Project Update 0.1

How’s the project coming along?

I would reply “So far, so good” (with the crossed fingers concealed behind the back). As per the plan, I guess I am doing just fine. Except that the plan is “Literary review” but I have just been doing “literary view”. I mean, I am viewing all the literature out there that I think is related to the project at hand and a lot of it for the first time.

I identified the following as related literature:

1. Morphology – since the project is basically about morphological analysis
2. Java – Oh! I am going to use java to build the whole thing
3. NetBeans platform – Yes, the framework is going to be NetBeans platform
4. Software Engineering – what! I wanted to follow sound SE principles for one, for professional assurance and for two, personal reassurance that I am doing just fine over the entire course.  
5. All other tools for all the steps starting from

·        compiler, IDE,

·        build,

·        version control,

·        unit testing,

·        integration, load and performance testing

·        quality metrics

·        technical documentation

·        issue management

·        continuous integration

Fortunately, no. 5 is just one book at the moment and I shall be learning how to use tools for all the above activities in NetBeans IDE.

Since nothing concrete can be shown as a proof for the knowledge being acquired except for using it during the course of the project, I couldn’t exactly show off anything right now. But, I hope the initial knowledge I gain will be sufficient for coming up with stating the IDE requirements in an unambiguous form for the next step. 

Humble Beginnings

Books get outdated eventually. There’s nothing more frustrating than reading an outdated book. To expound that statement, I would like to start with a little back story.

I was planning to start a programming blog. I started with the name “jStartJava” since I wanted to teach Java specifically focusing on Java GUI and swings. I was no longer a beginner to programming and I am quite adept with several other programming languages. I knew that a day would come when I wanted to talk more about programming languages other than Java. Then I decided on the name “jStartProgramming”, conveying the meaning that the blog would be about programming and it would be a jumpstart to programming rather than an absolute beginners’ guide. I was planning to target the novice programmers who are no longer beginners and naturally I would read a lot of resources already on programming.

I just opened the book “Beginning programming” to get yet another perspective on programming and starting reading the chapter “.NET - the future of online programming”. Even after reading several pages, It was no longer clear on what exactly .NET really meant. The frustration reached pinnacle when I read the sentence:

“The question, “what is .NET?” is difficult to answer in fully simply because .NET is so comprehensive and so forward-looking that it has not been completely defined yet.”

Then I remembered reading the sentence:

“As mentioned earlier, the full .NET implementation will probably not be released until Blackcomb, the version of Windows slated to be released after Windows XP” in the section C# could replace Java.

I could no longer read. I immediately turned to the back side of the cover page to find the copyright information. Proving my worst fears true, the book is indeed written in 2002 and I was reading it in 2013. .NET might have been fully implemented, I don’t exactly know (the whole point I read the chapter 21 detailing .NET immediately after going through the contents of the 400 page book). What I know for sure is the Windows released after Windows XP is Windows Vista and C# didn’t wipe Java completely from the face of the Earth.

My whole point is books undeniably get outdated but an online resource such as a blog can be updated from time to time. I hope my blog serves just that, keeping things interesting and yet up-to-date.