopyCat 1.0

1) Team Details Panel:





2) GridPanel:




Positives for nitd_developers from this Application:

- It was Fun as always and also Gained a fair Idea about Random Generation with Constraints.

- Code was More Readable this time and used a better IDE(NetBeans) this time.

- Avoided Mistakes that were Committed last time (especially Code Duplication).

- Avoided Database for Trivial Data Storage Instead Serialized the Objects.


Things that we need to Improve Upon:

- Firstly,It would be making the entire Design more Flexible.It is more a continuous Process and we are definitely moving a step forward in that front.

- Using Standard Layouts in GUI was Missing yet again.We would need to come up with some Solution for that.(Null Layout should have been avoided).

- Finally,We need to be better than atleast ourselves every time we take up a new Task.



PS: If you have any Suggestions/Queries then Feel Free to Contact nitd_developers at nitd_developers@googlegroups.com