SOA Best Practices.

Use urn: for declaring name spaces instead of http: I understand the use of usage of http for XSDs that are published online. But the usage of http for every schema definition is not required.

Usage of 'http' in XML documents is not elegant.

Laptop for Java/.Net Studio Programmers/Architects

Update - I canceled my Dell order. Couldn't get hold of right-person easily even after being on the phone for more than 30 min. Waiting on phone for customer support is the last thing I want to do in life.

After plenty of wasted hours on comparisons and reviews I have made a U-Turn from opting the fabulous Lenovo Thinkpad T61 and ordered Dell Vostro 1400.

I got the following configuration for $1550 including taxes and shipping.

OS - Vist Business. I was rooting for XP but was advised by my brother-in-law to go for Visa.
Processor - Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz with 2MB L2 cache
RAM - 3 GB. I need as much RAM as possible for memory-hungry IBM software.
Harddisk - 160 GB 5400 RPM.
Monitor - 14.1" . I have ordered with TrueLife. After what I read about it, I am going to change it to Matty while my order is still "in production". Also 14.1" has been my personal choice while shopping for laptops.

In the same price, I got integrated webcam, dedicated graphics card (i.e, discrete graphics) and 3-year warranty with accidental protection (i.e, complete care).

All in all, if you are budget-minded like I am and are willing to take 'risk' and don't have brand-image-consciousness then go for Dell. If you typically see yourself buy the premium-brands like BMW/Honda cars, Sony cameras, Bose headphones.... then Thinkpad may well be your choice.

Thinkpad is sleek, has great keyboard and proud history. However it doesn't come with s-video and has a weird placement of cntrl key (next to fn key). I can live with the higher-cost if they provide better customer support. I found that the order-processing is very slow with Lenovo. I hope everything else with Lenovo customer support is better.

Theory of Relativity

The closest I can understand...
http://www.onestick.com/relativity/

Log4j in J2EE Container.

http://www.webagesolutions.com/knowledgebase/waskb/waskb004/index.html

Initializing Log4J has been a thorny problem for a J2EE application. There are two ways to initialize Log4J:

First - Call PropertyConfigurator.configure(String propertyFileName) - This function takes the full path name of the properies file that contains Log4J configuration information. A J2EE application should not make any assumption about where its files are located in the file system.
Use of this function requires the application to know exactly that.

Second - Do not call PropertyConfigurator.configure() and let Log4J look for a properties file called log4j.properties in a J2EE module's class path. The lookup takes place when the Logger.getLogger() method is called for the first time. In this article we recommend using this approach.

Third approach is to configure log4j.configuration=yourlog4j.properties as system-property.

I prefer the first one for each war/ear file in a J2EE app-server. But I couldn't make it work at this point I am stuck with the third option.

My favourite places on the web.

http://www.nandyala.org/mahanandhi

http://www.immigrationvoice.org/

http://www.cricinfo.com/

http://www.google.com

Unique indian english words and phrases...

It's very common for Indians to copy English buzzwords/lingo into their own style. Some of the examples given below are to reverse Indian English to American English.

"flats" - plot of land/piece of real-estate

"fly over" - overpass?

"post" - mail

"take home" - net salary

"hallo hallo" - yea.. Hello is almost prounounced and out-spoken twice in the flow of words :D

“full amount” – to pay the sticker price (without bargain/negotiation)

“xerox” - to copy

“hotel” - used for both restaurent and hotel - typically where we eat food.

“lift” – elevator

“bathroom” – in U.S.A it’s called rest-room for GKR (God known…)

“bill” – check/receipt

“barrer”, “waiter” – attendant, bartender

“we couldn’t able to” – we are NOT able to (or) we couldn’t

“we could able to” – we are able to

“steps” - stairs

"cricket game" - i.e, cricket sport. game and sport are almost used interchangeably.

"tiffin" - breakfast

"traffic signal", "traffic stop", "traffic lights" - In American english - "lights"

I just came across wiki page for this "Indian English" topic.

My impressions of Indian Metros

Chennai - I don't regret moving to Chennai. Coz that's where I fell in love with my wife ;) This is the place I lived most (3 years) outside my home town, Nellore, AP, in India. The city itself has lot to be proud of. Just like any other major city in the world, it has a place for anyone coming from any walk of life. However the key to enjoy the stay in Chennai is to like south-indian food & culture. If you don't, this place is the last place you want to be.

Mumbai - This place definitely lives to its reputation - insane! This is my second city after Chennai where I lived for about an year. Mumbai life is costly, fast, practical and exciting. Unlike _all_ other places I had been, everyone respects time, form queues, works hard and fast. If someone wants to shake-up things little bit, they should live & work in Mumbai for couple of months.

Bangalore - This place has good climate, laid-back lifestyle and non-interfering locals. I lived here for 8 months and managed without having to learn ONE Kannada word. That's not how it works in other cities. I would suspect this place wouldn't have remained the same. I really wanted to relocate to Bangalore from Nellore after my graduation. But I had to do masters in Madras University and hence my stay in Chennai.

Hyderabad/Secundrabad - I made several visits to the Capital City of Andhra Pradesh. And one time I stayed for 15 days. This twin-cities are usually referred by the more popular Hyderabad name. This city doesn't compare to the metro cities of India (Chennai, Delhi, Kolkatta and Mumbai). However, it has lot of potential to become one. Be it Hindi(National Language) centric people, Muslim-Hindu population, Film and IT-Industry and the strategic location. I haven't come across anyone (including non-Andhraites) who stayed in Hyderabad, dislike the place.

Delhi - I hardly stayed 2 days in this city. I remember it took 30-45 to find parking spot in front of a restaurant complex. I don't remember anything particular of this place.

I wish to live/work/visit these places once - Kolkatta & Pune.