Desicritics Author: Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay

Book Review: SQL and Relational Theory

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:08:28 EDT

This book is intended to be an improvement over an earlier book on the same topic by the same author, namely 'Database in Depth: Relational Theory for Practitioners' . As the author states, the current book is a product of his realization of SQL being such a difficult language that it was far from obvious how to use it without violating relational principles even when covered in much depth in this earlier book, primarily for database practitioners.

One of the main features of the current book hence is the additional effort taken to have enough elucidation to connect the theory with practical SQL examples. While the theory discussion about the relational database model remains largely similar to the earlier book, there are exercises at the end of each chapter for better connecting the concepts with more examples. The answers to these exercises are included towards the end of the book.

There are about half a dozen chapters in the center of the book starting with “SQL and Relational Algebra I:The original operators” through to “Miscellaneous SQL Topics” which are the highlight of this book. There are some really lucid examples of implementing the relational definitions and theory in proper SQL in these chapters.

The slightly sarcastic tone of discussion of the author on the popular and theoretically doubtful usage of relational terms seems to be a constant companion for use of terms such as “duplicate elimination” instead of the more correct “duplication elimination”. This seems to be an attempt to challenging the maintenance of a continuous approach to try and match the SQL implementations to the theoretical definitions and concepts of Relational Model for Database Management.

One of the recent implementations of newer database models seem to be the Google proprietary Bigtable distributed storage systems. Since such proprietary models are out of public domain, it would be interesting comparing the principles behind them and the widely used relational database management systems.

To summarize, the book is a recommended read for all the database practitioners and other related professionals looking to match their implementations with the theoretical concepts and hence improving usability of the relational database model implemented within the enterprise.

Book Review: Using Google App Engine

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:54:36 EDT

Using Google App Engine starts with introducing cloud computing and the App Engine as a concept within the Google Implementation of cloud architectures. There is some discussion about the basic ways of developing web applications in HTML and CSS, Python and enough concepts to begin interacting with App Engine server using HTTP protocol commands. Python is to be used as a sort of controller to the HTML and CSS in front-end.

The concept of mostly HTML template to be rendered from Python code uses the Django project for the default syntax used in Google App Engine. The database that is at the back end of the Google App Engine uses a hierarchical object-oriented storage approach called as Bigtable technology. The interaction with this type of database being different from the widely used relational database models, there is an entire chapter dedicated to interfacing with this database.

The memory cache comes between the web application and the datastore and is one of the mechanisms used to improve speed of web applications. There is an interesting discussion about using the memory cache of Google App Engine as a sort of large Python dictionary.

In addition to the all these topics, the book gives a good amount of information to properly using the App Engine webapp Framework, setting up and using Google Application Engine accounts, using JavaScript, jquery and Ajax and finally, downloading and installing Google App Engine Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows XP,Windows Vista,Macintosh and Linux Systems.

Google App Engine is part of the Platform-as-a-service approach that the Google cloud uses. Adding to the rapidly growing technical literature dealing with implementation of applications to clouds, this O'Reilly-Google Press book is dealing with making the usage of Google App Engine as detailed as possible starting from budding application developers to advanced professionals. This is a recommended read for the professionals looking to begin and ramp up their web application deployments quickly and as cleanly as possible to the Google App Engine.

Book Review: Cloud Application Architectures

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:19:43 EDT

Cloud Application Architectures is directed more towards the higher management personnel in IT, as an audience for making the decisions based on the latest status for this new technology.

There is an intensive discussion near the beginning of the book, as to the points of comparison between internal IT divisions, managed services outsourcing and the cloud computing environment. There is one article worth mentioning in this regard.

There are the two major cloud infrastructure approaches of Infrastructure-as-a-service, with the example of Amazon Web Service(AWS), and Platform-as-a-service, with Google Apps being an example. In IAAS, the customer owns the instances /servers on demand whereas in PAAS, there is a lock-in to the vendor APIs with respect to the software development that can use the back end vendor cloud infrastructure. IAAS is the model discussed in this book.

One of the main intentions in this book is to enable writing applications to make use of cloud computing in the IAAS model. While achieving this, the author familiarizes us with the Amazon specific terms such as elastic IPs ,buckets ,block storage volumes, Amazon Machine Image(AMI), Security Groups, etc. There are brief discussions on some important considerations to get ready for the cloud such as service levels and the mapping of different AWS services into them, security and risk profiles, database management in the cloud , among others.

The book gives a lot of exposure to Amazon Web Services with a brief look at the Rackspace and GoGrid offerings at the end. With the rapid mushrooming of different cloud offerings from competing vendors in the market, this book should be a good introduction to compare and get used to the difference in implementation technologies. One of the possible improvements for this book could be some basic simulator software examples in addition to theoretical discussions.

Nandan Nilekani to Become Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:06:37 EDT

With the news of accepting the challenge of being the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI), a Cabinet Minister ranking post, Nandan Nilekani adds another notable milestone in his eventful career.

He is one of the few leaders in contemporary corporate India with a grasp on a wide range of issues tackled by present day India. With the invitation to Nandan, the current Indian PM has made the best possible effort for this important project. In the times of terrorism and internal disturbances affecting our part of the world, identification of citizens is one of the essential tasks before the government. This is in addition to the day to day administrative requirements for unique identification for the purposes of issuing voter id cards and running schemes like the Nehru rozgar yojana, etc. On closer introspection of the concept of the UIDAI, it would be better for the average public to know the flaws of the current identification and documentation systems followed by Government of India requiring the establishment of this new body.

Without a doubt, the experience of raising, managing and giving direction to one of the globally prominent Indian IT players,namely Infosys raises high expectations from Nandan as well as increases the profile of this project.

Nandan Nilekani was put into public glare of average Indian and not just the India techie with the publication of the recent book Imagining India. There was this type of question question frequently asked by the audience on talk shows of various Indian channels wherever Imagining India was discussed and that is why are the brightest corporate minds not involving themselves with governance.

After proving his understanding in depth and breadth of the problems plaguing India since Nehruvian times from the impressive book, one of the bold next steps is the current one taken by Nandan Nilekani. With high caliber technocrats like Nandan Nilekani and Montek Singh Ahluwalia and a career diplomat like Shashi Tharoor getting into important government positions, the current PM has made the intentions clear of tackling the problems typical to Indian conditions with the best possible foot forward.

Some of the biggest problems to be tackled undoubtedly remain the growth of the peace processes and mutual interaction among the shared cultures rent apart by problems of terrorism and internal security in South Asia,the small trickle of high quality research and development, the stench emanating from the water-tap type of higher education system with millions of bright students getting slotted within less number of high quality institutions, the throttling of competition within education instead of letting competition improve the education process.

One can only hope such imaginative and bold steps by leaders of non-political fields such as Nandan Nilekani herald the long-awaited arrival of a developed country and region onto the global stage.

Book Review: Gray Hat Python

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:05:32 EDT

With python being a language of choice for hackers and reverse engineers, Gray Hat Python gives an insight into using the python programming language and pre-built python tools within its covers ,saving time and effort looking on the web.

While the installation methods for Python and its tools are shown in the early chapter for both Linux and windows OS, the rest of the book uses more of Python on windows OS. There is a exclusive chapter devoted to the theory behind building a windows debugger in Python before going to discussing about PyDbg and I mmunity debuggers.

Examples of usage of techniques such as soft and hard hooking,dll and code injection and fuzzing are explained in simple ways. After discussing the basics of fuzzing and the sulley fuzzing framework, Immunity debugger is used to demonstrate windows driver fuzzing. One of the important tips from the book is to do the fuzzing demonstrations or experimentation on virtual machines so the appearance of the “blue screen of death” is not a significant issue.

One of the last topics of discussion revolves around using Ida Python in the disassembler IDA Pro 5.2 with examples of scripts. The book ends with description and usage of PyEmu- a pure Python IA32 emulator that allows a developer to use Python to drive CPU emulation tasks.

This sums up the review of this concise book of barely 190 pages covering usage of python for reverse engineering and hacking. With a bare-bones approach for the topic, the book does enough to get the interested novice up to a decent level of expertise. There is also lot of information useful for the advanced professionals looking for some fresh approach. The interested readers would do well to have sound theoretical concepts to put the tips and examples in this book to good use.

Book Review: Cisco Routers for the Desperate, 2nd Edition

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:21:43 EDT

Cisco is a predominant player in the market for IP-based networking equipment. It provides routers and switches used to direct data, voice, and video traffic. Other products include remote access servers, IP telephony equipment, optical networking components, Internet conferencing systems, set-top boxes, and network service and security systems. Basically Cisco products cover more than the entire range of enterprise network products down to the network products used in SOHO and residential blocks.

Additionally it also provides services grouped in three divisions- Application Services , Technical Services and Remote Management Services. Latest strategic push from Cisco has been the Unified Computing System(UCS) putting a high benchmark for the competition to catch up to.

Cisco routers for the desperate is concise troubleshooting book in 125 pages, including an index. In addition to some basic router concepts, the book covers topics such as troubleshooting routers and upgrading Cisco's Internetwork Operating System(IOS).

The main focus of the book is on a small network administrator facing emergency situation. There are also tips on choosing the correct ISP and setting up redundant connections to the Internet using BGP and HSRP to multiple ISPs. In addition to the technical topics, there is useful advice about the risks that should not be taken in absence of SmartNet contract with Cisco.

All in all, a helpful guide covering the key areas of Cisco Routers. Should be a good read in preparation for the desperate emergencies.

Book Review: The Google Way

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:31:08 EDT

The Google Way gives an insight into the fascinating story of Google. With its unconventional approach towards not only Internet search, which is its core business, but in many other business and technology processes forming essential part of the modern enterprise, Google has indeed been a trend-setter.

Going through the book, it appears that Google seems to have a thoroughly researched, many-a-time counterintuitive and analytical approach not only in its core business of Internet search but also covering business management and strategy, technology, the industry-academic interactions and positive use of the rapidly evolving Internet society as integral parts of its growth as a corporate entity.

Some of the interesting discussions in the book are centered around the unique reasons for rapid growth of technology enterprises on the West coast of the United States. These include legal and academic specialties of the region as well as the strong drive for entrepreneurship starting from higher education institutions.

Some of the unconventional ways of Google highlighted by the author include the triumvirate of management at the top, using OpenIPO method to go public, the cost-per-click advertising model, having small team sizes, uncommon recruitment practices and employee benefits.

The fourth and last section speculates about the challenges and risks based on the author's knowledge and experience until our present recessionary times. These include cultural and national concerns, confidence and privacy concerns or something on the management side like the effect of loss of one person at the top , out of the triad of Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt, among others.

The author has presented a well-researched book which would help corporates and educationists in developing the academia-industry linkages as well as looking the relevance of current course content in business schools. Book is recommended as a must read not only because of its management and technological utility but also to get a sense of the direction that our immediate future will take.

Book Review: Masterminds of Programming

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:11:23 EDT

Masterminds of Programming is a thoroughly illuminating read in a series of conversations of creators of 17 programming languages. Among the languages whose creators share their insights in this book, include C++, Python, Java, Awk, Perl,etc.

The beginning chapters in this book are bringing out mainly the technical and sometimes, business requirements which have manifested as the research ecosystems. Each of the chapter gives an almost unique perspective of the respective creator(s) which grew through the different versions of the language and its implementation. It makes for a truly fascinating reading as we go through the each of the conversations which leaves us more enriched and motivated in our understanding of the programming languages.

There is this interesting discussion between Eisenhower and Kennedy mentioned in the chapter on Postscript about preferring digital to analog communications which led to the governmental push for research via ARPA/DARPA into many of the information technology marvels until now.

One of the recurring themes that comes out across the book is the dedication of these creators to share their experiences with the technical educational system in the form of teaching entire subjects and/or guiding the project dissertations.

While going through this book, a particular point of interest for Indians and others coming from the South Asian region of polyglots can be absence of any programming language of widespread importance getting evolved from our natural experiences and the study of mathematics in our universities. This maybe ascribed to the nature of the educational ecosystems in our region with arguably some of the most bureaucratically controlled technical institutions and various other reasons. Maybe a more spontaneous education system maybe the need of the hour.

The book is an essential read for whosoever is the active participant in the IT industry. Many parts of this book are strongly relevant for encouraging the spirit of continuing innovation and research by upcoming information technology specialists. At the very least the programmer for the respective language can grasp some of the creator(s)'s philosophy driving its key concepts.

Book Review: Simply SQL

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:08:02 EDT

The book discusses, in eleven chapters and four appendices, the essential commands and features of SQL needed as a useful tool set for the web designer and web developer.

The book starts with chapters explaining the use of SELECT statement, the clauses such as FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING among others. Then it discusses the use and types of SQL data types generally used in major database types. The concluding parts are devoted to brief discussions on relational integrity ,emphasizing on the uniquely identifiable attribute for each instance of an entity, and some of the Special structures encountered in real databases.

One of the highlights of this book is the simple way in which joins are described, with examples, in the chapter for the FROM clause. These include the inner join, the three types of outer join and cross join.

A useful title for all the web designers and developers looking for a practical way to learn SQL language without getting into the details of specific database implementations. For advanced database users and practitioners, such as DBAs and application developers, this can be a refresher course before going for the implementation-specific manuals of different mainstream databases.

Book Review: Beautiful Teams

Ganadeva Bandyopadhyay — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:52:30 EDT

An interesting book especially relevant for employees looking to rough out through current bleak times in industry. Here is a book filled with mostly inspiring stories and memorable experiences of notable team veterans primarily from industry.

The tales are divided across five major sections of People, Goals, Practices, Obstacles and Music. The last and uncommonly named section having an interview with Tony Visconti .

Among the outstanding parts of this book is the interview with Tim O'Reilly . Same is the first impression for more or less all the stories and anecdotes in section one. There are quite a few very impressive stories in the rest of the book. This includes such discussion as the one about the way software teams are run in NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Information Systems sector of the defense company Northrop Grumman in the rest of the book.

To summarize the review, this book could have been smaller without losing the sharpness as some of the stories seem to be needlessly extending the scope of the subject. While being overwhelmingly positive, this is a mixed bag of stories and tips.

One of the good things of buying this book is getting some useful advice as well as contributing to a worthy cause at the same time. The preface of this book mentions that proceeds of this book get donated to Playpumps International.