SLIIT from the 'Beginning'

C# and MS SQL Database Connection Software

2012-01-10T14:38:00.000+05:30

Using the software I have developed, it is easy to handle all the SQL server database information. When you run the software, it shows all the databases in the server. You can click on the particular database you want to manage.

Then it shows the tables inside that database. You can click on the table name that you want to manage.

Then it shows all the data in that table. You can insert, update and delete records of that table. Once the modification is complete, press the appropriate button in the left side panel.

It is also possible to write your own SQL statements. It comes with a syntax highlighter. Currently the syntax is limited but you can add the commands in the project source code as you wish.

Click Here to download the Visual Studio 2008 project source code. (63.32 KB)

P.S - If the database connection fails, you will have to modify the App.config file in the project giving the correct server name, user name and password. Then rebuild the project.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe
-SLIIT 10'

My very first project in 'FreeLancer'

2011-11-20T07:44:00.000+05:30

I guess most of you know the freelancer website but you may have not tried to do a project in that yet. From this post I'm telling you about my very first project in freelancer.

I got registered at freelancer few months back following a request sent via email by a fellow student at SLIIT (Mihiran). I didn't have any idea about completing projects and getting paid then. I wasn't even bothered to place bids on projects.

These days I'm spending holidays after completing the 2nd year at SLIIT and I thought I should really try to complete a project and earn some money without wasting time on watching movies and TV Series.

I placed bids on 5 projects, three of them were data entry projects, one was to develop a web application with database connectivity and the other was a Java Assignment.

I received a message from the publisher of the Java Assignment asking whether I could finish it successfully.

The price range for the project was $30-$70 (Canadian Dollars) and my bid was 30$. When I placed the bid, I mentioned that I could finish the project in one day. I replied saying that I could finish it and then I received the details of the project.

My Java knowledge is not very high since I learned Java in the 1st semester of the 2nd year at SLIIT and after that I didn't write much programs in Java since I did the 2nd semester project in C#.

This is the assignment I had to do. (529.58 KB)

These are the programs I wrote for the project. (4.02 KB)

According to that I had to write two Java programs. Both the programs were command line programs, but for inputting data I had to use GUI with JOptionPane in java. For output, both command prompt and GUI was used.

The first program was based on a complex mathematical equation and I had to do a dry run which was a tedious task since I got some logical errors in the program. It was because a condition given in the assignment had a printing mistake where it had printed '>' instead of '<'. Finally I found it and completed the program getting the correct output.

The second program was to develop a customized commanding environment where user can enter predefined commands. The program should implement the identification of those commands and I had to write some string handling methods for that. I could successfully finish that also.

Finally my client asked to do some modifications to the programs saying that he would pay me additional 20$s. I did them too and after delivering the project I received 50$ (CAD). From that 5$s were deducted from the freelancer website as a commission.

I take this opportunity to thank my Java teacher at SLIIT, Ms. Abarnah Kirupananda who introduced me Java and the notes she gave us were really helpful when finishing the project.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

Participated in the 'Etisalat Android Forum 2011'

2011-11-15T00:00:00.001+05:30

Android is a widely spreading operating system for mobile devices such as smart phones and tabs. As IT undergraduates, we must be alerted with the latest technologies. In order to introduce the capabilities of 'Android', Etisalat (One of the leading telecommunication provider in Sri Lanka) organized a forum with the theme 'WHAT CAN ANDROID DO FOR YOU?'.

Luckily I got the chance to attend the forum by registering on the Etisalat website. It was really helpful to understand Android and Android application development. I hope to develop some Android applications very soon.

These are some photos of the event.

This is the beginning of the event.

In this picture, Sameera, Guru, Sasika and I are seating in the front row if you can see :D Over 1000 people attended the event.

A guest speaker.

A demonstration on Android application development was done by a lecturer at SLIIT (see image below) and unfortunately I can't remember his name.

At the end of the event, there was a raffle draw and for the winners, Android Tabs and smart phones were awarded.

See more photos from 'Etisalat Android Forum Facebook Album'.

For those who are interested,
there is a good video tutorial for Android application development in lynda.com.
'Hello Android' book is also a great resource for beginners.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Algorithm Simulator - Insertion Sort, Selection Sort and Bubble Sort

2011-09-24T08:38:00.000+05:30

For the 'Design and Analysis of Algorithms' (DAA) subject in the 2nd semester of the 2nd year at SLIIT, we had to develop an application to demonstrate the usage of some algorithms. We were given a list of algorithms and we were given freedom to choose any programming language and tool for the development.

I chose C# since I'm familiar with .NET framework than Java and Visual Studio 2008 as the IDE. The algorithms I selected were Insertion sort, Selection Sort and Bubble sort. The user should be able to provide inputs and then the application should simulate how the sorting is done.

I used Labels to display the elements in the array and Timers to move the Labels accordingly.

I'd like to share the source code so that those who are new to this can learn how to develop such kind of application.

Click here to download the visual studio project. (1.61 MB)

To improve the user friendliness and appearance, I used an 'Outlook bar' in the application. It was an open source project where I found the code from CodeProject.

This is the reference for the outlook bar.

Special thanks to Professor Godfrey Muganda of the Department of Computer Science, North Central College, Naperville, IL for the support provided via emails replying to my questions related to the development of this project.

These are some screen shots of the application.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Issue with DropBox

2011-09-03T06:36:00.000+05:30

I normally use mediafire to share my files but sometimes mediafire is not working at SLIIT due to the proxy server. Therefore I wanted to find a better way to share files. Emailing is not possible because most of the time my files contain exe files and gmail is not allowing exe file attachments.

Then I moved into dropbox. It is a very good solution since it synchronizes the files in my PC so that I can access them from anywhere. Sharing is also easy because we can get a public link and share the link so that the particular file can be downloaded using the link.

This is the place where the problem encountered. When I drag a file into the public folder of dropbox in my PC, the file is uploaded to the server. I can right click on that file and get the link for public sharing.

Suppose I have two files in my drop box called 'Simulator.zip' and 'MATCH.exe'. Now I'll get the public sharing links for those two files.

For security reasons I've indicated some part of the link as 'XXXXXXX' but in both links those are same. Now suppose I have another file called 'Hello.txt' in my public folder. Now somebody who has a public link of my drop box can download it without knowing the URL for that file.

It can be derived as 'http://dl.dropbox.com/u/XXXXXXXX/Hello.txt'. So if somebody has a link of a file in my dropbox and also if he knows the file name then he can download that file like this. Or even by guessing the name of the file it might work. So when you are putting your personal files to your dropbox, be careful.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'

Looking Back

2011-08-27T23:12:00.000+05:30

It's been long since I wrote the last post. Not because I was busy, just because I didn't feel like writing. I'm reaching to the end of the 2nd year at SLIIT. 2 years is not a very long period but during that I had so many experiences, learned so many things and also made mistakes.

I received so many good comments for the series of posts I wrote (Mission 4.0 GPA at SLIIT) before the final semester examination of last semester. Unfortunately I couldn't get 4.0 GPA this time but finally ended up getting 3.94 GPA. I made some silly mistakes in Software Engineering I paper and so I got an A- for that. Anyway I'm happy because I was not just studying the subjects but besides that I did so many extra things including blogging, experimenting technologies and also helping my friends. I received a full scholarship for my results this time also which means I have saved nearly Rs. 75,000 during the last semester. This time the cut off GPA for full scholarships was 3.94.

I still remember how I did the 'ST 1' and 'ITA' group projects last year and sometimes I read the blog posts I have written and I wonder how I could complete them successfully. When I started doing them there were so many things I didn't know but one by one I learned them on my own and did them. The resources were limited such as previously done projects by SLIIT students. That's why I have posted the source codes of my projects so that our juniors can learn. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like happening when I see how the 1st years do their projects. Anyway I don't want to talk about it much.

I wrote this post just to avoid removal of my blog from the blog syndicatiors. Hope to write something meaningful next time. Thanks for reading.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

Tak Tik Tuk Version 3.0 with improved Algorithms

2011-07-17T23:27:00.001+05:30

From my last post I introduced the version 2.0 of the game I developed. I further developed it by adding new algorithms with pattern matching capabilities.

Now the difficulty level of the game is so high and even I cannot win the game. If you can, please let me know :D

I changed the user interface of the game a little bit to improve the appearance.Same as the previous version, .NET framework 3.5 is required to play the game.

Follow this link to download the game. (144.31 KB)

These are some screen shots of the game.

Enjoy playing and send me your comments.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Tak Tik Tuk Game Version 2.0

2011-07-04T23:49:00.000+05:30

Recently I developed a Tak Tik Tuk game (Version 1.0) using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, WPF and C#. Since it wasn't much capable of matching the winning patterns, I released it among very few of my friends to gather a feed back. Then I developed an algorithm to match the winning patterns and it succeeded. I used the Transparent Effect in WPF which improves the appearance of the game. Besides that I added some voice features also to improve the interactivity. Here are some screen shots.

Click Here to download the game. (110.42 KB)
You need to have .NET Framework 3.5 installed in your PC to play this game.

Enjoy it and send me your comments.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Stacks and Queues GUI applications

2011-07-02T12:26:00.001+05:30

These are some GUI applications I developed when I was following the 'Software Technology I' subject when I was in the second semester of the first year at SLIIT. I think this will be useful to learn not only Stacks and Queues but also tasks like exception handling when implementing a C++ GUI application in Visual Studio.

This Stack application demonstrates the fundamental tasks of a Stacks such as Push, Pop and Peek methods.

Click Here to download the application. (19.84 KB)

Click Here to download the Visual Studio project source code. (2.4 MB)

The Queue application demonstrates the tasks related to Queues such as Enqueue, Dequeue and Peek Front.

Click Here to download the application. (20.09 KB)

Click Here to download the Visual Studio project source code. (3.11 MB)

You need to have .NET Framework 3.5 installed in your PC to run these applications.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Ebook Linker Down - Source CODE Released !!!

2011-06-15T23:23:00.001+05:30

During the last examination period at SLIIT, the Ebook sharing website (Thariya's Ebook Linker) which I designed was very much helpful for me and for my friends to share the learning resources we had. I received so many good comments for developing that from my friends as well as my lecturers at SLIIT.

It was successfully hosted at http://tharindu.somee.com but after two or three weeks I got to know that the website was not working properly. The reason was the deletion of the database from the server. I guess it was done by the site administrators at somee.com and I can't blame them since it's a free hosting service. Maybe they received complains from the book authors for violating copy rights.

I have no intention of running the site by uploading a database to the server. Therefore I thought of sharing the source code of the website with you. It was developed using Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, .NET framework 3.5, ASP.NET and C# as the programming language.

This will be useful for 1st year students at SLIIT for the ITA group project.

Click Here to download. (5.76 MB)

The database is also included in the Zip file. You have to attach the database to the MS SQL server on your PC when running the website. (Read this post for more information)

Then open the project in Microsoft Visual Studio. You need to modify the web.config file with your MS SQL server name. In my PC it is (local). Replace (local) with your server name.

If you don't know the server name, you can open the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio and the Server Name will appear as shown in the image below.

If you have any problem regarding the source code, just drop me a message via the contact me page.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10-

How to install and configure mySQL on Windows

2011-05-06T10:10:00.002+05:30

Before going to install mySQL, first lets check whether we have already installed mySQL on the PC. Go to the command prompt and type 'mysql' and press Enter key.

If it is not installed you will get an error message saying 'mysql is not reconnized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file'. Now lets look at how to install it.

First you need to have the MySQL community server. You can download the installer package from this link. Select the platform as 'Microsoft Windows' and download the MSI installer according to your operating system (either 32 bit or 64 bit).

Once you have downloaded the MSI package, it will appear like this.

Double click on the installer and run it. The the following window appears.

Click Next.

select 'I accept the terms in the license agreement' and click Next.

Now you need to select the setup type. I'll select 'Typical and click Next.

Now it shows the destination folder of the installation. Click 'Install'.

It may take few minutes. For the next dialogue boxes appear, click Next.

Now you get the following window.

Tick 'Configure the MySQL Server now' and click 'Finish'.

Click Next.

Select 'Standard Configuration' and click Next.

Make the selections as in the above image and click Next.

Select 'Modify Security Settings' and type the root password. This password is needed when we do modifications to the server so don't forget it. Click Next.

Click 'Execute'.

Click Finish. Now we have successfully installed the mySQL server on the PC.

Go to command prompt and type 'mysql' and press Enter.

Now we are getting an error message because it cannot identify the user. So lets create a user account on the server. First you need to login to the root account. Type the following in the command prompt and press Enter.

mysql -u root -p

It will prompt to enter the root password. Type your root password and press enter.

Now you are in the root account. So lets create a user. The commands are shown in the image below. Don't forget to put semicolons (;) at the end of each statement.

CREATE USER username ;

GRANT ALL ON *.* TO username WITH GRANT OPTION ;

FLUSH PRIVILEGES ;

UPDATE mysql.user SET Password = PASSWORD ('your password') WHERE User = 'username' ;

FLUSH PRIVILEGES ;

exit ;

Here I have granted all the permission for this user also. If not you can grant permissions for a selected set of commands. Setting a password for the account is optional. You need to change the words appearing in red color.

If you didn't set a password for the account, this is the command to login to the account.

mysql -u username

If you set a password this is the command to login.

mysql -u username -p

Then it will prompt to enter the password of the account. Type it and press enter.

Instead of command prompt, you can also use the 'MySQL Command Line Client'. You can find it in

Start -> All Programs - > MySQL - > MySQL Server

if you are using Windows 7.

From my next post I'll show you some important commands in mySQL. So keep in touch.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10-

Mission 4.0 GPA at SLIIT - Part 3

2011-03-27T17:22:00.001+05:30

Earlier I thought of updating the blog everyday but for the last few days I couldn't because I wasn't in a good mood..... kind of fed up after all of these... This semester is not like the previous two semesters and the content we have to learn is very much high comparatively. So I got the feeling that I'm still not ready to expect getting 4.0 GPA this time which means I shouldn't be wasting time with blogging and extra work. So this will be the last post of this series of posts and the last post I'm writing until the exams are over. Therefore I'll tell you my plan to get good results.

All the reference books I have mentioned are available for downloading at "Thariya's Ebook Linker".Search under the given category.

Probability & Statistics

This is the most critical subject. Read my 1st post and 2nd post of this series and do the Crash Course book (Category : Probability & Statistics). Then you can get an idea about the units easily. Then start learning the units in the Text book. Then watch the videos on Probability and Statistics done by Khan Academy. You can watch and download them from "Amalan's Blog". Then try the exercises in the Text book. Do the Lab assignments on your own and get familiar with the SPSS generated outputs. Do the final exam past papers from 2007 to 2010. No need to do the repeat papers because that is really unnecessary. If you have more time, refer the "Probability & Statistics for Engineers & Scientists 8th Edition". The solution manual is also available for downloading (Category : Probability & Statics).

Data Communication & Computer Networks II

This is the easiest subject for me. Read the text book and learn the concepts. Do the assignment on your own and learn about the protocols and get some idea about them. Do all the lab sheets so that you will learn the concepts without much effort. Visit Dinuka's Blog for more help.You can download the answers for all the lab sheets from here. Go through the lecture slides available in the course web. Refer the book 'TCP/IP Protocol Suite'. The power point presentation slides of this book are available for downloading at the Ebook Linker (Category : TCP/IP). Do the past papers from 2007 to 2010 without waiting till the last moment. Then you will see the pattern of the questions.

Software Technology II

Read the text book so that you won't repent if something in the book comes for the exam. Do all the lab sheets on your own. Do the past papers and also the tutorials. Get ready for the second online exam so that you can get rid of the score board pressure at the final exam. Do the programming assignment well and you are done.

Systems Programming & Design

This is one of the critical subjects but if you have the practical knowledge and hands on experience with Shell Scripting, System Calls, Perl and CGI, then it won't be that much hard. For shell programming, refer the book 'Unix Shell Programming' (Category : Shell Programming). For System Calls, refer the books 'Let us C' (Category : C) and 'Linux System Programming' (Category : Systems Programming) . No need to read the whole book, just go through the relevant chapters.For perl programming read this post first and watch the lynda.com videos. Refer the book 'Learning Perl' (Category : Perl). For CGI scripting also lynda.com videos are really helpful. This is the link where I downloaded CGI/Perl videos. This is the link where I downloaded the CGI Essential Training videos. Read the text book and do the lab sheets also. Then try the past papers.

Software Engineering I

Go through the notes of the lectures. Do the group assignment well and understand the concepts. Then try the past papers. No need to refer the text book or any other reference book.

Hay everybody..... Let's get good results from the upcoming exams !!!

P.S - All the reference books I have mentioned are available for downloading at "Thariya's Ebook Linker".Search under the given category.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

Mission 4.0 GPA at SLIIT - Part 2

2011-03-20T22:32:00.002+05:30

Today is 20th March 2011 and it's 9 : 53 P.M. I'm going to write what happened today. The alarm rang at 4 : 00 A.M and I woke up and hurried to turn it off because I didn't want to wake up Isuru's parents by letting the alarm ring continuously. Isuru was sleeping and I tried to wake him up. Then he told me that he wanted to sleep another half an hour. So I continued learning the PS book alone. Isuru woke up at 4 : 30 A.M and we both did some questions together and discussed them.

The discussion was very much helpful where he asked me some questions which are really important and I figured out the answers on my own. For example do you know why the probability of getting an exact value in a continuous probability distribution is zero ? Think about it like this. Imagine the graph of the probability density function. Now the specific area under that particular value is the required probability. To get that area, you have to integrate the probability density function. When you integrate, both the upper and lower limits are equal to that particular value which you want to find the probability. So when you substitute them, the answer becomes zero. I hope you got it.

I came home around 11 : 00 A.M. Despite having a lot of work to do, I watched the movie 'Monsters'. That's my hobby. I can remember when I was doing the final exams of the last semester at SLIIT, even on the day before the exam started I watched a movie. After that I had a nap for around two hours and started the work again.

I completed up to the chapter 6 of that PS Crash Course book and started doing some past papers. I answered some questions in 2010, 2009 and 2008 P&S final past papers. The paper seems to be really easy than I expected. If you know the theories well and if you are good in analytical thinking, then it won't be hard. One thing I realized is that following only the text book is not enough. This PS crash course is really good in that case. For example in 2009 PS final paper, see the last part of the 1st Question. To answer that, you need to know that

E [ X + Y ] = E [ X ] + E [ Y ]
E [ X - Y ] = E [ X ] - E [ Y ]
E [ X . Y ] = E [ X ] . E [ Y ]
E [ c . x ] = c . E [ X ]
Var [ c . X ] = c ^2 Var [ X ]
Var [ X + Y ] = Var [ X ] + Var [ Y ]
Var [ X - Y ] = Var [ X ] + Var [ Y ]

These things are not in the PS text book. But they are in that PS Crash Course Book.

When answering the 1st Question of 2009 final paper, we have to draw a stem and leaf plot. I didn't know how to choose the stem width and leaves so that I used SPSS software to do it for me.

Click on the image to zoom it. See that every leaf is zero.

Then in 2008 final PS paper, Question 1.

A stem and leaf plot is given. Stem width is 10. Here, in between the stem value and leaf value, a decimal point is not given. I have a little bit of confusion here. According to this, to get the values we have to concatenate the stem value and the leaf value and then multiply it by the stem width. Then we get values like 110, 120, 120, 130 .... and so on.

I checked this further by putting some values in SPSS software. Click on the image below to zoom.

My input values were 11, 12, 12, 13, ... and so on. It gave me the stem width 10 and you see a decimal point in between the stem value and the leaf value. I hope to further clarify this at the PS help desk from Hansa sir.

I'll be continuously writing this series of posts until the exams start, so keep in touch with my blog. My instinct tells me what to do next and I simply follow that as I did in previous exams and got good results. So follow me and get good results.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Mission 4.0 GPA at SLIIT - Part 1

2011-03-20T00:14:00.000+05:30

Today is 19th March 2011 and my clock shows the time as 11:33 P.M. Few minutes more to the mid night and I'm infront of Isuru's PC at his place. He is doing some PS questions and I'm little bit exausted now and so thought of writing something which will be useful to all my friends at SLIIT.

We have around 1 month for the final exam at SLIIT. So I started getting ready for the exam today. So I came to Isuru's place and we are studying together. We have come up with a plan to get good results from the exam and I thought of sharing it with my friends.

Now the most difficult and the critical subject is 'Probability and Statistics' (PS). Even I don't have a clear understanding on this subject. Unfortunately we don't have electives and it's a must to follow this subject. I found a good learning material which simply describes everything in this subject. That is "Schaum's easy outlines Probability and Statistics Crash Course". I got it printed because it's really worth learning.

You can download it from "Thariya's Ebook Linker" (Search under the category "Probability & Statistics").

At the moment I have completed three chapters from that. Now we are going to sleep. Hope to wake up at 4.00 A.M tomorrow and finish PS and try to answer some past paper questions. I hope everybody would follow this book and I want to see everybody getting 'A' passes for PS.

(Left : Isuru, Right : myself - Rocking PS)

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

Thariya's Ebook Linker

2011-03-17T20:47:00.001+05:30

In this fast growing IT field, technology is changing day by day. Therefore as the IT undergraduates, we must always update our knowledge and we should be aware of what's happening in the Information Technology world.Other thing is getting good results from the exams in our degree programs.

There are so many good learning resources on the internet. We must refer them when we are studying, but the problem is we have to put more effort to find good resources other than using them. I came up with a solution to overcome this problem. That is developing a web based application to share learning resources. It was a difficult task because I'm still learning the web developing technologies where I had to learn some methods from the beginning.

I developed the website 'Thariya's Ebook Linker' where anybody can visit, create an account and download the resources. At the same time, the registered members can share the learning material they have by adding it's download link to the database. I used ASP.NET technology with C# as the programming language and a Microsoft SQL database to store data. The experience I got from the ITA project in the 1st year 2nd semester was very much useful when developing the website. As new things, I learned how to upload images from the user's PC to the web site through a file uploader, resize the images to predefined dimensions and save them in the server.

This is the login page of the website.

Some of the resources shared by the members of the website.

Users can search for learning material by categories.

Some of the interfaces of the website. This is the first time I designed all the interfaces on my own. For some interfaces, I used the same coding and the pages form our ITA project website.

You can visit the website from this Link. Share your learning resources with others.

P.S - Special thanks to Mr. Jagath Wickramarathne (My ITA lecturer) for introducing ASP.NET and C# to me.
Special thanks to Mr. Asitha Perera and Ms. Manori Gamage (My DBMS I lecturers) for introducing SQL and database management systems to me.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

Stepping to the next level of Perl Programming

2011-03-16T05:37:00.000+05:30

From my previous post I told you how to start Perl programming on windows. After being familiar with the syntax of Perl, all what you need is a good IDE where you could write the programs, run and easily get the output while being in the same place.

One of the IDEs I found convenient to use is the 'Eclipse' IDE. It is originally developed for java development, but by downloading and installing the Perl extension for Eclipse, you can use it for Perl programming.The following video describes how to download the IDE and how to configure it for Perl.

To master Perl Programming, you can refer books written on Perl development, but my recommendation is Lynda 's Video tutorials series. You can download the Lynda.com Perl 5 Essentials video series free.

This is the link where I downloaded it from. If the link doesn't work, just search in google for 'Lynda.com Perl rapidshare, hotfile, megaupload'. There are plenty of download links available.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Statistical Data Analyzer V 2.0 with Source Code

2011-03-13T13:29:00.001+05:30

I hope now you are familiar with this software since the Beta version and the Version 1.0 were released previously. Let's see what are the newly added features and the functionality of this software.

This is the first window. Same as the previous versions. Enter the number of data points and proceed.

Then you get the data entering window. Here I have added some sample data to demonstrate what is happening.

Enter your data one by one. No need to sort and enter. It can sort your data itself. To see the descriptive statistics, press the button 'Statistics Analyzer'. Then you get the following window. Now you see the modification. In the previous versions it showed all the data in the same window itself. Here it is well organized and you can get the conclusions one by one.

These are the operations performed by each of the buttons.

'Min Max Range' button will open a window as follows.

'Quartiles' button will show the Quartiles and the Inter Quartile Range (IQR). In previous versions this was misspelled as IRQ. Now it is corrected.

'Calculations' button gives you some important calculations which are helpful to find the descriptive statistics manually and obtain results. In the previous versions, instead of Sigma sign I had used 'E'. because the program didn't support the Unicode characters. It wasn't correct because 'E' stands for the 'Expected Value' and gives a different meaning. In this version that is also corrected.

'Variance and Standard Deviation' button will give you the Variances and the Standard Deviations of the Sample as well as the population.

'Mode' button will give you the mode of the sample data set. It is capable of finding multiple modes if exists. In the Beta Version it wasn't implemented and then the Version 1.0 came with that. The important thing is that the algorithm I used in Version 1.0 was not capable to handle every possible combination of data.

eg: If your sorted data set is like ' 1 , 19, 19, 22, 23, 25, 25, 27, 29, 29 ' , the modes should be 19, 25 and 29. The algorithm could identify only 19 and 25. It ignored 29. This error was reported by 'Praveen Dehideniya', a fellow student of SLIIT in his feed back. In this version, I modified the algorithm and now it's working perfectly.

'Outliers' button will show the bounds of the data set and the outliers if any.

'Box Plot Example' button will show a sample Box Plot and will provide you some hints on how to draw the Box Plot correctly. This is a newly implemented feature and it can generate four different Box Plots depending on your data set. These sample Box Plots are predefined and will show the correct one appropriately.

That's all about the software and you can easily use this when you are doing the 'Probability & Statistics' final exam past papers to check whether your answers are correct instead of using SPSS software.

Finally, if you find this software is useful, just send me your comments because despite having all the work, I dedicated much time on developing this. So no point if this is not useful for anybody. Your comments are warmly welcome and they will encourage me to continue my work.

You need to have the .NET Framework 3.5 or above to run this software.

Click Here to Download the Portable Version (718.08 KB). No need of installation.

Click Here to Download the Setup (1.06 MB). This needs installation.

Click Here to Download the Source Code (8.2 MB). You can customize the software according to your requirements.

P.S - 'Hard to Use' things are easy to build. 'Easy to Use' things are hard to build.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10-

Starting Perl Programming on Windows

2011-03-09T20:14:00.000+05:30

We learn Perl Programming for "Systems Programming and Design" subject. Since most of the students are using Windows as the main operating system and use Linux operating systems installed as virtual PCs on windows, I thought of writing this post and show you how to install Perl on windows and start Perl programming.

All the major Linux operating systems are coming with Perl installed but on windows, you have to manually install Perl. First go to the Command Prompt and check whether your Windows operating system is already having a Perl installation. To check that type 'perl -version' or 'perl -v' and press Enter. If Perl is already installed it will show information about the installation. If not it will give an error message.

You can download Perl from http://www.activestate.com/ website.The size of the setup file will be around 25 MB so don't worry. Download the correct setup according to your Windows operating system.

After that install it. When you are installing it will ask you whether to update the PATH variable. Tick that and continue installation so that you don't need to update the PATH manually to run your Perl programs.

Once you have installed, go to Command Prompt and check whether it is installed correctly. Type 'perl -v' and you will get the information about the version. Now we have successfully installed Perl.

How to start Perl Programming ?

To write your Perl programs, you need a text editor. You can use the Notepad but my opinion is it is not good when you wish to do some serious programming because it doesn't highlight the syntax. I recommend 'Notepad++' which is a free software. You can download it from http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download . Download it and install.

Then create a new file in Notepad++ and before writing your program, save it with .pl extension. For the file type, select 'Perl Source File (.pl.....)'. Now type your first program and save it.

printf("Hello world ! \n");

printf("This is my first Perl Program \n");

Open the command prompt and change your current directory to the location where your Perl program is saved. Now type

'perl filename.pl' and you will get the output as below.

Hello world !

This is my first Perl Program

P.S - From my next post I'll tell you how to master Perl Programming on your own.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

ITA Group Project - Part V

2011-03-08T00:26:00.001+05:30

If you couldn't read the previous posts of this series, first read them. Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.

Fortunately 12 Lab II had plug bases under the computers (In some other labs they were sealed I guess) and all of them were occupied. I shutdown a PC in the lab and plugged my laptop there. We had to hurry up because we were only given 5 minutes to get prepared. I asked Sasika to turn his laptop on and give me a copy of the home page he designed for the website. I hurried up to paste it in the project and integrated them. Then I gave an introduction to Mezaj and Sajee what we should do and did a quick demonstration.

(Mezaj and myself..... Planning something serious !!!)

(Dasun and Sajee..... Watching me working I guess :D)

Then we plugged the projector to my laptop and I started presenting our project. I demonstrated the user levels of the website and then showed how to register a new customer. The validation was also working perfectly. Then I showed how to login to the website. Also I showed how to recover the password using the security question and how to modify the account details without letting Ms. Isuri ask even a single question. I think she was extremely satisfied with the workability of our solution.

Then Sasika described and showed how to make a reservation using the website and the functionality of the shopping cart feature. Then Mezaj showed how the data of the extra facilities of our apartment reservation system are generated and loaded into the grid view of the web page. He also described the functionality of the Contact Us page. Then Sajee expressed the difference between the dynamically generated pages and the statically designed pages using the About Us page.

Unfortunately the Searching function was not working correctly but other than that all the other features , functionality and the interfaces of the website were relatively at a higher level when compared to the work done by other groups.

(Sasika in a lab session of ITA. The Interface designer of the project)

After doing the presentation, we uploaded the source code to the course web. Then I went home and had a long sleep as I couldn't have for over four days.

P.S - The successful completion of the project and the presentation led me to get an 'A' for the ITA subject from the 2nd semester exam of the 1st year. I further developed the website during the vacation and hosted it on a free server. You can visit it from http://teamss.somee.com. This is the end of this series of posts. Finally let me tell you one thing. Always try to be the guy who saves the day. Even when the other group members go down, you must be able to do the whole thing and save your GPA.

(Every single coding came from my head)

Click Here to Download the Source code and the database. (6.14 MB)

Extract the downloaded zip file. Then you'll get a folder and inside that there are two folders. One of them contains the MS SQL database and the log file. Read this post and paste the database and the log file where your other databases are stored in your PC and attach the database.

The other folder contains the web pages. Edit the web.config file by modifying the connection string.

my connection string : Data Source=YASIRU-PC;Initial Catalog=ssbooks;Integrated Security=True

Instead of 'YASIRU-PC', put your SQL server name there. Then build the project and run. You have to run the 'Default.aspx' page and unless it will redirect you to the error page since I have created and managed the sessions in the Default page.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

ITA Group Project - Part IV

2011-03-06T12:34:00.003+05:30

If you couldn't read the previous posts of this series, first read them. Part I, Part II, Part III.

Before sleeping, I set the alarm to 5.00 A.M because I knew that otherwise I wouldn't be able to finish the project before delivering the presentation. After two hours the alarm was ringing. I got up with a terrible headache and despite all the pains, I was struggling to save 10 marks from the final result of ITA subject. Sasika was still sleeping and I wasn't bothered to wake him up because I was determined to complete the rest on my own.

(This is the Apartments page where the data are dynamically generated and displayed)

(This is the Extra Facilities page of the website. Here also the data is dynamically generated and displayed)

The continuous work over three days affected me very badly and I felt like I was undergoing through a short term memory loss. I felt that I was looking at the screen of my laptop without figuring out what to do next. Somehow I was able to finish it at 7.00 A.M. My father came to pick me up and I went home to get ready to leave for SLIIT. Still the home page was not integrated to the website because it was designed in Sasika's PC.

I reached SLIIT around 8.00 A.M and Dasun telephoned me suddenly. He told me that he was suffering from fever and was unable to come for the presentation. I had nothing to say except scolding him. I was the one who worked continuously and finished the stuff then and he was the one who got fever !

I waited at the 12 common room until the other group members came. While waiting, I helped other groups who sought my help in finishing the projects. We were supposed to deliver the presentation at 9.00 A.M. Around 8.50 A.M, Mezaj and Sajee came. Still they had no idea about the project whether it is completed or not. I couldn't show it to them because my laptop battery was ruined then and I couldn't turn on my laptop without giving the power supply. Then we went to the 12 Lab II and waited for the arrival of Sasika. Then I found all the other groups were trying to export their projects to the computers in the lab and they told that we were supposed to do the presentation using a computer in the lab.

The whole project, database, coding and the web pages were lying in my laptop and I knew that it was impossible to port our project to a computer at lab. The reason was first I created the database by writing SQL scripts and later I did a lot of modifications to the data tables without keeping track of the SQL scripts. Other thing was when entering data to database, I used the GUI of SQL Server which comes inbuilt with MS SQL Server where I had just to type or copy and paste data on the virtual data tables.
(When we were doing the project, I didn't know how to copy a MS SQL data base from one computer to another directly and even if I knew it, we wouldn't be able to use it in a computer in the lab without having administrative privileges over the SQL Server).

Ms. Isuri was there to inspect the presentations and the first group started delivering their presentation. They had designed nice interfaces but the functionality wasn't there. The user logins were not working and registering customers was also not working. Then I realized what a great project we ( I ) had done with all the functionality and attractive interfaces. Sasika came around 9.30 A.M and we were the group to deliver the presentation next. I asked Ms. Isuri whether we could use my laptop and she told that it was alright giving me a great relief.

To be continued ...

Read the Part V of this series of posts.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10-

ITA Group Project - Part III

2011-03-03T16:18:00.003+05:30

Read the Part I and Part II of this post, if you couldn't read yet.

31st October 2010

I went to Sasika's place early in the morning. We integrated what we had developed so far with the interfaces that Sasika had developed. The functions to Search apartments, Display user account details and modify, Reserve and cancel reservations were not yet written then. Details of the apartments were also not yet added to the database then. Sasika kept on working with designing the interfaces and I was writing functions one by one. Mezaj, Sajee and Dasun came around 9.30 A.M. We were running out of time.

Since I was the group leader, it was my responsibility to manage the project. With the tight deadline, it was a daunting task to do. So we discussed about what is left to do and Mezaj, Sajee and Dasun started writing the descriptions for the apartments and typing them. It was a great relief for me because we had to insert more than 50 records of apartment descriptions to the database.

After having lunch, I got a terrible headache. I think it was because of the continuous work for nearly 7 hours and due to lack of sleep in previous day. So I slept for a while letting others do the work. I think I slept for an hour and when I got up, I thought others had finished entering data to the database. To my utter surprise, they all were listening to music and doing some other work. Even Sasika was designing some graphics for some other group project which a friend of him had asked to do. I was really disappointed and helpless because it was the last day to complete the project and the next day we were supposed to do the presentation regarding the project.

With my arrival they started the work again and around 4.30 P.M they finished typing all the records of the apartments. Since the programming part and the interface designing was left to do I asked Mezaj, Sajee and Dasun to go home and come to SLIIT next day in the morning. Everything was on my shoulders then. Sasika and I worked together till the mid night. He was sneezing and caught a cold. So finally I asked him to get some rest and he went to sleep. I was in a dire need to have some rest and my eyes were burning. I closed my eyes and kept on coding because I was perfect in typing.

Around 3.00 A.M, I could finish the major tasks of the website and there was only one function to be written. That was showing details of customer account and modifying them. I stopped work to get some sleep because I felt I was not well.

To be continued.....

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

ITA Group Project - Part II

2011-02-28T12:21:00.001+05:30

If you have not yet read the previous post, first read it.

29th October 2010

After finishing the lab sheet, I built some web pages with basic interfaces and connected it with the database. I wrote some functions to register customers, to check the login username and password and redirect the user to another web page, if the user name and password matched. It worked successfully. Although these user login functions come in-built with Visual Studio ASP.NET, I had no previous experience in using them. Therefore I thought it would be better to write our own functions so that we know exactly how they work and we know how to modify them whenever necessary. The other thing was more than learning new things, we had to do something because the deadline was tight. I kept on working and decided to meet other group members next day.

I called Sasika to know about the progress in designing the master page but he had not finished it then. I asked him to come to SLIIT next day but he told me that he was having some important work to do and would not be comming. ( Later on I got to know that important work was a date with a girl :D )

Therefore I decided not to go to SLIIT next day and I told others to continue writing details of the apartments which we were going to include in the website.

30th October 2010

We all got together at Sasika's place. He had almost finished designing the master page. Others had brought the photos of apartments and we discussed about the features we should add to the website. While Sasika was resizing the photos to add to our website, I added web pages to the master page and showed them how I had managed to provide database connection. For three or four hours we kept on working and ended up with so many bugs in the project. I was confused then and thought that I should go through each coding from the beginning. So I came home and tried to find mistakes. I tried to find help from online forums and finally I could correct all the bugs. From those forums, I learned about the 'On row command' in the Grid View and I used it to generate buttons dynamically to add the apartments to the cart.By that time I understood that I should do more and more work because there was only one day left to meet the deadline. I continued my work and slept only for three hours that night.

(This is the Home Page of the website. Credit should go to Sasika for designing nice interfaces.)

You may think that without doing everything on my own, I should have given the work to others also. Yes you are correct, but what if others are not good in programming ??? If I told a group member to write a function to accept certain inputs and give a specified output, would he be able to do it? In my case, the answer was 'NO'. Although Sasika was good in programming he had a lot to do, designing the interfaces and graphics in the website.

To be continued.....

Read the Part III of this series.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

ITA Group Project - Part I

2011-02-26T08:52:00.001+05:30

When we were in the 2nd semester of the first year at SLIIT, we had to develop a web site for the Internet Technology and Applications (ITA) subject as an assignment. The important thing was 10% of the final marks for that subject was given for this assignment. So it was really important to do the assignment well and score high marks because every single point counts for the GPA. From this series of posts, I'll tell you how we did the project.

For the DBMS I subject we had a group assignment to develop a database in Microsoft SQL Server according to the selected topic and for this ITA assignment, we had to build a website and connect it with the database we had developed. The group members had to be the same for both the assignments. The topic we selected was 'Apartment Reservation System'. The group members were Sasika (SS), Mezaj, Dasun, Sajee and I was the group leader.

From left to right - myself, Sasika, Mezaj and Dasun.

It was scheduled to finish the assignments before the final exams but due to various reasons the deadline for the presentation was postponed to November 1st 2010. Since I was the group leader, I decided not to start the project until the final exams were over because I thought it would be better to concentrate more on the final exam. We had the last exam paper on 27th October and I'll start the story from then.

27th October 2010

We had the DCCN I paper in the morning. After the exam, all the group members got together and I asked them to be prepared to do what ever I tell them and to come when ever I call them because we had few days left to complete the project. I didn't know how to implement the solution as my knowledge in web developing in ASP.NET using C# was at a low level at that time because we had limited number of practicals in ASP.NET.

I went home and went through the requirements of the website to be developed. They were as following.

Three types of users for the website - Admin, Registered user, Visitor
Provide user login, password recovery, account modification
Dynamically generate data on the web pages from the database
Shopping cart feature for products (add to cart, remove from cart, show total products, show the total payment)
Make reservations and cancel when necessary.
Search option
Contact us page
About us page

Then I realized that before starting the project, I should improve my programming and web development skills in ASP.NET C# and to be familiar with Visual Studio as it was the IDE we were supposed to use for the project.

I had a video tutorial series in 'ASP.NET Web Development Essentials' (from Lynda) which Tharinda (a fellow student at SLIIT) gave me. So I started watching it and did the practicals in that. It gave me the essential skills to develop the website.

28th October 2010

I asked all the group members to come to SLIIT in the morning and unlike in ST I Assignment everybody came on time. First we discussed about the project and drew a plan develop the solution. What I realized was that we should design the master page of the website first and so I gave it to Sasika as he was good in graphic designing. I asked Mesaj, Sajee and Dasun to visit the Online apartment reservation websites and study the features they had and also to download images of apartments so that we could use them in our website. The database we developed for the DBMS I assignments was not matching with the requirements of the website so that I decided to build a new database for the assignment.I gave the video tutorials to them so that they also could get familiar with ASP.NET.

I went home and started building the database. First I added tables to store customer account details and apartment details. Then the next problem was how to access the database from the website. We had only one practical lab session on that and I could not even finish the lab sheet correctly. So I started doing the lab sheet and tried to learn how to provide the database connection through a website.

Click here to download the lab sheet. (403.09 KB)

I went through all the coding given in the lab sheet and did the practical. From that I learned how to Insert data to database and to Update, Delete, Retrieve data in the database using the website.

To be continued......

Read the Part II of this series.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

I love Coder Girl

2011-02-19T17:05:00.001+05:30

Coder Girl Lyrics:

to be the keys underneath her finger tips

Her class makes a brotha's back buffer wanna flip

and be number one on her link list

and get a callback, I'm in all caps

feels like my first hello world

what it is to run with a coder girl

and it ain't hard to like how she writes

with her pretty interface, plus her source is tight

wanna get in where I fit in like a plug-in

this is the true meaning of computer lovin'

She's got a data stack that's straight stunning

No mismatch, exceptions or debuggin

invariably, how would I pass this

when my coder girl grants me root access

basically, she's a certified A+

yo, it's more than just technolust

(chorus)

Feels like my first Hello World 'cause

She's my Coder Girl

Man, I had to dedicate this one

To my Coder Girl

I'll put it like this, so you can understand

She makes me wanna update to be a better man

When we compile she's easy to interpret

A cross-platform version I can work with

She's not wrapped in flash

all she wants is her java and a shell to bash

While, she's a sight to C, plus

Her smile glimmers just like a Ruby does

She could never be subroutine

The high priority process of my machine

Sharper than most chics ya' know

She's not another shallow copy actin' sudo

It's that good type dependancy

I function better with C.G. next to me

and it always leads to an overflow

When it's runtime and we take it slow

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

A day without Google is impossible !!!!

2011-02-12T08:01:00.000+05:30

Google has become a part of my life. These are the google apps I use.

Google Chrome

My primary web browser is Google Chrome. This is very much faster than Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Google Search Engine

Google is my home page. With google search, everything is near my fingertips.

Gmail

Gmail is easy to use and having more features than the other email service providers including email forwarding for free. I use this email forwarding for my mail account at SLIIT. I have set it to forward all the emails I get for SLIIT mail to my primary email account. So that I can read emails I receive from SLIIT easily.

Google Books Library

I use Google books to create my own library and read ebooks when I'm online.

Blogger

I use blogger to write my blog. This is easy to use than other blogging platforms.

Picasa

I use Picasa to upload my photos. When I want to add images to my blog, I upload the photos to Picasa and then give the links from the blog. I have installed Picasa 3 software also which allows me to upload multiple photos at the same time.

Feed Burner

Using google feed burner, I have provided free email delivery for each post I write on my blog. My blog readers can enter their email in the Email subscription box and they can subscribe. Once I write a post, it will be automatically delivered to all the subscribers.

Youtube

You tube was very helpful for me when doing the Software Technology I assignment. There are so many technical videos there. I use this to upload and download videos. The best thing is it does not need to have any software to download Youtube videos....

Google Buzz

I use Google buzz to share my updates with my followers. It is something like twitter.

Google Translate

This was very much useful for me recently. I downloaded some tutorials online and after downloading I realized that it was not in English. It was in German. I used google translator and within few seconds it translated all the tutorials to English.

Google Reader

Using google reader, I can get the updates of all the blogs which I follow. So that I don't need to visit each and every blog to view the updates.

Google Earth

I'm not using this regularly, but it is helpful to get screen shots of geographical areas. I used this to get some screen shots of my school where I had to do a presentation about my school when I was at the university.

Google Groups

I use google groups to join various groups which discuss technical stuff. Currently I have joined so many groups such as Linux forum, hacker community, Unix guide......

Google Docs

Recently I had to write a report for an assignment and in my desktop PC, Office Package was not installed. I prepared the whole report using Google Docs.

Google Maps

This was really useful for me when I participated the Microsoft Student Champs for the very first time. I didn't know where the Microsoft Sri Lanka office was located and so I used this to get the map and found how to reach there.

Google Mobile

Google is with me in my Nokia E71 when I don't have access to a PC and when I'm on the way.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Java program to validate an Email

2011-02-10T00:00:00.014+05:30

This java program accepts an email address as a user input and it can validate and give a particular error message if the email is invalid.

import java.io.*;
public class EmailValidate
{
    public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException
    {
        InputStreamReader isr = new InputStreamReader(System.in);
        BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(isr);
        String email;
        boolean status = true;

        System.out.print("Enter your email address : ");
        email = br.readLine();

        char firstCharacter = email.charAt(0);

        if( ! Character.isLetter(firstCharacter))
        {
               System.out.println("Invalid Email ! First character must be a letter !");
               status = false;
        }

       if(email.indexOf('@') < 0)
       {
            System.out.println("Invalid Email ! '@' is not present !!!");
            status = false;
       }
       
       else if( email.indexOf('@') != email.lastIndexOf('@') )
       {
           System.out.println("Cannot Have more than one '@' characters !!!");
           status = false;
       }

        if(email.indexOf('.') < 0)
       {
            System.out.println("Invalid Email ! '.' is not present !!!");
            status = false;
       }
       
       else if( email.indexOf('.') != email.lastIndexOf('.') )
       {
           System.out.println("Cannot Have more than one '.' characters !!!");
           status = false;
       }
       if((email.indexOf('@') > email.indexOf('.')) & status)
       {
           System.out.println("Invalid Email ! '@' should come before '.' ");
           status = false;

       }
       
       int indexAt = email.indexOf('@');
       int indexDot = email.indexOf('.');
       int length = email.length();

       if(indexDot == indexAt + 1)
       {
           System.out.println("No service provider spacefied ! Invalid email !");
           status = false;
       }
       if(indexDot+2 > length)
       {
           System.out.println("No Domain name specified ! Invalid email !");
           status = false;
       }

       if(status == true)
        {
            

            char userName [] = new char[indexAt];
            char service [] = new char[indexDot - indexAt - 1];
            char domain [] = new char[length - indexDot - 1];

            for(int iuser = 0; iuser< indexAt; iuser++)
                userName[iuser] = email.charAt(iuser);

            int slimit = 0;
            for(int iservice = indexAt+1; iservice< indexDot; iservice++)
            {
                service[slimit] = email.charAt(iservice);
                slimit++;

            }

            int dlimit = 0;
            for(int idomain = indexDot+1; idomain< 1)
            {
                System.out.println("Invalid username !");
                status = false;
            }
            if(service.length < 1)
            {
                System.out.println("Invalid service provider !");
                status = false;
            }
            if(domain.length < 1)
            {
                System.out.println("Invalid Domain name !");
                status = false;
            }

       }
       if(status == true)
            System.out.println("Valid Email. Successfully Validated.");
        


    }
}

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

C++ inside a Shell Script !!!

2011-02-07T21:41:00.001+05:30

From my previous post I told you that I was learning Shell Programming. Once I got familiar with Shell Scripting, I got to know that the commands we type in the terminal can also be executed from shell scripts if we include the command within the grave operators.

eg: In Terminal = date

In shell script = echo `date`

Suddenly I got an idea. If I write a C++ program and give the run command from a shell script, when I execute the shell script, the C++ program also should work.

I took a new file (a.cpp) and wrote the C++ program in that.

eg: vi a.cpp

I compiled the C++ program and executed it.

Then I wrote my shell script in myscript.sh file

eg: vi myscript.sh

I gave the full path of my C++ program so that the location where the Shell Script is saved does not matter when executing the C++ program.

It really worked !!!

P.S - At the moment I have completed 120 pages from that ebook.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

How to master Unix Shell Programming ?

2011-02-05T21:30:00.003+05:30

For the 'Systems Programming and Design' subject at SLIIT, we have to learn Unix Shell Programming. Normally I like programming stuff, but from the beginning of this SPD subject I had no interest in learning that. Day by day the content I had to study increased. I had to find a solution to improve my interest towards learning this subject.

What I realized was that I didn't like Shell Programming not because of anything, just because I was not familiar with Unix environment. Other than programming, it needs to have an understanding of the Unix platform and what its capabilities are. We use Fedora to do the shell programming so first thing I did was trying to find what these Unix, Linux and Shell Programming are.

So I browsed internet and found that the movie 'Revolution OS' was something related to Unix and Linux. So I downloaded the movie and watched it. Since it was a documentary movie on the development of the Operating System Linux, I found it boring. Somehow I watched the whole movie and it gave me an understanding of Unix and its capabilities and usage.

Then I tried to find a way to learn Shell Programming. I downloaded the Shell Scripting learning videos (Sinhala medium) from Kuppiya.

After watching those video tutorials, I got a basic knowledge in Shell Programming and I understood that more than Programming, I should learn about the Unix Environment. Then I went to the library at SLIIT and found a book which is really helpful to understand Unix and Shell Programming. That is 'Unix Shell Programming by Yashavant P. Kanetkar'.

After putting some effort, I could download the ebook also from the internet. For the last two days I was reading this book and doing the practicals. At the moment I write this post, I'm doing the exercises in the 95th page of this book. This book is really amazing. This is the first time I'm going to read a book completely and learn it. The author has clearly described the environment, giving simple to complex examples. Now I have gained the confidence and I have improved my interest towards SPD subject. I hope to get good results for this subject from the upcoming Mid exams at SLIIT.

P.S - Nothing is impossible to learn. All what you have to do is to improve your interest towards what you are going to learn.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

PS Mid Exam 2010 Part II answers

2011-02-03T08:12:00.004+05:30

Click on the image to view the question.

Now try to answer the questions on your own.Then check your answers with the following.

You can use 'SPSS' software to check your answers.

You can also use "Thariya's Statistical Data Analyzer" to check your answers.

Finally, comment on the distribution on your own.......

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Thariya's Statistical Data Analyzer Version 1.0 (Open Source)

2011-02-01T22:17:00.002+05:30

From my previous post I released the Beta Version of this software. Now I'm going to release the Version 1.0 which has some more features than in the Beta Version.

Newly added features

Error and exception handling

In the Beta Version, when the user enters a character or a string instead of adding a numeric value, the software crashed. The new version is capable of identifying the input and generates a particular error message without failure.

Show the remaining data points to be entered

When the user enters data, the remaining data points that can be added is displayed.

Find the 'Mode' of the data set

The Beta Version was unable to find the 'Mode' of the entered data set, but this version is capable of finding it.

Increased size of the list boxes

Without scrolling, the user can view more data than in the Beta Version.

Click Here to download the Setup (736.31 KB). This needs installation.

Click Here to download the Portable Version (373.56 KB). No need of installation.

Click Here to download the Source Code (6.44 MB). You can customize and use it according to your needs.

You need .NET Framework 3.5 to run the software.
You can use this software when doing the 'Probability and Statistics' Lab Assignments. You can check your answers in SPSS with this.

P.S - Special thanks to Guruparan Giritharan for his feed back on the Beta Version and helping me in the Exception Handling of the New Version. My previous experience in using Dynamic 2D arrays was helpful when implementing a way to find the 'Mode'.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Thariya's Statistical Data Analyzer Beta Version

2011-01-30T14:59:00.008+05:30

I developed a software to enter data and to do a statistical analysis. It generates a report to help you understand the distribution of your data set.

This is the first window you get . In the text box, Enter the number of data you have to analyze. If you have 30 data, enter 30. If you exactly do not know how many data points there are, just enter a number which is greater than the number of data you have to analyze. For example, if you think there can be 40 data points, just enter 50 or something. Anyway I designed this to support only to 100 maximum data. So the number you enter should be in the range 5 <= number <= 100 .

Then press 'Proceed'. You will get the following window.

You can type the data in the text box and by pressing the 'Put Data' button, you can enter it. When entering, if you entered an incorrect data, press 'Delete Last' button to delete it.

'Print Original Data' button will print the data according to the order you entered.

'Sort and Print' button will sort the data according to the ascending order and print them.

'Statistics Analyzer' button will open a new window and you can see the analysis of data. Click on the below image to see what conclusions you can obtain.

By pressing 'Back' button, you can go back to data entering window.

This is the 'About' window. Please send me a feed back so that it will help to correct mistakes if there any.

Click Here to Download the setup (734.75 KB). This needs installation.

Click Here to Download only the Application (373.07 KB). This can be used without installation.

Once you download the software, you will get a zip file. First extract the files. Then you will get a folder and inside that the setup file is included. Install the software using 'Setup' file. This software requires .NET Frameword 3.5 to run. If you still haven't installed .NET framework, run the 'Windows Installer Package' included in the downloaded folder. It will redirect you to Microsoft's website where you can download the .NET Framework.

P.S - I used Visual Studio 2008 as the IDE and C++ when developing the software. The experiences I got from the ST II assignment helped me to develop this. I referred the 'Probability & Statistics For Engineers & Scientists' book to learn how the calculations are to be done and got the understanding of the domain. Since the domain was well understood and the project was a small one, I used 'Iterative Waterfall Model' when developing. This is the output of 10 hours continuous work in-front of my computer.

Special Thanks to Isuru Madanayake for doing the Beta Testing of the software. I dedicate this to Our P&S lecturer, Madame Chandrika Fernando !!!

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

How in install Fedora on Windows, using Virtual Box

2011-01-28T07:16:00.000+05:30

If you have not yet installed Virtual Box, first install it. You can download it from Oracle website free.

Run the virtual box and you will get the above window. Click on 'New'. Then you'll get the following window.

Click 'Next'.

Give a name for your virtual machine and select the operating system type and version. Then press 'Next'.

Allocate memory according to your RAM. It is best if you can allocate more than 500 MB to support the GUI. Then press 'Next'.

select 'Create new hard disk' and tick 'Boot Hard Disk' Then press 'Next'.

Again press 'Next'.

Select an option according to your requirements. I select 'Dynamically expanding storage' so that if the initial capacity of the virtual hard disk exceeds by the time, it will expand the storage. Then press 'Next'.

Give the the location to be stored and the size of the virtual hard disk. It is best to allocate more than 5 GB. Then press 'Next'.

Press 'Finish' in the next window.

Press 'Finish' again.

Click on 'Settings' when the virtual machine details window opens. Then you get the following window.

Select 'Storage' and click on the 'CD/DVD' icon. Then in the right hand side, select the CD/DVD drive. If you are installing Fedora using a CD or DVD, select that drive. If you have a .iso image you can mount it to a virtual CD/DVD drive using an image manipulating software like Power ISO . You can also browse and give the path to the Fedora image. Then press 'OK'.

If you are going to browse and give the path to the Fedora image, you will get the following window. Press 'Add' button.

Browse and give the path. Then press 'Select'.

Then the settings window appears again. Now select the Fedora image in 'CD/DVD Device'. Then press 'OK'.

Now your virtual machine starts.

Now the installation process will begin. Select 'Install system with basic video driver' and press 'Enter'.

Select 'OK' and press 'Enter' in the next window.

Select 'Test' and press Enter.

Then the media checking will begin and verify the installation media.

Select 'OK' and press Enter.

Select 'Continue' and press Enter in the next window.

Then the GUI of Fedora will appear. Press 'Next'.

Select language to be used during the installation process and press 'Next'.

Select the language for the key board and click on 'Next'.

If a warning appears, click on 'Re-initialize drive'.

Give a name for your computer and press 'Next'.

Select your time zone and press 'Next'.

Give the password for root and press 'Next'.

Click on 'Next' again.

If it gives a warning, click on 'Write changes to disk'.

Tick the options as the below image shows and press 'Next'.

Then it will begin installing the packages.

After all the packages are installed, the below window appears. Press 'Reboot'.

Now if it again starts the installation process, that means it is booted using the CD/DVD drive. Turn the virtual machine off and remove the CD/DVD. If you mounted the image, unmount it. If you browsed and gave the path to image, clear the path. Then turn on the virtual machine. Now it will start booting from the virtual hard disk.

Select 'Forward' in the next two windows.

Create the user profile and press 'Forward'.

Set the date and time and press 'Forward'.

Then it will show the hardware profile. Select 'Do not send profile' and press 'Finish'.

If a message box appears, click on 'No, do not send'.

Now you have successfully installed Fedora.

Use Right 'Ctrl' button to take the mouse pointer out of the virtual machine when you want to.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

How to install Fedora on VMWare Workstation 6

2011-01-24T15:55:00.001+05:30

Click Here to download the PDF file of this post (1.46 MB).

You need to have VMWare Workstation installed on your PC. Run the VMWare workstation and then you get the following window.

Before installing Fedora, we need to create a virtual machine and then only we will be able to install Fedora on it.
Click on the ‘New Virtual Machine’ icon. Then you get the following window. Click ‘Next’.

Select the option ‘Typical’ and press ‘Next’.

In the next window, select ‘Linux’. For the version, select ‘Other Linux 2.6.x kernel’ if ‘Fedora’ is not available among the options. Press ‘Next’.

In the next window, give a name for your virtual machine and Browse for a location where you want to create the virtual machine.

In the next window, you need to select the ‘Network connection’. If you have connected a router to your PC, by selecting ‘Use network address translation’ option, you can connect to internet from your virtual machine also where it uses the same configuration in your main OS .
If you do not need to connect to internet from the virtual machine just select the option ‘Do not use a network connection’. Press ‘Next’.

In the next window, give the capacity of the virtual hard disk you want to create. It’s recommended to give more than 5GB. Tick ‘Allocate all disk space now’ and press ‘Finish’.

Then it will create the disk.

Now you have successfully created the virtual machine. Press the button ‘Close’.

Then the settings of your virtual machine will appear.

Double click on the ‘Memory’ and you will get the following window.

Allocate the memory according to your RAM. It is better to allocate more than 400 MB to support the GUI of Fedora. Then press ‘OK’.

In the virtual machine settings, double click on ‘CD-ROM’

Then you get the following window. If you have a CD or DVD of fedora or if you have mounted an ‘iso’ image to a virtual CD/DVD drive, select the option ‘Use physical drive’.

If you have an ‘iso’ image, without mounting it, you can also select the option ‘Use ISO image’, browse and give the path to the image. Then press ‘OK’.

Then click on ‘Start this virtual machine’ from the virtual machine settings window.

Then you will get the following window. Select ‘Install system with basic video driver’ and press ‘Enter’.

Then the following window will appear. Press ‘OK’ .

In the next window, press ‘Test’.

Then it will check the image of Fedora.

Then it will prompt that the image was successfully verified. Press ‘OK’.

In the Next window, press ‘Continue’.

Then the Graphical User Interface will appear. Press ‘Next’.

Select the language for the installation process and press ‘Next’.

Then in the next window, select the language for the keyboard and press ‘Next’.

Then it will give a warning. Select ‘Re-initialize drive’.

In the next window, give a name for your host and press ‘Next’.

In the next window, select the city and press ‘Next’.

Give a password for ‘Root’ and press ‘Next’.

Then it will give a warning. Press ‘Write changes to disk’.

Then the file system will be created.

In the next window, tick the options as appearing the below image and press ‘Next’.

Then it will start the installation process and the required packages will be installed.

After the installation of packages, you will get the following window. Press the button, ‘Reboot’.

Then it will start loading Fedora.

In the Welcome and License Information screens, press ‘Forward’.

Then create the user profile and press ‘Forward’.

Set the date and time and press ‘Forward’.

In the next window, press ‘Finish’.

Then you will get a message box and press ‘No. do not send’.

Now you need to enter the password of the user account and press ‘Log In’.

Now you have successfully installed Fedora on VMWare workstation as a virtual machine.

Press left ‘Alt’+ ‘Ctrl’ buttons to bring the mouse pointer out of the virtual machine. By pressing ‘Alt’ + ‘Ctrl’ + ‘Enter’, you can maximize the screen of the virtual machine.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

C++ again and Dynamic 2D Arrays

2011-01-23T00:21:00.001+05:30

I hope you remember my friend at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. This time also he needed my help to do a programming assignment.

Before coming to the question, I'll tell you what I learned by doing the assignment.

Do you know how to create an array Dynamically ? Lets say you want the user to enter a size and according to that size, you create an array of the given size dynamically.

int size;

cout<<"Enter the size of the array : ";

cin>>size;

int *myarray = new int[size];

The above code is correct. But have you ever tried to create a 2D array dynamically. I wanted to create a 2D array of a given number of rows and 2 columns. I tried it this way.

int rows;

cout<<"Enter the rows you want : ";

cin>>rows;

int *myarray = new int[rows][2];

When I compiled the program, I got errors and I realized that the above method is incorrect. So I went through some C++ forums and finally found the solution. This is one of the correct ways to create a 2D array dynamically.

int (*myarray)[2] = new int[rows][2];

The the value for the variable 'rows' can be given either from a key board input or from assigning a value from some other variable (eg: using a count variable).

I hope now you know it. This is the problem I had to solve.

Question

Applicants who obtain over 75 marks for the test will be called for the first interview.
Applicants who obtain over 50 marks for the first interview will be called for the second interview.
Each selected applicant has to face the second interview.
First six applicants who obtain highest marks for the second interview will be selected for the management trainee position.

The bank has received 500 applications for the selection test and applicants have been numbered from 1 to 500.

Write a C++ program to do the following tasks:

->To define a one-dimensional array to store the marks obtained by each applicant for selection test.
->To input marks obtained by each candidate for the test.
->To define another one-dimensional array to store the applicant's number for those who have been selected for hte first interview.
->To display the applicant's number of those who have been selected for the first interview.
->To define a two-dimensional array to store the applicant's number and marks obtained by each applicant selected for the second interview.
->To input applicant's number and marks obtained by each applicant for the second interview.
->To display the numbers of those who have been selected for the management trainee position.

I drew a plan to understand the question.

Since I cannot check it for 500 marks, I gave 20 for the number of applicants.

Once the user inputs the marks of all the candidates, the program should select the candidates having more than 75 marks and should display their registration number. They are the candidates who have been selected for the 1st interview.

Then the user has to enter the marks obtained by the candidates from the 1st interview. The program should allow only to enter marks for those who have got more than 50 marks among the selected candidates for the 1st interview. The above image shows that.

Once the user has input all the marks of the selected candidates for the 2nd interview, again needs to enter the marks obtained from the 2nd interview among those who got more than 50 marks from the 1st interview. Now the program should allow only to enter marks for those who have passed the test and also the 1st interview.

Then finally it should select the top six candidates based on their marks from the 2nd interview and display them.

Click Here to download the source code (106.99 KB).

P.S - This is the longest program I wrote in C++ without using any functions other than the main().

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Earn Money with SLIIT !!!

2011-01-20T06:38:00.004+05:30

I wrote the post 'SLIIT scholarships for academic performance' previously to give you an introduction about the merit based scholarship program at SLIIT.

I received the full scholarship for the second consecutive time. For the 1st year 1st semester examination, the full scholarships were awarded for those who had a GPA around 3.9 or more and the half scholarships were awarded for 3.8 to 3.9 GPA.

Recently I received the letter of awarding the full scholarship. Since I got 4.0 GPA for the 2nd semester of the 1st year, I was confident in getting the full scholarship. My friend 'Guru' received the full scholarship for the 1st semester for having 3.94 GPA. But for the 2nd semester, he had received only a half scholarship for 3.94 GPA for the 2nd semester ! I have another friend who got 3.88 GPA and he has not received even a half scholarship !

I guess this time the full scholarship is awarded only for those who have 4.0 GPA. Because 4.0 GPA means 5 'A' passes for all the subjects. After that it is 3.94 for getting 4 'A' s and an 'A-'.

I don't find it as a good thing because I know how hard it is to get that much of a GPA. Anyway we must be contented because other institutes in the IT field are not offering such scholarships. Anyway the competition is increasing.

I used the 1st scholarship I received when registering myself for the 1st semester of the 2nd year. I'll use the 2nd scholarship when I'll be registering for the 2nd semester of 2nd year. That means I don't have to pay the course fee for the whole year !

SLIIT academic structure is having 4 months for academics and 2 months holiday for a semester. That means there are 8 months for a year for academics. Since the value of a full scholarship is Rs.74,750 I have earned Rs. 149,500 in just 8 months ( Rs. 18,687.50 monthly ) !!!

Do your studies well and try to earn money with SLIIT !

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Software Technology 1 assignment at SLIIT - (Part 4, Final)

2011-01-16T21:10:00.006+05:30

If you couldn't read the Part I, Part II and Part III of this series, first read them.

Finally we had to do a presentation to demonstrate the application we had developed. I went to SLIIT around 9.00 A.M although we had to deliver the presentation at 3.00 P.M. Asitha, Dimantha and Mezaj also came and since they didn't have any idea about what Sasika and I had developed, I showed them how to use the application and described the functions and the coding because they should know everything when we deliver the presentation.

While they were going through the application and the coding, I helped some other groups who had problems with their applications. After sometime, Sasika also came. That was the first time all five group members got together to do something regarding the project. Sasika brought the latest version of the application with no bugs and he had also designed a graphic using photoshop to appear first when the application loads. We didn't know how to add a progress bar to that, but we found the code from a Youtube video. We added it to our application.

The above image shows the loading window of our application. It was a unique feature among all of the applications which other groups had developed.

(Team SS was the name we selected for our group. It was because we used to call Sasika as SS and I suggested to select that name for our group in order to pay gratitude to Sasika for his tremendous help with developing the application)

Here you see some of the screen shots of our application.

At 3.00 P.M, we went to 12 Lab 2 to deliver our presentation. When compared to the applications of the other groups had developed, our one was the best in graphics, user friendliness and from functionality. We did a good presentation there.

This photo was taken after we did the presentation. (From left to right, Sasika and myself).

This is our group - TEAM SS.

(From left to right, myself, Sasika, Mesaj, Asitha and Dimantha)

Finally, I'm proud to be their leader !

Click here to download the application we finally developed (1.25 MB)

Click here to download the source code (11.56 MB).

P.S - The marks we got for the presentation was not added to the final results of the Software Technology I subject. But it was a great opportunity to work on such a project and the experience I got will never be forgotten. Besides that, there was a complete question in the final exam paper which was related to the assignment we did. In a way, the assignment helped me to get an 'A' from the final exam.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

How to download and install a media player on Fedora

2011-01-16T10:22:00.002+05:30

From my previous post, I showed you how to install a media player using a .exe setup file. From this post, I will show you how to install a media player directly from Fedora and install it.

Before that, I must show you how to make the Audio settings if you are using a virtual machine. I'll show you how to do that in VMWare Workstation.

First go to the 'Sound Adapter' in the settings of the virtual machine and double click on it.

Then you get the following window. Select the option 'Use default host sound adapter' and tick 'Connect at power on'. Then press 'OK' and start the virtual machine.

Now activate your internet connection in Fedora.

Before downloading the player you may have to add RPM Fusion repositories. Then 'yum' will resolve the dependencies and the player will be installed.

First open the Terminal in Fedora. Then you need to login to root.

Type 'su' and press 'Enter'. Then enter the correct root password and press 'Enter'.

Then type the following and press 'Enter'.

rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm

Then it will automatically download it. In my case, it shows it is already installed.

Then type the following and press 'Enter'.

rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm

Then it will be downloaded. It shows that the package is already installed in my Fedora OS

Now you can download and install the player you like.

How to install 'mplayer' ?

After that it will ask to confirm the downloading. Type 'y' and press 'Enter.

Then it will automatically download and install the player.

Then go to 'Applications' -> 'Sound & Video' -> 'MPlayer Media Player'.

Now you have successfully installed it.

Open a video and play it. It's working perfectly. As I set the 'Sound Adapter' settings before turning on the virtual machine, audio is also working.

How to install 'VLC Player' ?

Open the terminal and login to root.

Type 'yum install vlc' and press 'Enter'.

Then it will locate the requested downloading and ask permission to download. Type 'y' and press 'Enter'.

After sometime the downloading will be complete.

Now go to 'Applications' -> 'Sound & Video' -> 'VLC Media Player'.

Play a video and enjoy.

P.S - This is the 50th post I'm writing on my blog.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

How to install a Media Player on Fedora using a .exe setup file

2011-01-15T23:27:00.003+05:30

From this post, I'll show you how to install VLC player on Fedora using a normal .exe setup file of the VLC player.

First we need to have 'wine' installed on our PC. In this demonstration I'll show you how to download it and install. To do that, we need the internet connection.

I have installed Fedora 12 as a virtual machine on VMWare workstation.

First I go to the settings of the virtual machine and double click on 'Ethernet'. Then I get the following window.

I have my router connected to the Ethernet port of my PC. So I select the option 'Bridged : Connected directly to the physical network' and tick 'Connect at power on'.
(If you use a dongle to connect to the internet, select 'NAT - Used to share the host's IP address' and activate the dongle from your main OS)
Then press 'OK'.

When I turn on the virtual machine, it still shows 'No Network Connection' on the top of the window. I click on the Network icon and select 'System eth0'.

Then it will be automatically connected to the internet using the configurations of my router.

Now it shows that the internet connection is available.

Now open the terminal. Now you are in the user mode account. To install the player, you need to login to the root.

Type 'su' and press 'Enter'. Then it will prompt to enter the root password. Type the root password correctly (the password will not appear when you type it) and press 'Enter'.

Then type 'yum install wine' and press 'Enter'.

Then it will load the plugins.

Then it will show the download size and ask for confirmation.

Type 'y' and press 'Enter'.

Then it will download the packages. It will take several minutes to complete the downloading.

Then it will ask for permission to import GPG key. Type 'y' and press 'Enter'.

After sometime the installation will be complete.

Now go to 'Applications' -> 'Wine' -> 'Wine File'.

In the window, go to the location where you have the .exe setup file of VLC player and double click on it. (Without going to 'Wine File', you can also go to the location where you have the setup and run it.) Here I have the setup in my Pen Drive.

Now the difficult part is over. Same as in windows, you can install your player. Given below are some screen shots.

Now I have successfully installed VLC Player on Fedora.

P.S - You need to install 'Wine' only once on Fedora. After that you can install any media player using .exe setup same as on windows. If you have troubles in installing, please put a comment.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Software Technology 1 assignment at SLIIT - (Part 3, Output)

2011-01-15T07:36:00.002+05:30

If you haven't read the part 1 and part 2 of this post, read them first.

I kept on working on developing the application according to the given specifications and finally developed a complete application four days before the deadline. I had only used one windows form but it contained all the functions required.

The above image shows the application which I developed.

Click Here to download the application (207.65 KB).

Click Here to download the source code (4.11 MB).

As I told you previously, I didn't find new methods when implementing the application. For example, in the stocks update function, the user had to input the current date as an integer because I didn't use the calendar feature which comes with Microsoft Visual Studio. If the current day is 2011- 01-15, the user must enter it as 20110115.

By that time, Sasika had resigned from his job and I asked me to meet him at SLIIT. I took the source codes with me and he also brought the application which he had further developed from the source code which I gave him previously.

He had found the code to use the same linked list from all the windows forms and he showed me how it works. That time I realized the importance of having group members who are eager to find new things. I had no intension of working on the project again as I worked hard even without having a proper sleep. So I gave the source code of the final application and described every single line in the code to him.

Two days left without receiving any message from Sasika. I also was not bothered to call him because I decided to submit the application which I developed if Sasika failed to develop it further. Then finally I received a call from him around 2.00 A.M, one day before the deadline. He told that the project was a success and he wanted a further clarification on the function which I implemented to update the stocks of the pharmacy. I gave him the information he needed and he asked me to meet him at SLIIT around 9.00 A.M.

I went to SLIIT on time and he was not there. I understood his plight and waited until he came. He had slept around 5.00 A.M so that he came to SLIIT around 11.30 A.M. He showed me the further developed application and I was amazed by seeing it.

As he was good in graphic designing, he had designed images for the buttons and the background. He had also put shortcuts in the application to make a better user friendly environment.

He had implemented a function to get the system date so that the user doesn't need to enter the current date manually when updating stocks. But the function he had implemented was not supporting the function which I wrote to update stocks. So we both worked on correcting that function. At that time we couldn't find free space to work as there were so many students in the common rooms of every floor.

Finally a dustbin came to help us :D.........

The below image shows me, working on correcting some errors.

This is Sasika.

We couldn't finish the work there as we were chased away by the cleaning staff of SLIIT. So we went home and I gave instructions to Sasika over the phone.

Next day we had to submit the project before 5.00 P.M. We got together at SLIIT and kept on working. Although we had lectures to attend, we didn't go to them as the project was so important. Other thing was some other groups also sought help from us and while helping others, we worked on our project also. We were asked to upload the source code to the course web but the maximum file size was 2 MB. Our application had a larger size than that and so that we were asked to write the files to a CD and submit it to the 16th Floor.

Around 4.50 P.M, we could finish all the work. Sasika didn't have a CD burning software in his laptop. Fortunately I had the setup of NERO in my laptop although I didn't have it installed. I installed it quickly and wrote the files to the CD. Since my laptop was very slow, We exceeded the deadline. Around 5.10 P.M we completed that and submitted it. Unfortunately our project was marked under the 'late submissions'.

To be continued......

Read the part 4 of this series.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Software Technology 1 assignment at SLIIT - (Part 2, Preparation)

2011-01-12T18:32:00.003+05:30

From my previous post I described about forming the group. From this post, I'll tell you what happened after that.

Although we were given two weeks to develop the application, we were busy with our studies and other work. Since we all were doing the week end course we had problems with finding time to discuss the solution we should develop. We did the week end course not because we wanted, but because we had no other option. Sasika was working at Citizens Development Bank and Mezaj was following a course at APIIT. I also was following some other academic course on week days. Only Asitha and Dimantha were free on week days.

On Saturdays and Sundays, we had no free time even to discuss the project as we had continuous lectures, practicals and tutorials. Even on week days, we were unable to find a convenient time. It wasn't fair to ask Sasika to come to SLIIT on a week day as he had to work until 5.30 P.M at the bank. Mezaj was also having lectures at APIIT most of the time on week days. One option we had was to give Asitha and Dimantha all the work and help them to develop the application. It was impossible as they were not good in programming. So as the leader of the group, I had no option other than postponing the project.

However Asitha and Dimantha were asking me always what they could do to contribute to the project. I kept on saying, "Don't worry guys, we'll do it before the deadline". It was because I had a plan in my mind of how to develop the application.

Day by day we were reaching the deadline and finally we had only one week. I couldn't just wait without doing anything and so that I thought of developing the application alone. According to the requirements of the application, I thought it was best to use a linked list.

First I drew a plan and defined the classes comparing to the real world scenario. It took two nights to develop the plan with attributes and the basic functions it should contain. Then I implemented some basic functions and created a simple GUI application. It was working perfectly, proving that my plan was perfect. I had used only one windows form and I thought that it would be best if I could more forms in the same application. To do that, I should use the same linked list for the whole application and I understood that I should be able to access the linked list from all of the forms.

Unfortunately I didn't know how to do that and tried to find some help online. I visited so many websites and forums but couldn't find a method to apply to the solution. I took the application to a ST II lab session and ask the lecturer how to do that. Ms. Anjalie Gamage was our ST lecturer and she showed me an example of how to call a windows form using another windows form. Sasika was with me in the lab class and I showed him the application I developed and I described the logic in that. He took a copy of the source code saying that he would try to develop it further.

I kept on working on the project alone and I realized that I could finish the whole project by myself without seeking the help of others. I thought that it would be better not to waste time on finding new methods as I was running out of time and decided to further develop the application with the programming knowledge I had.

To be continued......

Read the part 3 of this post.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'

Software Technology 1 assignment at SLIIT - (Part 1, Selecting Groups)

2011-01-12T05:21:00.007+05:30

When we were at the 2nd semester of the 1st year, we had to develop an application for a pharmacy as an assignment in the ST I subject. It was a group assignment (5 members per team). From this post, I'd like to recall the memories of doing the assignment.

First thing is how I selected a group. From the post 'TC Presentation' I mentioned how I was chosen as the leader of that group. By the time the assignment was given, I had so many experiences of becoming a leader. For the 'TC Presentation' I was the leader of the group. Then for the DBMS I and ITA projects also, I was the group leader.

From my previous post 'week end course at SLIIT' I told you that I was doing the week end course for the 2nd semester of the 1st year and also I discussed some of the problems we had. So when selecting the group I had to consider so many things. But you know, most of the students doing the week end course, either do a job on week days or follow some other academic course. So the probability of coming to SLIIT on week days to do an assignment is very low. I knew that, but the options left were limited.

I was fed up with leading the DBMS and ITA group projects then and so that I wanted a brand new start for ST I project. I had the confidence of doing a good project and I always knew that I could rely on Sasika (SS) so I selected him.

I had three main reasons to select him.

He got 30/30 for ST II subject from the mid exam where I got only 28/30.
He was good in graphic designing.
He was a person who never gives up.

Then Mesaj was in my DBMS and ITA groups and he was good in doing presentations. So I selected him also. Then we needed two members more.

I had two friends called Asitha and Dimantha and they asked me to take them to my group. I must tell something about them also. They joined the week end course sometime after the semester began and so that they were unable to join a group for DBMS and ITA projects. So Asitha and Dimantha were doing those projects with having only themselves in their group. So I took them into my group. Then our team was complete. In previous group assignments, other members elected me as the leader. But in ST project, I elected myself as the leader and recruited members to my group.

The task was to develop an application for a pharmacy. The application should be able to insert, delete, modify data, check expiry date of medicine, update stocks, generate stock balance reports, generate reorder level reports and so on. We had to use C++ as the programming language.

From my next post, I'll tell you what happened then.

Click Here to download the assignment specification (76.52 KB).

Read the next post of this series.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Week End course at SLIIT

2011-01-09T23:03:00.001+05:30

From this post I'd like to discuss the week end course of SLIIT. When I was in the 1st year, I did the week day course in the 1st semester and then moved into the week end course in the 2nd semester so that I have experiences of both of the courses.

When we take the lecturing hours, both the week end and week day courses have the same. What the week day students are taught in 5 days is taught for week end students in 2 days. In-addition to that, week end students may require to participate in a two hour practical or a lecture in a week end.

When I was doing my 2nd semester, we had lectures from 8.30 A.M to 8.00 P.M on Saturdays. On Sundays we had lectures from 8.30 A.M to 7.00 P.M. In-addition to that we had the ITA practical on Mondays from 5.30 P.M to 7.30 P.M.

On Saturdays and Sundays we had a break only for half an hour. It was the lunch break which was given from 1.30 P.M to 2.00 P.M.

There were days where the lecture before the lunch was finished around 1.40 P.M limiting our break for just 20 minutes so that we had to rush to the next lecture as soon as we had lunch. It was so terrible.

It was really hard to concentrate on every lecture, practical and tutorial as we had to keep our concentration continuously. I think following the week end course is a great opportunity to master your skills on 'how to concentrate'.

Saturdays were not a problem for me as there were practicals within the lectures so that it broke the monotony. But Sundays were worse. After the lectures at SLIIT on Saturdays, I went home around 9.00 P.M and I was half-dead. Then again I had to go to SLIIT in the next day and do the same. I can remember the worst period was the ITA lecture which was at 2.00 P.M to 4.00 P.M on Sundays which began just after the lunch. I was half-asleep for the whole semester during that lecture ( I hope Jagath Sir won't see this :D ).

The other thing is about the students coming to the week end course. Most of the students came to the week end course were doing jobs on week days. Some were doing academic courses at other institutes and universities on week days. So that there were so many problems when we were doing group assignments in the 2nd semester.

We had three group assignments and they were the DBMS I assignment, ST I assignment and the ITA assignment. We had no time to do our assignments or even to discuss the progress of them during Saturday and Sunday as we had no free time allocated for the whole two days. The problem was that the marks for DBMS I and ITA assignments were added to the final marks of those subjects so that doing the assignments well was really important. One option left was to meet on week days to do the assignments. But we didn't do it either.

What I want to tell you is that if you can follow the week day course, it's always better. You'll understand why I'm saying that when I tell you how we did the assignments. I'll discuss it from my later posts.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

How to install Fedora on Virtual PC ?

2011-01-06T00:15:00.005+05:30

Click Here to download the PDF file (1.64 MB).

First we need to have the Virtual PC software installed on the PC.

Once the Virtual PC software is installed, run it. Then the following window appears.

Click Next. In the next window, select ‘Create a Virtual machine’ option and press Next.

Then in the next window, it prompts to enter the name of the Virtual machine that you are going to create. Since I am going to install Fedora 12, I’ll give the name as ‘fedora 12’.

Then you need to give the location where you want to create the virtual machine. Press the button ‘Browse’ and select the location. Then press Next. Here I’m creating it in the folder ‘fedora 12’ in my D: drive.

In the next window, you need to select the operating system that you are going to install. Since Fedora 12 is not appearing in the list, I will select ‘Other’. Then press Next.

In the next window, you need to allocate memory for the Operating System. Depending on your RAM you can set the memory. Here I am allocating 436MB since I have 2GB RAM in my PC. Then press the button Next.

(Even with 256MB it worked perfectly on Virtual PC. If you are using VMWare Work Station instead of Virtual PC, you may need to allocate atleast 350MB to support the graphics properly)

In the next window it shows the virtual hard disk options. Since I do not have a virtual hard disk file yet, I’ll select the option ‘A new virtual hard disk’. Then press Next.

In the next window, you need to give the location to create the virtual hard disk. I give the location as the ‘fedora 12’ folder in my D: drive where I created the virtual machine previously.

Then you need to give the capacity of the virtual hard disk that you want to create. Since 5GB is enough for me, I have given the capacity as 5384MB for the virtual hard disk.

Then press Next.

Now you have successfully created the new virtual machine. In the next window, press Finish.

Then the following window will appear. If not, run the Virtual PC and it will appear. It shows the fedora 12 virtual machine and it is still not running.

By pressing the button ‘Settings’ you can change the settings of the virtual machine.

For example, you can change the memory you allocated for the virtual machine.

Now we need to install the operating system on this virtual machine. If you have the setup in a CD or DVD, insert it to the drive and Start the virtual machine.

I have the .iso file of fedora 12 and I am going to do the installation using that.

I use ‘Power ISO’ software to mount the .iso file to a virtual CD/DVD drive. You can also use DAEMON Tools software to do that. After mounting the image, start the virtual machine.

Then the following window appears.

In the menu bar, go to CD and under that select the particular Physical Drive you mounted the image.

Without mounting the image file, you can also go to CD in the menu and click on ‘Capture ISO Image’ , browse and select the .iso file.

Then click on ‘Action’ in the menu bar and select ‘Ctrl + Alt + Del’ option. Then the virtual machine will restart and will boot from the .iso file.

Then you get the following window. Select ‘Install system with basic video driver’ and press Enter.

In the next window select the ‘OK’ option.

Then in the next window, select ‘Test’ option.

Here is a capture of the Media Checking.

In the next window it says that the image is successfully verified. Press ‘OK’.

Then press ‘Continue’ button in the next window.

Then you get the following window. Press ‘Next’.

Select the Language. I select English and press ‘Next’.

Then for the appropriate keyboard for the system, I select U.S English.

Then it may show the following warning. Press the button ‘Re-initialize drive’ and select ‘Next’.

For the Host name, by default it appears as localhost.localdomain . I leave it as it is and press ‘Next’.

Then select the nearest city in your time zone and press ‘Next’.

In the next window, you need to enter the Root password and the confirmation password. Then press ‘Next’.

In the next window just press ‘Next’.

Then a message box will appear and click on the button ‘Write changes to disk’ and select ‘Next’.

In the next window, we need to choose the options we need to install. I select all three options available there and press ‘Next’.

Then the installation process starts.

Once all the packages are installed, you get the following window. Click on ‘Reboot’.

Now you see fedora is starting.

In the next two windows, press the button ‘Forward’.

Then create your user account.

Set the date and time.

Select ‘Do not send profile’ and click ‘Finish’.

It will show you a message box and click on ‘No, do not send’.

Now you can log in to your user account by typing the password.

Now you have successfully installed Fedora on your virtual machine.

Whenever you want to go to the main operating system of your PC, just press the right Alt button of the key board. Then the mouse pointer will come out from the virtual machine.

If you want to maximize your virtual machine’s desktop, press Alt + Ctrl + Enter. Again to restore down, press the same.

Here you see a snapshot of my desktop. I use windows 7 as my main operating system. On virtual PC I have installed fedora 12 and windows XP.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

First Lab of Software Technology II subject

2011-01-04T20:58:00.004+05:30

For the whole first year, we learned C++. This year we learn Java for the subject 'Software Technology II'. Today we had the very first lab session for this subject. I could complete all the lab exercises within the lab session it-self. Special Thanks to the authors of the blog 'අපි Java ඉගෙන ගනිමු'. During my 2 months holiday after the 1st year 2nd semester exam, I went through that blog and learned the basic syntax of Java.

class Exercise1

{

public static void main(String args[])

{

System.out.println();

System.out.println("Hello World !");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("It's been nice knowing you.");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("Goodbye world !");

System.out.println();

}

class Exercise2

{

public static void main(String args[])

{

System.out.println("======================================");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("= Student Information =");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("======================================");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("= Name : ARDP Ranasinghe =");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("= Reg No : DIS\\08\\M4\\1234 =");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("= Address : Malabe =");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("======================================");

}

class Exercise3

{

public static void main(String args[])

{

System.out.println();

System.out.println("* * * * *");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("* * * * *");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("* * * * *");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("* * * * *");

System.out.println();

System.out.println(" *");

System.out.println();

System.out.println(" * *");

System.out.println();

System.out.println(" * * *" );

System.out.println();

System.out.println(" * * * *");

System.out.println();

}

class Exercise4

{

public static void main(String args[])

{

System.out.println();

System.out.println("* * * * * *");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("* * * * * * * ");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("* * * * * * * *");

System.out.println();

System.out.println("* * * * * * * * * *");

System.out.println();

}

class Exercis3loops

{

public static void main(String args[])

{

System.out.println();

for(int row=1; row<=4; row++)

{

for(int i=1; i<=5; i++)

{

System.out.print("* ");

}

System.out.println();

}

System.out.println();

for(int r=1; r<=5; r++)

{

for(int x=6; x>=r; x--)

{

System.out.print(" ");

}

for(int s=1; s<=r; s++)

System.out.print("* ");

System.out.println();

}

System.out.println();

}

P.S - Recently I closed the blog as I was continuously receiving bad comments from 'Anonymous' people. But after much thought I decided to continue writing my blog.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

The Art of Teaching

2010-12-25T23:12:00.008+05:30

Have you ever taught something to someone ? Even if you don't know, you have. At-least you must have taught yourself. Teaching yourself is a common thing that anybody could do. But teaching someone else is not an easy thing. To teach someone, you have to be confident of yourself and you have to be perfect in what you are going to teach. Then only your students could trust you. The trust helps immensely in the teaching-learning process. This process has to be always a two-way interaction, where the teacher requests - student responds and the student requests - teacher responds. If you know how to teach others, then definitely you know how to teach yourself.

I guess now I have a good approach to what I'm going to tell you now. From this post, I'm going to tell you how my teaching career began.

The students of St. Peter's College (my school) can join the academic staff as acting teachers after completing A/L exam. This is a great opportunity for the students at my school and I don't know whether it is possible in other schools also. Those who expect good results from A/L s, join the academic staff and work until the results are released. Even after the results are released, they can continue work until they get selected to a University. It is like a part time job as they are paid for the work.

So after completing A/L exam, I also joined the academic staff of St. Peter's College as an acting teacher in October 2009. I joined not because I wanted to, but some of my friends did and because they requested me to join. I thought it was a good opportunity for me to build up my career and to get exposed to some kind of employment environment.

I had to report to the office and collect the daily time table by 7.30 a.m. There wasn't any particular schedule for the acting teachers. If a teacher was absent, an acting teacher was assigned to that class. There were no particular duties for the acting teachers, but to keep the students in the class silent and do some activity or lesson with them. There were days which I had to work all 8 periods in the time table and also there were days which I was not assigned even to a single class for a period.

During the period of my work placement, I was assigned to almost every grade from grade 6 to grade 13 including Sinhala, English and Tamil medium classes. It was a wonderful opportunity. Two months before, I was a student and then suddenly I was a teacher. What a great transformation.

There were so many hard times I faced and there were so many happy memories too. I got the worst experiences when teaching to grade 8 and 9. The teaching methods should vary according to the grade and what I found was like this.

Grade 6

The students are still kids. They love to play all the time. They don't find studying important at this age. (It is so due to the current education style where students are forced to study everything in the text books without letting learn new things on their own by experiments - This is only my idea). So when teaching them, use playful activities such as games.

Grade 7

The students are becoming to show their hidden talents like singing, drawing and so on. So whenever I was assigned to a grade 7 class I gave the students to come in front of the class and present their talents to the audience. Among them there were so many good singers !! Some spent their free time on drawing. Most of the time they used to draw cartoon characters, imaginary vehicles, space ships and so on. I encouraged them a lot.

Grade 8

Students love to play and engage in sports activities. Whenever they get a free period, they like to go to the ground and play. Most of the time they choose foot-ball, cricket or basket ball. (This may vary according to the facilities of the school). I had to take permission from the head of the section to take them to the ground and I had to take the responsibility of bringing them back to the class safely when the period was over. Students also understood this and behaved themselves well.

Grade 9

The worst best grade of schooling. The favourite subject of the students was Health Science. The favourite lesson was 'Sexuality and Reproduction'. They had so many questions in this subject and always questioned me about so many things. They said that teachers were not teaching that lesson at school. I think that's true but don't worry guys, you'll learn everything by the time pass.

Grade 10

This is the critical year which decides your future path. Students learn so many new concepts in Science, Mathematics and Commerce subjects. How they grow their proclivity on the above subjects will help them to select the most suitable stream for the A/L s.

Grade 11

The pressure grows on students as they are sitting for one of the most important exams in their life. Most of the students try to concentrate more on studies. Even the students who had given up studies, try to do something.

Grade 12

More than learning the subjects on their own, students are concerned about the things like 'Who is the best Physics teacher for A/L s ?'. This is the critical period and they should guided to the correct track.

Grade 13

Students know their own learning methods and also they like to improve them and learn new methods. They like to hear from those who have experiences. Most of the time they asked questions like 'How to remember the periodic table in chemistry?', 'What is the most efficient time to study?' , 'How many past papers should I do before the exam ?' ....

The experiences I gathered helped me to come so far and I'll never forget them ( It is like I was following a course on 'Child Psychology' ).

This photo was taken while we were working as acting teachers. From left to right, Rajeendra, myself and Nilupa.

Rajeendra got selected to the University of Sri Jayawardenapura for Physical Science and currently studying Computer Science, Mathematics and Statistics. Although Nilupa got selected to the University of Colombo School of Computing for Information and Communication Technology degree, he did A/L s again and this time he has got 2 A's and a B with a sufficient Z-Score to get selected to the Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa.

I learned so many things during that period and I experienced the Teaching-Learning process practically. A teacher likes to see his / her students become successful people in the society. Good teachers are always ready to guide and motivate their students towards success. I have met some great teachers like that during my schooling. I take this opportunity to thank Mr. Sunil Aponso, Mr. K. Arayasinghe, Mr. Rohan Ferdinandaz, Mr. W. L. Sirimanne and finally Mr. Wasantha Jayasuriya. I'm ever grateful to them.

If not for their proper guidance, I would not be here to write this post. I dedicate this post to all my teachers.

This photo was taken while I was teaching a lesson in Software Technology subject to some of my friends at SLIIT. From left to right - myself, Madhushan, Amalsha and Thejith. Before teach others, I teach myself (Have you ever noticed why 'Sams' books come with the phrase 'Teach Yourself' ? ) because I know what teaching is.

Finally I would like to tell you something. Never disturb your lecturers or teachers while they are teaching. Show them respect so that one day you'll get it back. The best way to understand your lecturer is to think like him / her. If I were you, what would I do ? This has helped me most of the time when I was in trouble. I learned to think like that while I was teaching at my school. When I found students misbehaving in the classes, I never punished them. I just looked back and imagined how I was at his age. I used to think like him and found that there was no difference between us because I was doing the same at his age !!!

P.S - I worked there for nearly two months as an acting teacher and resigned on 22nd November 2009, in order to join the SLIIT orientation program on 23rd November.

If you are interested, watch the movies, 'To Sir With Love' part I and part II. A movie which speaks to your heart !

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-

Don't ever screw your GPA

2010-12-24T23:17:00.000+05:30

Yeah

My mind was brighter

Then a bonfire

No way you'd hear me say

That I screwed my GPA

But then

Parties at the Frats

Late nights at the keg

made me say

That i screwed my GPA

Tell me why

Face book took all my time away

Tell me why

You Tube-ing every single day

Tell me why

I'm feeling more and more each day

That I screwed my GPA

I tried to study

Instead I read about Britney

Yes I know it's too late

to save my screwed GPA

Mamma says "why don't you just concentrate?"

Booze and babes

"Ain't nothing but a headache !"

Why, oh why

If I listened

I won't have to say

That I screwed my GPA

Multiple mid-terms

And tough problem sets

Make life miserable

For me, yeah

I spent all that time

And still just get a C

When I can be

playing Frisbee !

I must do better

When I

play poker !

Win more !

Don't wanna hear you say

10 page paper due

Tomorrow at 8 (AM)

Playing Warcraft

was a mistake

Don't wanna be a Mage !!

I never wanna have to say Oh no!!

I screwed my GPA

Tell me why

Facebook took all my time away

Tell me why

You Tube-ing every single day

Tell me why

I'm feeling more and more each day

(more and more each day)

That I screwed my GPA

Tell me whyyyyy....

I haven't got a single 'A'

My parents showing their dismay

Why, oh why

I never thought I'd have to say

(never thought I'd have to say)

I never thought I'd have to say

That I screwed my GPA

Heck !!

Let's just go and play!!!

1st Year, 2nd Semester Results

2010-12-23T09:29:00.000+05:30

Given below is the results I obtained from the 1st Year 2nd Semester Examination.

Period : June 07, 2010 - November 26, 2010

Course No	Subject Title	Credits	Grade
105	Software Technology I	4	A
112	Database Management Systems I	4	A
111	Data Communication and Computer Networks I	4	A
207	Internet Technology and Applications	4	A
117	Foundations of Computer Science	4	A

Semester Credits = 20
Semester Grade Points = 80
Semester Grade Point Average (GPA) = 4.0

Cumulative Credits = 40
Cumulative Grade Points = 160
Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) = 4.0

Last semester I became the batch top. Now I'm the 'Best Performer' of the 1st year !!!

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

1st year 2nd Semester Mid exam Marks

2010-12-23T09:24:00.000+05:30

Given below are the marks I obtained from the 2nd semester mid exam of the 1st year. The marks were given out of 30.

Subject Title	Marks(30)
Data Communication and Computer Networks I	29
Foundation of Computer Science	28
Software Technology I	28
Database Management Systems I	27
Internet Technology and Applications	26.6

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

1st year 1st Semester Mid exam Marks

2010-12-23T09:19:00.000+05:30

Given below are the marks I obtained from the 1st year 1st semester mid exam. The marks were given out of 30.

Subject Title	Marks(30)
Information Systems I	30
Mathematics for Information Technology	29
Introduction to Pragramming Environments (C++/ UNIX)	28.5
Technical Communication	27
Computer Fundamentals	25

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

C++ assignments !!!

2010-12-23T09:02:00.001+05:30

I have one of my friends studying Physical Science at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. He is a 2nd year student and for his Mathematics subject, he had to do a C++ programming assignment. The thing is he is not familiar very much with C++ and programming since he is not doing an IT degree. But his professor had given the assignment and asked him to do it before the final exam. He told me that they are getting marks for the assignment and it was really important to finish the assignment. Since I'm the IT guy he sent me the assignment details.

Click Here to download the assignment details. (44.9 KB)

I got only two days to finish the project as he had to upload it before the deadline. The project is to develop a system to ABC Company. Given below is the main menu.

I think now you have an idea about it. It is a system to enter employee details, sales details and generate a salary report and a business analyzer report. Given below is how the user enters employee details and sales details.

Given below is the salary report for some sample data. The important feature in it is that if the employees are having a same amount of sales, they get the same rank. Rank is given according to the descending order of the total sales of each employee.

eg: If the top two employees who have the maximum sales are having a same amount of total sales, both of them get the Rank 1. The next employee will get the Rank 3 instead of 2. I think now you got it. In the below image, there are two employees with Rank 3. So the next employee's Rank is 5 instead of 4.

Given below is the Business Analyzer. It analyzes data and generates this report. The percentages of the each product is represented graphically.

Click Here to Download the source code and the application. (116.48 KB)

I finished the project before the deadline and explained every single line in the coding to my friend. I don't know whether he understood. But It was a great opportunity for me to test my programming skills in C++ and analytical thinking. I learned C++ for the 1st semester of the 1st year at SLIIT and mastered it on my own. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the lecturers who taught me C++ at SLIIT, Ms. Anjali Gamage, Ms. Tania Fernando and Ms.Abarnah Kirupananda.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10-

Thoughts of the 'Batch Top'

2010-12-23T01:33:00.006+05:30

It's 12.30 a.m and i'm still awake. What a great day today is... (Sorry, it should be 'yesterday was') .I woke up around 7.00 a.m and I was really tired because yesterday I slept around 1.00 a.m as I was doing some programming project in C++. It was messy and I had written hundreds of lines of coding and I was really fed up. But I had to deliver the project soon so as soon as I got up, I started working on it.

I checked the output and there were some problems with the output. It was not showing the correct output. I used the debugger and put some breakpoints and tested it. Finally found where the problem was. I had used 2D Arrays in the project and by mistake, I had written a function with logical errors. The function should put data to a particular column in the array, but as I had written the function wrong, it was putting the data in some other row. Finally I corrected the mistake and it was working properly.

While I was doing that, my dad had telephoned Malabe SLIIT and had asked about the 1st year 2nd semester results. They had told that the results were released and can be collected. I didn't believe that because last semester also they were telling about releasing the results and they took a long time to publish them.

I kept on working on my project and my phone was ringing suddenly. It was Isuru. He had gone to SLIIT to get registered for the 1st semester of the 2nd year. He said that the GPA was released. He had checked my GPA and told that I had got 4.0 . Wow !!! I was expecting that as I did the exams well and even I had got good marks for the mid exam. But I didn't expected it at that moment.

I called 'Guru' and asked his GPA. He told that still he could not go to SLIIT and asked me to check it for him if possible. So I took his registration number, called Isuru back and asked him to check it. He replied me soon and told Guru had got 3.94 GPA.

This is strange. I got 4.0 GPA for the 1st semester and so did in the 2nd semester. Guru got 3.94 GPA for the 1st semester and so did in the 2nd semester. Is there a cycle or something ??? I don't know.

Then I hurried up and went to SLIIT. I wanted so much to collect my results sheet. I met Sasika at SLIIT and he had come to get registered for the 2nd year. He had got 3.84 GPA. Last semester he got 3.86 GPA, but still that's good as he was following the week end course while doing a job for the 2nd semester of the 1st year.

Since the orientation program is begun for the new batch, there were some juniors in the 12th floor common room. I observed them and found that they were talking about GPA and stuff like that. I heard some of them saying stuff like getting a GPA about 3.0 is really hard. I felt like telling them how stupid they are and so on, but I kept quiet.

Then we went to meet the lecturers to tell the results. First we met Jagath sir, who taught us ITA subject. Both Sasika and I had got 'A' s for ITA subject so Jagath sir was happy. He advised us and we asked a lot about how to work in the 2nd year, about the assignments, IT Projects and stuff like that. We were talking for nearly an hour. Then we met Dammika sir who taught us DCCN subject. He advised me to maintain my GPA well. Then we met the Instructors Ms.Isuri and Ms. Mihiri. They also congratulated us and wished us good luck for our future studies. Then I came home and finished the project.

I updated my Facebook Status like this.

"Became the 1st year best performer of SLIIT getting 4.0 GPA and 4.0 CGPA. Special thanks to Sasika Suchithra Kalupahana and Isuru Madanayake ...... This is the time to thank all my lecturers and instructors. Without you it would be impossible. Thanks once again... I'm ever grateful to you.....!"

I specially thanked Sasika, because he was in my group all the time when doing assignments and helped me immensely. I thanked Isuru because I got an 'A' for DBMS because of him.I thanked the lecturers and instructors because they are really doing their job as best as they can. I'm telling you this because I had been to a government University for sometime and when comparing the lecturers in the University and the SLIIT, there is a huge difference. The lecturers in the University were coming to the lecture, telling something, giving a huge list of reference books and they just go. But lecturers at SLIIT are really helpful and friendly. It doesn't mean that they spoon feed everything. But they are dedicated to teach us, guide us and motivate us.

So.....Of course I'm the best performer of the 1st year.Getting 4.0 GPA is a great thing. But getting a CGPA of 4.0 for the 1st year is even greater. Everybody was wishing me on FB and calling me... I was busy with answering telephone calls for the whole evening. Then I went to deliver the C++ project and came home around 7.30 p.m. Since then I was on Facebook, chatting and thanking those who wished me. Finally I decided to update my blog as I couldn't for a few days.

Now the time is 1.30 a.m. I want to sleep badly. I'm going now.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Help others to get Good Results !

2010-12-23T00:18:00.000+05:30

I told you about one of my best friends at SLIIT from my TC Presentation post. Now you know him. This is also about Isuru ( we call him madhaya ). So I saw this picture on facebook recently and thought I must write something about him on my blog.

This picture was designed by another student at SLIIT and had uploaded to facebook. You may wonder why they call him 'sir'. I'll tell you why.

First I must tell you about some of the students at SLIIT. Students come from different backgrounds and with different goals. Some join SLIIT just to earn a degree. Some come to SLIIT just because their parents send them. Some are there who really want to do their best but finds it difficult due to various reasons such as lack of fluency in English. But I'm happy to say that among them, there are students who really do well, who are eager to learn and gain good results while helping others (Believe me, I'm one of them).

So Isuru also belongs to the last category. He has a lot of friends and he helps them to pass the exams well. When the exams are near by, he conducts discussions (Kuppi) to solve problems, do past papers and they are really helpful for those who are weak. Not everyone is like that. I have seen some students who get a high GPA and do studies very well, but not helping others. It is really bad. So if you are a SLIIT student, always help others if they need and also do your best.

I forgot something to tell you. When I was in the 2nd semester of the 1st year, I had so many problems in the subject DBMS - I. Even before the day before the final exam my problems were not solved. So on the day before the exam, I went to Isuru's place and studied DBMS with him. I spent that night learning many things. I taught him where he found it difficult and he taught me where I found it difficult. Finally I got an 'A' for DBMS !! Thanks Isuru again.

DBMS - I was a critical subject. My friend 'Guru' who got 3.94 GPA from the 1st semester of the 1st year had got an 'A-' for DBMS-I and he finally ended up with getting 3.94 GPA for the 2nd semester also. He had got 'A' s for all the other subjects.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-

-SLIIT 10'-