tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-181262922024-03-13T22:29:42.214-05:00(Maesse The OWL) Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Q - EnglishHere you can find my personal interests in English. If you wish to read my other blog in Spanish (For Spanish only items) you can find it at <a href="http://hispanictheowlo.blogspot.com">http://hispanictheowlo.blogspot.com</a>. Enjoy.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-57285056628748753072013-08-01T13:38:00.001-05:002013-08-01T13:39:21.049-05:00Jesus Save Me<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent">Dear
Jesus, I am very sorry for the bad things I have done. I want to have
peace with You. Please forgive me! Thanks for paying for my sins by
dying on the cross, and then rising from the dead. I invite You into my
heart today and want to be your Child. Thanks for eternal life in
Heaven. Amen. </span></span></span></h5>
Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-43009699674928362362012-07-23T20:07:00.000-05:002012-07-23T20:07:13.373-05:00Your time is limited...From time to time one does hear or read some remarkable quotes. The following is one of them, thus I have written it down to remind me an insight of life.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">R.I.P. Steve Jobs.</span></blockquote>Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-61140136071391603312012-06-22T23:46:00.000-05:002012-06-22T23:46:13.875-05:00A quote to remember...Mark Twain<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Today I came across this quote. I am sharing it now.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain.</span>Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-14597184727523512122012-01-01T02:55:00.000-05:002012-01-01T02:55:27.014-05:00New year. GOD has plans for me and my family.Weel to you all my friends in this social network. A new year comes to a beginning. Time to leave past times and go ahead. My life is fulfilled by my family and guided a hundred percent by GOD....and this is a beginning of hopefully GOD plans for my and my family. All I have to tell you all. GOD bless you and best of wishes to you all. Happy new year and GOD allows you better things as I feel it will be.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia6.235925 -75.5751376.1096475 -75.7330655 6.3622024999999995 -75.4172085tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-29129964777727903092010-02-24T14:01:00.000-05:002010-02-24T14:01:42.450-05:00Apache Web Server Birthday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Y3dudRBOtm8/S4Vxx6r8-JI/AAAAAAAAACY/5NkmtCoNERA/s1600-h/ApacheHTTPD.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Y3dudRBOtm8/S4Vxx6r8-JI/AAAAAAAAACY/5NkmtCoNERA/s320/ApacheHTTPD.png" /></a></div>Yesterday, Feb.23rd, 2010. The Apache Software Foundation celebrates the 15th birthday of its Apache HTTPD, the 70% market share web server.<br />
<br />
I wanted to make a note on this so I can know how long a software project is. You can read more here <a href="https://blogs.apache.org/foundation/entry/the_apache_software_foundation_announces2">The Apache Software Foundation Announces the 15th Anniversary of the Apache HTTP Web Server</a>Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-19610634563236909862009-04-18T13:11:00.004-05:002010-02-24T13:28:26.821-05:00WWW and Linux birthdays<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Y3dudRBOtm8/SeocABPpQgI/AAAAAAAAAAs/rZmWfJNNUEE/s1600-h/linux-15.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326100295978664450" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Y3dudRBOtm8/SeocABPpQgI/AAAAAAAAAAs/rZmWfJNNUEE/s320/linux-15.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 238px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
Did you know when was officially launched the WWW?<br />
Did you know when Linux 1.0 officially launched?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Answers</span><br />
<a href="http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2009/3/13/world-wide-web-20-years-old-today/">The World Wide Web Is 20 Years Old Today</a> (exact day is March 13/2009).<br />
<a href="http://i.gizmodo.com/5169216/happy-15th-birthday-linux">Happy 15th Birthday Linux</a> (exact day is March 13/2009).<br />
<br />
I noticed this news in this other blog by Tom Kyte blog which I frequently visit and considered it was very interesting to post here too, the original entry is <a href="http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/03/happy-birthday.html">here</a>. As Tom says there <br />
<blockquote>Two creations that have changed a lot of things.</blockquote>Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-12245043631353147182009-04-18T12:54:00.005-05:002010-01-21T15:23:39.000-05:00Java and a GremlinI was today looking for a mailing solution to implement in Spring Framework (better to spend some time looking for a prebuild solution than trying to implement the own one) and came across to the <a href="http://blog.springsource.com/">SpringSource blog area</a> and noticed an interesting entry by founder Spring Framework project Rod Johnson called <a href="http://blog.springsource.com/2009/04/14/enterprise-java-and-the-american-motors-gremlin/">Enterprise Java and the American Motors Gremlin, on Apr.14th/2009</a> (well, and also noticed it was published on my birthday's day, what a coincidence).<br />
<br />
Why I posted this link and entry to another link/entry.<br />
Because I have always heard of the inproductive Java Tooling and platform is and why other models are more productive for developers to use. And this entry gives some clues to the future ahead, and also to have it set.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-10560341322872765742007-12-18T14:21:00.000-05:002007-12-18T14:46:50.144-05:00Spring MVC highlight<img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Y3dudRBOtm8/R2gd-QH_ekI/AAAAAAAAAAM/IXUV1VXka2k/s320/SpringFK-Poll20071218.GIF" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145395529588374082" border="0" />Today when I opened <a href="http://www.springframework.org">Spring Framework</a> web site I noticed a poll question shown in the image at left (results shown only), it intrigued me to know which web controller was most used. As I like Spring MVC I thought, umm, it is going to be last, but to my surprise it is second after Struts (well, here about Struts it must be fair to know if it is Struts 1 or Struts 2 or it is both). This tells me that I chose a solid technology and I will use it in my studies until my employer or a client likes to use it somehow. Another clue about the good and solid web framework Spring MVC is given in this blog entry entitled <br /><a href="http://cse-mjmcl.cse.bris.ac.uk/blog/2007/10/22/1193085160437.html"><br />I relented to Spring MVC; easy install IE7 feed reader web application</a>.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-52395258281443088712007-12-10T13:20:00.000-05:002007-12-10T13:50:32.751-05:00Books from ManningIt has been a long time since I have not bought a book, in fact, a printed book. This blog today is to talk about books.<br /><br />In my library I have had the pleasure to be able to buy books, not merely a photocopy or any other media. I buy these books and read them a little but the work absorbs most of the time and it is scarce to read about all the information needed to make oneself job much better, but knowing information is there no matter if it is as a reference pays the bill.<br /><br />Fortunately, I have those books about literature, computers, in both English and Spanish and the preferred way of reading them are is in printed form, the classic way, but as internet and the technology permeates our lives it becomes more and more necessary to use other ways to acquire knowledge in an evolution manner to which the <a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF">PDF</a> has universally been the master for delivering a printed book to the digital era, which let's say, it keeps the earth from losing trees to make paper to make books, other materials are used to get a digital book to your hands (the use of computers to materialize them, in fact, a book is first drafted in a computer, then goes to printing in paper and printing electronically).<br /><br />In the past I have been a little reluctant to buy complete books in Electronic book for copyright reasons and other facts, they don't allow me to read in any computer I wish, and I bought some, but as it is a little harder to read in a computer screen, it was left aside. Other they are password protected and unless I do not forget the password, I can read it anywhere I like. But, like or not, it is a cheaper way to have books and the space required to shelve them is minimal, only a few gigabytes of your computer hard disk space is required. And I have also to admit that I now collect any PDF or electronic book (in a way it can be read with a portable reader like Adobe Reader or PDF Reader) to have a full reference of data whenever I need it most.<br /><br />All of this leads me to this final paragraph. Last Saturday I spent some bucks buying PDF books. They are entitled:<br /><ol><br /><li><a href="http://www.manning.com/walls3/">Spring in Action, second edition</a> by Craig Walls with Ryan Breidenbach<br /></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.manning.com/koskela/">Test Driven -<br />Practical TDD and Acceptance TDD for Java Developers</a> by Lasse Koskela<br /></li></ol><br /><br />I bought these books to leverage higher my knowledge to Spring Framework, and TDD; and again, to be a better software developer and craftsman. There are times when a book must be bought because, specially these books, are not available, pity me, the-free-electronically available-book-resource, that is, in Internet; and one honor is to buy and respect the resources and time spent by the authors to get those contents to you, but as said, there are times when one needs that resource for free due to limited money to spend (if one could buy all one wish, there could be not enough money to get them), thus, if I need something the most, I must buy, and if it was get for free, the a share of gratitude and debt is granted herein.<br /><br /><br />I will, to the public, keep informed with my readings about these books, to start sharing my knowledge to the Universe.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-20808518915441013912007-12-03T21:02:00.000-05:002007-12-10T13:03:52.643-05:00At least in the forum and eMailing list arenaI have always been reluctant to use neither eMailing lists to ask the community nor a forum, because I have never known how to use these tools, but these days before today I began to use the eMailing list to ask something I needed and by the results received I got to use the forum media too. That is why I subscribed to the forum.springframework.org to ask something to the community. Both tools are invaluable resource to get acquainted to something and a learning tool by the way. It also lets you share knowledge and know people who has possibly worked your problems in one way or another. That is why I post this blog to let people know I am also using these tools. You can find me at this forum as the user <span style="font-style:italic;">Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Q'</span>. I am also participating in the APPFUSE users list. MyFaces developer and user lists. I would wish you could be there by the way.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-90882591597727196842007-09-18T21:30:00.000-05:002007-09-18T21:41:59.540-05:00A new buzzword to my mindI recently was reading my eMail and came across this editorial which I will reproduce verbatim<blockquote>Today I'm attending a local ArcReady event in Indianapolis, <br />my home town (www.ArcReady.com). The topic of the day is Web 2.0. <br />As I've mentioned in the past, Web 2.0 is one of those nebulous <br />topics that if you ask ten people to define, you'll get eleven <br />answers. In fact, I'm working on a book to help define Web 2.0 <br />and am finding that there are a variety of answers to the "what <br />is Web 2.0" question. There are also a large number of similarities <br />between people's definitions. <br /><br />As points to ponder, consider the following statements. In your <br />opinion, Which of these are accurate?<br /><br />- Web 2.0 is AJAX<br />- Web 2.0 is Software as a Service <br />- Web 2.0 is all about the Web as a platform.<br />- Web 2.0 is about empowering users<br />- In a Web 2.0 world, breadth of information is more important <br /> than accuracy<br />- In a Web 2.0 world, the user should be viewed as a co-developer<br />- Flashing interfaces are a requirement of Web 2.0<br /><br />If you thought that these were all true, then you and I disagree.<br />AJAX is a technology. Web 2.0 is built on technology; however, it is<br />not *the* technology. <br /><br />Sofware as a Service generally falls into the Web 2.0 world. The Web <br />as a platform is also considered a part of Web 2.0; however, Web 2.0 <br />is about more than just the Web as a platform.<br /><br />Web 2.0 is absolutely about empowering users. This is one concept <br />where most industry leaders will agree. <br /><br />Where you might find differing opinions is on whether breadth of <br />information is more important than accuracy. If, however, you look <br />at some of the leading Web 2.0 sites such as Wikipedia, Twitter, and <br />Facebook, you'll see that breadth does in fact seem to be a stronger <br />characteristic than accuracy.<br /><br />The idea of the user as a co-developer should be scary to you as a <br />developer. In fact, this concept is becoming true. If you consider <br />your task as a developer to be the building Web applications, then you <br />begin to see that the users are getting more involved in this. This <br />can be at the level of adding content that changes the page. It can<br /> also <br />be at the level of grabbing services and mashing them together with<br /> other <br />services. The end-user is getting more involved. More importantly, the <br />tools are getting easier to use to build sites, so if you cut out the <br />users, you might end up having them cut you out.<br /><br />Finally, the last bullet was about Web 2.0 equating to flashy<br /> interfaces. <br />While most Web 2.0 sites have flashy interfaces, you will find that<br /> most<br />industry leaders agree that it is the social interaction and aspects<br /> that<br />are more indicative of a Web 2.0 application than the actual flashy <br />interfaces. Having said that, users are looking for "sizzle".<br /><br />Do you disagree with my opinions? If so, swing by the feedback forum<br /> and <br />let me know your thoughts.<br /><br />Until next week!<br /><br />Brad!<br />---------------------------<br />Bradley L. Jones<br />www.CodeGuru.com<br />webmaster@codeguru.com<br />---------------------------</blockquote><br>In fact is my first reading on the subject and in my IT career it is something to read on. My interests are so varied that an ocean of information over me is drowninmg me but I like it because it makes my brain think. Well, this is my first blog on web 2.0 explorations as it is a common buzzword these days. <br /><br />Web 2.0 explorations will get me to learn more about Java, Ruby, C#, any way, many, many tools and items to have my day filled with a glamorous knowledge expectation. Thanks GOD for giving me this career, very speedy but the one I like most. Stay tuned to read more about this new buzzword in my vocabulary.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-47968918626273837042007-04-30T09:19:00.000-05:002007-04-30T09:32:15.251-05:00Java maturitySee the time this entry was posted. This reflects Java maturity. I decided to post this entry to remind me about some points and facts about the Java Platform and I put the words of another person in my mouth but this line of thought I share.<br /><blockquote>GPL Java could not have come at a better time to make a run at the Linux desktop, thanks in part to Microsoft releasing Vista. Whatever one's feeling about Microsoft, they are often a trend setter. So far, when it comes to moving away from harder to work with, bug prone, and security hazardous languages like C and C++ for desktop application development, Microsoft has been ahead of the game. The shift away from C++ to Visual Basic was the start of the trend, but with Vista, and Microsoft's movement towards "All new desktop applications should be written as managed code in .NET", the ante is now significantly higher. Developers in the world of Windows desktop applications are now being encouraged to write their new applications in managed .NET code that makes their lives easier and less error prone, as well as avoids major causes of security holes like buffer overflows. Linux desktop programmers, however, are still doing most of their work in C or C++, where they are still managing memory by hand, still getting routine segmentation faults because of memory management problems, and still dealing with the security hassles of C and C++. The time is definitely ripe for a change in the way developers write desktop applications for the Linux platform. In fact, that change is long overdue.<br /><br />If Linux desktop application developers are going to make the transition to more productive managed languages, like Windows developers are doing, there are only two real platform choices they have: The Novell sponsored Mono project, or Java.<br /><br />To me, Java seems like a much more solid choice for several reasons. For one, it has a substantial head start on Mono, with over five more years of development behind it than Mono. Java is already a very stable and mature platform, where as Mono is still evolving quite rapidly. Also, Java has a vast collection of open source tools and libraries available to help with just about any type of development that one might want to do--something that Mono can't even begin to match yet. Furthermore, Java has a much larger development community in place already, and remains the most popular language for open source projects on SourceForge, as well as on FreshMeat.net, where Java has 5383 projects compared to only 284 for C#--making Java nearly 19 times more popular than C#. And finally, Mono is doomed to always lag behind the official .NET implementation due to the fact that Microsoft's actual implementation is completely closed source. Now that Java is open source under the GPL, the open source GPL version will always be up to date, since it will be the "official" implementation. Mono also has a hidden licensing trap that Java does not. Because the class libraries are licensed under the MIT license, which has virtually no restrictions on what can be done with the software, companies can conceivably patent their improvements or modifications on the libraries and then enforce those patents on anyone else making use of of the improvements or modifications. There is an interesting article on NewsForge about this problem. It's a little old, but still good reading.<br/><a href ="(http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/02/19/1651244)">(http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=02/02/19/1651244)</a><br /><br />OK, granted I may be a bit biased in favor of Java. But I think my above points were at least reasonably objective as to why Java makes the best choice for the future of the Linux desktop. With the open sourcing of Java under the GPL, Sun has removed that final barrier to entry, since all of the performance, or "it doesn't look native" arguments are no longer valid.<br /><br />And finally, both Linux and Java benefit from using Java on the Linux desktop, since both of them want the same thing, and can mutually contribute towards the same goal. Both Linux and Java want greater desktop market share. Java can give this to Linux by providing a more productive, more secure, and easier to debug platform for writing applications, as well a platform so that applications written in it can also run on Windows. This helps protect the developer's investment in a minority platform when it comes to the desktop. And Linux has something to offer Java as well: a second chance at becoming a major player in the desktop application arena. Linux is slowly but surely gaining desktop market share. Java can help it grow, and also grow with it. It could be that desktop Java and desktop Linux are a match made in heaven.<br /></blockquote><br />I read this commentary in a Javalobby.org eMail sent to me on Tuesday, March 06, 2007 from Mike Urban and if you want to read all of that entry by yourself link to <a href="http://www.javalobby.org/nl/archive/jlnews_20070306o.html">this</a>Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-19597923996421641242007-04-12T23:35:00.000-05:002007-04-13T00:10:57.176-05:00On Spring FrameworkWhen I started to study Java back on 2002 I attended a course on Websphere Application Developer or a name like that based on the version fourth of the product. Since then I spent many hours surfing the internet in search for information about the J2SE and documents about Java in any category. From the course I was linked to <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/www.theserverside.com">www.theserverside.com</a>, and this was my first source for news on the Java platform, and this led me to another sites as well. Soon I acquired a book named Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development by Rod Jhonson on Mar.23/2003 which became a classical book. Based on the ideas exposed on this book and the source code included for this book, a new framework was born, named Spring Framework and a site is devoted to this one found at <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/www.springframework.org">www.springframework.org</a> and the final release for version 1 was due on March.24/2004 more <a>here</a>. And now I am fond of this framework and it is directing my thoughts in the Java space, which has led me to collect many resources for this fabulous framework which I will post here on the Spring Framework tag, coming soon to a blog near you. Now the spring framework is in the version 2 series. Have a look <a href='http://www.springframework.org/go-2.0'>here</a>. And a good blog about spring issues maintained by <a href='http://www.jroller.com/page/habuma'>Craig, Walls</a> writer of the Manning book Spring in Action.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-62134760085773302007-02-05T17:24:00.000-05:002007-02-05T17:38:48.425-05:00Do you know the meaning of OOP, RAD, ORM, DRY, KISS, TDD?<span style="font-weight: bold;">Do you know the meaning of OOP, RAD, ORM, DRY, KISS, TDD?</span> Again! Well, if you are a technician as I am and specifically for Software development you should be familiar with these terms, but if you don't then take a look a this article<br /><br /><ul style="font-weight: bold;"><li>OOP: <span style="font-weight: normal;">Stands for <span style="font-style: italic;">Object Oriented Programming</span> or as of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OOP</span><br /></li><li>RAD: <span style="font-weight: normal;">Stands for <span style="font-style: italic;">Rapid Application Development</span> or as of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAD</span><br /></li><li>ORM: <span style="font-weight: normal;">Stands for <span style="font-style: italic;">Object Relational Mapping</span> or as of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORM</span><br /></li><li>DRY:<span style="font-weight: normal;"> Stands for <span style="font-style: italic;">Don't Repeat Yourself</span> (also known as <span style="font-style: italic;">Once and Only Once</span> or <span style="font-style: italic;">Single Point of Truth --SPOT--</span> or as of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DRY</span></li><li>KISS: <span style="font-weight: normal;">Stands for <span style="font-style: italic;">Keep It Simple Stupid </span>or as of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS</span></li><li>TDD: <span style="font-weight: normal;">Stands for <span style="font-style: italic;">Test-Driven Development</span> or as of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TDD</span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">NOTE:</span> All entries to Wikipedia are typed in the search engine, thus you may encounter many definitions thus openly knowing other meanings to the acronym being referred to here.<br /><br />I hope you had refreshed your memory, don't you?Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-70274746397842471702007-02-05T17:16:00.000-05:002007-02-05T17:24:01.680-05:00Well, It has been a long time since....Well, since Aug.26/2006 I have not fed this blog with another entry. I intend to use more and more the blogging system and as such I intend to publish more articles. I am getting to the point in my life where this is necessary as a full structural life-planning is on the way. My last 2 to 3 years have been spent fulfilling many unfinished task such as my College Grade and this year is the culmination in that effort as this is the last semester taking classes and continuing the graduation process which consists in making a thesis proceeding and other stuff. Last year I met a wonderful woman and other parts are beginning to evolve. I am unemployed up to date but many opportunities are on the way and I feel more and more tied to God. But this blog is about me and my technical affair (if you want other material in my natural language use my cousin blog -- see about me entry for details).<br /><br />More entries are to come on the way, keep in touch.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-1156522522408187092006-08-25T11:15:00.000-05:002007-02-05T11:52:23.091-05:00A very simple cite to muse about.Today in my readings I came to the site <a href="http://opensourcelive.com/" target="_blank">Open Source live</a> and maybe in the future the following cite is taken out of this site but I wished to have here in my blog to remember once I saw it and to muse again on its meaning. I don't know the owner or who wrote the cite.<br />Here it is<br /><blockquote>I HEAR and I FORGET.<br />I SEE and I REMEMBER.<br />I DO and I UNDERSTAND.<br /></blockquote>Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-1155316685253655002006-08-11T12:15:00.000-05:002007-02-05T11:52:37.569-05:00See for yourselfWell, here is a funny image that requires no explanation whatsoever.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://gtc.mm.st/stupid.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://gtc.mm.st/stupid.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />So think an stupid question and go to the society, perhaps it gets answered.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-1155315502988416782006-08-11T11:52:00.000-05:002007-02-05T11:53:02.200-05:00Say no to sending MS-Word documents over eMailsThis is an article as Tom Kyte points out to this <a href="http://www.nothingisreal.com/dfki/no-word"><i>just say no to send MS-WORD</i></a> where the author for the article gives many reasons not to send ms-word documents inside an e-Mail message because the format is fixed, not everyone has the correct version, etc, so, I encourage you to read the article to learn what is actually happening with this reasoning.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-1155225327090477202006-08-10T10:47:00.000-05:002007-02-05T11:54:26.396-05:00My Chinese Name spelledRecently a friend of mine pointed me a site where I could find my name written in Chinese characters. You can go to that site <a href="http://chineseculture.about.com/library/name/blname.htm">here</a> and if you want to see my name there point to this <a href="http://chineseculture.about.com/library/name/male/na_carlos.htm">link</a>, but if you are lazy at going there, here it is shown below:<br />First is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Carlos</span> part<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3208/1766/1600/carlosChineseName.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3208/1766/320/carlosChineseName.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Then it is for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Adolfo</span> part<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3208/1766/1600/adolfoChineseName.gif"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3208/1766/320/adolfoChineseName.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Well and if you want to see my new site to see my photos you can link to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlosaortizphotos/">here</a> enjoy.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-1154273304005191102006-07-30T10:17:00.000-05:002007-02-05T11:54:49.609-05:00My ICQ TestI recently took a Tickle for the classic IQ test (<a href="http://web.tickle.com/tests/uiq">click here to get one</a>) and got a grade of 113 or as they quote:<blockquote>"Your Intellectual Type is <b>Precision Processor</b>. This means you're exceptionally good at discovering quick solutions to problems, especially ones that involve math or logic. You're also resourceful and able to think on your feet. And that's just some of what we know about you from your test results."</blockquote><br />It is interesting my result provided that some questions were guessed, what would have come about if a hard reasoning to those guessed questions would have been made, perhaps a higher grade, or lower grade. I think this is good to me.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-1151944097819746132006-07-03T10:57:00.000-05:002007-02-05T11:55:11.319-05:00On Asimov's rules of roboticsI have always been amazed by Issac Asimov's literacy. He coined what in scince fiction are called the three laws of robotics.<blockquote><ol><li>A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.</li><li>A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.</li><li>A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.</li></ol></blockquote><br />You can find the complete explanation at the wikipedia <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics">here</a>. He was a wise man, he wrote more than 700 books and was an encyclopedic wisdom. And after these rules some other things are patterned. This note is inspired by having read the following article posted in <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/www.onjava.com">www.onjava.com</a> named <a href="http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/2006/06/28/whats-new-in-eclipse-3-2-java-development-tools.html">What's New in Eclipse 3.2 Java Development Tools</a> which states as in the following quote<blockquote>The JDT compiler was originally written for VAME, and modified for Eclipse. It was built on what the developers call "The Three Rules of Compilation," patterned after Asimov's rules of robotics:<ol><li>Correctness: A compiler may not harm a source program.</li><li>Efficiency: A compiler must be fast, except where speed would conflict with the first law.</li><li>Friendliness: A compiler must assist the user to correct programming errors, as long as such assistance does not conflict with the first and second laws.</li></ol></blockquote><br />Thus this is to me a way to apply wisdom to extend knowledge.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-1146200469230382632006-04-27T23:50:00.000-05:002007-02-05T11:55:30.219-05:00Colombia Needs an Irish-Style Economic TonicThis seems a perfect place to reproduce this magnific article by MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY, hope you have time to read on. Comments if you wish are appreciated.<br /><blockquote><br />By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY<br />April 8, 2005<br />BOGÓTA -- In an address to a mournful nation here on Saturday, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe likened His Holiness Pope John Paul II to a "gladiator of democracy." Mr. Uribe recalled an audience he once had with the head of the Catholic Church. Colombia , he said, with "its difficulties and tragedies, its possibilities and unique people, occupied a special place among the concerns and affections of the Pope."<br /><br />Surely, the feeling was mutual. It's hard to think of another country in Latin America where the Pope's message to "be not afraid" in the face of tyrannical terror so powerfully resonated. Colombian security has been greatly enhanced under Mr. Uribe's courageous leadership, and though the war is far from over, he must now address another of the Pope's great concerns: the poor. Indeed, as the president himself has said, the resolution of the conflict is not purely military. To secure the gains of democratic security, Mr. Uribe needs to deliver free-market capitalism.<br /><br />To that end, Mr. Uribe need look no further than Ireland, a Catholic nation once hopelessly mired in poverty, dominated by socialist thought and somewhat fatalistic toward what seemed a hopeless plight. It is true that Ireland wasn't fighting a guerrilla war in 1987 when it began to think outside the box of conventional wisdom, but its fiscal picture was no less grim. Spending cuts helped, but it was the adoption of a rather unorthodox approach to tax cutting that gave the country an almost surreal boom. At the end of the 1990s, Ireland had a higher GDP per capita than Great Britain or Germany.<br /><br />If Ireland can be the Celtic Tiger there is no reason why Colombia can't become the South American Puma. It is the perfect Latin American candidate for the job, with a popular democratic leader, a sophisticated business community, and a prime location in the region. It is equally distressing to note that if Colombia loses the opportunity it has to make big changes with this president, a return to left-wing populism and guerrilla domination is almost certain.<br /><br />Mr. Uribe has already put the country on the right path by greatly improving security. Moreover, the World Bank report "Doing Business in 2005" ranks Colombia among the top performers world-wide in deregulatory reform at the micro level. The president's proposal now in congress to cut entitlement spending through pension reform is also constructive.<br /><br />In 2004 Colombia grew at about 4%. Yet that pace of growth is not sufficient to seriously reduce the ranks of the poor and secure the president's other gains. To do that Colombia needs to bring down its debilitating tax rates. Mr. Uribe has been discouraged from doing this by both the local "experts" and by the U.S. government. The U.S. ambassador here is known to complain that Colombia's effective tax burden of 21% of GDP means that Colombians are not paying enough for government.<br /><br />This is ridiculous. The Colombian tax burden is roughly equivalent to Chile's. If the U.S. wants to be constructive, it should point out that a top marginal rate equivalent to more than 38% on corporate profits and individuals, and a 16% value-added tax, are impediments to growth. It is doubtless true that these rates and the complexity of the Byzantine tax code, some of which Mr. Uribe has made worse, invite enormous evasion and discourage economic activity. A lower, flatter code would most likely expand revenues.<br /><br />U.S. pressure on tax collection is of a piece with the standard static analysis that says that since Mr. Uribe has been unable (some say unwilling) to cut spending sufficiently, taxes have to be high and collection methods draconian. But interestingly enough, this is not the path that the Bush administration has taken to deal with the U.S. deficit. Expecting Colombia to swallow this bitter medicine reflects the soft bigotry of low expectations directed at a lesser-developed U.S. ally.<br /><br />Benjamin Powell, a George Mason University Ph.D. candidate in economics, detailed the Irish experience in the Cato Journal's Winter 2003 edition. The parallels with Colombia are impressive, beginning with the disaster that Keynesian policies wrought in the 1973-1987 period.<br /><br />Much of what Ireland first tried when it faced budget deficit problems will be familiar to Colombians, including tax hikes that managed to cut the primary deficit in half but also suffocated growth. By 1986 the debt-to-GDP ratio was 116%. "High levels of government debt, interest payments, and expenditures put the Irish government in a precarious fiscal position," Mr. Powell explains.<br /><br />Unable to raise taxes further, the government began in 1987 to cut spending. The reduced size of government together with a relatively open trade policy produced a welcome return to respectable growth. By 1989 Ireland's economy was growing at 4%. "That level of growth was impressive compared with the 1.9% growth between 1973 and 1986 when the government had been pursuing activist fiscal policies," Mr. Powell explains.<br /><br />But spending cuts had their limits and Ireland -- like Colombia today -- was still far short of the minimum and consistent 6% GDP growth needed to actually move people out of poverty. From 1990 through 1995 GDP growth averaged 5.14%. But the "tiger" growth came in the latter half of the decade. From 1996 through 2000 the average rate of growth was a mind-boggling 9.66%.<br /><br />What differentiates those two periods is the change in Ireland's tax regime. In 1996 the corporate tax rate was 40% but by 2000 it was down to 24%, making Ireland a magnet for capital. There was "also a special 10% corporate taxation rate for manufacturing companies and companies involved in internationally traded services," Mr. Powell explains. When the European Union pressured Ireland to eliminate the special 10% rate, it obliged but lowered the standard rate to 12.5% in 2003.<br /><br />Naysayers will claim this is politically impossible in Colombia . But what's missing in Colombia is an application to supply-side growth of the kind of unyielding commitment that Mr. Uribe applied to security. Should he change course, the Irish miracle would be the best blueprint.<br /></blockquote>Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-1130351348762579542005-10-26T12:52:00.000-05:002007-02-05T11:55:56.489-05:00Using iText on the new SourceBeat.com Website (Reference)Today I read an interesting blog post regarding Java PDF interaction with the iText package (I noticed this package for the first time in Rod Johnson´s book Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development (Programmer to Programmer) but never had the full time to experiment But I noticed this is a good interesting starting point to check out. The blog URL is <a href="http://jroller.com/page/JamesGoodwill">http://jroller.com/page/JamesGoodwill</a> on September 21st and titled http://jroller.com/page/JamesGoodwill. Nontheless I copy the same contents as this blog for inmediate reference. Also notice that it is quoted and formatted to fit this blog needs.<br /><br /><blockquote><br /><div style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;">Using iText on the new SourceBeat.com Website</span></div><br /><p><br />I saw a blog the other day about using iText to manipulate PDFs. I have really wanted to take a look at iText, but just have not had the chance. So thanks to this blog, I finally took the time to look at it and really liked it. After checking out the related article, it took me all of 30 minutes to learn iText and replace SourceBeat?s current PDF encryption code (originally pdftk). It was too easy. Below is an example and unit test showing how SourceBeat is now using iText.<br /></p><br /><code><br /></code><pre><br />package com.sourcebeat.util;<br /><br />import junit.framework.TestCase;<br /><br />import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;<br />import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;<br /><br />import java.io.File;<br /><br />public class EncryptorTest extends TestCase {<br /><br />protected final Log log = LogFactory.getLog(getClass());<br />protected Encryptor encryptor;<br />protected String unencryptedFile = "test/unencrypted.pdf";<br />protected String encryptedFile = "test/encrypted.pdf";<br /><br />public void setUp() throws Exception {<br /><br /> encryptor = new Encryptor();<br />}<br /><br />public void tearDown() throws Exception {<br /><br /> encryptor = null;<br />}<br /><br />public void testEncrypt() throws Exception {<br /><br /> // Encrypt the file<br /> encryptor.encrypt(unencryptedFile, encryptedFile, "userPass", "ownerPass");<br /><br /> // Make sure that the file was written<br /> File newFile = new File(encryptedFile);<br /> assertTrue(newFile.canRead());<br /><br /> // remove the file<br /> newFile.delete();<br />}<br />}<br /></pre><br /><br /><br />It is pretty simple. As you can see Encryptor.encrypt() method takes the path to the original unencrypted file, the path to the output (the new encrypted file), and the user and owner passwords. You can see this method below:<br /><br /><code><br /></code><pre><br />package com.sourcebeat.util;<br /><br />import com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfEncryptor;<br />import com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfReader;<br />import com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfWriter;<br /><br />import java.io.FileOutputStream;<br /><br />public class Encryptor {<br /><br />public void encrypt(String inputFile,<br /> String outputFile,<br /> String userPassword,<br /> String ownerPassword) throws Exception {<br /><br /> PdfReader reader = new PdfReader(inputFile);<br /> PdfEncryptor.encrypt(reader,<br /> new FileOutputStream(outputFile),<br /> false,<br /> userPassword,<br /> ownerPassword,<br /> PdfWriter.AllowAssembly<br /> | PdfWriter.AllowDegradedPrinting<br /> | PdfWriter.AllowFillIn<br /> | PdfWriter.AllowModifyAnnotations<br /> | PdfWriter.AllowPrinting<br /> | PdfWriter.AllowScreenReaders);<br />}<br />}<br /></pre><br />Easy enough?you first have to create a PdfReader using the passed in input file path and then invoke the PdfEncryptor.encrypt() method. The parameters passed to this method are relatively self-explanatory, with the exception of the third parameter, false. The third parameter is a boolean, which represents the encryption strength (true for 128 bit key length, false for 40 bit key length). That is it. It is now part of the, soon to be released, new SourceBeat.com site.<br /></blockquote><br /><br /><br />I hope to take enough time to test this and perhaps it could be invaluable in my near future Java projects.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-1130163523178853592005-10-24T09:09:00.000-05:002007-02-05T11:52:09.806-05:00An example of Firebird using MonoToday I read an article I found in <a href="http://www2.blogger.com/www.ibphoenix.com">www.ibphoenix.com</a> news in entry "05-Oct-2005 Miguel de Icaza's web log provides a set by step description of setting up classic Firebird on Linux for use as an embedded database with Mono.", then I followed the link and seemed to me very interesting. You can link to the Miguel de Icaza's web log by clicking <a href="http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2005/Sep-30-2.html">here</a>. There you can notice how to use the embedded Firebird SQL server to use inside the Mono project (.NET for Linux). More links are there for you to follow.<br /><br /><br />By the way, Firebird is to me the best Open Source SQL server as it is very simple to administer and use, and it supports the full ACID database model. Other competitor like MySQL is about releasing this functionality. In my opinion, Firebird has very solid enterprise features.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18126292.post-1129907520751705562005-10-21T10:06:00.000-05:002007-02-05T11:51:14.874-05:00My blogsphere siteThis is my first post ever to the blogsphere. I am from a Spanish background, in fact I am from Medellin, Colombia, South America, but preferred to post in English as I like the language and in fact English is the universal one. But sometimes when it is necessary to do I would post Spanish items.<br /><br />Hope this is a stop for the ones who land here.Carlos Adolfo Ortiz Qhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13345364552462512122noreply@blogger.com0