Saturday, December 31, 2011

7 years since 'Hello World!'

That it's exactly 7 years since I made my first programming project brings me feelings of joy and fulfillment. Indeed it's been years of fixing bugs, testing and deployment. Some of my junior colleagues back at the university have asked me at one time or the other how they could grow, improve on their programming skills and all I usually do was encourage them to press on, to keep learning and coding. All they need to improve is time.

I started programming in QBASIC and made my first project in December, 2004. It was a payroll application. I have learnt and used the following technologies and programming languages. QBASIC, VBASIC 6.0, VB.NET, Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2003, 2005, MSSQLSERVER 2000, 2005, PHP/MySQL, Oracle 10g, Javascript and some its frameworks like jQuery, AJAX, XML, Java (J2SE and J2ME), Python, NetBeans IDE, Eclipse IDE, Adobe Suites (especially Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Photoshop and Flash), DBMS, Google Maps, Google App Engine, Software Engineering Techniques and Project Management.


A screen shot of part of the source codes of my first project


It would sound like exaggeration to say that I have worked on over 30 projects, because I have lost count too. I decided then to make a comprehensive list of the major projects I have worked on since 2004.
Some of the works are still in use, some have evolved and have new programmers on them, while some are out of use.

2011
  • EventDiaries.com (Work in progress)
  • Ecoinvest (Work in progress)
  • West Africa Market Information System (WAMIS)
  • SpreadIT (Mobile SpreadIT Messanging) Final year project at the University of Ibadan deployed at  mspreadit.appspot.com
  • Final Year Book (RCF Final Year Brethren, University of Ibadan)
  • Card Manager (ID Card Generator Engine)
  • Travellers' Information System (TIS)
2010
  • TrainingIT (Logistics App for a Short Training Programmes)
  • Road Marshal (Driving Licence, Vehicle Registration App)
  • Schmitt Automations
  • The Mobile Examiner (Let's you take examinations and tests right on your mobile phone, a Samsung Developers' Challenge First Runner-Up Prize Winner for Education Category)
2009
  • Patient Archive System (PAS) currently in use at Crestview Radiology Clinic, VI
  • Wish For Africa Content Management System (CMS) running wishforafrica.org
  • Students Record Management System (SRMS)
  • Paycard Loyalty Solution
  • File Upload System
  • Interactive Tutor
2008
  • Flomat Bookshop Catalogue System
  • Baby Palace (Baby Shopping App)
  • Family First Bookshop Catalogue System
  • WANEP Early Warning System (An environmental monitoring and evaluation system)
  • Recharge Card Vending App
  • Educo (Educational Management App for test taking, exam prep etc.)
  • Content Management System for OlusolaAkinseye.com
2007
  • Porfolio Management System (Final year project for my National Diploma at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos)
  • Event Manager (Calendar App for managing events, exhibited at NACOSS Software Exhibition)
  • TwentyNaira.com
  • ECOWAPP Website
  • ECOWAPP ICC (Information Coordination Center)
  • Setlin.com
2006
  • Hotel Reservation App for Parkview Hotels
  • Matrix Solution (An app that solves any matrix problem written in QBASIC and exhibited at NACOSS Software Exhibition Yabatech in February)
2004
  • Payroll System (Project at the completion of my IDPM training in Lagos, written in QBASIC

Well, I think I have come a long way. Besides programming and working on projects, I love teaching others what I know too and look forward to doing more of that. Over the years of programming, I have been nominated for programmer of the year awards at the University and have won twice. I also won the "Guru of the year" faculty award. My project "The Mobile Examiner" also won a prize on Samsung Developers' Challenge shortly after I developed it in 2010.

The projects I enjoyed developing most are the Mobile Examiner, Patient Archive System (PAS), WANEP Early Warning System and Matrix Solution. I have worked with quite a number of interesting people, Oghenekohwo Tega, Oluremi Onitilo, Diji Adeyemo, Biola Ibrahim, Itua Ijagbone, Dr. Onifade (Unibadan), Mr. Fatoki (Yabatech), Efosa Omogui (Alpha Consortium), Mr. Ayo Odeyemi (Delsoft), Mr. Eric Amagada (Delsoft), Mr. C.K. Bona, Mr. Ademola Ademokan, Mr. Welfare Nwocha (Alpha Consortium), Mr. Awele Okonkwo (Alpha Consortium), Mr. Femi Fajemirokun (ECOWAPP), Mrs. Ayo Fajemirokun (Easyduzit), Mr. Adeleke Orekoya, Mr. Adebanjo (BAFUTO), Dr. Awe, Dr. and Mrs. Fatade. They have all influenced me in special ways.

There are quite a number of people that have been my mentors, role models, and inspiration. My friends at Grid (the producers of the Unilag Website)-Ayo Lawrence, Mike Otasanya, Samson Adegunle, Charles Oribi and Mbong Nkana. Programmer C. K. Bona, Ademola Ademokan, Mr. Femi Fajemirokun, Mr. Awele Okonkwo and Mr. Samuel Fadipe (that's the man who made me believe I could be a programmer too back in 2004). I am ever thankful to God for helping me come across these wonderful people.

I have been a source of inspiration and influenced some special people too. Thank God for helping me to be a blessing to others. 

Amazingly, I cannot see the end of the road yet, definitely not. I still have a lot to learn, so much to perfect and be better at, more teams to work with, more projects to do. A whole lot more to achieve!

People Just like Us

What our physical eyes cannot see, our inner eyes can. Those who watch a bomb blast scene from afar, on television can't be compared to those who were right there when it happened. Well, that's a fact! The victims of such blasts had their flesh torn off, bones probably broken, while some never get to wake up again, the doctor had pronounced them dead. They get zipped up in bags, piled with other bags and moved to the morgue  Some get burnt to ashes for an offence they never committed and knew nothing about.

These people had their own lives, hopes, families, relationships, twitter accounts, facebook walls. They are men, women and children just like us. There's someone's dad, mom, husband, wife, brother, sister, uncle, friend and ... fill in the gap. But in the twinkle of an eye, at the sound of a blast, they were gone! Gone with the wind!


It's no longer news what happened last sunday at Madalla, Niger state, very close to Abuja, Nigeria, of the suicide bomb blast that claimed several lives and left others injured. Church worshippers who came to celebrate the Christmas with their loved ones. Did they bargain for this on a Christmas sunday? Definitely not!



Even if you were not at the blast scene, take a minute, look at the scene with your inner eyes. See the people who were once smiling happily out of church, looking forward to the warmest christmas, as their hopes got dashed, as their lives came to an abrupt, unforseen end, at the sound of a blast. People just like me and you.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Songs for the season


"Come to the well" is casting crowns newest album. It features songs just as "Courageous", the official sound track of a movie with the same name from Sherwood Pictures.
I have listened to the songs over and over and I love them all.
My favourite songs are "Courageous", "Already there", "The Well", "Angel", "So far to find you"



Don Moen released his newest album about 2 months ago "Uncharted Territory" with real cool songs (as usual). I noticed he co-wrote most of the songs with Mia Fieldes and  Claire Cloninger (the same Claire Cloninger in "We give you Glory"). Okay my favourite songs in Uncharted Territory are "Uncharted Territory", "You will be my song", "Somebody's praying for me", "My Portion You will ever be", "Thank You Jesus" and "Burn".

If you have listened to any of these albums, please it would be my pleasure to get your reviews, especially your favourite songs, thanks!

When you find the Muse, RUN!


Those who have played the Nintendo game "Mario" would remember that part where Mario gets a power star and keeps crushing everything on its way without getting hurt. The only problem is that the power star goes off after a while and Mario returns to normal. Same goes for us, our effectiveness with our work, relationships, academics and everything else varies with time. Sometimes we are highly effective and at other times, we are simply dragging our feet.



Attending seminars, psyching ourselves up, and the motivations we get for our daily up-keeps are fantastic. But I have realized that no matter how much we attend symposiums on how to make money or to have a lovely relationship, it doesn't still work out for a lot of people. Sometimes it even gets worse like when I read the book about how to work more and sleep less. That was when I began to sleep more and work less. But seriously, I believe that as much as we motivate ourselves to become more effective, we need more.

We need something that can help us get up early in the morning to do all we need to do to succeed. We need what poets call the Muse! An inner inspiration, strength, and wisdom that puts us at the top of our skills and performance.

Sometimes, we find it just the way Mario finds the power star but how fast do we run when we find it? How much do we do when you find the muse? Wait a minute, is it okay to wait for a muse to perform at optimum or do we just go out of our way to find it anyway. I have heard of singers who take marijuana and Indian hemp to perform better. Athletes who take hard drugs to get excellent results. Everyone is trying to keep up with the muse.

I must confess here that I do not know how to find the muse, the motivation to work at the peak of our strength and wisdom. Sometimes, I walk away from the problem for a while, or take a vacation, do something lighter and interesting. Sincerely, I am still trying to figure out the perfect way but I would caution people not to do what will hurt them during the course of finding the muse.

However, there is something I do know. Whenever you feel it that you are on top of your skills, strength and wisdom, then run as fast as you can.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

What if we've all been dreaming?


Imagine you were dreaming, and something bad, really bad was about to happen to you. Something as bad as falling off a tall building, or at gun point with this bad guy who is about to shoot you in the forehead. What would you do? Well, there is nothing much you can do, than to wake up from the dream.

You wake up suddenly, panting and then you come back to reality. You tell yourself that you've just had a bad dream. You get up from bed, put on your pair of slippers and go to the bathroom to wash your face. You are no longer in the dream world, but hey? Let's go back to the dream.

In the dream, you were falling off a tall building but you could not wait to see the end of it, you had to wake up quickly. But you fell off the building down to ground! People came around you, you were unconscious. Passers-by had to look into your wallet to identify you, an ambulance came around to help you to the hospital. Little do they know that you are no longer in the dream. They do not even have an idea that you are actually in the bathroom somewhere else washing your face and wondering why you had such a bad dream.

Sometimes, I look at our lives, the world we live in, the mystery of everything surrounding it and it leaves me in awe. We never saw the beginning of our lives, we were only told the story of how we were born. We cannot see the end of it either. If we were falling off a tall building in reality, we only fall off and helpers come around us, check our wallet to identify us and an ambulance comes around to pick us up to the hospital while our loved ones pray so hard that we make it.

What if we really wake up somewhere else? What if we wake up wondering what kind of dream we had? What if we wake up, put on our pair of slippers and go the bathroom to wash our face? What if we've all been dreaming?

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Top Ten Inventions

I really did not want to conclude if the computer is the best invention in the world, so here's something I stumbled on, while searching for top inventions in the world, of top ten popular inventions ever.

Number One: The telephone

The telephone is an instrument that converts voice and sound signals into electrical impulses for transmission by wire to a different location, where another telephone receives the electrical impulses and turns them back into recognizable sounds. In 1875, Alexander Graham Bell built the first telephone that transmitted electrically the human voice.

Number Two: Computers

There are many major milestones in the history of computers, starting with 1936, when Konrad Zuse built the first freely programmable computer.

Number Three: Television

In 1884, Paul Nipkow sent images over wires using a rotating metal disk technology with 18 lines of resolution. Television then evolved along two paths, mechanical based on Nipkow's rotating disks, and electronic based on the cathode ray tube. American Charles Jenkins and Scotsman John Baird followed the mechanical model while Philo Farnsworth, working independently in San Francisco, and Russian émigré Vladimir Zworkin, working for Westinghouse and later RCA, advanced the electronic model.

Number Four: The Automobile

In 1769, the very first self-propelled road vehicle was invented by French mechanic, Nicolas Joseph Cugnot. However, it was a steam-powered model. In 1885, Karl Benz designed and built the world's first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine. In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler took the internal combustion engine a step further and patented what is generally recognized as the prototype of the modern gas engine and later built the world's first four-wheeled motor vehicle.

Number Five: The Cotton Gin

Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin on March 14, 1794. The cotton gin is a machine that separates seeds, hulls and other unwanted materials from cotton after it has been picked.

Number Six: The Camera

In 1814, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce created the first photographic image with a camera obscura, however, the image required eight hours of light exposure and later faded. Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre is considered the inventor of the first practical process of photography in 1837.

Number Seven:  The Steam Engine
Thomas Savery was an English military engineer and inventor who in 1698, patented the first crude steam engine. Thomas Newcomen invented the atmospheric steam engine in 1712. James Watt improved Newcomen's design and invented what is considered the first modern steam engine in 1765.

Number Eight: The Sewing Machine

The first functional sewing machine was invented by the French tailor, Barthelemy Thimonnier, in 1830. In 1834, Walter Hunt built America's first (somewhat) successful sewing machine. Elias Howe patented the first lockstitch sewing machine in 1846. Isaac Singer invented the up-and-down motion mechanism. In 1857, James Gibbs patented the first chain-stitch single-thread sewing machine. Helen Augusta Blanchard patented the first zig-zag stitch machine in 1873.

Number Nine:  The Light Bulb

Contrary to popular belief, Thomas Alva Edison didn't "invent" the light bulb, but rather he improved upon a 50-year-old idea. In 1809, Humphry Davy, an English chemist, invented the first electric light. In 1878, Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, an English physicist, was the first person to invent a practical and longer-lasting electic lightbulb (13.5 hours) with a carbon fiber filament. In 1879, Thomas Alva Edison invented a carbon filament that burned for forty hours.

Number Ten: Penicillin

Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. Andrew Moyer patented the first method of industrial production of penicillin in 1948.


Culled from http://inventors.about.com/od/famousinventions/tp/topteninvention.htm

Here is another interesting link to top 10 greatest inventions in the world, slightly different from the ones listed here. Over six of the inventions listed related to the computer.
http://thewondrous.com/the-10-greatest-inventions-of-the-world/

Enjoy!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Church Centeredness




Here is an excerpt from Stephen R. Covey’s ”The  7 habits of Highly Effective People”

I believe that almost anyone who is seriously involved in any church will recognize that churchgoing is not synonymous with personal spirituality. There are some people who get so busy in church worship and projects that they become insensitive to the pressing human needs that surround them, contradicting the very precepts they profess to believe deeply.

There are others who attend church less frequently or not at all but whose attitudes and behaviour reflect a more genuine centering in the principles of the basic Judeo-Christian ethic.
Having participated throughout my life in organized church and community service groups, I have found out that attending church does not necessarily mean living the principles taught in those meetings. You can be active in church but inactive in its gospel.

In the church-centered life, image or appearance can become a person’s dominant consideration, leading to hypocrisy that undermines personal security and intrinsic worth. Guidance comes from a social conscience, and the church-centered person tends to label others artificially in terms of “active”, “inactive”, “liberal”, “orthodox”, or “conservative”.

Because the church is a formal organization made up of policies, programs, practices, and people, it cannot by itself give a person any deep, permanent security or sense of worth. Living the principles taught by the church can do this, but the organization alone cannot. Nor can the church give a person a constant sense of guidance.

Church-centered people often tend to live in compartments, acting and thinking and feeling in certain ways on the sabbath and a totally different ways on weekdays. Such a lack of wholeness or unity or integrity is a further threat to security, creating the need for increased labeling and self-justifying.

Seeing the church as an end rather than as a means to an end undermines a person’s wisdom and sense of balance. Although the church claims to teach people about the source of power, it does not claim to be that power itself. It claims to be one vehicle through which divine power can be channeled into man’s nature.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Oluwabunmi Ibrahim

Oluwabunmi Ibrahim (June 1991- December 2010)

I stumbled on Bunmi while searching for a childhood friend of mine with the same names and barely three months after we met, she passed away. I had the opportunity to meet her face to face just once, a month before she died. It's exactly a year today. It happened on her way back from school on a saturday like this. She died in an auto crash on her way back from FUTA (Federal University of Technology Akure).

I am so sure Oluwabunmi, that your family remembers you today. I don't know them but I feel their agony and pain, and of your closest friends, they all remember you today. This world misses you. Your family and friends miss you. I miss you. 

Sleep on dear friend.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Courageous the movie

If you have seen the newest movie from sherwood pictures, the producers of Fireproof and Facing the Giants, then you would agree with me that indeed, we would have less destitutes, crimes, and problems in our society if the men will only stand and take up their responsibilities, love their wives, be the best dad to their children.

I have joined men across the world and in Nigeria who are willing, who are courageous enough to say "I Will". This is our resolution, this is our stand, to be real men, dads, sons, and children of God. To be responsible to our nation, family and society.

You will learn a lot from this movie such as honesty and integrity (wow! honesty pays so much), parenting (especially fathering) and lots more.

Watch the trailer here and get to the theatres too, it is now showing.

Cheers!!!


I remember you

How do you explain to someone that you have not spoken to in a long time that you remember them? that they are always on your mind.

Deep in the inside of you, you want to reach out to the people in your life-very special people. Former school colleagues, teachers, lecturers, relatives, friends in church, pastors-really special people who have contributed in their own simple ways to what you are today. You might just spend the whole of your monthly budget trying to connect with them.

Yes, social networks are really helping us to reduce the cost of reaching out but how about a phone call? Wouldn't that suffice?

Dear Friends, mentor, colleague, teacher, oga, ....
I want to use this medium to let you know how much I remember you. The calls are not coming in, you have not gotten any text message from me in a very long time, but you mean a lot to me. I have not forgotten you. You will see because the next time your phone rings, it might just be me calling.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Greatest Limit

I''ve been thinking. Maybe you've been thinking about the same thing too. How do we achieve all we want to achieve within the time frame we set for ourselves? How do we break the limits imposed on us? How do we cheat nature?

I usually try hard to put my best into my projects but there are other factors I need to contend with. As a computer programmer, I find myself constantly waiting for the muse (you know I once noted that "when you find the muse, RUN"). The inspiration you need to bring out the genius in you.

There are times too when you are battling with some health problems which sort of ends up affecting your work performance. Sometimes, it's our sleeping habits. For example I am a late sleeper and of course you know the "early to bed, early to rise lullaby"....For me it's the opposite. I have done all I could to change that, and it quite worked, except that it ends up putting me in a bad shape. I try to go to bed by 9pm but I don't get to sleep till 1am or 2am only to be woken at 6am by a screeching alarm I had set myself.

Once, I read a book called "How to sleep less and be efficient" and that even got worse when I tried applying the principles in the book. I have not still gotten answers but rather than go to bed early only to wait till 1am, I spend the time doing something worthwhile until I am really ready to sleep.

In a metropolitan city like the one I live in, traffic congestion is another time sucker, many of us who live here spend an average of 4 hours in the traffic everyday and by the time you get home or to work, you are already tired. To overcome this, I try doing a part of my work in the traffic, especially the thinking part or I simply read a book.

Finally, our biggest limitation is us. I usually tell myself that inspite of all the limits imposed on me by my environment(traffic, inspiration), my nature (sleep) and any other form of limitation there is, to break through, to break barriers and limits, I would have to first break myself.

If you really want to succeed, first break the greatest limit-yourself!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Born Again!

Q: Why did I go offline for a very long time?
A: Because school killed my network

I have not blogged in a very long time time, ridiculously, for 2 straight years! (don't think that I have not been writing though). I tweeted the opening Q/A recently and have debated it in my mind if that was really true.

The truth is my assertion is not absolutely true. If the school killed my network, then I ALLOWED it. I had the choice not to make that happen really but I will explain here, though not defensively.

The cost of staying online, and considering the number of responsibilities I had "back there" in school, could not afford me the opportunity to spend a long time online. Yes "back there" is quoted because I graduated about a month ago with First Class Honours in Computer Science.

At Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan


A laudable performance, you would say, but all that culminated in the exemplary academic performance also partially shut me out of living online.

I was an active member of  the final year students committee of my fellowship in school, mentored my junior colleagues, took tutorials and had tons of school work among other commitments, so I had to prioritize.

The good news is that I am back fully online and mobile too! I am also determined to maintain a blogging culture. Please follow my blog and leave comments. I would be intimating you on what I have been doing in the past two years and what I am currently doing.

I hope I didn't sound defensive after all!

I have worked on my blog to give it its new look, my blog is born-again!