Avinash Meetoo: Blog

I’ve just discovered Zoomii, the “real” online bookstore, and I can say that I’m fascinated. Zoomii allows you to browse the Amazon book collection like in a real bookstore i.e. “physically” classified by category on different shelves. Clicking on a cover pops up an ajaxified window with detailed information on the book (as provided by Amazon.)

The beauty of Zoomii is that it is just a novel frontend to Amazon. When you click on the “Checkout” button, the actual credit-card transaction takes places on Amazon’s website. According to me, this is the killer feature that will drive the masses to Zoomii.

One issue is that the Zoomii cart is not the same as the Amazon cart. More precisely, adding a book using Zoomii does not populate your normal Amazon cart. Rather, it adds the book to a special Zoomii cart which has to be paid separately. Try clicking on “Checkout” and you’ll understand.

For the more technically oriented, Zoomii uses Linux and Java on the backend and Javascript in the browser. It also uses Amazon S3 (for data storage) and Amazon EC2 (for all image processing I guess.)

Zoomii is in my opinion the kind of web application we’ll all take for granted in 2-3 years. I really need to get into that kind of thing before I’m labelled as being completely outdated. What is positive though is that Zoomii has been built by one person only, Chris Thiessen. There is some hope.

To be complete, I have to say that Zoomii makes its money through the Amazon Associates program. Each time one buys a book through Zoomii, Chris gets some money. Personally, I have no problem whatsoever with this economic model. In fact, this is also something that we all need to become accustomed to because this is how the (financial) world will work in the future.

Try Zoomii! I’m sure you’ll love it. I do.

Popularity: 1% [?]

written by avinash

I’ve just come across an inspiring blog entry with the thought-provoking title You don’t know that programming language. The authors argues that knowing a programming language is very different from knowing of a programming language.

Personally, I know of C, C++, Java, Python, Ruby, LISP, Scheme and Objective-C. But do I really know them perfectly? The answer is a big NO. For instance:

• I don’t know about setjmp in C.
• Ditto about partial template specialization in C++.
• Ditto about the Classloader in Java.
• Ditto about accumulation loops in Python.
• Ditto about advanced metaprogramming techniques in Ruby.
• Ditto about macros in LISP.
• Ditto about continuations in Scheme.
• Ditto about posing in Objective-C.

But this is not a big problem according to the blogger. What is important instead is to have the right aptitudes to learn those things if ever the need arises. He mentions that one only has to master the essentials like algorithms, design patterns, etc. and the rest will follow (if needed.)

I believe he is right.

Popularity: 1% [?]

written by avinash

I have just come across a great article by Alex Iskold entitled Top 10 Traits of a Rockstar Software Engineer. It is a must read for all aspiring software engineers out there… especially those who are still learning the skills in a university.

The 10 traits he mentions are:

1. Loves To Code
2. Gets Things Done
3. Continuously Refactors Code
4. Uses Design Patterns
5. Writes Tests
6. Leverages Existing Code
7. Focuses on Usability
8. Writes Maintainable Code
9. Can Code in Any Language
10. Knows Basic Computer Science

Phew! What can I say more? Apart from telling all of you to read the article thoroughly and to pay special attention to the various books he refers too.

Priceless.

Popularity: 2% [?]

written by avinash