vsbabu.org http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Gluing passing thoughts to foregone conclusions en-us vsbabu@gmail.com Copyright 2008 2008-04-16T22:39:45+05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Leo script to generate environment setters http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2008/04/16/leo_script_to_generate_environment_setters.html Convert property files into environment setting shell or batch scripts. (183 Words) 1032@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Leo Outliner is a fantastic outliner that can be used as a plain outliner or as a literate programming editor. If you are into Python scripting, you can easily extend it to make quick utilities. Here is one such silly script.

Often, I will need to set environment variables in DOS, Unix/Cygwin environments. I end up creating scripts to do this. However, it is quite painful to have one script with commands starting with export (for bash) and set (for DOS). Most of the time I would rather like to have a simple property file - like key=value in each line - that I can use to set the environment variables.

Download this Leo file. It has a script in one of the nodes. You put your property file in child nodes with @url node types. Then, when you run the script, each such child node is taken and written out as batch file or shell script as identified by the node header text. A silly little solution that took 5 minutes and has already taken lot of pains out for me!

]]> computing 2008-04-16T22:39:45+05:00 Stuff yet to be fixed http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2008/03/30/stuff_yet_to_be_fixed.html Site updates - cause for downtime and things yet to be fixed. (133 Words) 1031@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ For a while, the site was down. This was because I was using PHP code as server-side-include module to draw the header and footer and the breadcrumbs. My ISP, csoft.net moved to a CGI based PHP execution and this doesn't work with my scheme of things. Note : so far, csoft guys has been just great; I guess they'll have valid reasons for this change.

I've fixed few of those things by moving to normal HTML mode, ignoring all SSI elements. The cross-reference between other parts of my site with the blog is not yet there and the breadcrumbs navigation on my blog is also not there yet. Both these were also using PHP and that needs to be worked on. Perhaps I should also look into switching from MovableType to WordPress now.

]]> site history 2008-03-30T20:53:11+05:00 Managing notes and todos http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2008/01/03/managing_notes_and_todos.html What I've tried so far to manage notes and todolists. (920 Words) 1030@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ We all write notes while working. There are plenty of software available to maintain your notes or todo lists. Some are fancy desktop decorators like sticky notes, calendars or todo-list in side bar. I’ve been looking for a solution that lets me manage my notes and todo-lists. Many of the items out there does either notes or todo-lists; not both. Ideally, I would prefer just writing notes and todo’s automatically extracted from it. I zeroed in on six main contenders – explained in the order I used them.

  1. Leo Outliner
  2. Abstractspoon Todolist
  3. Wikidpad
  4. Jello Dashboard
  5. MonkeyGTD
  6. TVO – The Vim Outliner

So, what is the pick?

]]> computing 2008-01-03T08:00:49+05:00 Scrum for Self : V2 http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2008/01/01/scrum_for_self_v2.html Scrum excel for self gets better. (107 Words) 1029@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Last year, I wrote about Scrum for Self, an Excel sheet that I use to plan my week. An updated version is now available below.

Enhancements:

  • Projects, contexts and statuses can be setup now - motivated by GTD.
  • A nice dashboard that gives you idea about your remaining tasks.
  • Better embedded documentation.
  • A 5 week calendar to help you plan your due-dates

If you are interested, you can download the zip file (43KB) that has the Excel file. Extract the zip file. Open the Excel file and look at Dashboard sheet. The Excel has some sample data that you can use as a starter.

]]> project_management 2008-01-01T13:07:52+05:00 Excel to record expenses http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2008/01/01/excel_to_record_expenses.html Find commercial money management tools complicated? Here is a simple solution. (332 Words) 1028@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ I tried various tools to keep track of my expenses. Tried free and non-free software tools out there. Found most of them to be very rigid and too much time consuming. For more than a year, I've been using an Excel sheet I developed to track expenses. I found it pretty handy.

Main features are listed below:

  • Configure your accounts as you wish
  • Configure categories of expenses
  • For categories you want to monitor, set monthly budget and track against it
  • At any given point of time, you can see how much money you've with you!
  • Expenses by categories are reported on a monthly basis and on YTD basis
  • Quick check to see your monthly net flow (earnings - expenses)
  • It takes about 3 seconds to record one transaction :-)

If you are interested, you can download the zip file (108KB) that has the Excel file. It has couple of macros - that is only for sorting data. Excel will still work without the macros - you just have to do sorting once in a while. Extract the zip file. Open the Excel file and look at Instructions sheet. The Excel has some sample data that you can use as a starter.

]]> computing 2008-01-01T12:40:24+05:00 Scripting Outlook Journal http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2007/06/26/scripting_outlook_journal.html Simple sample JScript code to give you an idea about this (373 Words) 1027@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ I maintain information about my tasks, meetings etc. in Outlook Journal. Here's a simple JScript script that exports this information into a delimited format. Yes, Outlook itself can export data like this, but if you want to automate stuff and get it to the next level, this script might help you.

If you save this as sample.js, you can run it like cscript /nologo sample.js

]]> programming 2007-06-26T22:39:39+05:00 ADD and antipatterns http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2007/06/22/add_and_antipatterns.html An interesting post with lots of comments and another antipattern (31 Words) 1026@http://vsbabu.org/mt/
  • ADD
  • Anti-patterns at Wikipedia

    • I did nod quite a bit while reading these. Now, next step is to make sure that I don't do these things whenever I manage stuff :-)

    ]]>     project_management 2007-06-22T10:22:29+05:00     Lean Pivot Tables http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2007/06/13/lean_pivot_tables.html Reduce the size of your Excel files that have pivot tables using dynamic ranges (309 Words) 1025@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Pivot tables in Microsoft Excel are really great in summarizing data. These are usually used for charting also. Most of us just select the columns we need to pivot on while building a pivot table. This can cause an abnormally large file size, unnecessarily using up memory and painfully slow to transmit to others.

    One easy solution is to just select only the range that has the data, as opposed to full columns, while choosing the input to pivot. What it means is that just select the rows and columns in the grid, but not using the header bar. One drawback with this approach is that when the data changes or more rows are added to it, you will need to redefine the input to the pivot table. Read on to see how to get around this problem using dynamic ranges.

    ]]>     computing 2007-06-13T20:34:51+05:00     Can you spot the difference? http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2007/06/13/can_you_spot_the_difference.html WTF does this mean? (26 Words) 1024@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ For the past few weeks, my Outlook 2003 doesn't start when I am offline. While trying to troubleshoot this, I was given the following dialogue box. exchangefun.JPG

    ]]>     computing 2007-06-13T10:18:31+05:00     Got linked in! http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2007/06/09/got_linked_in.html Recently I joined LinkedIn via an invitation. I am already in Orkut. But how useful are these on an ongoing basis? (126 Words) 1023@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Two days back I got an invite from a colleague to join LinkedIn. I promptly went ahead and joined. I was thrilled to see the site listing out my colleagues and ex-colleagues based on my profile. So, I too sent out invites to those whom I know and got several connections back.

    However, I am not at all sure if this is useful after some time.

    ]]>     www 2007-06-09T07:50:16+05:00     RLT: Palakkad to Bangalore http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2007/01/04/rlt_palakkad_to_bangalore.html Road Less Travelled: Driving from Kerala to Bangalore via Sathyamangalam and Mysore. (1157 Words) 1022@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Over the weekend, I made a trip from Bangalore to Palakkad (Kerala). Took the usual route of Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Thoppur - Mettur - Bhavani - Perundurai - Coimbatore - Palakkad. Returning back on a working day on this route would've meant that I would hit the rush hour traffic from Hosur in the evening. Moreover, this route is very crowded with slow moving trucks and insane bus drivers (specifically between Bhavani and Coimbatore). Also, there aren't any good restaurants where you can relax.

    While coming back, I decided to take a route less travelled. Took the Palakkad - Coimbatore - Sathyamangalam (Sathy) - Chamarajnagar - Mysore - Bangalore. It was a gamble, but I really liked the drive. The road is definitely not straight like the usual one, has no cell phone coverage in some sections and has bad stretches too. But I found it far less stressful because of the lack of traffic. Also, Mysore is a good place for a break. Given below is the driving log. Note that the kilometers given are approximate. I stopped taking notes from Chamarajnagar - so kilometers from there are from my memory.

    ]]>     travel 2007-01-04T13:06:46+05:00     Scrum for self http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2006/12/25/scrum_for_self.html An Excel sheet to help you plan one-man Scrum for weekly sprints. (409 Words) 1021@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ I've been managing software development for products since March 2004. I also play the role of a software architect and configuration manager, so I have my own tasks as well. So, as an individual contributor, I wanted some way to plan my work without having to fiddle with MS Project. For my team, I used principles of Scrum in the form of simple burndown charts and backlog lists - it worked very well. Here is my adaptation for using it as a tool for Scrum for one person, for weekly sprints.

    ]]>     project_management 2006-12-25T20:32:35+05:00     Dino eats frog http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2005/12/29/dino_eats_frog.html Confused? It is about Oracle. (158 Words) 1020@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ I downloaded Oracle Raptor early adopter release. Nice idea. Stripped down jDeveloper, for accessing and working on Oracle DBs. I used to use free version of TOAD some years back -- with Raptor, I don't miss TOAD anymore. Raptor is better than any of the free Eclipse plugins or free JDBC based offerings.

    ]]>     oracle 2005-12-29T18:07:05+05:00     BCCI. Why? http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2005/12/15/bcci_why.html Perhaps this entity is only there to provide material to gossip mongers and to get rich quickly. (131 Words) 1019@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Well, Sourav Ganguly has been dropped from the national cricket team. Most people seem to be of the opinion that this is an unfair decision by BCCI.

    Personally, I've lost all the interest in Indian Cricket because of the way BCCI has been "controlling" cricket in India. Mohinder Amarnath evaluated our selectors pretty correctly long time back. Couple of weeks back, the whole drama was about politics on whether Mr. Pawar will win or not.

    ]]>     cricket 2005-12-15T17:28:01+05:00     In Moscow, Lenin greets Stalin http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2005/10/25/in_moscow_lenin_greets_stalin_.html Got this by e-mail. Quite possibly true, but I can't confirm. (300 Words) 1018@http://vsbabu.org/mt/

    Thiruvananthapuram, Oct. 23: Lenin was the first to arrive and welcomed latecomers Stalin and Khrushchev with a smart handshake. Pravda was all smiles when she came in, but was soon bawling for milk and had to be taken out. Gagarin and Pushkin were busy exchanging notes even as Brezhnev looked on silently.

    ]]>     kerala 2005-10-25T09:39:05+05:00