books.AddRange(new Book[] {new Book(), new Book()})

I have always been a book geek. I like to buy and collect books. Although I doesn't have time to read all of those, I just like to have them on my shelf.

Currently MPH has a books sales which is going to last on 29/3. The discount range from 15% to 30%.

This evening, I drop by the bookstore and bought a few more books to add my collection.

Including the 2 books a bought earlier on this year, it add up to 7 books purchased for the first quarter of 2005.


Title which make it into my collection so far this year :
Software Factories
Joel on Software (Web site)

The Art of Intrusion
Death March
Built To Last

Fast Second
Microsoft Rebooted

My planned current reading list for this year :
How would you move Mount Fuji (Completed)
Application Architecture for .NET (Completed)
Professional Software Development
The Art of Long View
The Art of Deception (In Progress)

Gods know what will happen ?

I found this very "interesting" requirement in a tender document for a software solution that I receive :

#
The software propose shall be able to work with Windows OS latest patches; all newly release Microsoft patches in future shall not effect the application functionality.
#

I might be wrong about this, but who in this world know what fixes Microsoft will be releasing in the future. Which vendor can guarantee they won't make any breaking changes in their software for better or worse? Does every vendor know how everyone who install their software has use their software ?

Rootkit

While security technologies become more sophisticate, malware writer also become cleverer to hide themself in the system. This kind of software and technique is called Rootkit.

What is a Rootkit ?
#
The term rootkit is used to describe the mechanisms and techniques whereby malware,
including viruses, spyware, and trojans, attempt to hide their presence from spyware blockers, antivirus, and system management utilities. There are several rootkit classifications depending on whether the malware survives reboot and whether it executes in user mode or kernel mode.
# (Quoted from SysInternals)

Why Rootkit is dangerous ?
Because it can do damage to your computer and yet go undetected by the system protection software.

What you should do?
There has been 2 Anti-Rootkit available which I know off.
RootkitRevealer from SystInternals

F-Secure Blacklight from F-secure

Download, install and scan your PC with it.

The Art of Intrusion

I bought The Art of Intrusion from the MPH book while I was having my lunch break shopping. It is the sucessor book of The Art of Deception and is written by the same authors.

Another book that deliver a lot of interesting story on social engineering.

Whether you are someone who concern with security or just someone who like interesting story, this is a must read!

No TechEd This Year ?

I was just browsing through the TechEd website and surprise to find out Kuala Lumpur won't be hosting TechEd this year. It will be held in Singapore instead.

Well, will need to confirm this with the local Microsoft folks. If this is true, then I will have to plan out my budget to travel.

Jack.Of.All.Loops

In addition to my friend post on this subject, here are my comments :

Learning as many programming languages as possible is a good thing. That will give you a broader view of how different programming elements works and give you a different way of thinking about problems and solutions. It also help to develop the ability to analyze strength and weakness and made trade-off in your programming life. But having say that, having knowledge in many programming languages should not be the measure of success as a programmer or developer.

I also observe a very sad situation. A lot of IT fresh graduate does not want to get involved in technical position when they enter the workforce. Some of them know they are not competetive and yet they are not doing anything to improve that. Worse still, some doesn't even have a clue of what they study during the 3 years IT course and some couldn't even tell why they enroll IT course in the first place. These groups of people only want an easy life and expected to be taught in ways just like they are used to in university.

Moving Winform by Clicking on Client Area

When your winform is a custom shape form and doesn't have the title bar, you might want to allow the user to move the form by clicking on the client area.

Here is a code snippet of how to do it :

public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
{
    private Point offset;
   
    private void Form1_MouseDown(object sender,
        System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs e)
    {
        Point loc = this.Location;
        Point mp = Control.MousePosition;
       
        offset = new Point(-(mp.X - loc.X), -(mp.Y - loc.Y));
    }
   
    private void Form1_MouseMove(object sender,
        System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs e)
    {
        if(e.Button == MouseButtons.Left)
        {
            Point mousePos = Control.MousePosition;
            mousePos.Offset(offset.X, offset.Y);
            Location = mousePos;
        }       
    }
}

Other winform code details has been omitted for code clarity here.

Hong Kong Week

It has been a great week in Hong Kong. I was sent by my company to attend the Welcom dealer conference in Hong Kong and I also took the opportunity to extend my stay to do some touring.

There was about 20 people from Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Beijing attending the conference. The number is just nice for everybody to sit close and network. The conference was held in Harbour Plaza Hotel at Hung Hom, Kowloon. The hotel has a fantastic view across the sea to the Hong Kong side.

Hong Kong is a nice place to be. It is a very different feeling when you see those places that you normally see in Hong Kong movie with your own eyes. The city is clean and the people is nice. I don't get caught with second hand smoke a lot. Peoples around speak Cantonese and their life style is not too much different from KL. It make me feel at home.

The night view of Hong Kong is absolutely fascinating. From the Tsim Sha Tsui harbour, you can see the night view of Hong Kong. The skyscrappers with lights at night looks beautiful.

The still-cooling weather has kept the air cool, clean and chilling. It was very refreshing. However though, the weather has also played on me. It was a heavy haze day when I went to The Peak and Tai Yu San. The visibility was extremely low and nothing much I can see.

What really make this trip exciting for me is I finally got the chance to meet up with a friend who I have been giving advise to on Windows Sharepoint Services. She is a pretty and friendly girl. She has been kind enough to take a boring guy like me out for the weekend to some tourist hotspot and exotic food.

We did a lot of walking over the weekend to the extend that my shoe finally wore off. I was forced to shop for a new pair right away. We have walk from Tsim Sha Tsui to Mong Kok and around Central(Zhong Wan). It was a great but tiring weekend. I can see the tireness hanging on my friend's face. She must has been exhausted.

Lastly, the must-mention is my friend's sister. I think she would be very upset if she couldn't find herself mentioned here. Just like described by my friend, she likes to make fun and laugh. We had a wonderful dinner together having dessert buffet in Grand Hyatt Hotel and probably spent more time laughing than eating. She is really funny. You ask me not to forget you, my respond will be "How could I, babe!".