Not my invention, from brainbox.com.au, which i thought is interesting:

1. Object orientation is much harder than you think
2. The difficult part of software development is communication
3. Learn to say no
4. If everything is equally important, then nothing is important
5. Don’t over-think a problem
6. Dive really deep into something, but don’t get hung up
7. Learn about the other parts of the software development machine
8. Your colleagues are your best teachers
9. It all comes down to working software
10. Some people are assholes

After 30 Years
1. Complexity
Design the system for flexibility right from the start. Divide the system into smaller subsystems, so that each one is naturally simpler. Resist the urge to add new features, and consider removing those that are not needed. Use tools designed to help you more fully understand the structure of a software system. Budget sufficient time to learn about the software before making changes. When faced with an over-complex system, redesign parts of it as necessary.

2. Technology Dependencies
Avoid technology sold by just a single vendor and which has relatively few other customers. Widely used technology is more likely to be supported and to have its defects removed. Avoid obsure features of any technology. Balance the benefits of your use of third-party technology with the risks of problems. Create prototypes to try out the technology you will be using.

3. Requirements
Understand the application domain so you can communicate effectively with clients and users. Follow a good requirements gathering and analysis process. Prototype to get an early view of potential problems. Continually interact with users and clients to keep up to date on their needs. Design with change in mind.

4. Skills
Make sure software engineers have sufficient general education, plus training in the technology being used. Make sure they have sufficient experience by "practising" on prototypes or systems that are of lesser importance. Put a mentoring system in place so that software engineers can effectively learn from others.

5. Change
Design for flexibility to accommodate potential changes. Stay aware of things that may change. Adjust the requirements or design as soon as important changes are discovered. Avoid changing too much too frequently.

6. Deterioration of Design
Build flexibility and other aspects of maintainability into the software from the start so that changes are easier to make. Ensure software engineers have sufficient training. Ensure changes are not rushed. Perform quality assurance activities on each change.

7. Political Issues
Participate in promoting and marketing the project. Enhance your negotiating skills and other "people" skills. Regularly evaluate how the system will impact all the stakeholders, and work closely with them to foster increased understanding of the problems.

slowly but surely, i'm hating microsoft

all culminated in this afternoon's 3 day left to activation crap. everything' been shit with the newly installed pc, IDE won't start, ad-aware won't install, etc. i'm going nut. linuts. linux.
hmmm

moviejournal - music and lyrics

there are few actors that are really comfortable in certain roles. Matt Damon is smooth as Bourne, Nice Cage sublime as unwilling hero, tom hanks perfect as family man. hugh grant, on the other hand, shines when put against a smart actress and witty plots. fortunately, music and lyrics is one of his good works in recent years.

there really is nothing much to the genre of romantic comedy. the genre says it all: it has to be romantically involving two or more person, and it has to be funny. in other words, two funny people flirting is what works. Grant is perfectly suited to the funny one-liner style british comedy that we all got so fond of in recent years, following the dramatic and huge success of Hugh Laurie's house and other english dramas. plus i like him.

he definitely shows his age in this film though, once the handsome throb dude is no more, the thing is though he didn't seem to catch on with his age, still wielding the same level of youthful power he once commanded. while it is nothing to be alarmed of, this will eventually catch on and he has to do the sean cornnery type image revamp to adapt to another age group.

drew barrymore is as cute as ever, however his uneven mouth shape is ever so obvious in close up shots. but she's being sweet and lovely and all smiling, who can resist that?

all in all, a wonderful time spent worthwhile.

water crisis & accord euro

just lost a post under a freaking freak accident.mounring is in order

anyhow, water restriction season is upon us, hooray~. under the looming water crisis and 5% damned dam level, we are in this huge fucking crucible called water shortage. here's some way you (and me) can help:

• STOP wasting time washing car. buy a cheap car that you don't care about that can get washed outdoors by rain, use those el-cheapo window washes sticks in petrol stations to wipe off the occasional bird doodles on your car and that it, why bother washing and polishing? you reall got nothing better to do with your life if the look of your car is more important than sipping coffee and reading paper
• shower ONCE! it's fucking unbelievable how many people shower twice. if you got BO, just let people laugh at you at work and don't bother hiding it. what is this whole idea of showing in the morning anyway, is your bed a fucking mud box? and if u wet your pants every night, showering in the morning shouldn't be the first thing you should be worried about
• shower SHORTER - i'm sometimes guilty of this deplorable trait myself, especially in the chilling winter nights where all love is gone. we tend to let warm water bring back the meaning of life for us by letting it spray on our naked body. STOP DOING THAT! shower is the single largest consumer of water for anybody and cutting a shower by 2 minutes will collectively help our continent.
• use HALF flush for pissing - i suspect future loos should start using rain/recycled water for flushing pee and poos, but until then, wasting drinkable water on piss is insane. flush half and drink the other half.... or such is the idea.
• STOP watering plants - LET THEM DIE.
• use EFFICIENT SHOWER HEADS

in other news, this week's Rich8rd's test drive for fun victim is Honda Accord Euro, the winner of best of over $28000 category. standard features runs a bit long so here's the gist:

• stability control
• 4 air bags
• climate control
• 140KW 2.4 four potter engine
• and the usual car stuff

anywhohowbloodyway, it appears that HONDA is up to its necks with EURO stocks. the dealer dude confided that their warehouse is literally STUFFED with euros, CRV and oddessey, so they are more than eager to push them out the door. yeah who gives a fuck. the car is shitter than i expected, required diligent roving above 4000 RPM to get any sparkle from that lazy engine. that's even worse than my Swift! the steering is lifelessly wooden, ride is okay, fake wood trim in the luxury model a bit too fake. that GPS system in luxury is so senile it's not even funny. a GOLD TDI would eat this car for morning tea and wouldn't bother spit out the bones. the dude after test drive did the usual car selling routine of hyping up the car for me to hope for a sale, but since it's Rich8rd's pointless test-drive for fun (TM), he's unfortunately the victim of a very boring scheme to drive cars for free. cut to 20 minutes later, he offered the car for 34K on the road, and i shake his hand and offered a measly "good to know, i'll think about it". the victim dude is so pissed he didn't bother to shake me hand on the way out. BAD service!

i kinda feel bad about the whole thing suddenly and decided to try hyundai next week to repent my sins. poor upmarket brands.

the test drive institution does pose some fallibles. on the face of it it's fine, but to really appreciate the chassis balance you really need more than 3 days in a car. drive through that corner you drive past every day to tell the subtle difference between this's suspension and weight distribution over other cars, push the car up that hill in your neighbourhood to gaugh the precise pulling power over you usual ride, thing like that. the wonderful thing about Swift is its nonchalance in most driving conditions that u almost take it for granted, until u sit in other cars that yield to these trivial mistakes. that really speak volumes of the effort made into balancing the whole car over all sorts of conditions and settings.

round up the week .. and a day (movie journal: letter from iwo jima)

Sad news today... Demi left us back to China. While it's expected for a while now, the event still stroke me as both sad and sentimental. Cousin was a complicated woman. both mature and childish, inspirational and traditional. There is great sorrow in seeing her depart physically, but i'm sure we would never be too far away. All the best for the rest of your life journey, my dear cousin, for whatever life throws at you. make that journal an interesting one, a grand one, and a good one.

in other news, we finally watched the critically acclaimed letter from iwo jima today, and i'm happy to report that the experience has been different and memorable. while the production has a very heavy american flavour, the core story is still about the emotions and choices that the japanese soldiers went through in the dying days of their empire. without checking facts, it is highly doubtful that such a lenient general ever was in power for the japanese force in the pacific island battles, it nonetheless showed the cruel and brutal side of the war that we are increasingly coming to appreciate these days. i couldn't help but imaging the effect of this movie on current serving soldiers in iraq from the american perspective, how a mum of the soldier would react after watching this film, of the brutal consequences they are required to face when their letters are returned by a dressed army administrator on their doorstep. I would pray that in generations that follow us, such choices and consequences would never again have to be presented to us, however that experience will enrich our cinematic works.

Also had the opportunity to test drive a few cars lately. falcon straight 6 has been making favourable impressions on me ever since the refreshing launch of BA falcon a few years back. i can recall the excitement in the press and in ppl about the revival of ford after the dreadful and tasteless AU and AY falcon. i'm especially interested in sportier variants of falcon XR6 and FPVs, personally judging by the look alone i would choose a falcon XR6 over a commodore SS anyday, so that brought us forward to a sunny afternoon at our local ford dealership. previous experience with ford has been mixed. their partnership with Mazda has produced some good global vehicles such as my first laser, but that car, while robust, is a bit agricultural. it's not very modernised and the suspension basically gave up. a far while back i also tested the acclaimed focus, but its heavy steering put me off somewhat, and that car isn't such a stand out star to me comparing to the stellar Gold TDi performance or the price of a Astra CDi. its probably not as reliable as a plain vanilla Corolla too for my money, so it was left out of consideration early. plus ford brand isn't such a rarity to us anyway. but once again i've mustered enough respect for the blue oval to taste its latest incarnation of family car the falcon BF series 2. the test day was an especially hot one, searing temperature. the most stand out feature of falcon, to me, is its brilliant, brilliant ZF 6 speed transmission. how good is that tranny? in every gear and any speed, it's never coarse, never jerky, always silky. while the NA 4 litre engine didn't have the oomph i expected, it didn't lack in power enough. however the brake wasn't holding the car up too good though, i almost make the type skid at an intersection, which surprised me a lot because it wouldn't happen in my Swift. but that could be due to falcon's size and weight. steering wise not much to comment, as as light as mazdas and has some connection to the road i guess, that's the most i can tell.

once again it shows how good the swift is though. i can't really tell which chassis/suspension setting was better for normal use, the falcon or the swift. in terms of power it probably didn't matter that much given the power to weight ratio and how heavier the falcon must be over Swift. but if i'm ever sold on the falcon, it would be for that ZF transmission. next time Cadbury makes another chocolate ad, it should put that ZF 6 speeder in the back, running voice-over: Cadbury chocolate, smoooooth as a ZF.

Mazda has been selling its 3s like cheap ice creams on a hot day. i think it's gonna be in top 3 if petrol prices keeps increasing (which incidently it is going to given the recent hike by OPEC, AGAIN). took a spin in a 3 this afternoon since i've got nothing better to do at hand. plus talking to a car salesman is always my favourite weekend passtime. 3's brake certain doesn't have falcon's undecisiveness, and its steering is light and pointy, good for making fun thucking the car around corners at highspeed. 2 litre engine actually didn't feel that much power over the good old astra's 1.6. and it's only a 4 speed. who still use 4 speed in a medium car these days? Golf has 6 speed DSG for goodness sake, even the civic has a respectable 5 speed auto, 4 speed is just not good enough. i'm sure that will be addressed in the next mazda 3 update.