Yellow Jersey

SQL join statement using 3 tables

2009-02-09T00:12:00.000-08:00

SELECT DISTINCT mi.name, price
FROM ingredients i, vendors v, items mi, madewith mw
WHERE i.vendorid = v.vendorid
AND i.ingredientid = mw.ingredientid
AND mw.itemid = mi.itemid
AND companyname = 'Veggies_R_Us' ;

adsense script

2008-11-28T22:10:00.000-08:00

trying..

Who Needs a DSLR?

2008-10-07T03:17:00.000-07:00

If I could shoot a picturesque sunset in Boracay using a point and shoot digital camera.

Fujifilm Finepix s5800
aperture : F/9.8
shutter speed: 1/512 sec.
focal length : 81mm
ISO 64

or this preset macro settings.

Fujifilm Finepix s5800
aperture : F/3.5
shutter speed: 1/91 sec.
focal length : 9mm
ISO 64

and another one taken from a park in Tayabas.

Panasonic DMC LS-1
focal length : 6mm
ISO 100

Risk Management in Systems/Software Development

2008-10-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

I have been commissioned by the City of Tayabas to manage the computerization of various systems of the local government unit. Part of managing the project is constant reporting to the project champion and I have been asked to deal with the risks that may occur.

Since risks in software development is inevitable, I have here basic guidelines that you might consider of using.

First thing to do is to assess. Enumerate the risks according to the probability of occurence. Rank them from the most to least dangerous taking into consideration of its possibility to happen.

Second is to control. Make another list on how to mitigate and probably control these risks. There must be a sound strategy. Come up with a technique appropriate to the identified risks and implement it accordingly.

Common risks are as follows;

1. Technical personnel shortfalls and uncooperative users.
2. Schedules and budgets.
3. Continuing stream of requirements changes. This is the old requirements creeping syndrome.
4. Developing incorrect user interfaces, functions and properties.
5. Gold plating. This is where the project team add functionalities and features to the product which is not called for.

I will be posting thourough discussions on this topic in qtechbpo.com website.

JOIN in SQL Data Manipulation Language

2008-10-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

JOIN is a predicate in SQL's data manipulation language. This is primarily used in combining tables or relations to derive a new table.

We combine tables to create a query that will require information from more than one table.

Example of simple join query:

SELECT url.urlid, name, companyname
FROM url, company
WHERE url.urlid = company.companyurlid AND company.companyurldesc LIKE 'tayabas.ph'

I will post more on this topic later.

Tayabas

2008-09-26T02:11:00.000-07:00

I came across to the official website of the city of Tayabas in Quezon province and I wonder why inspite of too many nice places in Tayabas, it is hardly known as a prime tourist destination. The Pahiyas in Lucban festival is almost synonymous to Quezon province but Tayabas with Spanish old bridges and churches doesn't seem to be at par with Lucban. I visited Graceland Country Club and I was amazed in the place that I never imagined of such place existed in Quezon.

Good thing that finally, they have information loaded website. Find time to visit the official website of Tayabas and know more about the place.

Kudos to the people of Tayabas.

Network 101

2008-09-22T03:03:00.001-07:00

What is you IP address?

Since you are using the Internet at this point, you are at the least using two IP addresses. If you are into a small network (home or small office) you might get the following;

1. The local IP you probably obtained from the DHCP server which is another feature of your DSL MODEM (so it may be a DSL MODEM/Router/DHCP server). If you have a separate router it may also be a DHCP server. It usually has this 192.168.x.x IP address which is commonly used range of IP for small networks. This is also true in most wireless broadband provider (e.g. Smart bro, etc. ) Type ipconfig on your command prompt to display your local IP.

2. The public IP your DSL MODEM obtained from your ISP. This is public and can be viewed "publictly". To see your public IP, copy paste this http://whatismyip.com/ and voila, it will display the IP obtained. In some cases though and especialy if your office has a web server, you might have static(fixed) public IP which was given by your ISP. In this case it is not obtained, meaning you will get the same public IP all the time.

I will explain this further on my future post. For the meantime, I will go visit the City of Tayabas.

Updates on CSS (cascading style sheet)

2008-09-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

Just like HTML, CSS also keeps on evolving. Numerous drafts have been introduced and discussions at w3.org is abundant. CSS is a stylesheet language where there is a mechanism to add/modify style of web documents particularly HTML and XHTML. With this perpetual development, I am posing here a challenge to post your CSS-modified blog template. Place your blog URL here and show the before and after design.

Project Management

2008-09-16T01:08:00.000-07:00

Oftentimes I have been asked how is it to manage a project. Is there a technique or rules to follow? There are tools we can use depending on the project and resources available but there are common tools we use in Project Management.

1. Milestone chart combined with a GANTT chart is the most commonly used PM tool. A major benefit of this chart is it easy to understand and gives great deal of information in a single presentation.

2. WBS - Work Breakdown Structure

It is a tree like diagram that captures all the work of a project in an organized way. It is often portrayed graphically as a hierarchical tree, however, it can also be a tabular list of "element" categories and tasks or the indented task list that appears in your Gantt chart schedule.

The WBS is commonly used at the beginning of a project for defining project scope, organizing Gantt schedules and estimating costs.

Figure here shows an example of a WBS.

3. S Curve

The S Curve is a well known project management tool and it consists in "a display of cumulative costs, labour hours or other quantities plotted against time".The name derives from the S-like shape of the curve, flatter at the beginning and end and steeper in the middle, because this is the way most of the projects look like.

The S curve can be considered as an indicator and it's used for many applications related to project management such as: target, baseline, cost, time etc. That's why there is a variety of S Curves such as:
-Cost versus Time S Curve;(appropriate for projects that contain labour and non-labour tasks).
-Target S Curve;(This S Curve reflects the ideal progress of the project if all tasks are completed as currently scheduled)
-Value and Percentage S Curves;(Percentage S Curves are useful for calculating the project's actual percentage complete)
-Actual S Curve;(This S Curve reflects the actual progress of the project to date)

Figure here shows an S curve generated from MS Project

4. PERT/CPM

With this I recommend this article

http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Pert_Chart.html

I also recommend of using a tracking system for software development project. Below is an open source system you might consider using.

http://trac.edgewall.org/

Boom De Ah Dah

2008-09-15T03:32:00.000-07:00

This commercial is awesome and it makes me love and appreciate the world more. I have the complete commercial on my video bar.

I love the part where Sthepen Hawkings sings the boom de ah dah part and this tribe guy yelling boom de ah dah.

Enjoy!

I Love the Whole World (Boom De Ah Dah) - Discovery Channel Commercial

Astronaut1: It never gets old huh?
Astronaut2: nope
Astronaut1: it kinda makes you wanna...
Astronaut2: break into song?
Astronaut1: yup

I love the mountains
I love the clear blue sky
I love the Bridges
I love when great whites fly

I love the whole world
And all its sights and sounds
Boom Dee Ahh Dah
Boom Dee Ahh Dah
Boom Dee Ahh Dah
Boom Dee Ahh Dah

I love the oceans
I love real dirty things
I love to go fast
I love egyptian kings

I love the whole world
And all its craziness
Boom Dee Ahh Dah
Boom Dee Ahh Dah
Boom Dee Ahh Dah
Boom Dee Ahh Dah

I love tornadoes
I love arachnids
I love hot magma
I love the giant squids

I love the whole world
It's such a brilliant place
Boom Dee Ahh Dah
Boom Dee Ahh Dah
Boom Dee Ahh Dah
Boom Dee Ahh Dah

Technology behind adsense

2008-09-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

I am so impressed with this advertisement delivery system of Google, the adsense. And I am even amazed with the technology they are using. It is so unique that it only displays ads that is relevant to the web content. I suppose there is some sophisticated algorithm that acts like a robot that scans the textual content of web pages (or even images? hmmm I guess this is the purpose of html's alt tag ).

I am so curious that I will run some experimentation here. I will deliberately put "Quezon Business Process Outsourcing" on this article. Will the Google web crawler sense the four emphasized words? Quezon, Business, Process, Outsourcing.

I chose those keywords because of the following reasons.

1. Quezon - I live in Quezon province and our business is housed there. I wonder what my advertisements will be.
2. Business Process Outsourcing - This is the nature of the business I am working.

Help me monitor this and find out if adsense technology really makes sense.

I will focus on keyword Quezon. There are exactly 6 instances of Quezon here.

Automatic sensing huh.

All set and ready

2008-09-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

Now everything is set and ready. I have the visitor's counter, google adsense and some useful gadgets. Why I did this? I will "walk the talk", "preach what I teach".

For qtechbpo.com team, the buzz is always SEO and let us start from here. This will be the criteria, your reaction either violent or otherwise is welcome.

Most number of hits : 20%
Highest earnings from Google adsense : 20%
Most number of comments : 20%
Most number of posts: 20%
Google ranking : 20% (using these keywords: qtech bpo, quezon, lucena, tayabas, business process outsourcing)

Should the given criteria is not acceptable, post your comment here. :)

Ciao!

The Garden

2008-09-10T18:51:00.001-07:00

Some photos taken from my new DSLR. All of the same settings.

shutter speed :1/160 sec, lens aperture: F/8, focal length: 55mm, ISO speed: ISO-400

Give me comments. I want to learn more. :)

Where Do I Begin

2008-09-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

We’ve got so many things we want to do but the big question is always “Where will I start?” This old song pops into my mind.

Where Do I Begin
Composer: Francis Lai

Where do I begin
To tell the story of how great a love can be
The sweet love story that is older than the sea
The simple truth about the love she brings to me
She fills my heart
She fills my heart with very special things
With angels’ songs, with wild imaginings
She fills my soul with so much love
That everywhere I go I’m never lonely
With her love, who could be lonely
I reach for her hand, it’s always there
How long does it last
Can love be measured by the hours in a day
I have no answers now but this much I can say
I know I’ll need her till the stars all burn away
And she’ll be there

Or should I start this with an invocation?