Malaysia : Petaling Jaya : Wat Chetawan Temple

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” 

― Albert Einstein, The World As I See It

We visited the Thai Buddhist Chetawan Temple ( Wat Chetawan Temple ), at Petaling Jaya, on 31st December 2016. 

It's one of the most beautiful Buddhist Temples you can ever visit. 

I'd highly recommend a visit to the temple, for it's amazing beauty, the serene atmosphere, and to learn about Thai Buddhist Temples. I'll make an attempt to here sprinkle some of the terms used in the temple. 

The Buddhist Temples in Thailand are called " wat ". 

The intricate carvings, shrines, statues are really exquisite, and have been designed by some of the best artisans from Thailand. 

The entire atmosphere at the temple is serene and calm. The Kuan Yin ( Quan Yin or Guan Yin ) pavilion and shrine reflect this serene atmosphere :-

The stupa is usually called a " Chedi ". It's usually a bell shaped tower, and can be seen from a large distance. 

The Maitreya Buddha Shrine contains a large & impressive white statue.

The " Wihan " ( or " Wihran " or " Wihara ") is the main hall that contains several Buddha statues. It also serves as the main prayer hall.

The Bell Tower, usually used to call / signal the faithful for a prayer

The many-headed serpent ( " Naga " ) can be seen encircling the main shrine. The coils of the Naga are believed to serve as a cushion, while the heads act as an umbrella for the Buddha. 

The symbol of " Garuda " can be seen at many places in the temple. Garuda is Lord Vishnu's mount and his symbol & statuses can be usually found in Vishnu & Buddhist temples. 

The " Kinnari " is a mythological being who's half-woman and half-swan. They are believed to have expertise in singing and dancing. 

The Nark Puggsee ( Snake Bird ) can be seen on one of the top panels 

The temple has much more stories to tell. It's only my first visit, and I have made an attempt to collate the information I that gather from the folks there. 

I'll post more, during my next visit. 

Professional Work

" Professional work is therefore distinguished from work involving routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work. A professional employee generally uses the advanced knowledge to analyze, interpret or make deductions from varying facts or circumstances. "

-- DOL : Fact Sheet #17D

I was recently made aware of the above definition of Professional Work, as given in the U.S. Department of Labor Fact Sheet #17D.

The document further attempts to differentiate a Learned Professional in this manner :-

" The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, defined as work which is predominantly intellectual in character and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment. "

I feel the key differentiators here are the " consistent exercise of discretion and judgment.". A “Work requiring advanced knowledge” is defined as :-

• predominantly intellectual in character
• includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment

And, finally, a moment of true realization :- " Advanced knowledge cannot be attained at the high school level. "

Please do take a look at the Department Of Labor : Fact Sheet #17D. It's an enlightening read.

Who is a Professional

" There are two parts to learning craftsmanship: knowledge and work. You must gain
the knowledge of principles, patterns, practices, and heuristics that a craftsman knows, and
you must also grind that knowledge into your fingers, eyes, and gut by working hard and
practicing. "

-- Clean Code, Robert Martin

I was reading Clean Code by Robert Martin & his frank opinion about Craftsmanship / Professionalism struck a note. It takes years of study & practice to become a Professional & Robert Martin would definitely know about it.

Robert has more frank advice about writing clean & good code :-

• Learning to write clean code is hard work. 
• It requires more than just the knowledge of principles and patterns.
• You must sweat over it. You must practice it yourself, and watch yourself fail. 
• You must watch others practice it and fail. 
• You must see them stumble and retrace their steps. 
• You must see them agonize over decisions and see the price they pay for making those decisions the wrong way.

Clean Code by Robert Martin is definitely a must read for all Developers.

I'd like to present another quote, which defines the credo of Professionalism in just two latin words :-

“As recently as 1963, Everett Hughes wrote that the central feature of professionalism was a doctrine of credat emptor—”let the buyer trust”—rather than the commercial maxim of caveat emptor—”let the buyer beware.” 

- The Betrayed Profession

Profession

" Professions produce uniquely expert work, not routine or repetitive work. "

 - White Paper : Profession of Arms

I was reading an interesting White Paper (  White Paper : Profession of Arms ) and I found the definition of a Profession, to be interesting and distinct. A Profession truly produces uniquely expert work, as opposed to labour, that produces routine or repititive work.

The WhitePaper also outlines some of the traits of a Profession :-

• Professionals require years of study and practice before they are capable of expert work.
• Professions earn the trust of their clients through their Ethic – which is their means of motivation and self-control.
• The servant ethic of professions is characterized as cedat emptor, ―let the taker believe in us.
• A self-policing Ethic is an absolute necessity

How different is choosing a Profession from just being employed ? Again, it's a state of mind and as outlined in the WhitePaper :-

Organizations motivate their workers through extrinsic factors such as :-

• Salary
• Benefits
• Promotions.

Professions use inspirational, intrinsic factors like :-

• the life-long pursuit of expert knowledge
• the privilege and honor of service
• camaraderie, and
• the status of membership in an ancient, honorable, and revered occupation.

Software Engineering or Consultancy may not yet be an ancient occupation - it is defenitely an honorable, and revered occupation.

The White Paper : Profession of Arms focusses moslty on the Profession of Arms, but some of the sections are defenitely relevent to any Profession.

DOS : Count number of lines in a file

You can use this neat command to count the number of lines in a file, using DOS :-

find /c /v "~`!@#$%^&*()_+" file.txt

It'll give an output like this :-

---------- file.txt: 943526

Cygwin Java and Classpath Problem

" The cygpath program is a utility that converts Windows native filenames to Cygwin POSIX-style pathnames and vice versa. "

-- Cygwin Utilities

If you are trying to run a Java Class using a Shell Script running off Cygwin, you are sure to see a ClassNotFoundException.

The problem is due to these :-

• java.exe is a Windows executable program
• java.exe expects its paths & classpaths to be in the Windows Format - paths separated by semi-colon ( ; )
  
• Cygwin wants its paths in the LINUX Format - paths separated by a colon ( : )

Ok, we know the problem now and here's a quick fix solution if you are running Shell Scripts off Cygwin :-

CLASSPATH=.:../lib/junit.jar:../lib/weblogic.jar:../lib/ojdbc6.jar

# Convert paths to help cygwin see Classpaths
CLASSPATH=`cygpath --path --windows "$CLASSPATH"`

java -classpath "$CLASSPATH" com.test.PreLoadTester

Please be sure not to check this into a Production environment - cygpath is only available as part of the Cygwin Utilities.

Three Key Tools

"We will encourage you to develop the three great virtues of a programmer: laziness, impatience, and hubris."

-- LarryWall

If you are a Developer ( to quote a phrase overused recently by Head Hunters - " Hand On Developer " ), & if you are using Windows for all your development activities, you'd better have these three tools in your kit.

• WinDirStat
• Unlocker
• tail for windows

What do these Tools do ? Well, they solve some of the most nagging & frustrating problems that you always run into.

Please take a look at Sundar's Blog for more about these goodies. And, keep an eye on his Blog for more of these goodies.

Back After a long Hiatus !

Time is very slow for those who wait Very fast for those who are scared very long for those who lament Very short for those who celebrate But for those who love time is eternal"

— William Shakespeare

Ok, I am back to Blogging after a long Hiatus. During the space in time, I underwent a good lot of challenges - personal & professional - that demanded more than a fair share of my time.

Anyways, back to Blogging - as they say:-

" You can either be the sun that provides the light, or the mirror that reflects it."

Its time to do my share as a humble mirror and reflect the light of knowledge - any streak of light that I stumble upon.