The Unfinished. 意犹未尽

Check out my previous blog post, this is part two...

CS3216 is not over for me. It will extend even after my exams, so there is be a possibility that I might visit this blog again and post sth here :)

Things I didn't learn from CS3216:
(read btn the lines... =P)

Ideas are cheap, Execution matters

Actually i know learnt this quite some time ago, esp the "Execution matters". The "Ideas are cheap" sort of reinforce it. I usually prefer just do it, then to think until very far (for example: add in a lot of features to an app) and say all these can be done, then start only at the very last min.

Dunno who was the one who said this in the peer appraisal: "A more realistic person. Good and bad I suppose. On the good side, we set realistic targets that are actually able to be met without too much pain. On the bad side, it sort of made her unable to dream big." Who was the one ah? Admit it? :)

It is actually quite true of me. I think I sort of became too practical that I sort of ruled out that big dreams are possible. It is really good and bad. Will try context switch btn being practical and dreaming big.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

I am a curious person. I love learning and I have many interests. Hope that all these dots will somehow be connected in the future/now.

Outsourcing

I don't really outsource to friends, cos I was not very good at friendships in the past. Will try more often that in the future, haha. I usually outsource to my parents. Like helping me to buy things, check how to get to a location, be my alarm clock etc. I realise sometimes things are done better if u do it urself or maybe not if it requires professional knowledge n u don't hv. Sometimes it really can't be helped, tt u need someone to take over it. It would be important that the person can be trusted. A balance need to be strike btn the two.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I strongly recommend this, it sums up the last lecture quite well. The fact that the video Orry took is no longer distributable, we only have this, the slides and the photos in the Facebook to reminisce how interesting the last lecture have been.

A lot of knowledge/memories CS3216 has brought to me have been somehow translated to something subconscious, quite difficult for me to regurgitate them again. But I believe I am now a stronger person.

Wonderful Session ++

Actually the most interesting part ytd is not the lecture, but the session as a group with Prof Ben after the lecture. I am honored to be part of this interactive session with him.

What is so special about this teacher is being a computer science lecturer is a head fake. He teaches us philosophy. Recently, a CS classmate was conversing with me regarding CS3216. He was someone who got rejected from the 1^st batch of CS3216 application and never applied again. This is how I introduced him regarding Prof Ben: “He is known as the ‘evil’ prof who gives us a lot of work. He doesn’t teach programming stuff, he outsources. Rather he preaches us on philosophical stuff.” Then he mentioned about one friend of his who was an ex-student of CS3216 and asked me why his friend likes “the evil prof” (i.e. why like him even though he is evil). I replied he is friendly to his students.

Actually it’s not just friendly (is an impromptu answer)… To elaborate on this, he is rather “kay poh”; he tends to want to understand better about his students and bring out issues of the more concern for discussion. He keeps up with the times and he knows a lot, such that he can easily reach out to more ppl. And he keeps in touch with them.

The issue on why I think my father is not my role model; is not just the negative motivation part. I think he is rather trapped in his own thinking, resist new idea/perceptive and change. So I aimed not to be like him and see how well I can do by going in this other path. I have never watched Star Wars, but I believe the idea that Star Wars is trying to convey has probably been brought across to me in one way of another in other forms (being curious why it is so much recommended by prof, I will consider watching it :)). If proving oneself is said to be a “negative force” and doing family’s proud is said to be “positive force”. According to what I heard from prof regarding this “negative force” is that it will lead to the desired outcome in the fastest way and “positive force” is for the long run. Then what I am doing now is to start with the “negative force” and introduce “positive force” on the way. Since both forces (in this context) doesn’t conflict (we are not living in the Star Wars story), I think the two forces can definitely coexist and cooperate.

One thing u probably didn’t know. At the beginning to the middle of the semester, I was somehow “addicted” to blogging. What I meant was that the idea for blogging comes when I am waiting for bus, on the bus and even studying for other modules. (PS: This blog post also came out when I was on my way home; I typed the major portion last night, and did a bit of editing today) As my phone plan was up soon at then, I thought of getting a phone that can facilitate blogging while I don’t help even access to my laptop. I sorted of later “suppressed” that addiction as I am getting busier, the topics are getting more technical (later paragraphs will explain this), don’t know what phone or phone plans to get, the thought that phone’s keyboard too small for typing freely etc. Btw I still don’t even have the time to get a new phone yet :’( even though my plan was up on March 15.

If you look at my blog u will realize I don’t talk a lot about technical stuff. Though I am a Computer Science student, I don’t feel much writing about what I learnt after a technical related lecture. This is cos being a Computer Science in theory student (meaning I lack real world experience), I don’t think my discussion about these issues would be as interesting as those who have real experience.  I could have regurgitated what I have learnt all over again in a blog post. But it would probably sound too boring as all other classmates have heard these before. I think a blog post should be more focus on experience and thinking, and probably about life.

I have got a somehow “short-term” memory. Doesn’t mean I have bad memory. Let me put it in this way: I can do analysis and regurgitate stuff better if I don’t keep it for long. For those knowledge that have been kept for long, they somehow turned into some kind of subconscious thing, not that I don’t remember, is that I would need some trigger to recall and more preparation to make them into something conveyable. That is why I don’t speak as well as some people, who can present sth as though they just experienced it ytd, but actually it is sth that has happened long ago. I need some time to prepare, if not I just blanked out. That’s why I need to finish this blog post soon, before I forgot about what I want to say. Inspiration is very important.

The reason why I was never marked a good speaker cos to me what I present is usually binary. Either I know so I can say in the simplest form or I don’t know so I can’t answer. Some people can say sth until as if they know, but actually they don’t, and furnish what they know little to as though they are experts. I can’t do that. Probably this is good in a way to keep thing simple, but I can easily myself into trouble if I have to speak more. One other thing about me is that I am bad at answering impromptu questions. These are things I need to improve on…

Actually I do have an interest which is more philosophical. In the past, once in a while I had some thoughts about life, I posted it down. Don’t believe? Check out this blog: http://weeliyen.spaces.live.com/, the category on “Food for Thought”. I don’t really maintain blogs, few reasons are: I have no time.  I want to keep some privacy about my life from the public. I don’t hv much confidence of maintaining readership (with my boring life). I don’t want to halt my life at unhappy or happy memories, I want to move on.

Another thing is I was also bad in building relationship when I was young. I was the quietest girl in the class throughout my upper primary to JC school life. Being the quietest girl, what can I do? Observe! Observe how ppl interact and learn from them, and slowly adapt. I actually learnt humor!  In observing ppl I do like to do some “analysis” on them, esp their characteristics and how to get along with them. University gave me the opportunity to learn these better, cos I am throw out from my comfort zone, there is no fix class that I have to attend. Now I am actually a different person from who I am in my JC or Secondary School days. I am still learning.

There was/will be never another semester like this. I would never be able to churn out so many blog posts in a semester. Though I could be easily contented (u see how I easily settled with a job), I don’t want just a plain life, I want more stimulations and happiness. I will go out and search for them in the future.

Hmm… it turns out this post is not really what I learnt specifically from CS3216, rather some reflection on myself. But I guess Prof Ben don’t mind right? :)

Towards to end of the semester

So long nvr blog alr, did feel a little bad about tt... not tt i don't want to blog anymore, just that i feel that i got more things on the top of my priority list. Just wrote two blog posts at once! Finished the major portion for my FYP report, hurray! Hope tt i didn't have to make much changes to those parts. 

Hmmm... i am still very busy. Busy, busy, busy...

Semester coming to an end, means exams are coming... but i am actually happy about this! Cos after this I can graduate! Time to move on to the next exciting stage of my life...

Traps everywhere

I wonder if it is cos i have added my Facebook badge on this blog (which has my email address) on it, strange ppl start adding my MSN saying strange things to me :S..

BLOCK YOU!

I hv removed my Facebook badge on this blog n don't wish to see ppl like these anymore. To protect my privacy...

The previous lecture about "Facebook Security and Privacy" is interesting but rather introductory... i have heard about some of these before but never really study into them.

When I did the Facebook assignment, being in touch with PHP, i read abt some of these stuff regarding security on my own... that is when i got to know abt MySQL injection - use mysqli_real_escape_strings() to counter it and also XSS - use strip_tags() to counter it and it is bad to keep the test page created using phpinfo() cos of the amt of info release to the public, so i removed phpinfo() from my test page. From the lecture i also learnt that revealing too much info includes exception and debugging stmts. I believe these issues are not the consideration for most ppl when building small applications or websites that cater to small group of ppl, it only starts to bother you when your application or website gets popular. But it is always to have good practice. Probably someday i should find time to go read more about these issues, they sound interesting.

Security also reminds me of malware. Malware is probably sth that most of us would have encounter with. After having caught a major virus about one year back, i am actually quite scared of thumbdrive. However malware is sth interesting yet scary. How I wish I got a laptop where i can do experiment on it. Cos now what i can do is protect my laptop against them, but doing so means i can't know more abt them. Experience is quite important in understanding =P

Help Varsity Chronicles!

CS3216 lesssons are getting more and more interesting! Right after the highly interactive session on Friday, we have just been through an unusual session! Usually people make speech to share success story. It was a refreshing experience to get a chance to hear students sharing their failure stories.

Get Help!

It was a bit difficult to visualize how lost users can be in the old app, cos we were not given the old app to navigate through ourselves and the assignment alr provided us with lots of description on how the app is like. It is difficult to get first hand experience feeling on the app.

Only until the presentation I began to see how problematic the odd app can be. No wonder during one of the workshop I heard Su Yuen mentioned that they took 1 day to build the final project app. I was thinking how is it possible? So this was the inside story to the 1 day app. They did prepared and did a lot before that 1 day, not that they dragged everything to the last minute, it was just that they want to perfect their user experience that they redo everything. Luckily they were able to deploy their app in the end. To tear down the app and rebuild it in one day is not an easy task, they must be very skilled in technical aspect! Admiration for them!

The wonderful five lessons learnt:

1. Too Many Choices and Aesthetics Cause Confusion
2. Users Need Guidance
3. Creating Context from User Interactions
4. Meaningful Incentives
5. The Cold-Start Problem

Recently while trying out various of my classmates wave assignment app, I put myself in the shoe of a user. It is easily to lost an user if the instructions on using the app is not clear. For eg the Chrome addin app. At first I don't know how to start using it. The long list of description there didn't tell me how to start. Anyone faced with such situation, plus having other stuffs to attend to, may just ignore the app forever. However i didn't, cos it is my classmates app, i decide to post a comment there.

I think the main reason for why I don't get to know how to use it at first is cos that page I am in doesn't support drag n drop. The reply I got seems to suggest I am not geek enough to use their app (what?!), i think it is not a nice way to reply to users. Furthermore almost everyone does searching, ppl range from 8 to 80. Why restrict the users to the app? All these aside, the reply said they don't hv time to do tutorials. Actually a short explanation of just a few sentences (no need to be long) like what is in the reply alr can explain how the app is to be used is enough. I would say that the addin idea itself is very good, but just maybe the way the app is marketed is not good.

Recently I also found an interesting website. It is a campus kind of cooperative website. I find it from an event in Facebook that my CS3216 classmate is attending. I think it is an idea similar Get Help, and it seems to be doing quite well too. It involves virtual money and real money, what a good way to make money!

Varsity Chronicles

At the begin of the this speech, Prof Ben mentioned abt the idea we wrote for the application to get into this module. I admit I am guilty of it =X Being not a Facebook app regular user or a business person, how shld i get myself into this module? Yup, at the point when I wrote my idea down I know it is not achievable given the little time we have in this module. But it is indeed an app "a cool Facebook app that you *really* want to build" and I could only thought of this cool one at that point of time. Coincidently, it was an RPG game relating to Superpowers.

At that time being a non-gamer, I didn't even know it was called an RPG game. What makes me think of such a game was probably my interest in watching fantasy related dramas. I don't just watch these dramas though (i watch serious ones too), just other dramas genres are not relevant here. Now being a non-official gamer, i still find my idea fun...

Back to discussion on Varsity Chronicles. Their idea is interesting, but the execution is disastrous. What I think that the main cause of their failure is not due to their technical disability, it is all in the mindset, like what Prof mentioned. Mindset as in not that they don't want to succeed, it is they don't get realistic. As a saying goes "Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail".

Every iteration being a different idea which they can't deploy their app was a surprise for me. And given that they were trained in scrum and waterfall concept, they still ruin their project in such a way was even more shocking for me. Read this: "Despite the additional manpower, every design meeting meeting the team had resulted in new features being added to the game. Effectively, the team is starting from ground zero again. Much of these decisions were based on theories and past experiences". This should be adequate to support my claim on them being unrealistic.

As for why I say the main cause of their failure is not technical issue. Reason: If they were more technical capable, they might be even more ambitious and come out with crazier ideas, as a result, their fall is more painful. So the lesson learnt when building sth is to take one step at a time. Of course in theory, a baby when grown up will eventually be able to run, but u can't expect it to run in a few months time right?

Finally I would say the speaker Justin is a good speaker, his clarity in speech made his experience so real in front of us.Together with Prof's suitable interrupt to backup the ideas taught, made the session really worth while.

Tmr I am hvg a test, why am I writing a blog now? I think the experience with CS3216 sessions were too interesting, since I got new ideas now, I scared if I don't write now I may forgot later... Every Thu is my very very busy day, lessons from 11am - 10pm...  so I doubt I can write any blog then.


PS: Hope the wave assignment marking will be faster enough so that I can remove the embedded wave from my blog soon. Cos I have been receiving complains that ppl don't dare to come to my blog cos the wave is loading very slowly. The wave is causing me to lose readership, oh....

The Final Round of the Game

CS3216 = a fun and tiring game... we survived to the final round!

The Change of Project Teammates

Why am I in another team? Some of you are puzzled... Initially i was in my Facebook group, and so i rejected ppl's offer cos of I alr have a team. But now I end up in another team!

Actually initially our Facebook grp planned to come together again for the final project to continue our Facebook app. But seeing our app after release to the Application Directory has its popularity shot up so high and dropped drastically the next day (remaining low subsequently), then perhaps the viral element of the app is not there.

Then we plan to build an app on a phone... But we actually have not enough time to discuss more abt the idea, when everyone in the group is busy with other stuff.

The change in situation started when one of our teammate decided to join another group to work with more ppl. He felt bad about it, but we didn't blame him. In fact one of CS3216's purpose is to make us work with more ppl right? Then not long after this happened in that day, a teammate from my current group appeared right in front of me to persuade me again to join his group. Being able to participate in the Imagine Cup is already attractive enough and that they seemed to be quite prepared (written partial proposal, did research etc). Furthermore, isn't it meaningful to be involved in "saving the world"? Plus the fact that he approached me at the right time, when there is a change in suitation in our group! In the end, I join their team. Initially I did felt bad abt it towards my previous teammates also. But then again it may be good for everyone to be a part of different teams in the final project so tt we get to work with different ppl and probably find different opportunities? Let's move on!

Microsoft Talk & Final Project pitching party

I combined them cos i find them got overlapping parts...

I think the Final Project Pitching Party is the best session I seen so far! It managed to capture my attention even it is already so late at night. I think the most important factor was the interaction part. One comment by another, so interesting.

In the meanwhile, i divert a bit to the Microsoft Talk on Mon. The guy has a weird accent (i am glad his collegue agrees with what i thought), such that I find it hard to follow what he said.

I caught what he said about do what we are good at, so that we don't get just in-between skills (this is an interesting phrase i nvr heard before, so i remembered). But then if we do not try out various things, how do we know which we are good at and which we are not. In-between skills is unavoidable. Most importantly is to get involve in something you love and u feel it is worth spending time on.

Then also about people being not the same as you. Truth is sometimes we made too much assumptions based on our limited scope about others when is not true. Just like rich people cannot understand poor ppl and visa versa. Even u r once poor but now u r a rich person, there is no guarantee u will rmb what it was like being poor and is still able to understand poor ppl.

Back to the Final Project Pitching Party. I am actually quite amazed by the preparation done by some of the group. For eg. Supremacy. They already have the cards designed, wow. The more wow part was they actually have so many ppl in their team! I think i heard someone mentioned about culture... Actually i think using Ben Leong's photo is probably not a good choice to bring the game public. In our MisMatch, we thought of using Prof Ben's photo + 2 horns for the devil cards before. But with second thoughts, we decided not to. The reason being the players don't know who is Ben Leong. As Prof is someone who is famous mainly in the academic and business aspect, ordinary folks probably don't know him. So in this way, there is a culture difference, hence it may be difficult for them to find meaning in the game.

The treehouse presentation was done very well! Even though Cedric, the presenter had a headache, the presentation shows the fact that well preparation is essentially for good presentation. Yes I agree, the relationship we form through Facebook and Twitter are very superficial. People change because of certain incident or life experience, if we do not know how they change and why they change, we get detached from them. Not seeing each other for quite some time can drift relationship apart. IMO, any technology device substition is never adequent to maintain a relationship, we need to see each other often... If really cannot see each other often, then there leaves no choice to depend on technology. But I think it may be difficult for Treehouse to get users who don't like to write and don't have photos or videos to substanitate their thoughts...

World issues such as poverty, diseases and natural disaster are difficult issues to solve. They definitely cannot be solved in a single Imagine Cup project. These problems need many many years of hard work to be eradicated slowly. But if we can make a difference to just one, why not? Remember the starfish story? “Well, I made a difference to that one!”

Then at the end, this collegue from Microsoft convey the message of "穷则变，变则通，通则达，达则久，久则穷", i tried to search online for the "offical" definition of this word, but can't find. This phrase looks really interesting (Orry says it is recursive, true leh). So I went to research online, but it seems like it is difficult to search for the whole phrase, ppl usually leave out the last phrase. So to get the result i want, i had to just search for the last phrase. I realised this phrase is from 《易经》,and according to this link, we don't know who wrote this book, so may not be Confucius.

For more info on this phrase, u can check it out here:
 “《易》穷则变，变则通，通则久，是以‘自天佑之，吉无不利'”。这就是说，万事万物发展变化的规律，就是“分久必合，合久必分”，“穷则变，变则通，通则久，久则穷”，是一个太极循环格局。当然不是简单地重复过去，而是螺旋式上升，不断向更高层次发展变化。所谓“生生之谓易”，“天行健，君子以自强不息”。

The meaning of this phrase loosely translated for those who don't understand it is "If u reach a bottleneck, u hv to change; if you change, things will go fine; as things go fine, u will gain success; as you gain success, this will go far; if you go far, u will reach a bottleneck again". Good food for thought to end off this blog!

Last but not least, thanks for the food!

Time allocated for modules per week

This was probably what i have been allocating for my modules on average per week...
(sum of time taken throughout a week; not subtracting time required to survive - eat/sleep etc)

0.5 day - Module A
0.5 day - Module B
1.0 day - Final Year Project
0.5 day - Teaching Assistant Task
0.5 day - Preparation for Future Career
4.0 day+ - CS3216

Time to get worry for my other modules (and spend more time on them?!) :(

GetHelp! Analysis

Without the application for hands on, it is actually a bit difficult to piece up the puzzle using the pieces of screenshots given. I have to use a bit of imagination for navigation around the application.

1. Usability vs Aesthetics (Is the interface attractive? Is it functional?)

Needs improvement.

Usability: 

• What is the meaning of feeds and SMS? I think the Twitter option could be I post my request as a Twitter status, but I don't understand how feeds and SMS work. If SMS means Facebook will send SMS to my friends, I don't think it is helpful as not many ppl reveal their phone no on Facebook.
• The description for the project is not shown on the page that shows the project to the others. And there doesn't seem to be a page to view more details about the project? Where can I view the description that the person who created the project entered???
• The tags are of no use?

Aesthetics: 

• The graphics are actually very beautiful, they must have put in quite a lot of effort. 
• Why is the SQL query shown to the user? (Figure 1)
• There sections "Helpers" and "Probables" seems to be misleading. For eg in "Helpers" it says "9 souls have offered their hands" but I only see 3 people each having their photos repeated thrice. So shouldn't it just say "3 souls have offered their hands"? (Figure 3) It sort of makes the app look over clustered with (irrelevant) info. Maybe can replace these sections with a tag cloud and related qns asked. Maybe can put up these info as numbers under each project but not include the photos (we can make the numbers as clickable links, so they can click into it to see who has helped in this project).

PS: Some comments on the statistics page on Figure 4. "Statistics" is not a good word used here. Isn't hvg a leaderboard for this kind of helping app create similar controversial issue like that of Causes? I looked back at the Causes slides for the FB seminar, the "spirit of giving" go against the "social incentive appeals to altruism", hence the "double edged sword"...

2. Number of options / freedom given to user when posting a need.

Not enough.

• There should be a contact detail input box for the user to enter how can the helper contact him if he can help.
• The location should be more specific to the country the help is required in, as Facebook is for users around the world. 

3. Cycle of interaction & incentives (Are the elements of the app engaging?)

Not enough.

• There doesn't seem to have a page for them to edit their past project posted => they should include one.
• There isn't a page for them to change the status of the project (alr helped or help still required) => should let the person who posted the project change to status of the project to "pending" and "done".
• We do not know who is helping who for which project under the list of projects, some projects may get extra help that is not required while some get no help at all => put numbers next to each project on how many ppl has offered help and whose help is helpful. Then we can sort the projects by the no of ppl who have helped/ lastest projects etc.
• We do not know the person that offered help to the project is really helpful to the project (the person just get the points for wanting to help even if he didn't really help?) => the helper should only get the points if the person that asked for help marked his help as helpful.
• It seems like we can only help our friends not users around the world => allow the user to select the location around the world for users to select, include a map or dropdown box that allow user to choose the location he wants to help in.

4. Other problems you think the team might have faced

I think the major problem is really getting users to use the application. There is one saying  in Chinese that says "water at a distance away can't save the fire at near", so if a person really need help eagerly, i think he will rather email/sms/phone/look for the person (including his friends) who he can help rather than make a post on Facebook using an app and hoping his friends will help. There is a barrier created thru Facebook/this app btn he and his friends. Not all ppl will log in Facebook frequently and even if someone logins Facebook frequently doesn't mean this person gets to notice all his friends status.

If someone just only have one or two specific qns to ask, he can post on many of the online forums or qns-and-ans websites. The idea of this app is too general, it will not attract the kind of experts gathering there and interact. So I can't post help to specific qn there also. So this app is somehow impractical. Last but not least, i think this kind of app attracts more spams then ppl who truly needs help or wants to help.

Extension: Just a crazy idea... what if this app is on a phone with a map? For eg this person sends a help that he has fell down into a drain with no one around... anyone with this app can get info of his status and can rescue him (better if the helper is nearby)? lol

Welcome to the New Year!

Recess week is brought earlier means there is a longer way to go in the 2nd half of the semester! Actually I prefer recess week is later, so my 2nd half of the semester is shorter. 

Actually this sem really got a lot of opportunities... But time is  limited, many things that I have to give up a few things that I want to learn and do. It is cos I want not to be just involve in something but be committed to it. And also I am the type that requires quiet time to be able to reflect, think or come out with new ideas.

Realized I have not been doing much during these few days of CNY... still reading this 700+ pages thick library book which I haven't finished... My reading speed needs to be improved :( 

Pitching Session by External Parties

Among those things I heard during the session, I think these messages that are important to be take away with.

They are: 1) Entrepreneur spirit; 2) Market trend; 3) Facebook effect

1) Entrepreneur spirit

Looking out for opportunities to solve a problem. Just like the Module-review.com, the founder isn't a IT person but yet he is able to execute his idea n produce this website, which is already amazing. I have been to the website before to make reviews and feedback to him anonymously quite some time ago. He is quite efficient in his reply. I am glad I am of some help then.
I believe many people had already have this idea before him, just that no one did it. The idea is actually very simple, create a channel for students to highlight their frustrations about or love for a module. This is enough to get "customers" coming.

My thought is that the end of semester teaching feedback (to get general account points) is not sufficient cos it is really not the end of semester that we have to do this review, hence not accurate. What if I got to know more about this lecturer after the study week (I do sometimes), I cannot edit my feedback anymore. So Module-review is probably the place I can go and feedback. And because it is public, it brings the message to more people and faster. And it is not a means to get general account points, people do it more sincerely and probably accurately. One thing that cannot really avoid is spam, I saw once or twice that someone actually put spam reviews.

This website has potential to do better once it is connected with Facebook.The viral effect of social network!

2) Market trend

I think the presentation that left quite a lot of impact on us is the 6 Waves. This is especially so, cos it has shared with us the social games trend in detail. Then we got to learn about terms like Daily Average User (DAU) and Average Revenue per User (ARPU). It made us realise our game is actually under the lowest category. We wanted RPG last time (2nd best after Gambling which is not allowed in this module), but due to time constrains we were unable to implement it. Maybe we can level up the category in the final project? Yup, we still planning to make a game, but the type of game is still under consideration/discussion.
This module has succeed to bring my attention from the person who initiate something to the person who revamped it to made it big and from the person who provides the idea to the person who execute it. So again this famous message about "Ideas are cheap. Execution is the most important." worth to be mention again. However, there is one hidden implication that one may misinterpret this message as to it is ok to steal people's idea and use it as your own... but this is not meant to be what it initially wants to mean.

3) Facebook effect

Though Facebook is no longer new, but the fact that it is the growing increase in its popularity in marketing shows that social network effect is long term. Hence finding the right social networking platform for a kind of propaganda effect is really important in gaining popularity.

PS: I typed this blog before the CNY, but didn't really complete it then... if not after CNY, surely cannot rmb so much details...

Random related articles/videos

Kids steal to feed gaming habits (link)
Wed, Feb 03, 2010 by Sia Ling Xin
"MORE children are stealing credit cards and cash from their parents to secretly purchase virtual items for computer games."
"In the past year, he has seen a shift towards stealing for gaming – from hardly any cases, to two out of 10."
The term virtual is like a wolf in sheep's clothing, people unknowingly fall into it, causing much social problems. Not just kids, adults do can become a victim of addiction such as online gambling.

We're not ready for Google Wave (link)
30th September by Adam Griffiths
"Because it is too different to what is available now, many people will go onto Wave and dislike the interface, or dislike the features or dislike the way things are done, and then revert back to Facebook or whatever social network they prefer."
"Google Wave is being billed as it’s what email would be if it had been invented today. But my argument is that it could be too advanced for today. People could use it and find out it’s just too much for them now."
Quite true. Cos with the small "survey" (by asking them if they know of this) I did with my fellow SoC schoolmates, they either have an account by don't use it or don't know about it. Even Computing people don't "support" the latest technology, not to say non-Computing ppl would "dare" to try it out.
Having used Google Wave for my project discussion for Facebook Assignment and Facebook Seminar... I found that it is quite a useful alternative discussion if any of the teammates are not online. MSN or Google talk what so ever requires teammates all to be online to initiate a group chat, but Wave don't need. Wave is not like email, rather rigid, it is more flexible, better than Instant messaging. Then when the teammates are online, they can look thru the wave and see what's happening. But the problem with it is it hangs quite a lot.
Another thing is real time messaging. Pros and cons. It speeds up the conversation but may be a bit awkward to let ppl see all your thoughts. Draft (the small box) shld be implemented quickly for users to have alternative.

Cloud Computing Plain and Simple

Cute presentation that simplifies "Cloud Computing". The metaphor of a car at the back is quite innovative.

Facebook Seminar & Flixster Presentation Review

Facebook Seminar

The Facebook seminar was an eye opener for me. Regardless whether is our group’s preparation before the seminar or hearing all other group present during the seminar. It brings me closer to sth that is Business.

Both my cousins took/is taking Business in university, and me being the odd one out is taking Computer Science. I have never taken Business module or really planned to take one. This is because am not the outgoing kind or eloquent person, so Business was never the choice for me. That’s why I am actually quite ignorant in regards to Business.

From the whole process of Facebook seminar, I learnt that business needs a lot of partnerships and supporters. It is impossible to be an island. Regardless of how unoriginal, how ugly or how meaningless your product is, it will sell if you know how to use the right way to get to the audience and make them addicted.

What is the element to attract so many audiences? Some say a product will sell if you are the first to come out with the product. From the Facebook seminar, we see that it is not true. Not as though the follower made the product better that made their product sell, there are many reasons behind it.

First is to find the right platform to get people to advertise for you. These people may not be the willing ones; they may just victims who advertise for you unknowingly. Second is to attract people emotionally, exploit their curiosity, ego and sympathy. But I believe the session is not to teach us to be evil; rather then make us see the market world’s reality.

Flixster Presentation Review

What a topic to assign me to. When Orry the presenter said, “Who don’t watch movies? Everyone does.” (I don’t rmb the exact words, but just the meaning) I would like to answer to this question, I don’t.

To be exact, I don’t go cinema and watch the latest movies that are shown. I watch from television and maybe internet. And I prefer dramas than movies. Not that I like long shows, dili deli shows will scare me off too. And I don’t watch a lot of English shows. Don’t make me watch one without any subtitles, cos I may not be able to understand cos of their heavy accent…

Flixster is an app I will never add, if not for Facebook seminar. I think the main reason is that it is pertaining to movies in America. So it is not very relevant in Singapore’s context. Even though I have 76 friends who added this application, I don’t see many active users; in fact I only see 3 ppl who reviewed/rated the movies and 2 of them are my classmates from CS3216, i mean recently... The quizzes seem quite popular, but I am not sure when they have taken it. The quizzes reminded me of Likeness.

Well, what attacts people to Flixster, particular to those who watch western movies is the truth that there are many ppl who watch movies.  And like the presentation has mentioned, it is a really a one-stop shop for who, what, when, where. Who as in which friends want to watch which shows, as a result, u can find friends who have the same interest as you and watch the movie together.  What as in synopsis, ratings etc. One thing not mentioned in the presentation is there are movie trailers! I personally like that. When as in when is the movie showing and where as in where it is showing. And it has a nice user friendly interface. However like many of the apps there are advertisements. One of the advertisements I see is Mafia Wars, I think that is one place Mafia wars gets its users, explaining its unreasonable high user rate. One thing in particular (see print screen below), is Mafia Wars accurate advertise themselves as Mob Wars, but when I click it, it leads me to Mafia Wars!

And like what is mentioned in the presentation, this app is independent of Facebook, so even Facebook collapse it is not affected. This is good cos it doesn’t need to relay on Facebook to survive. But I doubt Facebook will ever collapse in the near future.

Probably we can bring this over to the Chinese market. I try to search online for Flixster in Chinese edition but couldn’t find… If Flixster can partner with the cinemas and ppl can actually order tickets from there would even better.

The busy week with something fruitful!

Even after the Facebook project submission, we are still working on the app, can't bear to just leave it...

At the beginning of this project, we have too many big ideas, like multiple player, challenge mode and story mode... But we were unable to accomplish cos lack of time and experience.

We really learn a lot from this project. At least now I know I don't just know ActionScript, I know how to use it to develop a decent looking Facebook game!

Due to time constraint, we lower our expectations. But it seems that after the submission we were not resigned to the features the application has and continued to work on it. I carried on with my flash to implement to anti-cheating zig zag thing and the devil cards. While Haocong continues to work on AJAX and the database. These were the parts we wanted to implement previously but didn't do so cos of time constraint.

It was an enriching experience! Hong Jun, with lots of ideas on games and the ultimate tester in my group who always try to find a way to break my flash. Wai Hong, the extremely hardworking one, who is always very busy and sacrificing sleep cos he wants to live his life to the fullest, he can just eat 1 meal in a day but also eat 3 servings in a meal! And Haocong, the youngest among us, the very adventurous and enthusiastic one.

My sleeping time is pushed back cos of this module. Also my old laptop went on a protest to refuse to boot up for a while (and scared me) the next day after the submission (I guess cos it has overworked). The process is tiring but the fun overwhelms it. 

The beginning of week 3...

It is time to make a new post again. I limit myself half an hour to make this post, cos I got to go off at 2.00pm for lesson.


Project
Our group is actually a very interesting group. We started out as a group with 2 programmers then we want to look for designers. But we ended up in getting two more programmers, who have better experience in the few areas emphasized in web programming. Thanks to them, we get to get to learn more in stuff like PHP, Unix commands, database etc. This shows that theory cannot never beats real experience. 
Then it turns out the two programmers who wanted to look for designers, one become the designer using Illustrator and flash/ActionScript person and the other writes reports, tackles on issue regarding ppl's gaming behavior (due to hvg a lot of gaming experience) and starts to learn designing. That time, we joked about ourselves, he says he is now like a business student and I am now like an arts student...


While enjoying the fun this project brings us, we are also suffering in many areas. What areas are we suffering in? 
Physically
When I got not enough sleep I start to get flu or heavy head :( I guess many of u also feel their energy level or immune system level dropping. Usually I feel this busy is when it is in the middle or towards the end of the semester when projects deadlines are near. Now is only the BEGINNING of the semester...
Mentally
Guilt being unable to spend the time on other stuffs, be it your family, friends or even your studies. Classmates skipping lectures or doing CS3216 during lectures instead of listening. 
I won't want to skip lessons but I can't guarantee I won't fall asleep during lessons... 
Some year 4 like me are taking FYP as well. FYP is something that really needs a lot of discipline, especially when taken with such a addictive module like CS3216. Besides week three has started, meaning tutorials have started!
Ytd I just got to know that two of my classmates dropped this module. I think they probably have taken this module at the wrong time, be it having to cope with too many things at the same time or not ready enough to take the stress.


The third lecture
Ytd we got a lot more insights into the Amazon, which is great...


Got to go off now!

Why is CS3216 so addictive?

Can I do other stuff, and not touch CS3216 for at least 24 hrs? :(

Experiment shows that SLEEP does matter!

One more post for today, to address a very important issue... that is SLEEP!

At the beginning of the semester, one of our homework is to sleep more, cos we have to expect to be sleep derived when this module starts. Actually I don't believe that it is possible we can sleep more in the vacation so that I can sleep less during the semester. Sleeping is just like eating and drinking to me. It is important to eat tmr's share then I don't eat tmr, right?

And it seems like Prof Ben is promoting Sleeping is a waste of time to us. I read the comments here ("programmers don't sleep") as well as heard him saying "If you don't sleep, you get a lot of things done." I actually wanted to do a post like this long ago, but someone did it before me.

Actually I got an interesting experiment that I want to share, and dedicated to this project teammate in my group who sleeps from 6am to 10am everyday(?!) because he wants to do a lot and clears his daily to-do list. And this project teammate can just survive on one meal a day! =O

Below is summarized from a book "Psychology in Context"...

Sleep Deprivation: What Happens When You Skimp on Sleep?

• Attention and Performance Drop (tt is when accidents can happen!)
• Emotions Flare (gets impatient and aggravated easily)
  [u may be interested in this video (part1 and part2) about a person who did a 8 days no sleep experiment and his character and his life changed after the experiment]
• The Body Suffers (immune system drops and if someone nearby has the H1N1 flu, u r the 1st to get it!)
• Learning Decreases (sleep actually consolidates memories...)

[I found this other link online that tells us the effects on sleep deprivation, which includes how it can affect our intelligence as well :( http://www.learninginfo.org/sleep-deprivation.htm]

There is this experiment conducted in 2001 on whether is it advisable to "stay up one night to cram in as much extra work as you can" or "sleep a couple of hours less each night over the next several nights".

Twelve participants btn the ages of 21 and 35 took part in 4 sleep conditions. The control condition is no sleep loss, and the participants spent 8 hours in bed (11pm-7am) for 4 nights.

• slow sleep loss condition: 6 hrs (1am-7am) for 4 nights
• intermediate sleep loss condition: 4 hours (3am-7am) for 2 nights
• rapid sleep loss condition: 0 hours (all-nighter) for 1 night

A picture speaks a thousand words, so here is the result:

The key results were the measures taken after a total of 8 hours of sleep deprivation. The results were clear-cut: Rapid sleep loss (all-nighter) disrupted alertness memory and reaction time much more than did the same amount of sleep loss spread out over time. Moreover, as shown in Figure 5.4, the faster the rate of sleep loss, the greater the impairment. Losing a couple of hours of sleep per night (slow sleep loss) led to the least overall impairment.

Why I got so much material? Cos I am interested in Psychology (my interest is very diverse), then in once of the vacation, I got nothing better to do, so I went to "research" some of these stuff =P

The beginning of week 2...

Have to finish this post fast. Got many other things to do!

Saturday's Workshop

The workshops were good to serve as an introduction to the various things. But i believe JUST attending these workshop is not really helpful. This is because the non-experience ppl can't catch up and the very experience ppl finds them too simple. I find them useful in a way, cos I don't fall in either of the categories:) These workshop helps me to refresh my memory on some stuff, esp the unix commands. Though I don't know php when I applied for this module, i did read a bit on it later, and I think the workshop could be better if more were taught. But anyway learning really starts to stay with us only when we do hands on.

Prof Ben is really good to us (in regards to food). When he knows me and some other ppl haven't eaten the KFC food he bought, he quickly send ppl n get McDonald food for us. Thanks! :)

After the workshop

That is when we get to know our project teammates for the Facebook assignment better. And it was only the first week and we had to stay bck in school during the weekends (incl Sun) to do our project :(

The Second Lecture

Ytd was a packed day for me! Rush here rush there... FYP, interview, FB App Seminar meeting, Lecture, FB Assignment Seminar meeting...

Btw there is sth I just about just recently, which is very much related to the lecture ytd. It shows us the communication problem btn the web designer and client in a humorous way. Hope you have a good laugh.

And who says the year 1 can do much compared to the seniors? Our grp has 3 year 4s and 1 year 1, n the year 1 is from a different era from us, haha. And we were so surprised at what the year 1 guy did. We got so much to learn from him!

I think the lecture time can be shorten, since the speakers who shared with us their experience had to end up with tell us that we don't have time to do what they did. And luckily, we don't have to record our hours like what our grp did for CS3215. The recording of hours in which the lecturer had to review to give credits based on is a source of conflict between teammates, it was a scary experience then. -.-|||

Getting to know each other

Rmb in the previous blog I said "But we are given only so little time to know each other… And it is difficult to get ppl’s name matched with face and the performance they did that night!"?

Actually the opportunities we get to know each other is really quite a lot for this module compared to other modules (humans just get greedier =P). Thinking back (then I realize)... in my first lecture of CS3215 we just all go ard and know each other and form groups straightaway. No performances, no blogs, no Facebook accounts to "stalk" each other. We have to practice some "face reading" abilities to choose our teammates.

We should learn to work with all kinds of people, and not be too choosy. We can't be given too much time too, time is precious. Sometimes it is just strange affinity btn ppl that bring us to work together. 

Orientation Night

I intended to make a post regard the lecture two days ago, but could find properly time to do so. After the lecture we have to worry about finding project teammates already, and is not for 1 team is for 2 teams! The title “Orientation Night” was meant to refer to the lecture and the Show-and-Tell session on that night. To me it is like an orientation to CS3216.

Lecture: Introduction to CS3216 and Facebook

No wonder prof says his life span would be “shorten by 2 years” when he teaches this module. I can ‘t imagine how he managed to do so much work for this module so efficiently. Besides being the coordinator, he has to prepare for lectures, read every single word on our blogs, maintain his own blog, grade us and send emails etc. On top of that still have to leave time for his wife and kids. Most Profs prefer to make the curriculum simple so they have less stress, so he is different from others. I believe he do this out of good will to make us a stronger person. His passion and enthusiasm for his job really makes him a superman! I wonder he knows 分身术 (be in 2 places at one time)! Not trying to flatter him or anything, just speaking from my heart. I am a teacher myself also cos I teach private tuition and and is also the teaching assistant for an module (I am still teaching this sem). I will sometimes go the extra mile for my students and wonder if I am over doing my job. So that’s why these thoughts occurred to me.

I took down some notes that I think is important on the lecture that I would like to recap here.

In order to be really good in sth, you need 10,000 hrs!

If you divide it by 4 hrs per day, 365 days a year, you get approx 6.85 years. It is quite difficult to really sustain 4 hrs each day for 7 years learning a skill, so it ends up one need more than 7 years to proficient in a skill?


I translate this to "really good in something (A) => spend 10,000 hrs on it (B)"

A	B	A => B	In English
T	T	T	It is possible that you spend 10,000 hrs in sth and you become gd in it.
T	F	F	It is not possible that you don’t spend 10,000 hrs in sth and expect to be really gd in it.
F	T	T	It is possible that you spend 10,000 hrs in sth and you don’t become gd in it.
F	F	T	It is possible that you don’t spend 10,000 hrs in sth and you don’t become gd in it.

Just playing the sentence ard to get a fuller view of what to expect =P. I think the main essence of this is to work hard and work smart!

 1) Sales matters 2) People matters 3) Execution matters

I always believe in execution. Like the saying goes “Saying is easy, doing is difficult”.

In order to be success:  

1) Passion 2) Work 3) Good 4) Focus 5) Push 6)Serve 7) Ideas 8) Persist.

I remembered sth abt FOCUS that I would like to share, i.e. Follow One Course Until Successful!

Show-and-Tell

This is supposed to be a session for us to showcase our talents but it is really hard to tell who the right person for our team is. Because not every talent can be shown and not all talents can be related to the project we are doing.

Some people are single talented, he knows this and he only knows this, but he is very good in it.

Con: He may not “survive” if he is asked to take on an unfamiliar role. He is interested in nothing else but this field, he may have difficult in communicating with other group members.

Pro: If he is to take on a role that can push his talent to the max, he can be an asset to the group.

Some others are multi-talented, he seems to know everything.

Con: He may be only able to do the basics and not be able to learn or do the advanced.

Pro: He can monitor all group members’ progress, and is a good coordinator. It could be just take he hasn’t got the chance to get involved in advanced stuff previously, so picking up the advanced may not be an issue to him since he already knows the basics.

I believe everyone can serve a purpose to the group. It sometimes really depends on luck to find a “perfect” group where everyone complements each other.

But we are given only so little time to know each other… And it is difficult to get ppl’s name matched with face and the performance they did that night!

The day has come!

Finally the school starts. A lot of things I planned to do can’t be finished cos the break is too short. But I am glad I have done useful things during the break, including tidying up stuff and shopping for new clothes, cos I knew I will not have time when CS3216 starts. Typical girls like shopping. But to me shopping is rather troublesome.

Before school starts, we were given an optional homework to do for CS3216. Though I had other things to do, I watched this video nevertheless. I brought back meaningful messages in the video.

The Art of Teaching Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Entrepreneurship is something I have never really thought of. Cos I thought it is sth impossible at this stage without enough capital. And was the “$5” I was limiting myself to. I am very impressed by the creative ways they used to solve the problems given.

Actually Computer Science is very much like Entrepreneurship. We are always asked to solve problems. The main different is the types of problems we have to solve. And creativity is important in both. Creativity is the element that makes our life interesting, yet many people are restricted by habitual and traditional ways in solving a problem. To me, creativity is something that relies on the moment of inspiration. Just that some people have more of that moments, some have less. So in order to get more of that, it is essential to always open your mind and interact with more people and things.

Besides creativity, I feel that entrepreneurship needs a lot of efforts to “put down face”. Just like those students who stood in the streets with a sign saying “Stanford students for sale. Buy one, get two free” and making your own business card calling yourself President. In other words, one needs to be brave and have “thick skin”. In addition is the attitude to be able to put up with failures, try again and again. I like the idea of failing fast, frequently and cheaply.

I shall end the video review with this quote:

…every big problem is a big opportunity. If you think about it, no problem, no solution, no company. Very simple. Every big problem is a big opportunity. If you don't have a big problem, you don't have a big opportunity. Nobody will pay you to solve a non-problem. 

Show-and-Tell Preparation

I was rather surprised when I learnt about this, cos I don’t know this beforehand. And so I end up having only 2 weeks to prepare.

I will be doing a playing a pop song on traditional Chinese instrument. I have no problem choosing this performance. The challenge is the part on choosing a piece. I select the theme to be a pop song first, to cater to the young audience. But I have never performed pop songs before, not to say solo in pop song (cos Chinese Orchestra is usually group performance). I found this song being playing quite nicely by this instrument by someone online and a score somewhere else.

Then to realize the song is actually not for this instrument, it is for guitar. This is not the main problem; the main problem is the score has many wrong notes and rhythm, I only managed to edit a bit. I also later (after 1 week plus) found out there are many versions of this piece online. I found mainly scores for piano. By doing these I was able to compare and contrast. I think none was actually totally correct (my own thoughts together with the comments on the forums), but it was not too bad since this instrument is different from piano (I can’t play all those notes in piano on this instrument lah). That was when I made the major adjustments. But I was already used to the old fingerings and bow style. So I tried to minimize the adjustments, while making the piece sound right to my ears. This is the first time I customize my own score used to perform!

I think those reading this would be able to guess the instrument (but not the song:)). I wonder there if would be another person performing the same instrument, cos that person was/is from the same section as I do in NUSCO. And I wonder how many ppl would actually perform (cos FB videos don’t show many). It would be very weird if there are only a few who perform and I am one of them. Also there is no time limit to a performance. So if too many ppl perform, would it drag till too late?

Actually I have not been playing this instrument from quite some time after my major performance in my 3^rd year second sem. I took a break off Chinese Orchestra that time cos of my health and my final year. Hope these two weeks would be sufficient for the upcoming performance. I should be able to perform do a reasonable performance provided that if I don’t get too nervous. All the best for myself!