A lot more that just once, I’ve seen peers curse Eclipse for the lack of keyboard support, lack of refactoring, lack of functionality, lack of blah, blah, blah…

Let me address some of these issues:

Lack of Keyboard Support

Most IntelliJ idea users I’ve seen never touch the mouse. They can do most development using the keyboard: navigating, refactoring, writing code. It is amazing how good IntelliJ is at increasing productivity.

That said, Eclipse is definitely something that can be compared to IntelliJ on this front. Eclipse supports emacs keybindings, and I’ve seen people use emacs keybindings to do all the things that I’ve mentioned above.

It’s merely a matter of learning new keybindings, or configuring existing ones to suit their needs.

Lack of Refactoring Support

The refactoring support in Eclipse is as good as that on IntelliJ. Most folks have not used (much of) Eclipse and I feel that this particular point holds no relevance.

Lack of Functionality

Part of this blame also goes to me. There’s a whole lot of functionality that is available, that I’ve myself never used. I’m unable to point out out some functionality that exists in IntelliJ, but is not “easily” seen on Eclipse

A point in case is being able to override equals() and hashCode(). During a training session this morning, we had to create a class that overrides equals() and hashCode(). I’d almost never had to write these, so I began the tremendous task of hand coding these methods. Later I decided to write an eclipse plugin

Later in the evening, I realized that this feature already existed

He’s about 60 years of age. Has been a long time Turbo C-2.0 programmer. Mostly he develops small graphics programs to demonstrate some engineering drawing and mechanics concepts.

import java.awt.*; // Requisite files od JAVA
import java.awt.event.*;
//import java.awt.geom.*;
import javax.swing.*;
//import java.math.*;
//import java.util.*;
  //Projest name and the following class name should be same
public class leenaTrial1 extends JFrame {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Applet");
        JPanel drawingArea = new JPanel(); // Drawing Area is named
        JButton b1; // Defines action Button
        int mouse_i = 1;  // Counter for action

        public void run() {
                frame.setSize(1000, 500); // Frame size is defined
                final Container content = getContentPane();
                content.setBackground(Color.lightGray);
                // color of frame or container is defined
                content.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

                drawingArea.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(750, 700));
                // Size of draw area is defined & color in the next line

                drawingArea.setBackground(Color.black);
                content.add(drawingArea);
                b1 = new JButton("Next Step"); // b1 is button for the next step
                content.add(b1);

                b1.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
                public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent event) {
                        Graphics g = drawingArea.getGraphics();
                        Font font20 =new Font("TimesRoman",Font.PLAIN,20);
                        Font f0nt14=new Font("TimesRoman",Font.PLAIN,14);
                        g.setFont(font20);
                        int r1 = 250, r2 = 150, x0 = 375, y0 = 415;
                        // r1, r2 semi-major & semi-minor axex, x0,y0 center of circles
                        double inc = 0.005; // increment 
                        int x1, y1, x2, y2; // Two ends of a line

                        // inner circle in 
                        if(mouse_i == 1) {
                                g.setColor(Color.white);
                                //g.drawOval(w, w, x, y);           // top, left, width, height
                                g.drawString("Step 1: Draw inner circle with the radius equal to semi-minor axis of the ellipse.", 20, 20);
                                ovalByPixels(x0,y0,r2,r2,1,Color.blue);
                     }

                        // outer circle
                         if(mouse_i == 2) {
                                g.setColor(Color.white);
                                g.drawString("Step 2: Draw outer circle with the radius equal to semi-major axis of the ellipse.", 20, 35);
                                ovalByPixels(x0,y0,r1,r1,1,Color.red); // Color spesified by name
                        }

                        // twelve lines
                         if(mouse_i == 3) {
                                g.setColor(Color.white);
                                g.drawString("Step 3: Divide the circles in twelve parts.", 20, 50);
                                for(int k = 0; k < 6; k++) {
                                        double cos = Math.cos(k*2*Math.PI/12);
                                        double sin = Math.sin(k*2*Math.PI/12);
                                        double f1 = 1.06 ; // numbers are printed out side of larger circle
                                        double f2 = 0.9 ; // numbers are printed in side of smaller circle
                                        x1 = x0 + (int)(r1*cos); // x1,y1 are on outer circle on one end of diameter
                                        y1 = y0 - (int)(r1*sin);
                                        x2 = x0 - (int)(r1*cos); // x2,y2 are on outer circle at other end of diameter
                                        y2 = y0 + (int)(r1*sin);
                                        lineByPixels(x1, y1, x2, y2,5,new Color(255,100,100)); // 5 is delay value
                                        // Color spesified by values of three colors
                                        g.drawString("a" + Integer.toString(k+1),  x0-10+ (int)(f1*r1*cos), y0+10 - (int)(f1*r1*sin));
                                        g.drawString("a" + Integer.toString(k+7),  x0-10 - (int)(f1*r1*cos), y0+10 + (int)(f1*r1*sin));
                                        g.drawString("b" + Integer.toString(k+1),  x0 -10+ (int)(f2*r2*cos), y0+10 - (int)(f2*r2*sin));
                                        g.drawString("b" + Integer.toString(k+7),  x0 -10- (int)(f2*r2*cos), y0+10 + (int)(f2*r2*sin));
                                        delay(500);        // call delay function         
                                }
                        }

                         if(mouse_i == 4) { // Step 4     * * * * * * * * * * *
                                g.setColor(Color.white);
                                g.drawString("Step 4: From inner circle points, draw horizontal lines and from corresponding points ", 20, 70);
                                g.drawString("         on the outer circle, draw vertical lines. Cutting points are points on Ellipse.", 20, 85);
                                Color cr = new Color(255,200,100);
                                for(int k = 0; k <= 11; k++) {
                                        //int x1,x2,y1,y2;
                                        x1 = x0 + (int)(r1*Math.cos((2*Math.PI/12)*k)); // point on outer circle
                                        y1 = y0 - (int)(r1*Math.sin((2*Math.PI/12)*k));
                                        x2 = x0 + (int)(r2*Math.cos((2*Math.PI/12)*k)); //points on inner circle
                                        y2 = y0 - (int)(r2*Math.sin((2*Math.PI/12)*k));
                                        int x1L = x0 + (int)(1.2*r1*Math.cos((2*Math.PI/12)*k)); // point on outer circle
                                        int y2L = y0 - (int)(0.9*r2*Math.sin((2*Math.PI/12)*k));
                                        g.setColor(Color.green);
                                        if(k==3 || k==9){
                                                lineByPixels(x0-20, y2, x0+20, y2,5,cr );}// 5 is delay value
                           //g.drawLine( x0-20, y2, x0+20, y2);}
                                        else{
                                                lineByPixels(x2, y2, x1L, y2,5,new Color(255,100,200));}
                                                //g.drawLine(x2, y2, x1L, y2);} // horizontal line
                                        g.setColor(Color.yellow);
                                        if(k==0 || k==6){
                                                lineByPixels(x1, y0-20, x1,  y0+20,5,new Color(100,100,200));}
                                                //g.drawLine(x1, y0-20, x1,  y0+20);}// Vertical line
                                        else {
                                                lineByPixels(x1, y1, x1, y2L,5,new Color(100,255,100));}
                                                //g.drawLine(x1, y1, x1, y2L);}// vertical line
                                        delay(500); // call delay function         
                                        g.setColor(Color.white);
                                        g.drawOval(x1-3, y2-3, 6, 6); // Box (top, left, width, height
                    delay(500);
                                }
                        }

                        if(mouse_i == 5) {
                                g.setColor(Color.white);
                                g.drawString("Step 5: Draw a smooth curve connecting the twelve cutting points.", 20, 100);
                                g.setColor(Color.RED);
                                for(double i = 0; i < 2*(3.1415926); i=i+inc) {
                                        g.drawLine((int)(x0+r1*Math.cos(i)), (int)(y0-r2*Math.sin(i)), (int)(x0+(r1+1)*Math.cos(i)), (int)(y0-(r2+1)*Math.sin(i)));
                                        delay(1); // calls delay function

                                } // Ellipse drawing is complete

                                g.drawString("Ellipse by Concentric Circles, by Dr. Vasant D. Barve", 20, 680);
                                g.drawString("DONE!", 670, 350);
                        }
                        mouse_i++;
                 }
                });

                pack();
                setVisible(true);
        }
    // This is delay procedure  
        public void delay(int dt1)
        {
                try {
                        Thread.sleep(dt1);
                }
                catch (InterruptedException e) {
                }
        } // Delay procedure ends

    // This is Oval (circle or ellipse) by pixel procedure   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *      
        public void ovalByPixels(float x0, float y0, float r1, float r2, int dt, Color objColor)
        {   // Center of circle at x0,y0 Radius r dt delay after each pixel counterclckwise
                Graphics g = drawingArea.getGraphics();
                double rm = Math.max(r1, r2); // Greater of the two picked up
                for(double i = 0; i < 2*(3.1415926); i=i+1/rm) {
                        double x1 = x0+ r1*Math.cos(i);
                        double y1 = y0+r2*Math.sin(i);
                        double x2 = x0+(r1+1)*Math.cos(i);
                        double y2 = y0+(r2+1)*Math.sin(i);
                        g.setColor(objColor);
                        g.drawLine((int)x1, (int)y1, (int)x2, (int)y2);
                        delay(dt); // call delay function    
                }
        } // OvalByPixels procedure Ends

//       lineByPixels Procedure starts              * * * * * *  * * * * *
        public void lineByPixels(int x1, int y1, int x2, int y2, int dt,Color objCol ) {
                // Line starts at (x1,y1) & ends at (x2,y2) each point is drawn as short line of one pixel length
                Graphics g = drawingArea.getGraphics();
                //g.setColor(Color.white); 
                g.setColor(objCol);

                int L= (int) Math.sqrt(Math.pow(x2-x1,2)+Math.pow(y2-y1,2));
            // length of line is found
                double th=Math.atan2(y2-y1,x2-x1); // inclination of line with x axis
               for(int i=0; i<=L-1; i=i+1)
            { g.drawLine((int) (x1+i*Math.cos(th)), (int) (y1+i*Math.sin(th)),(int) (x1+(i+1)*Math.cos(th)), (int) (y1+(i+1)*Math.sin(th)));
          delay(dt);    //delay introduced to see line being drawn    
            }
        } // lineByPixels Procedure Ends

        // Paint graphics starts                     * * * * * * * * *
        public void paint(Graphics g) {
                super.paint(g);
        } // Paint graphics Ends

        public static void main(String[] args) {
                leenaTrial1 ecc = new leenaTrial1(); // here the function is called
                ecc.run();
        }
}

Sahi helped save quite a lot of time testing the web application that I was developing. Reproducing bugs was also very easy

I’m currently working on developing Eclipse plug-ins and RCP applications. Testing the daily builds that Nirav makes is quite a pain. Hence a record and playback tool for SWT applications.

I’ve registered a project on sourceforge. You should see it at swtbot.sourceforge.net sometime in the next couple of days.

A headless build using ant has been put in place. A little bit of work has already been done. Code coverage is above 95%, for now. And I hope to keep it above 80% during the course of development of the application.

Sriram and me spoke on eclipse plug-in development on behalf of The Pune Eclipse Developers’ Group

The talk by A. Sundararajan from Sun on opensourcing the Java implementation (OpenJDK) from Sun was very interesting.

Moinak Ghosh from Sun gave a demo on some of the advanced features of OpenSolaris.

Also got an opportunity to meet Narayan Raman and Vivek Prahlad who’d developed Sahi and frankenstein.

Further, it’s impossible to calculate the opportunity cost to IT ventures due to insufficient diversity of backgrounds, ideas, and modes of thought; but as the end consumer of our work becomes increasingly female, these costs must be rising.

However, no one can have failed to notice that despite all the efforts of a great many brilliant, motivated, and determined individuals and groups to support women in technology, Google, Yahoo, MS, IITs, Stanford and Berkeley – there are still not nearly as many working female engineers as there are males.

And when it comes to female tech entrepreneurs from an engineering background I believe the ratio is even more skewed, although I do not know a definitive number. Finally, when you count the women who head venture-backed businesses – which is an arbitrary distinction except as it highlights the availability of capital and other resources which can ease the crushing burden of starting a business – it is indeed a lonely little group.

The point of this article is not to wring my hands and whine about the status. Nor do I plan to propose computer science education as the long-term solution to the gender imbalance problem, because far better-qualified people than I are already working along those lines. Instead I focus on a well-known but little-studied phenomenon in the technology industry – particularly in the newer, more experimental, startup-driven subdomains – and in the Open-Source movement. That of lack of self-taught female software engineers.

Everyone in professional or Open-Source software development has worked with countless male colleagues who are essentially self-taught, somewhat lacking formal training in computer science. In the perhaps less glamorous areas of the software development lifecycle – QA, build and release, documentation, i18n (translation), metrics, DBA, etc. – a lot of people I’ve ever worked with, or known directly, or indirectly, have lacked formal qualifications (which in many cases don’t exist anyway). These self-motivated male engineers run the gamut of quality, from the best of the best to the truly sub-par; but it is incontestable that there are a relatively large number of them, and that they form an important part of the technology ecosystem. But everyone seems to agree – and certainly it has been my experience – that there is no correspondingly large pool of female professional and Open-Source engineers without formal training.

Why does this gender gap in software engineers exist? Could it be bridged through some sort of organized effort? Would such an effort be ethically troubling or bad for the profession in some other way? What opportunities might be lost if we continue to do nothing about the gender disparity in software engineering, or simply wait for long-term educational efforts to take root at some unspecified future date? For those who care about women in the technology industry, I would argue that these questions should be very pressing and our ignorance of their answers should be equally troubling.

I’m not much on speculating about social problems, but if I were forced into diagnostic mode about the lack of self-taught female software engineers, I’d probably put the following rationales at the top of my list (in no particular order):

• Almost all of the male engineers I know report childhood experience “playing” with computers. I also had this experience, as did most of the female engineers I know; but non-engineer women seem far less likely to have done so.
• If Programming classes started with social software rather than math problems and competitive games, more women might discover an unexpected interest.
• Women seem to be disproportionately attracted to careers where they feel they can help others – for instance medicine (which of course requires rigorous, highly competitive scientific training), teaching — rather than careers that promise high pay or entrepreneurial possibility.
• Male self-taught engineers often begin working with computers as a hobby – for instance, legions of Open-Source devotees (including myself) began this way. Women seem less inclined to learn programming just for fun, and more likely to see it as simply a job (to be fair, many self-taught male engineers also seem to primarily see their work as a job rather than a personal passion).
• Women often seem to gain self-confidence by pursuing institutional affiliations, credentials, and clear career goals – rather than simply pushing forward as “lone wolves” driven by individual curiosity.

I have really struggled with these objections, because as an individual I don’t necessarily disagree with them at a philosophical level. But, those are pretty abstract principles of fairness to hold up against the realities of business and life. I hear from managers who say that they would love to get more female engineers. I also hear from intelligent, motivated, practical women who want jobs – or better jobs – but need help. Sometimes all they really need is a critique of their resume, or an introduction inside a particular company. But sometimes they need someone to see them for the valuable engineer they could be, and say, “You’re so good at analyzing this type of problem and finding a solution… Have you ever considered a career as a [QA engineer | release engineer | sysadmin | metrics analyst | DBA | webdev | etc.]? I will train you.” I enjoy helping out as much as I can personally, but we would get economies of scale if all the interested parties of IT could combine our efforts and institutionalize the method by which women without CS degrees could be turned into contributing members of engineering teams.

There’s a survey that notes that 93% of Linux users are male.

I’m now able to leave for home by 8:00 PM, enjoy dinner, and have a good night’s sleep. That’s a healthy life I’m enjoying at the moment. Hope to keep up the same tempo.

An user group for eclipse users is also on the cards, you should see more on this front in sometime.

There is some form of justice left in the courts, after all. A cabinet minister being prosecuted by the CBI, an agency that is controlled by the Union Government of India.

Read more about it in the Hindustan Times, The Hindu, and The Times of India.

Participants happened to be lecturers and professors from colleges in the state. My talk revolved around Process Management, related api, and the tools used for this.

I’m all charged up; and raring to go at my next assignment.