Things i enjoyed...

What it is to crack GATE Exam? Part - IV.

2009-09-12T03:08:00.001-07:00

1) Mock tests.
-> This should be started 1 month before the exam. Mock tests are very important to analyze how you are performing with respect to time, tension etc. Make sure to do create an exam environment, set time, isolate yourself from day to day disturbances, and take the exam. You can find mock paper @GateForum.com. Analyze your answers with the key, collect all the questions you have answered wrongly, classify them to following categories

Don't have a clue of the question.
I have read something like this, but not sure what is the answer.
I have read this kind of question, but forgot who to do it due to tension.
Solved the problem, but wrong answer as i have missed some parameters in the question.
Solved the problem, marked it wrongly.
Out of syllabus/wrong key/partial question (Ignore these questions)

Now out of above 4 should be fixed by reading the question completely before jumping to answer it. 5 can be fixed by cross checking every answer if that is the one i want to mark(Question number as well as the choice). (Clarification: Assume it take extra 5 on avg seconds per question, 72*5 = 7 mins out of whole time, which is not very bad if you can save 5-6 questions that come into this category).

For 1,2,3 the reason for not answering is that you are not very confident on those topics, divides all the questions in this bucket into various sub topics. Once you are done with this you, I will bet that you will be surprised to see the wrongly answered questions will go to well defined subtopics in some or the other subjects. Bingo!! You found what need to do now i guess, prepare these topics and Repeat the same with few more mock tests.

2) Last minute preparation.
On the day just before just browse important formulas, constants, TODO stuff, Do a mock in the afternoon, analyze again, ideally if you have done the mock tests prep as i have mentioned in the last question, you will get good score and feel lot confident in the previous night, and Next day is the day you come out the examination center and shout i have made it. Hurray......

All the best for all the Gate Aspirants.......

Satya

What it is to crack GATE Exam? Part - III.

2009-09-12T02:16:00.000-07:00

1) What are you going to be tested for in Gate Exam?

-> I have already briefed this in the first post, let me elaborate on this in this post. Gate exam tries to test the "Concepts of Engineering". For computer science, let me present how to look at things with few examples . (I might not explain in deep here, but give a glimpse on how to look at things)

Questions: (each question can have multiple answers)

-------------

a) Computation Theory: You can represent a regular language using

i) Finite Automata

ii) Push down Automata

iii) Linear Bounded Automata

iv) Turing Machine

b) Data Structures: Which of the following is/are true.

i) Binary tree and Binary search tree means the same.

ii) A complete binary tree is not balanced.

iii) Worst Complexity of finding a element is a binary search tree is Theta(log(n)).

c) Computer Architecture: Let's take as an example a system with 512 KB of L2 cache and 64 MB of main memory. Assuming cache is 4 way associative, (memory operations are of word length - typically 32 bytes), It uses LRU for eviction policy.

1) The cache has 512K address lines. (True/False)

2) Assuming the two consecutive memory requests are random, what is the probability that the second request will evict the data of the first request from the cache is (<0.5>0.5 or =0.5).

Answers:

-----------

a) If your answer is (i), wow great you are right, but since there can be multiple answers as i said, all (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) are correct. Can you answer why?

So there are four types of languages as you might have read in your books.

Type 1: Unrestricted grammar, some formulae, can be represented using turing machine,

Type 2: and so on.

But we should know is that as we go to higher types they get more and more restricted, ie type 2 languages are subset of type 1, type 3 is subset of type 2, so on.

That means, type 4 grammar is subset of all other types, which is type 4 can be represented using any automaton that is used for representing type 1, type 2, type 3 and type 4. Hence the answer.

b) Lets just about understanding the the data structure means.

i) False. Refer to definitions.

ii) False. A complete binary tree is a balanced tree, Again refer to definitions.

iii) False. Average case complexity is Theta(log(n)), Worst case complexity is O(n). and best case complexity Omega(1). Again if you understand the terms Theta, Big O, Omega, then you can appreciate this question, and only then you will understand why.

c) i) False, since the size of each cache line is word length as that is unit of memory operation, it can't fetch data in smaller sizes, so number of cache lines will be 512K/32 = 16K cache lines.

Refer this link to understand what is 4 way associative memory.

ii) Answer is 0. Since in a four way associative memory, that uses LRU, there still 3 other cache lines that the second request can go to. If if the other 3 cache lines are filled, it will evict of these 3 as, it is LRU policy.

(You can understand these explanation only once you understand the 3 types of caches)

I know that i have not 100% clearly explained the answers, i want you to explore it. I have given a glimpse of how think, and approach.

So if you start reasoning while preparing for the Gate exam, I am sure u have mastered the technical part of cracking the gate exam. Last part is how to allocate time and prepare for the exam, is in part IV

What it is to crack GATE Exam? Part - II.

2009-06-22T09:28:00.000-07:00

1) How much time i should dedicate in-order to crack GATE?

-> GATE syllabus covers all the subjects one have learnt during the 4 years of engineering(Includes only revelant subjects to the specific department that are covered in 1st year though). So if you are conceptual learner(kind 4) as described in the previous post, few months of serious preperation before the exam is enough for cracking Gate Exam. For others it varies according to how far are away from the being conceptual learner.

2)Is Coaching Classes necessary for Gate Exam?

->Most of the people think, coaching classes are necessary to crack Gate exam, but its not true. Only thing coaching classes help is they consolidate all the information one required for cracking the Gate exam and mock tests, but just reading the formula's and solving the problems at the end of the chapters will have no effect until you understand the solutions for the problems and their application. As Gate questions won't get repeated, only way is to understand the concepts for all the subjects. Gate has different weightages for different subjects, so you have to check it before starting your preparation for Gate exam. 3-4 mock tests in the last week before the Gate exam, will surely help in boosting your score.

3) What is the rough rank i should get in order to get a good college?

-> This information is regarding CS, If you are planning to get into IISC or IIT's you need a rank in the range 1-300 depending on percentage of people appeared for Gate really interested in doing higher studies. Getting into an IIT and completing your Masters with good percentage will assure you a job with a salary of 7-15 lpa(Lakhs per annum). Next best are NIT's, a rank around 400-700 will assure seat in one of the top NIT's. The job prospects in hear depends on the NIT though, You can expect salary range of 4-10 lpa(depending on the institute). For more information about the cut off, previous years trends, etc visit one of the following websites.

4) How much impact does getting into nice college on my career?

-> As you can clearly guess answer to this question is yes it has impact and it varies from IIT's to NIT's, but it all depends on you. If you have chosen a good research project, and professor who can guide you well, IIT or NIT or IISC doesn't matter much. But the chances for doing so is much easier in IIT's than in NIT's. You can find the ranking of various college using Google Search. An old ranking order can be found here.

- Satyanarayana Manyam.

What it is to crack GATE Exam? Part - I.

2009-06-17T03:41:00.000-07:00

1) How difficult it is to crack Gate Exam?
-> Gate is like any other multiple choice technical examination like AIEEE, EAMCET etc, only difference is it concentrates on one branch of study like Computers, Electronics, Mechanical, Civil etc. The main difficultly of this exam is wrong perception of what exactly 'Gate examination' tests for? It tests your understanding of core engineering subjects you have learnt, not the amount of content you have mugged, unlike other exams. I will eloborate on this in my third post, for now let's move on with a small example.

What is the complexity of quick sort?

If your answer for the above question is O(nlogn). Well you are good in mugging(Nothing else). (Note: Mugging is not something bad, I am just referring to 'blind understanding of the subject' as mugging)
If your answer is worst case complexity O(n^2), average case is O(nlogn) and best case is so and so. Well you have good knowledge on understanding the question, and answered the question, i rate you as mugger, but intelligent mugger.
If your answer is above, and u know why is it that complexity. Well then you are hard working guy, trying to learn very thing from books and have a good bookish knowledge.
Finally If you know what is the answer, why is that so, why is it Big O(), rather than Theta() or Omega(), what exactly these three things mean, when to use what notation. There you go, Gate exam is a cake walk for you.

So your answer to above question explains how difficult it is for you to crack gate exam. If your answer is

U have a long way to go, concentrate more on understanding rather than answering the question.
U have the right attitude for understanding, you have to just question "why" for every question u answer, :)
U are almost at the edge of success, give a bit more thought on "why X is X but not Y?".
U are perfect and have enough talent for cracking Gate Exam.

But this is not all, you need 3 other things along with understanding of the subject, for you to be topper in the Gate.

Speed, amount of time for u to respond for the question.
Mental Peace, Or "Not having tension" as you can call it. This is one thing, most talented people lack at important situation of life.(I will write a post on it later).
Luck, Or you can call it "Law of Attraction", as documented by BBC.

Part - II, click here.

- Satyanarayana Manyam

What it is to crack GATE Exam? Overview.

2009-06-17T03:18:00.000-07:00

So I am just googling my name and found my GATE credentials posted in www.gatementor.com, which made me think why can't post my views on GATE Examination(though it relevant only for CSE, IT Gate aspirants). First of all i like to inform my GATE ranks, for you to have reasonable credebility of what i am posting.
GATE 2007 CS - AIR 17.
GATE 2008 CS - AIR 4(Percentile 99.98).

One other reason of this post can be attributed to recession which made lot students to go for higher studies as getting a job in current situation(summer 2009) is very hard. Please bare with grammatical mistakes if any :)
I am posting my detailed views on few topics.
PART - I :

How difficult it is to crack Gate Exam?

PART - II:

How much time i should dedicate in-order to crack GATE?
What is the rough rank i should get in order to get a good college?
How much impact does getting into nice college will it have on my career?

PART - III:

What are you going to be tested for in Gate Exam?(If u can grasp this 100% and follow it u can see ur name in the Gate toppers list).

PART - IV

Mock tests.
Last minute preparation.

- Satyanarayana Manyam

Few random sites that hit upon recently.

2009-06-11T10:00:00.001-07:00

siliconindia.com - the humour section of this website is hilarious, i can't stop laughing over the jokes.

robozzle.com - Robot programming website, very addictive, interesting and brain power consuming.

mashable.com - techie news portal, very intersting articles.

bumptop.com - Nice Destop GUI, but needs more functionality for a person to stick to it.

photofunia.com - Make a fool of yourself (and your friends).

Android, the future of the mobile world.

2009-01-04T04:38:00.000-08:00

Finally i bought T mobile G1, a phone powered by Android Operating system from Google. The Phone is great because it works on Android Operating System. The power comes to android as it is open source mobile operating system. so i have the power in my hand to customize a phone however i want if i can a techie. Ever for other its good because there will like minded techies who will develop the Customizations and normal people can use them. I will post a review on the it shortly, but before that there is some thing important to know about the phone.
In india phone is not released yet, Either u have buy a unlocked developer version or a contract free phone and unlock it. There are few things to know before u unlock the G1 in the later case.

To unlock g1 visit www.unlock-tmobileg1.com, u have to pay 24$ via paypal to get the unlock code.
To unlock the phone u need a sim card with a data plan enabled on it.
U need to know the MNC MCC codes for ur carrier( click here for the codes ).
Should know the APN setting for ur carrier.

The above thing are very important. To know about various data plans call ur customer care.
Issues i have faced during the process.
I am using airtel karnataka as my service provider with a post paid connection. Here are various available data plans settings

Plan 1

Rs.399 per month
100 MB Free Usage

Rs.5 per extra MB

Plan 2

Rs.599 per month
1GB Free Usage

Rs.3 per extra MB

Plan 3

Rs. 799 per month
1.5 GB Free Usage

Rs.3 per extra MB

Plan 4

Rs 140 per week, Unlimited. Better go for this one.

Connection settings

APN: airtelgprs.com

MNC: 45

MCC: 404

Will update more very shortly. The is very less information online till noe on this topic, i will sure to update info as soon as possible. In case of any querys leave a comment.

Hand writing recognition in China Phones.

2009-01-04T04:34:00.000-08:00

A quick update on the hand writing recognition in china phones. Check the setting tab in the phone to enable the hand writing recognition feature. The hand writing recognition is very slow, you have to write a single letter and wait for it to recognize it before the next letter. Once it recognizes the letter it will display few suggestions and we have to select one. Now u have to proceed to next character.

My Experience with the China Phone.

2009-01-04T04:10:00.000-08:00

Finally the time has come, and i am moving from the China Mobile E6188 to HTC G1 with android Operating system. I have used the china phone for about 6 months, let me discuss few pros and cons associated with a china phone.
Advantages of China Phones.

Dual Sim.
Bigger touch screen with hand writing detection.
Sexy mp3 playback.
FM, Wifi, GPRS, etc etc.
Very very cheap.
Very good battery back up.
Nice gadget to show off.
Light Weight.

Disadvantages of a china Phone.(Must read this before buying a china phone)

No two china phones have the same features. (Make sure u check all the features are there for the peice u have in ur hand).
What is use of Dual sim if only one works at a time.( Only few phone have the ability to keep both the sim's active)
Touch Screen is good, but the hand writing detection responds very slowly.
Many a phone don't have support for java( I am the victim for this) . Check before u buy.
Will have lot of options, but it is not very customizable phone.
No warranty, no proper support.
Have limited support for various formats of songs, images.
The UI is badly designed, the num pads will be different to normal ones.
Resale value is potentiality Zero.
Configuring GPRS and browsing experience is very bad.
The response time of the camera increases very fast, making it useless for taking photo's.
and lot more.

When to buy a China Phone.

Need a phone to show off rather than use case.
Need long battery life, loud mp3 playback for long time.
Light weight, cheap, huge display phone is the main motto of buying a phone.
Need to have touch experience for less than 3k.

When not to buy a China Phone.

If u are using it more frequently.
If u have a bit of experimentation attitute, its not for u.
If u want pleasant UI experience.

This is about my review on the china phone depending on my expereince, its up to u to decide if u want to buy one. May be the china mobile i took is a screwed up model, who knows. In case of any info or clarification u can post a comment.

USB 3.0 : Upcoming Technology from Intel

2008-08-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

Picture of a USB 3.0 cable

Last week Intel unveiled USB 3.0 specs that demonstrates how the next generation USB is going to work. USB 3.0, also known as SuperSpeed USB, is due out in 2009 or 2010. Intel was even kind enough to make the new specification royalty free so that developers don’t have to fork out money just to make devices that utilize the new technology.

What’s so great about USB 3.0 that will make you want to jump on the bandwagon? Here’s a list of some of my favorite features:

Faster transfers, duh. USB 3.0 will be able to move data at a mouth-watering 4.8Gbit/s (614MByte/s). That’s 10 times faster than USB 2.0, and the speed difference will definitely be noticeable with larger files. For example, a 27GB movie will take 70-seconds to transfer as opposed to 15-minutes with USB 2.0.
Read and write simultaneously. With the current USB technologies devices can’t read and write at the same time, but that’s a thing of the past with USB 3.0.
More power output. The power output will be bumped up from 100 milliamps to 900 milliamps. You’ll therefore be able to charge more power-hungry devices at a single time.
Power friendly. USB 3.0 will use an interrupt-driven protocol instead of a polling system when the host is looking for traffic. That means your laptop won’t have to waste precious resources trying to see if a connected camera is trying to send data.
Backwards compatible. You’ll be able to plug-in a USB 3.0 cable into a USB 2.0 device, and still reap some of the benefits like the new interrupt-driven protocol for conserving power.

Sounds great to me. Some of the things like the faster data transfers will be governed by what your hardware is capable of though. Mechanical hard drives will be one of the biggest limitations for users as they won’t be able to write data faster than USB 3.0 will be able to transfer it. SATA drives capable of 6.0Gbit/s speeds might be out in time for USB 3.0, otherwise we might be relying on solid state drives (SSD) to make the most of the technology.

Checkout Maximum PC for more photos of what the USB 3.0 cable looks like.

Qliner hotkeys: the keyboard is back...

2008-08-18T06:21:00.000-07:00

Qliner hotkeys is a free and open source keyboard productivity environment. It is the first product of its kind that is usable by computer geeks and non geeks alike.

Hotkeys builds on the concept of Windows shortcut keys but takes this concept to a whole new level. Do you think key combinations are hard to remember? Just hold the Windows key for three seconds and up pops a on screen Keyboard with icons on the keys that are configured. This you can use , not only to remind you of hotkey combinations, but also for Drag and Drop Configuration.

Smart application launching and switching

Hotkeys is smart in the way it launches applications and opens documents. When a key combination is pressed hotkeys will first try to find an existing instance of the requested application or document and bring that to the front. This behaviour can be overruled by holding the Alt key, which ensures that a new instance is allways launched. If no existing instances are found a new instance is started. If multiple instances are running the Instance Switching menu is displayed.

Drag and drop configuration

Holding the Windows key for several seconds, or pressing Win + Z shows the on screen keyboard. It is an easy tool to look up existing key combinations. The keyboard is also used for drag and drop configuration: you can drag the icons on the keyboard to different keys or drag new items onto the keyboard.

The keyboard is highly configurable. You can change the color and layout to make it match your actual, physical keyboard. Besides support for more than 100 international keyboards layouts, hotkeys also supports Dvorak layout.

To find more info click here to visit Qliner Home Page

googlef06bc3c60465c161

2008-07-16T05:25:00.000-07:00

Registering my blog for using Google Webmaster Tools

Important information to work with China Mobiles....

2008-06-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

China Mobiles refer to the mobiles that are manufactured in China by some group of companies like JinPeng, Suny Errucson etc. First things first we need an USB driver for the mobile. The USB Drives for these China mobiles are MT6227, MT6228 and so on. The USB driver for my mobile JinPeng E6188 is MT6227. Next we need a software to interact with the phone, something like PC Suite for Nokia Mobiles. The software here is called as China Phone PC Suite or more technically PC Sync Manager. Most of the China Mobiles with Camera will also have webcam functionality(ie the phone itself acts as a webcam), for which a webcam driver needs to be installed.

Here is How to install these above softwares(for Windows).
1.Download the Software from rapid share.
link: http://rapidshare.com/files/71984019/ChinaPhoneSuite.rar
(Other download links will be present at this mobile forums)
2. Connect the phone to the computer using USB Cable that is provided with the phone.
3. The Windows will automatically search driver MT6227 (for my mobile) or what ever it is from the internet.(Download link will be present at this mobile forums)
4. Now Unrar the file that is downloaded from Rapid Share. First Copy the 'Dirvers' folder into the 'China Phone Suite' folder, and click 'setup.exe' file present in 'China Phone Suite' folder.
5. Now you can open the 'PC Suite Manager' that is just installed and start transfering data to and fro from your China Mobile. Incase the softwares is not connecting to phone, Go to settings field in the 'PC Suite Manager' and try different "COM' options available(you have to change the COM setting, exit and restart 'PC Suite Manager' each time). It should work otherwise refer this mobile forum.
6. I am yet to check the webcam driver(will update shortly).

Now that all software u need is installed, u can go to some of the sites mentioned below for getting themes, wallpapers, ringtones

www.phone.mobile9.com (best source)
www.wallpaper4mobile.com
www.cellphone-wallpapers.net

Other things that u need to know are,

Default Lock/Unlock SIM Pin for China Mobiles is 1234(mostly, be careful u will have only 3 chance to try if you don't know your pin).
Default Lock/Unlock Phone Pin for China Mobiles is 0000(zero,zero,zero,zero) (mostly, be careful u will have only 3 chance to try if you don't know your pin).
Default Password pin to Restore the factory Settings for China Mobiles is 0000 (zero,zero,zero,zero) mostly.

Here are some of the secret service codes for china mobiles.

default user code: 1122, 3344, 1234, 5678
Engineer mode: *#110*01#
Factory mode: *#987#
Enable COM port: *#110*01# -> Device -> Set UART -> PS Config -> UART1/115200
Restore factory settings: *#987*99#
LCD contrast: *#369#
software version: *#800#
software version: *#900#
set default language: *#0000# Send
set English language: *#0044# Send
set English language (new firmware): *#001# Send

Different symbols in service code refer to different things
** Register and Activate
* Activate
## De-Register (and Deactivate)
# Deactivate
*# Check Status.

Example for Call waiting:
Activate call waiting *43*#
Deactivate call waiting #43##
Check status of call waiting *#43#

To understand more about service code click here.
This is all one need to know when is starting with your new China Mobile.
Post a comment in case of any help while installing above softwares.

Got my new mobile !!!

2008-06-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Until some point of time i thought of buying only Nokia phone as it is more suitable for rough usage when compared to other mobiles like LG, Samsung. But when went to meet my friend kiran in khammam, i saw something called China Mobile, having amazing features like touch screen, dual sim, Blue tooth, Camera, large screen, sexy mp3 player and so on and when he told that it's price is Rs.4000 i got surprised. Next moment he told that is very good except that help manual is in Chinese only, less online help in Mobile's website, and there is no warranty and guarantee. Since we are getting lot of stuff for a very normal price i thought that the disadvantages are acceptable. I got so attracted and next day i bought one for 4000 bucks. here is its pictures...

Now that i am owner of a china mobile E6188 by JinPeng Company, i started to explore how to work with the it. In my next post i will mention all the things i have found in various forums for everyone. Signing off for now.
List of features of JinPeng E6188 GSM Dual Sim Blue tooth mobile...

Messaging：SMS/MMS/EMAIL
Browser: WAP,INTERNET
Application：clock、Voice memo 、STK、Profiles
Handwriting recognition
Imaging: support BMP/JPEG /GIF
Ringtone: 128 poly/MP3
Memory card: T-flash Card
Camera: 1.3M pixel
Multimedia; MP3 player,Video recording and playback, support MEPG-4, 3GP, FM
Operating Frequency：GSM/GPRS 900MHz/1800MHz
Operating system: Windows Mobile 5.0
Type：Bar
Display：262K color TFT with touch panel
Display Pixel：240x320
Built-in Antenna
Dimensions：111×57×17 mm
Weight: 120 gm
Interface：USB/earphone
Lot more..

Nice Quotes

2008-01-27T04:53:00.001-08:00

"If something is worth doing once, it's worth building a tool to do it."

"Your problem is another's solution,
Your solution will be his problem."

A Nice Timepass Game

2008-01-27T04:35:00.001-08:00

A nice flash game just try to smash all ball on the table down.

http://home.planet.nl/~borst595/pEngine246.swf

Best of the Firefox Plugin !!!

2008-01-10T05:42:00.000-08:00

1. Cooliris Previews
2. Ctrl Tab Preview
3. Greasemonkey
4. StumbleUpon
5. ScribeFire
6. Web Developer
7. Firebug
8. Clipmarks
9. Web Developer

15 Things It Took Me Over 50 Years To Learn ( me here is not me, guy who actually wrote it )

2007-10-23T11:56:00.001-07:00

If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved and never will achieve its full potential, that word would be “meetings.”

clipped from www.awesomeology.com

15 Things It Took Me Over 50 Years To Learn

Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

You should not confuse your career with your life.

Never lick a steak knife.

There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

A person who is nice to you but rude to a waiter is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

Your friends love you anyway.

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

A site that claims to beat google one day !!! (will it??)

2007-10-23T11:26:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.agloco.com

Do You Realize How Valuable You Are?

Advertisers, search providers, and online retailers are paying billions to reach you while you surf. How much of that money are you getting?

You Deserve A Piece of the Action

AGLOCO gets paid by companies to reach our Members through our Viewbar™ software. We give that money back to you.

Best Firefox Plugin i had ever seen...

2007-10-23T11:03:00.001-07:00

clipped from addons.mozilla.org

With Clipmarks, you can clip the best parts of web pages. Whether it's a paragraph, sentence, image or video, you can capture just the pieces you want without having to bookmark the entire page.

You can save your clips privately or publicly, email them to friends, or post them directly to your blog. Our new ClipSearch feature lets you search based on matching keywords inside the content you clip, as well as any tags, titles and descriptions you add. In effect, by clipping the best parts of Web pages, you build a personal search engine for the things that matter to you.