Easter Holiday

This Easter Holiday is really boring. I watched a long Japanese drama and a whole piece of Anime. The only interesting event happened was a girl get contacted me. We will meet together this Saturday. Stay tune!

Homework (again)

Tons of homework is going to be turned-in. I can't start doing them until the last minute...

Job Hunting

In these two weeks, a friend of mine was preparing going back to the job market. Writing resume and writing cover letter are really the state of arts. They can never get perfect even we keep revising them.

LoversDB.com

This blog is a continue of a blog written in last month. A friend of mine formulated a match making web site idea. However, we found that there are many existing similar web sites already. The pricing model seems more simple.

Anyway, he is going to implement the code as an exercise of learning PHP.

ICQ

小弟有個怪癖，就係得閒時去睇人哋 ICQ 嘅 Info. 我覺得 ICQ 嘅 Info 係一個表達自己嘅地方，係人都睇得，但係你又唔知有無人睇。人哋睇完，可能笑一笑，就行開咗，又唔會去追究你寫過乜。所以，我自己寫嘅嘢，好多都係內心嘅 說話，又唔想同人講，但求有個知音人睇完，問候吓，就已經心滿意足。

Mozilla

It's has been awhile I using Mozilla Suite as my standard browser, mail client, and newsgroup reader. For the newsgroup reader (i.e. Mozilla Mail), the shortcut keys are very different from what I was used to (the Netscape Newsgroup). I tried to adopt the new shortcut keys but it just aren't making any sense. Finally, I installed an extension, keyconfig, today. Now, I have the optimal configuration.

Besides, there is one little bug that border be for a few weeks. I used to be able open a new tab when I use middle click to open new tab in mail or news article. However, for some reason, it just doesn't work. I also found the bug today and got it patch from the bugzilla of Mozilla.

Thought and Idea

Yesterday, something draw my attention. Some people were claiming that REST would become the standard way to execute web service. Some even claimed that it might replace SOUP soon. For the simplicity sake, I agree that REST is far superior than SOUP. It will be good for the services that are not classified as "mission critical".

REST, however, can be the next wave of RIA. Besides Java Applet + Java Servlet or Flash + AMF, REST can combine with DHTML to do all those screen manipulation, like gmail. Let's see what's going to happen next.

Homework

I've been working on the homework this week. Probably will continue for the whole month. I found that I cannot focus on the homework when I am sitting in front of the computer. I'll try to improve that otherwise I cannot finish up anything.

Swim

Thanks to my buddy, I finally got enough confident to swim. On Friday, it was my first time to swim for the whole pool. Sometimes, I was confident enough to swim in the second lane.

But after the swimming session, I think my joints got hurt. They keep complaining, even at this moment. I think need to give them a good rest.

Weird Library Regulation

This Thursday, I got a notice from a library which wrote that a book I borrowed was overdued. When I revised the return date of the book, the due date was March 4. The due date written in the notice was January 19.

I called the library at once to ask for more information about it. The libarian said that someone has recalled the book and I was supposed to return the book after 16 day I borrow it. Also, I got no other notice that the book was recalled.

Finally, I remembered that I have another email account which is provided by HKU computing service, which I think no CS student will use. The libarian said I can try to return the book and have the overdue fee waived in the library. Luckily enough, the fee got waived. I don't need to pay the 100 bucks.

生意

故名思義，生意就係求生嘅意志。蝕本生意，好明顯唔係生意。所謂創業難，守業更難。諗到一個 idea, 再實行埋，但係唔知賺唔賺到錢，又係咪一盤生意呢?

如果投資唔大，又唔係靠佢開飯，無乜風險，的確可以一試。唔係嘅話，最好都要做好市場調查，睇吓有無咁嘅需求好 D 喇！

Business Idea

My friend has formulated a business idea about match making. I was busy for the architectural design. As the assignments is flooding out from my courses, I will pause the implementation until I have all assignments done.

理財

好多朋友都無好好咁理財，亦都無打算去做任何財務計劃。其實，好多事都同錢有關，結婚、生仔、供樓、退休等等。唔通真係等要用嗰陣先諗?

又或者可能有少少計劃，但係不得其法，例如放晒入銀行，又或者倚賴保險。到最後，達唔到任何目標，得個煩字。係咪都應該題醒吓朋友點做一個好嘅財務計劃呢?

星座

筆者係一個相信星座嘅人，雖然未致於素有研究，但亦略懂一二。點解會信呢? 睇返自己同身邊嘅人，都同星座所講嘅性格非常吻哈。



就好似娘親咁，係非常主觀、發嬲時唔係人咁笨嘅獅子座。而其中一個好友呢，就係做事好積極、有時有少少衝動嘅白羊座。而自己，就係比較內向、用外殼保護自己嘅巨蟹座。我諗星座所講嘅嘢都有七、八成準，點都叫做有參考價值。



但唔講唔知，巨蟹座同白羊座其實唔係咁啱，但係我同呢位朋友就非常要好。呢 D 就係之前所講嘅「緣」。

Chinese New Year

Wednesday is the first day of Chinese New Year. I enjoyed the day with my family.

We first went to restaurant to "drink tea". Then we took bus to the peak and stayed for awhile. After having the dinner, we tried to watch the parade. However, there are too many people. We went back to home straight.

憎

憎，一個可圈可點嘅字，每人嘅定義都唔同。唔鐘意可以叫憎，討厭亦都可以叫憎。但係乜嘢定義都好，都係負面嘅。但係，我哋又需唔需要去憎一個人呢?



如果一個乞你憎嘅人，係朝見口晚見面，你憎佢，就好似罰自己咁。一個你唔識嘅人得罪咗你，你憎佢，你又唔會記住，憎嚟都無謂。



與其去憎一個人，不如正面一 D 去發掘一個人嘅好處。多了解，體諒，對自己又好，話唔埋隨時多個朋友。但如果你真係好憎一個人，亦都搵唔佢丁點好處，咁就唯有避之則吉。

Sitting in eCommerce Class

I've attended an ePayment course that my friend is taking. The lecturer came from America. I felt like I was in US in during the class. I think I'll take some eCommerce courses in the future.

If comparing this course with the course in Computer Science, it's more intersting. Maybe I get used to the American style already.

嗌交

剛剛睇完套日劇，指兄弟姐妹之間嗌交係平常事，獨生嘅呢，就無乜機會同人嗌交。嗌交，正面嚟講，係兩個人毫不忌諱咁表達自己嘅諗法，語氣比平常重。但係，點解會同人嗌交呢? 有乜人會同你嗌交呢?



一個同你嗌交嘅人，同你熟係好重要。同你唔熟，可能你連嗌都費事。你可以為一個人著想而同佢嗌，可以為芝麻綠豆嘅分歧同佢嗌，甚至為嗌而嗌。嗌完一場交，當日可能有 D 唔舒服，但係第二日，又可以玩到攪埋一堆。



以前，啊哥未去英國之前，兄弟間係經常嗌交，甚至打交。到啊哥去咗英國，就同朋友嗌。讀完大學之後，返到嚟香港，就收晒火喇。可能好珍惜依家嘅朋友，唔想傷和氣，所以唔想嗌。

朋友 - 緣

呢幾日諗緊一個難題，話說有個朋友，中學識嘅。我無同佢同過班，剩係同佢一齊讀過一個星期先有兩堂嘅 Computer Studies, 但係就偏偏係依家最老死嘅朋友。



我今日都問過佢，但係佢都解唔到究竟我哋點樣熟絡。我諗唯一解釋到嘅，就係緣。緣呢樣嘢好奇妙，只要時辰一到，擋都擋唔住。無嘅話，真係住响隔籬，甚至做埋同房，都唔會識到。



我呢，人緣就幾好喇，但姻緣就嘛嘛。

Self-disposing Resource Pattern

A few mon, I have encountered a quite disturbing problem (see below). Until recently, I found that this problem can be solved by a interesting class, SoftReference, in Java. So, I formulated the following pattern. It's still a rough draft, but I would like to publish it first.

Name: Self-disposing Resource Pattern (Java)
Context: A is some expensive resource that may or may not be pooled. A is used to create another kind of resource, B. If A is disposed, it cannot create B anymore. However, if A is not disposed, the system may run out of memory.
Problem: Determine when to dispose A.
Solution: Java comes with SoftReference class for memory management. “An object is softly reachable if it is not strongly reachable but can be reached by traversing a soft reference.” An A instance can be registered to a resource manager to be a soft reference when it is no longer reachable by any thread. On the other hand, the resource manager can start off a thread to dequeue the SoftReference instances from a reference queue and clean up the resource properly.