Lanka ID Card Info v3 - Android Application

Here is an updated version of the ever so popular Sri Lankam Application for Android - Lanka ID Card Info

You can download this Free from the Google Play Store

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mri.idinfo.v2

Below are a few features the application supports

Extracts and Displays the details below from a valid NIC number

• - **NEW** Extract details from new identity card numbers
• - **NEW** Get the new ID card number that will be assigned for your old id number
• - **NEW** Support for Sinhalese Language

In addition

• -Date of birth of the card holder
• -calculates the *AGE* of the card holder
• -The weekday of the cardholder's birth
• -Gender of the cardholder
• -Civil status of the card holder

Waiting for your comments...

The Evolution of the Software Industry - and a word of caution to those in the industry

Software services industry from being relatively unrecognized a few decades ago, has now grown to a level of possibly influencing every being on earth and beyond. Demand for the software industry and its growth initiated with the introduction of the personal computer to the layman. Thereafter the evolution of hardware and their capabilities, catalyzed by the invention of the internet, has been relying heavily on the software industry to deliver experiences human race had never gone through. Who would have imagined at times of the infancy of the PC that a day would come when a portable device with a touch screen would allow its user to watch live what’s happening on the other side of the world?

The ever increasing production of various gadgets by different vendors has made the software industry more competitive and diverse. A telling example of this is the distinctive differences seen in smart phone platforms available today, ranging from iOS for Apple, Andorid for Google, Windows for Microsoft, Symbian for Nokia and the list goes on.

Though most would agree that the presence of high competition is good for the industry, its been a roller-coaster ride to those working in the industry. Change and the rate of change sweeping the industry puts a lot of demand on IT engineers to keep themselves up to date with modern technology and innovations. Failure identify change and re-adjust accordingly, will leave often lead to an IT professional with a ruined career. If an MS-DOS programmer did not see a need to learn and switch to Windows development when Windows was released to the market, he or she would have soon the lost job and have difficulty finding a new one.

The phenomenon is the same for IT students. Most students pursuing IT education are taught subjects that are in demand in the industry during the period of their study.  But new subjects introduced by a brand new development or an innovation could put older subjects out of demand once the students are ready for employment. For example, cloud computing is a recent development which has altered the way traditional web technologies work. Students will have to unlearn old concepts and learn new ones to adapt with change.

Which is the best pogramming language? Programmers Dillema

This topic is very sensitve, and I write from a little exposure Ive had with popular programming languages in the world.
First let we me list out the progamming laguages Ive worked with.

AcrionScript 2(AS2)
ActionScript 3(AS3)
Java
PHP
C#
JavaScript
CSS
HTML
SQL

Thats a soup of procedural, object-oriented, typed, untyped, declarative, client-side and sever-side laguages and with time this list is only going to get longer and more complicated.

Also individual languages also have been evolving
With AS3 you can pretty much write to virtually any device, multiple browsers in multiple OSes running on various underlying hardware. With Abode Air you could write to any smartphone mobile OS targeting the iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS. Adobe is trying to make AS as versatile as possible.

Java has broadened scope, allows to target more devices than AS3. may be its because its been in existence more than AS3. Java helps to write standalone applications, server side via JEE, client-side web apps via GWT, Google allows Android devices programmers to be written with Java, JavaFX and Applets are another of client side capability of Java. With Java the biggest thing I hate is the Documentation, it always lacks examples in the very native looking JavaDocs pages. Thanks to StackOverflow so many undocumented fixes are just a Google search away

PHP, so versatile, though Ive only put it to use on Web server as a server side language,
Its wide range of functions just make even the best PHP devs awe at whats available. Examples are so expressive that documentation deem useless.Pretty much every thing you can do in the sever can be done with PHP, Still there are a few things id prefer PHP not to be, not have its vars prefixed by a $, it has faked object orientation, and the way to access these objects in code is just a pain you need to add 2 chars (->) instead of the dot(.). PHP i know is not typed(Variables dont have types, its possible to assign any value a number, string or a boolean to any variable), that makes me a bit uncomfortable to code. Another thing I havent still figured out is how to debug code without using the popular echo() function.

Then comes C#, I just think thats its a very capable language with features similar to Java in other words its Microsoft's version of Java, Microsoft does a good job attempting to make the language more friendly for developers via its great IDE Visual Studio. I think c# would not have been so popular if not for the IDE it bundles it. You could target pretty much all windows based devices including Mobile with C#.It documentation is great, it has to be since you pay for the IDE.

JavaScript was dying until to smartphones were introduced to the market, it hass been the language that has untied the mobile devices this this divided era. Basically every smartphone and tablet everywhere is able to run complex JavaScript code. JavaScript natively is not typed and not object oriented, Though faked object oriented frameworks have been introduced these code look too verbose or too thin to comprehend. Not being typed is actually seen as an advantage by JS developers but I think it just breaks the discipline of the code. A programming concept that wowed me when i first saw it was jQuery's code chaining. It allows you to execute an infinite amount of actions with just line of code. Hmmph... try doing it with Java, No Way.
JavaScript is gaining popularity being able to run out side the browser as just as well how it ran inside it. This is true with hybrid mobile applications.

Conclusion is for you to decide....
Happy Coding...... :)

Can you guess this place? - A video riddle for travellers

This is a very popular destination in india, can you guess?
A Clue, this is in India :D

Sawahili Madopur, Rajasthan

Savahi Madopur is a town in Rajasthan, India.
I got the opportunity to get on top of a building there and record a panorama - See for yourself

Panaroma from Roof in Sawahili Madopur, Rajastan, India

Panaroma from Roof in Sawahili Madopur, Rajastan, India

June 2010

Hikkaduwa - The coral gardens of Sri Lanka

Hikkaduwa was once reputed for its colorful coral shores with vibrant fish,
but with the coming of the Tsunami, most of the corals were washed off, and the fish whih were residing in them also have gone down in numbers

See my visit to Coral Area of Hikkaduwa in 2010 - a few years after the Tsunami devastation (44 Sec video)

44 sec Boat Ride in Hikkaduwa Coral Sands

The Eid Ghar of Sheopur

The Eid Ghar is theplace where muslims in many parts of india gather to pray on the day of the Islamic Festival (Eid)
Eid Ghar literally means Festival House

Below is the Eid Ghar of Sheopur;
The villagers are very proud of it

Eid ghar- Prayer Makaan - Sheopur,MP, India

Eid ghar- Prayer Makaan - Sheopur,MP, India

June 2010