Don’t Say Geek! Say Syntux!

I got my first ADSL back in 2001 and had 3gigs download cap and once you reach the cap they get you down to 64k speed instead of the 256k at that time.

With the promises and plans to make the Kingdom an IT rock star in Middle East we got the 1024k and 2048k ADSL but yet the download cap is ridicules, for 1024 you get 11gig of download and then they downgrade you to 128k and with 2048k you get 12gig (What an upgrade!) which means they are providing you with a faster mean to consume your cap, that’s it. To add salt to injury they offer no extra bandwidth plans and if they do then be sure it will cost you enormous amount of money.

This kind of restriction is pain and very unfair especially when we pay around $70 a month to get that capped ADSL.

Now with the information boom especially in the era of online videos and TVs; and podcasts you could consume your 10gig in a day watching Google I/O, Techtalks, Ubuntu Developer channel on youtube and many other technical video cast, not to mention the online TV shows or podcasts. This is unfair especially when you know that most of the capital Amman is covered with fiber and the Kingdom is being covered, so none of our ISPs nor Jordan Telecoms have an excuse for such restriction.

In the last two months we heard many rumors and got many insider about giant Internet companies considering the Kingdom as potential place for their regional business which supposedly should help in making the Kingdom a better Internet place.

NOTE: This post was blogged with 128k connection after bandwidth drop from 1024 due to the sin the author made which was watching Google I/O sessions and some other normal Internet activities.

Tags: 2048 adsl, capital amman, google, potential place, giant internet, internet place, internet companies, last two months, techtalk, regional business, 256k, amount of money, rock star, restriction, isps, excuse, tv shows, tvs, boom, promises

I have always been jealous of RoR but I did not to switch and kill my passion to PHP at the same time there was no PHP framework that satisfy my needs to RAD so I stopped looking until recently I was introduce to Symfony Framework but didn’t had the time to dig much into it as I’m not full time programmer anymore but I kept an eye on it and kept digging it as a Todo.

Couple of days ago I got The Definitive Guide to Symfony and unlike many other technical books it’s authored by the author of the framework and the framework documenter which is a great plus when buying a technical book.

If you are not used to MVC frameworks then you should understand that learning curve in Symfony is a pain that worth going through and it will heal any pain you used to get when developing without a framework, nevertheless the guide book makes it way easier, the book is well written in an easy language

I will keep you update as I’m reading the book.

Tags: time programmer, learning curve, easy language, ror, definitive guide, technical books, couple of days, full time, passion, symfony

Under the High Patronage of Mighty Penguin, Jordan Linux Users Group is pleased to invited you to Amman Linux Installation Festival 29th December 2007.

Time: 9:00 a.m - 9:00 p.m. on Saturday December 29th 2007.
Place : Azzahra’ Hall - Jordan Engineers Association (Mojamma3 Elnaqabat) in Shemisani. Amman, Jordan.
What: Live installation of various Linux flavors. Bring your PC or laptop and get professional help in installing the latest and greatest GNU/Linux OS.
Who: Volunteers from Jolug members.
Duration: All day.

Free entry tickets
Free Linux DVDs & CDs
Free Linux Installation
Free presentation
Free soft drink.

Way to confirm

• Send email to festival [at] Jolug [dot] org
• Jolug.org event
• FaceBook event
• BE THERE

Tags: linux users group, linux flavors, amman jordan, gnu linux, linux os, engineers association, patronage, penguin, duration, volunteers, laptop, linux

PHP developers cannot leverage PHP 5’s full potential without dropping support for PHP 4, but PHP 4 is still installed on a majority of shared web hosts and users would then be forced to switch to a different application. Web hosts cannot upgrade their servers to PHP 5 without making it impossible for their users to run PHP 4-targeted web apps, and have no incentive to go to the effort of testing and deploying PHP 5 while most web apps are still compatible with PHP 4 and the PHP development team still provides maintenance support for PHP 4. The PHP development team, of course, can’t drop maintenance support for PHP 4 while most web hosts still run PHP 4.

Tags: web apps, php developers, web hosts, maintenance support, php development, application web, php 4, leverage, servers

The Unambiguous Information Society

Communicating your message unambiguously means it can only be understood one way. Whether speaking or writing, do your best to strive for clarity. Before you speak or write, examine the message closely for any ambiguities or potential holes that could lead to a misread. Obviously, you will not always have the luxury of self-examination before you speak or write, and in these instances repetition is the way to distil or parse the message to its essence. Repeat yourself, or ask repeatedly for clarification, until both parties get the point.

Distilling technical minutiae into clear, unequivocal language is a challenge for everyone on the team. Look at the following.

PROJECT MANAGER: Does the system only check user name and password for authentication?
DEVELOPER: E-mail is the unique identifier for authentication in the system.
PROJECT MANAGER: What about user name and password?
DEVELOPER: Yes. Those, too.
PROJECT MANAGER: So user name, password, and e-mail are all used for authentication?
DEVELOPER: No. Only e-mail.
PROJECT MANAGER: So a user can put in the wrong user name and password but use an e-mail address the system recognizes and get in?
DEVELOPER: Yes and no. A user can have multiple identities but only one e-mail address.
PROJECT MANAGER: So what you are saying is a user could enter any old user name and password along with an e-mail address the system will recognize and get in. Right?
DEVELOPER: Yes, the user can enter any login they want, but if the e-mail address is not in the database, they won’t get in. If the e-mail addresses match but not the user name or password, they will get a message saying the login is incorrect.
PROJECT MANAGER: So, then, they can’t get in?
DEVELOPER: They could if they enter a user name and password that matches what is stored in their profile.
PROJECT MANAGER: So, then, what you are saying is user name and password are not the only fields being checked for authentication?

DEVELOPER: Well, actually, yes, but technically, no.

PROJECT MANAGER: I’m going to shoot myself now. Care to join me?
DEVELOPER: Not today, thanks.

Source: Real Web Project Management: Case Studies and Best Practices from the Trenches by Thomas J. Shelford, Gregory A. Remillard

Tags: e mail address, mail project, unequivocal language, communicating your message, self examination, minutiae, ambiguities, red flag, information society, repetition, stakeholders, clarification, questions and answers, clarity, authentication, team members, instances, holes