Business Analyst: BRS Vs SRS : The Myth Busted

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First Hand Experience with AWS – Elastic Beanstalk

Dear All

In this post, I will try to demonstrate how to use AWS – Elastic Beanstalk for an open source php application.

Pre-Requisite: AWS Account + GIT account

Difficulty level : Hard for novice (first comer) or Damn easy for expert

Target date to complete: 25 April ( in 2 day time)

Steps [ I will update as an when I make progress ]:

1:  Get a quick overview of AWS – Elastic Beanstalk.

2: Setup a GIT repository

3: Upload Code to AWS – Elastic Beanstalk application container

We may face issues and error. I will try to keep a screenshot of each and will let you know how i tried to tackle.

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Lets start now

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A: What is Amazon Elastic Beanstalk

URL : https://console.aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/home?region=us-east-1#/getting_started?applicationNameFilter=

With Elastic Beanstalk, you can deploy, monitor, and scale an application quickly and easily. Let us do the heavy lifting so you can focus on your busines

 

Step A.1 ->  Creating an Application Source Bundle  [http://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/latest/dg/using-features.deployment.source.html]

Fo this post, I will use some open source (wordpress).  Will download from wordpress [https://wordpress.org/download/]  and keep a ZIP file ready.

 

Step A.2 -> Create a new application

Simply follow one page wizard

 

Step A.3 ->  Choose “Worker” or ” Web Server” enviroment.

As it is wordpress ( kind of website / web application), I will use “Web server” enviroment.

 

Step A.4 -> Create IAM Role for  appropriate permissions else use existing one.

For this post, I will create a new Role

 

Thanks

Vishal

PHP 5 echo and print Statements

There are some differences between echo and print:

• echo – can output one or more strings
• print – can only output one string, and returns always 1

Tip: echo is marginally faster compared to print as echo does not return any value.

 

The PHP echo Statement

echo is a language construct, and can be used with or without parentheses: echo or echo().

Display Strings

The following example shows how to display different strings with the echo command (also notice that the strings can contain HTML markup):

 

<?php
echo “<h2>PHP is fun!</h2>”;
echo “Hello world!<br>”;
echo “I’m about to learn PHP!<br>”;
echo “This”, ” string”, ” was”, ” made”, ” with multiple parameters.”;
?>

 

The PHP print Statement

print is also a language construct, and can be used with or without parentheses: print or print().

Display Strings

The following example shows how to display different strings with the print command (also notice that the strings can contain HTML markup):

 

<?php
print “<h2>PHP is fun!</h2>”;
print “Hello world!<br>”;
print “I’m about to learn PHP!”;
?>

Recursively Adding to Multiple Files / Directory in Clearcase

Since last few months, I am working on Clearcase (UCM one) .  My project was in SVP phase.  As usual, we were running out of time.  Deadline followed by another deadline. Commitment always overrun and are being suger coated to client.  As per working model, task were assigned to offshore colleague. offshore team mate made mistakes while check in files into wrong directory.  Things went very bad and went to escalation.  It was time to rely on computers and not on human beings.  I decided to have a neat way of recursively adding a complete folder or directory to Clearcase’s source control. There is no rocket science here. It needs little bit of Google and got few very good tips.

It uses the clearfsimport command, which is intended to be used by the vob owner or a privileged user [ if you come here, you dont need to worry about vob owner 🙂 ] to import a copy of a directory tree.

By default, clearfsimport sets the time stamp of the new elements to that of the source objects (which is why the command requires privileged access), but if you use the -nsetevent flag, Clearcase won’t do anything special with the time stamps, and consequently, you can run it as a normal user.

I am sure,  above will not make more sense and you are eager to see how things are done.

For this example, I’m going to import the folder[From]  /tmp/Final-Config and all of its contents into the vob [To]  /vobs/demo.

A: Set to View

B: Set an activity.
Step1:  Check out the folder/directory that you want to import the directory tree into (which in my case is /vobs/demo):

Command to type : ct co /vobs/demo
Step 2:. Create the Final-Config  folder in /vobs/demo:

Command to type : ct mkdir /vobs/demo/Final-Config
Step 3. Before we actually import all of the files, you can preview exactly what clearfsimport is going to import when you execute it. To do that, you need to use the -preview flag:

Command to type :  clearfsimport -preview -rec -nsetevent /tmp/Final-Config/*  /vobs/demo/Final-Config

-rec makes clearfsimport search the specified source path recursively

-nsetevent allows a normal user to run the command, as discussed earlier.

 

Step 4: If you’re sure that you want to import all of the listed files, simply remove the -preview flag, and execute the command:

Command to type :  clearfsimport -rec -nsetevent /tmp/Final-Config/* /vobs/demo/Final-Config

This can take quite a while depending on the speed of your connection to the Clearcase repository, but it will do it all automatically without any interrupts required.

 

Step 5: Check in the /vobs/demo/Final-Config  directory, if necessary, and the /vobs/demo directory.

Command to type :

ct ci /vobs/demo/Final-Config

cd ..

ct ci /vobs/demo

Hope above will help you.

Thanks

Difference between Set, List and Map in Java

Hi All

Its been a long time since I have post on my blog.  There were many thoughts going on on what I need to publish. Should I go for Java or Tech stuff or something new. After having few thoughts, I decided to stick to Java. However, this time, I am planning to post more on Clearcase, Unix and How big organization plans and executes their program.

Let me start with Java: A simple question which can confuse many experienced persons.  It goes like this.

What is Difference between Set, List and Map in Java? [this post will be followed by Comparator or Comparable]

Set, List and Map are three important Interface of Java collection framework. What are the key differences between Set, List and Map in Java is one of the most frequently asked question for Java Collection.

Some time this question is asked as When to use List, Set and Map in Java. Clearly, interviewer is looking to know that whether you are familiar with fundamentals of Java collection framework or not. Please mind that having understanding of any Framework plays a crucial role.

In order to decide when to use List, Set or Map , you need to know what are these interfaces and what functionality they provide.  Lets have a quick look.

1 : (Duplicate) List in Java provides ordered and indexed collection which may contain duplicates. Example:  LinkedList and ArrayList are two most popular used List implementation

2:  (Unique) Set provides an unordered collection of unique objects, i.e. Set doesn’t allow duplicates. Example: LinkedHashSet, TreeSet and HashSet are frequently used Set implementation.

3:  (Duplicate Value – Unique Keys) Map provides a data structure based on key value pair and hashing.

As I said Set, List and Map are interfaces, which defines core contract e.g. a Set contract says that it can not contain duplicates. Based upon our knowledge of List, Set and Map let’s compare them on different metrics.

Duplicate Objects

Main difference between List and Set interface in Java is that List allows duplicates while Set doesn’t allow duplicates. All implementation of Set honor this contract. Map  holds two object per Entry e.g. key and value and It may contain duplicate values but keys are always unique.

Order

Another key difference between List and Set is that List is an ordered collection, List’s contract maintains insertion order orelement. Set is an unordered collection, you get no guarantee on which order element will be stored. Though some of the Set implementation e.g. LinkedHashSet maintains order. Also SortedSet and SortedMap e.g. TreeSet and TreeMap maintains a sorting order, imposed by using Comparator or Comparable.

Null elements

List allows null elements and you can have many null objects in a List, because it also allowed duplicates. Set just allow one null element as there is no duplicate permitted while in Map you can have null values and at most one null key. worth noting is thatHashtable doesn’t allow null key or values but HashMap allows null values and one null keys.  This is also the main difference between these two popular implementation of Map interface, aka HashMap vs Hashtable

Popular implementation

List – ArrayList, LinkedList and Vector

Set – HashSet, TreeSet and LinkedHashSet

Map – HashMap, Hashtable and TreeMap

 

When to use List, Set and Map in Java

Based upon our understanding of difference between Set, List and Map we can now decide when to use List, Set or Map in Java.

1) If you need to access elements frequently by using index, than List is a way to go. Its implementation e.g. ArrayList provides faster access if you know index.

2) If you want to store elements and want them to maintain an order on which they are inserted into collection then go for List again, as List is an ordered collection and maintain insertion order.

3) If you want to create collection of unique elements and don’t want any duplicate than choose any Set implementation e.g.HashSet, LinkedHashSet or TreeSet. All Set implementation follow there general contract e.g. uniqueness but also add addition feature e.g. TreeSet is a SortedSet and elements stored on TreeSet can be sorted by using Comparator or Comparable in Java. LinkedHashSet also maintains insertion order.

4) If you store data in form of key and value than Map is the way to go. You can choose from Hashtable, HashMap, TreeMap based upon your subsequent need. In order to choose between first two see difference between HashSet and HashMap in Java.

That’s all on difference between Set, List and Map in Java. All three are most fundamental interface of Java Collection framework and any Java developer should know there distinguish feature and given a situation should be able to pick right Collection class to use. It’s also good to remember difference between there implementation e.g. When to use ArrayList and LinkedList , HashMap vs Hashtable  or When to use Vector or ArrayList etc. Collection API is huge and it’s difficult to know every bits and piece but at same time there is no excuse for not knowing fundamentals like Difference between Set, List and Map in Java

 

 

It is very important that children should study hard at schools. Time spent playing sport is time wasted. Do you agree?

One does not have to look far, in today’s competitive world, to see that to have a bright future; children need to develop expertise not only on academic level but also on sports front as well. There is a school of thought which contends that kids should focus only on studies  as time spent on field is wastage of time.  This will be proven wrong by analysing importance of sports at every stage of life.

Firstly, there is no denial that student should study hard during school days.  However, important lessons of professional life such as team work and team spirit can be best learnt on fields. For example, numerous universities and schools have found that student’s regular participation in sports has helped students to learn team spirit  rather quickly. Thus, it is clear that time spent of sports is actually time well spent.

Secondly, due to globalization, there are ample career opportunities present in sports sector. A student with good field level skills can earn millions of dollars which otherwise not possible. For instance, Usan Bolt has made big name and fame into 100 metres field track event. It is worth to mentions here that he was identified, nurtured and trained by his teacher when he was in standard three. From this it becomes quite evident that students have great prospects if they developed talent in sport by investing time at early stage of their life.

At the end of the day, I pen down saying that studies and sports should go parallel. However, vital lesson of life such as team engagement can be truly learnt via sports only.  Moreover, time spent on sports is actually time well utilized as it could open door for great opportunity.  It is hoped that more and more students will appreciate the significance of time allocation for sports for better life experience.

Technology is becoming increasingly prevalent in the world today. Given time, technology will completely replace the teacher in the classroom. Analyze both sides of this argument.

One doesn’t have to look far, in today’s technology driven world, to see that technology usage has been increased a lot in classroom. There is a school of thought which contends that it will abandon requirement of having teachers in the classroom. Conversely, others argue that despite heavy usage of technology, teachers will still play insignificant role in the classroom. Both these views will be analysed before a reasoned conclusion is drawn.

Firstly, it is abundantly clear that technology such as Internet has seen a rapid growth in recent time. It can transfer data like audio and visuals from one corner of the world to another like never before. For example, Harvard University has started virtual classrooms where neither students nor teachers need to physically present in the classroom. Moreover, teacher can simply record his class which can be played multiple times over and over as per student’s convenience. Thus, it is clear that view that says teachers will be obsolete in near future has garnered support.

At the other end of the spectrum, classes powered by technology have little to no control over knowledge gatherers. For instance, it is believed that student required watchful eye of a teacher to ensure that they are indeed learning and completing their assigned task. However, virtual classes have this limitation and they can’t provide this. It is obvious from this that view that says technology can’t replace teachers could also be plausible.

At the end of the day, both sides of argument regarding possibility of technology driven classroom have strong support. However, after analysing both camps, it is evident that idea of having a class entirely run by machines cannot be supported. As such, it is predicted that negative aspects of debate over teacherless classes will be forever be stronger than the positive ones and because of this technology will never replace teachers. 

In achieving personal happiness, our relationships with other people (family, friends, colleagues) are more important than anything else. Issues such as work and wealth take second place. Argue in support of this claim.

One doesn’t have to look far, in today’s money driven world, to see that personal relations play insignificant role in achieving happiness.  It is argued that work and financial position does matter a lot but deep connections with near and dear ones are true secret to individual’s happiness. This will be shown by analysing the often lonely lives of wealthy celebrities.

Firstly, it is abundantly clear that considerable number of affluent well known faces were not able to live joyous life. For example, Michel Jackson, who was the richest and greatest dancer of all time, was not happy from inside. This was largely due to his distant relations with family members as well as turbulent relationship with friends. On the other hand, people with limited skills and finance, have live happy life because of their sound social network. Thus, it is clear that solid and rooted relationships have upper hand over wealth when it comes to achieve happiness.

Secondly, it has been proved millions of times that money can’t buy happiness. For instance, although, chief minister of my state – Mr. Modi is sitting on large cash pile, he is not able to live happy life due to his eroded relations with co-minsters. From this, it is evident that there is no substitute of healthy relationships if one wants to bring delight in his life.

 

At the end of the day, I pen down saying that money can help us to bring materialistic happiness but true happiness can be gathered via strong relationships with friends and family members. It is hoped that importance of healthy relationship will become more prevalent in years to come.

Some people believe that punishment is the only purpose of prisons while others believe that prisons exist for various reasons. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

 

People have different views about prison’s establishment. There is a school of thought which contends that the sole purpose of prison is to use it as punishment centre. Conversely, others argue that there are considerable whys and wherefores of prison’s existence. To my way of thinking, I have to agree with latter view.

To begin with, there are good arguments for using prisons for penalties only. Firstly, offenders pose a serious threat to community and they need severe punishments. Secondly, if governments do not lock criminals into cells from innocent junta then they will be under constant fear. For example, it would be difficult for common man if rapists and murderers are living next to his doors instead of in jails. Thus, the prisons should be used only to keep criminals where they have no meaningful activities to perform apart from serving sentence.

At the other end of the spectrum, it is certainly true that to reduce crimes and violence, authorities need to educate offenders. The perfect place to provide education to criminals is the prison. For instance, my close relative was sentenced for one year in Tihar jail when he committed multiple thefts. At the same time, he received valuable lessons about life in jail’s rehabilitation centre. When he came out, this learning helped him to transform into a good citizen. It is clear that prisons can serve great purpose to society when they are used to steer criminals in right direction as well.

At the end of the day, I pen down saying that multipurpose prison system would be more meaningful to nations. It is hoped that more and more countries will appreciate the idea of using prisons as rehabilitation centre as well to reduce crimes and improve sense of security.

 

Some people consider thinking about the future to be a waste of time and that we should live now. Do you agree or disagree with this statement.

It is true that time management plays a crucial role in shaping one’s future. There is a school of thought which contends that person shouldn’t worry about coming years rather they should enjoy present. Conversely, others argue that future planning is a better utilization of time. To my way of thinking, I have to agree with latter view.

Firstly, it is abundantly clear that in today’s uncertainty, future planning help us to overcome worst situations quickly as well as strongly. For example, five months ago, my friend had a horrible car accident in Sydney. However, he was able to get best treatment and meet all his expenses because he had insurance coverage. If he had not planned for worst case, then he would have put his family in big financial trouble.

Secondly, it is immediately apparent that future goal settings help us to achieve our targets. A definite planning give us clear picture about our position and in turn stand in society. For instance, when I was fifteen years old, I nailed down that I wanted to become an Engineer at the age of twenty five. Because of the detailed planning, I achieved what I was aiming for. I was praised by society members for my achievement and it helped me to boost my confidence. At the same time, I strongly believe that person should not sacrifice his present by excessively focusing on future.

At the end of the day, I pen down saying that, enjoying current time is crucial but first priority should be given to future planning. It is hoped that more and more people will appreciate the idea of time management for better life style.

 

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