Here and now

Oops its been like 3 weeks since my last blog. I totally forgot about this.

A lot has happened this last 3 weeks, FB app was finally over and we are onto mobile apps. From FB App, I realized how easy it was really to integrate an app with Facebook lol. So now for every new project I do, I tend to set up FB utilities first. Even if I don't use any information, allowing users to login and see their own info is already pretty awesome. At least to me it was lol, until I learnt how to do it. And Google analytics, its so easy why not.

I'd probably spend some time after the term to explore Twitter and Google+ APIs, since that seems to be the norm for all websites now. And maybe yahoo and bing analytics(if it exists).

Also, working on this app has given me an experience like no other. All through out school, I have never worked on a project like this, or worked on any project in this manner. A project that is actually to be launched and seen by the public. And the deadlines, whew. It was thrilling. In between, we had some good times and some bad times. Our group grew closer, i felt. Spending so many days and nights coding (sometimes through the night). We shared the pressures of the deadlines, and the fulfillment in the completion.

We did have some rough times as well. To my group members if you're reading this, I hope we can get over it as theres nothing personal to it.

Its been about 2weeks since we kicked off on mobile apps. The feeling is quite similar. I realized that creating a mobile application is really not so difficult. I used to download sample programs on objective-c to try and understand them while i was trying to explore on my own, but lol. I didn't realize that creating a mobile app can be as simple as using a webpage. So thats definitely a huge takeaway! Also, I've been experimenting on the free frameworks and I realized that most required functionalities can be implemented rather easily. The really important thing here is the idea and well, I hope our idea works out.

Another thing I've learnt so far is on REST API. I spent 3 whole days thinking about its implementation. Like how to create a clean URL. Implementing SQL queries is not difficult, but how do you make it RESTful? In particular, how does one create a clean URL interface for quering like graph api does it? I searched for days for the answer!!! And got nothing.
I was finally shone the light by Eldwin (thank you man). This, i wouldn't have learnt if not for this course.
Who would've thought it was a hidden url-redirect that maps a clean URL to a ?var dirty URL? I don't think i'd ever think of that lol.

A couple of days ago we also had a rather distinguished guest over. Milton Chen, CTO of VSee, came down and shared with us some of his experiences, as well as his video conferencing software. At first glance, he really didn't seem like much(sorry). And the app, well - its just another video conferring tool. Until he said it was running on 3G. That got me. I don't do video conferencing a lot, but I know how unsmooth it usually is, even with a good broadband. My team did VNC Viewer for FBSeminar, and to be absolutely honest, VNC Viewer was terrible. The delays make me never want to use it ever.
So when i saw VSee and how smooth it was, I realized the difference. This wasn't just ANOTHER video conferencing tool.

Also I've heard of CISCO telecasts and their amazing clarity, its as if the other person is right in front of you. I've also heard of their exorbitant rates. So I'm looking forward to when VSee brings their telecast technologies to NUS.

The stuff Milton shared, well i only managed to catch a few points. Particularly one that struck a chord was when he said we can't achieve everything. Go back and think of a few things that you always wanted to do, and think about not doing them. You'll be fine, was what he said. Hey, I agree with this. Not because I am a slacker (i really am) but because its true. I mean, Milton himself, a workaholic, is saying this. The underlying message is not to discourage, but really more like, i feel, to learn to give up certain things in life. It's absolutely necessary. Like they say, aim for the stars so you land on the clouds. You can't have everything in life. Of course, if you don't fight then you would have nothing (i know that, were you gonna say it? :) ).

Then the talk got a little... hmm, touchy? Relationships and stuff.. lol

Alright, better get back to working on app.