Thanks to my friend, Gandos, he got me interested to use Maven after I read his blog post (It’s in Indonesian). After consulting to another friend, I think it’s a good idea to use Maven for the LabGence project.

The idea is also influenced from this question that I have, “What is the best practice to upload an open-source project?” and “What files that I should and probably shouldn’t upload?”.

I believe Maven can standardize the issue of libraries needed by the project, and also the build script needed. So I decided to give it a try.

Fortunately I found the best and brief introduction tutorial to Maven on JavaBrains.org, you might want to check it out.

I also created the following step by step notes for Mac OSX (which might be applicable also to Linux and other Unix OS).

Maven Installation
Steps:
1. Download Maven binary from the official website. I use the Maven 3.0.3 as of this writing.

2. Extract the compressed files.

3. Execute these commands:
# export M2_HOME=[path to the Maven extracted directory]
example: # export M2_HOME=/home/djitz/dev/java/maven

# export PATH=[path to the Maven extracted directory]/bin:${PATH}
example: # export PATH=/home/djitz/dev/java/maven/bin:${PATH}

4. Test the maven installation, execute:
# mvn --v

If it shows something like:

Apache Maven 3.0.2 (r1056850; 2011-01-08 19:58:10-0500)
Java version: 1.6.0_24, vendor: Apple Inc.
Java home: /System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/Contents/Home
Default locale: en_US, platform encoding: MacRoman
OS name: "mac os x", version: "10.6.5", arch: "x86_64", family: "mac"

then we’re done for the installation.

Creating Project
Steps:
1. Go to the directory where we want to have the project.

2. Execute
# mvn archetype:generate

It will download files because it’s the first time we’re running it.

3. After it finished the download, it will ask for number, and show us the default number. Scroll up and we can see hundreds of different project templates that Maven knows.

For now, just press Enter to accept the default one.

4. Choose the Maven archetype quickstart version, just press Enter to accept the default.

5. For the groupId, input your package name.
example: com.djitz.labgence

6. For the artifactId, input your application name.
example: LabGence

7. Type the version, just press Enter to accept the default.

8. Type the package name, it will copy the value from step #5.

9. Confirm the values from step 5 – 8.

That’s it, we successfully created a new project using Maven.

Some more commands to try, go to the created project directory, then do the following commands:

# mvn compile
# mvn package

There are a lot more functions of Maven, but this can get us started. Sonatype.com does a lot of work with Maven, and they have a free Maven reference book in here. (http://www.sonatype.com/books/mvnref-book/reference/index.html
)

Until the next post fellas!

It’s been several years since I have the eagerness to develop a clinical laboratory application. The reason is primarily because although I’m a professional software programmer/developer now, my bachelor degree was in Medical Technology.

Initially I was thinking of a LIS type of application, where the medtech can store the patients and test information in the database. But then I had the idea of taking it steps further, “Why not make it a smart application? Where it will be able to assist medtech by taking the patient’s profile and results history into account?”

Thus, the LabGence name is derived from “Laboratory Intelligence”, and it’s goal is to be the smart application that medtechs can rely on.

For Software Developers / Programmers

During the course of the project I will post my notes on both software development practices and programming techniques. I don’t claim that I’m a know-it-all in this field, I’m just a student of the disciplines with a strong passion to learn and implement the best practices.

If you’re interested in software development best practices and agile methods, you may want to follow this project through my twitter @djitz.

The project is open-source, and at this point in time is not under any license, so you can use any part of the project other than the “LabGence” name and logo.

The project source codes is available at GitHub: LabGence project on GitHub.

For Medical Technologist / Clinical Laboratory Scientist

While the project is in development stage, there may not be a be a user-friendly version of the application.

All posts related to the project can be accessed at this URL: http://djitz.com/tag/labgence.

Well well, just on my last day of work in my co-op semester, I found out that one of my office friend has the Bose AE2i headphone.

What a pleasant surprise, it’s about time for me to post another headphone review also before the year 2011 ends. So I immediately borrow the headphone and give it a quick test. So, does the sound quality justify the price tag? Let’s see..

Sound

Just a reminder, it’s an around-ear headphone so I expect a good sound isolation from the Bose AE2i, and it really has it, I can hear detail sounds clearly.

Bass test was a bit disappointing, PX100 beats it on the same volume level. You can get very good bass punch from AE2i if you raise the volume, but that also means raising the risk of having ear damage. This might be due to the impedance difference, but since Bose doesn’t release the specifications, we will never know.

There is no question for the mid and treble sound, they are just really good.

I tested different songs genre, and I think it doesn’t sound quite fit for any type of songs that have a lot of bass sounds (such as techno and some rock songs). If you prefer instrumental, R&B, Jazz, or Pop, this headphones is a good choice.

Detail : 5/5

Bass: 3.5/5

Mid: 5/5

Treble: 5/5

Physical Form

Like all other Bose headphone, it looks aesthetically pleasing (it’s quite big, but not bulky) and also very comfortable to use. Besides, the Bose label is just too cool for people to unnoticed.

The one that my work colleague has is the AE2i version, so it can be connected to phones and it has microphone and volume control (unfortunately the volume control doesn’t work in my laptop).

Price

It’s $162 on Amazon. What can you say, it’s Bose.

Buy it or Not?

Though it’s priced at over $100, it’s actually not so expensive as the other Bose headphones. But with the same price, I think you can find headphones with better sound quality from other brand. It’s just that it won’t have that “Bose” label.

I’m not saying that it’s not a good headphone, considering sound quality only, I think I can give it 9.0/10. But considering the price, I would give it 8.0/10.

The sound quality definitely more than enough for most of the people, but it won’t satisfy a hi-fi aficionados.

If look is a very important thing for you, then Bose AE2i can be your choice. It’s not $300, and it will instantly give you a cool factor when wearing it.

Songs used in this review:

Chicane – Halcyon – MP3
Linkin Park – Hybrid Theory (MP3) and Meteora (FLAC) Album
Maliq & D’Essentials – Heaven – MP3
Bayu Risa – Fire – MP4

Last June 2011 I started my 6-months internship (co-op) in American Airlines (AA) headquerters in Dallas/Fort-Worth, Texas. I’m so blessed to be part of the ADEPT 2011 program.

ADEPT stands for American Airlines Development Program for Technology, it is a two-year program designed to develop new hires for AA Information Technology Services (ITS). It was first started in 2006. The ADEPT members are recruited from different universities, in the 2011 class we had members from UT-Austin, UT-Arlington, UT-PanAm, Texas A&M, LSU, OU, etc.

So technically, I’m not a full ADEPT 2011 class member because I’m just having 6-month internship. But… for the whole six months I have been engaged in most of the courses, trainings, and programs they have, and that’s sweeet!

The purpose of this post is to give a picture of the ADEPT program from my perspective (co-op student from Northeastern University).

Quick Outlines:

Pros:

• Two weeks orientation program
• FSU courses and trainings
• Mentorship
• Brown bag lunches with AA Managing Directors, and VPs once a month.
• Walk-a-Mile (1-day to 1-week experience in other departments)
• AA travel privileges

Cons:
* I almost have no cons, but if there should be any then this might do:

• Accommodation for out of state students might be tricky. (Housing and Transportation)

Two Weeks Orientation Program

The first two weeks of the ADEPT program is orientation, and it was full of good stuff, too good I should say.

Week 1

Day 1
Meet with AA CIO, Monte Ford.
ADEPT program overview
Lunch with our going-to-be Managers
Paperworks

Day 2
Flagship University (FSU – AA training center) tour
C.R. Smith Museum tour (yes, AA has a museum)
Lunch with ADEPT mentors
ROPES course

Day 3
Data centers tour
Some more ADEPT program overviews

Day 4
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and Agile training

Day 5
Introduction to AA Employee Groups
Brown bag lunch with one of AA VP
Tetra Map training

Week 2

Day 1
Creative and Innovation training

Day 2
DFW Airport – Shadow a gate agent experience

Day 3
More DFW airport tour – Baggage and Ramp, Gates, Backroom
Central Baggage System Tour

Day 4
Brown bag lunch with another AA VP
Alliance Fort Worth tour (AFW – one of AA’s maintenance and engineering base)

Day 5
AA Systems Operation Center (SOC) tour, Flight Training Academy tour
ADEPT 2007-2011 group lunch
Report to our managers

Pheeew… it even took me some time to wrote all of these. In short, our first two weeks were really good as you can see, and that’s just the beginning…

FSU Courses and Trainings

Flagship University (FSU) is AA training center, it’s just 5-minutes drive away from the headquarters. Some of the trainings and courses we had are:

• Tetramap
• SDLC and Agile training
• Creativity and Innovation training
• 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (3-day training and this is the best!)

Mentorship

Every ADEPT class member has their mentor who is the one year earlier ADEPT class member. Having a mentor means that we can ask a lot of questions we have in mind. We also have someone who can guide us and giving us advise as we get familiar with the company. For me, I have one of the best mentor, she gave me a cool airplane model for my birthday!

Brown bag lunches with AA Managing Directors and VPs

This is one of the best things that I like from the ADEPT program, we get the opportunities to have lunches with the Managing Directors and VPs every month, how cool is that! We get to know the departments where they are working in, know their experiences in the company, and get great tips and advise from them.

Walk-A-Mile (WAM – 1-day to 1-week experience in other departments)

AA is really a huge company with a lot of different departments and groups, even for the ITS itself! WAM gives us the chance to spent and see what the other groups are doing, and most importantly, how what they do connect with the other parts of the company (including our group). I think this is great, because it encourages us to understand more about the process in the company, and not only the group that we are working in.

Travel Privileges

As if everything that I’ve mentioned above are not good enough, the travel privileges seals the deal! Have you ever thought of going somewhere on any weekend? The AA travel privileges made it happen. I went to Salt Lake City for a day on Sunday because I was so curious about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and I just had the idea on Friday morning. I visited my families in Seattle and Houston when I thought I want to, sometimes just the day before. Every weekend you can be anywhere you want (provided the flight is not full), the possibilities are endless.

Accomodation for out of state students might be tricky. (Housing and Transportation)

This is a negative thing for intern like me who is not going to spent more than few months in Dallas. I was lucky to know someone who I can rent a room in his house, and also I had my sister’s car that I can borrow. But for some others, this might be a bit tricky because the public transportation system in Dallas, though I believe is good enough, is not so convenient.

Conclusion

Me and all the other interns agree that the ADEPT program is so underrated. We didn’t really know about this obviously great program until we were hired. AA also has a great work culture that I like from the very first beginning, most of the people are open-minded and friendly. More than that, the airlines industry is a very fascinating and fast-speed one where challenges to stay competitive and profitable are always around.

I know that AA is not a perfect company. I’m aware with the customer complaints around the internet, and also how the company is struggling to make profit in the recent years. Just few days ago, the company also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy which makes some mixed comments around.

But, from what I’ve seen so far, AA is always determined to be the best airline it can be, and I am proud to be part of it for the last 6 months.

We all love good and commented codes, but most of us either don’t know how to write a good comment for our codes, or just plain lazy to write one.

In Java, JavaDoc is pretty much the industry standard when it comes to auto-generated code tool. And as a strong believer of good software development practice, I always put comments on my code.

To save time, I created this template for methods so I can always refresh myself about how to write a good JavaDoc for my code. These codes are taken from the Java SDK source codes, so talk about how the creator of the Java write their comments (no one can be more expert than them I suppose).

*The template below is a slide presentation in Google Docs, to see the code expand its view to full screen, or you can download it as PDF or PPTX.

The Android Honeycomb

A couple of weeks ago I was so fortunate to get the opportunity working with the Android SDK development in my job (Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 ).

Compared with Android mobile app development using the Adobe Flex 4.5, the Android SDK may be a bit more tricky to do, so to document my experience I created this blog post (and maybe some more posts in the future).

To start developing Android apps, we need to install the Eclipse ADT, Android SDK (obviously..), and setup the AVD.

ADT – Android Development Tools
AVD – Android Virtual Device

Prerequisite:
- Familiar with Eclipse IDE

Steps:

1. Get Eclipse (I use Eclipse 3.7 – Indigo), download from:

• Eclipse.org or EclipseSource (cloud download – a lot faster!!! )

2. Get Android SDK, run the installation:

• After the installation, run the SDK Manager

• Check “Tools” and the Android version you’re going to develop.

3. Install the Eclipse ADT (Android Development Tools) Plugin:

• Run Eclipse

• Click Help > Install New Software

• Click Add, copy the following to the Location input: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

• Check “Developer Tools” and follow the rest of installation wizard.

4. After restarting the Eclipse, check if the ADT picks-up the SDK directory correctly:

• Run Eclipse

• Click Windows > Preferences

• Click Android on the left sidebar.

5. Create the emulator:

• Run the Eclipse.

• Go to Window > AVD Manager.

• Click “New” button.

• Fill the fields:

Name: em31
Target: Android 3.1 – API Level 12
SD Card size: 64 MB
Snapshot: enabled
Hardware:
Device ram size: 768

• click “Create AVD”.

• The new AVD should appear in the AVD Manager, click “Start” button to run it.

*It takes time to start the AVD, in my machine it takes 7 mins.

FAQ

Q: Why the AVD is so sloooooooww in my computer?

A: There’s nothing wrong with your computer, it’s really the problem with the AVD. If you followed my steps correctly, we should’ve set the RAM size to 768MB and enabled the snapshot. Enabling the snapshot means that whenever we run the emulator, it will bypass the longer boot process. Set the option save to snapshot on the first time, but un-check it whenever we run the emulator afterward, because saving to snapshot will take significant time as well. :p

Di blog post ini saya akan list tempat kursus GMAT yg saya ketahui, dan bila anda tahu tempat-tempat kursus lainnya, atau bila anda salah satu penyelenggara kursus GMAT, silahkan isi comment section di bawah atau email saya di tridjito (at) yahoo.com.

Jakarta

Lembaga Pendidikan Sastra Mandiri / Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions
Plaza Kelapa Gading, Ruko Inkopal
Jln. Boulevard Barat Raya Blok C No 33
Jakarta, Indonesia 14240
Courses offered at this location:

SAT, GMAT, TOEFL, IELTS
For inquiries or to enroll:

Phone: 62-21-4585-1201
Fax: 62-21-4585-1179
Email: directinfo@directenglish-id.com

PT. Pacific Educom / Kaplan Test Prep & Admissions
World Trade Center, 10th Floor
Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 29-31
Jakarta, Indonesia 12920
Courses offered at this location:

SAT, GMAT, TOEFL, IELTS
For inquiries or to enroll:

Phone: 62-21-521-1588
Fax: 62-21-521-1550
Email: directinfo@directenglish-id.com

Two weeks ago I got responsibility to load test the web application of the company where I work using JMeter.

It’s not the first time I heard about JMeter, because about two years ago I was involved in a large project that demands high availability and high number of concurrent users at the same time (talk about more than 3,000 branches nationwide).

However, it was my friend who was assigned to explore the capabilities of JMeter back then. I’m not sure how far he went with the load testing, and what was the problem with JMeter, but we end up utilizing IBM Rational Performance Tester.

Unlike testing normal web application (that most likely involves HTTP standard requests such GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE), Flex application may use it’s BlazeDS web messaging to connect to the back-end server, this means it involves passing AMF binary files in the process.

Fortunately, JMeter has the ‘Recording Test’ capability to the rescue and simplify our life!

The idea is to create a proxy server that will run in the middle of the browser and the application server. This way the JMeter will record all the HTTP requests and files passed to the application server, and also their result. Sweeet!

So how to do that? Just follow the steps below:

Steps:

Setup the Thread Group
1. Run JMeter
2. Right click on Test Plan > Add > Threads (Users) > Thread Group
3. Rename the Thread Group to ‘Load Test 1′
4. Set the Number of Threads (Users) field to the number of load test user simulation you want (i.e: set to 25).
5. Right click on ‘Load Test 1′ > Add > Listener > Aggregate Graph
6. Repeat step 5, this time choose Aggregate Report
7. Repeat step 5, this time choose Summary Report
8. Repeat step 5, this time choose View Results Tree

Setup the HTTP Proxy Server
1.Right click on WorkBench > Add > Non-Test Elements > HTTP Proxy Server
2. Set the port to available open port in your PC (i.e.: set to 8989)
3. Check ‘Redirect Automatically’
4. Type ‘ .* ‘ in the include field.
5. Set Target Controller to Test Plan > Load Test 1
6. Click Start to start the Proxy Server

Setup the Browser
1. Run the browser, and set the connection properties to use proxy.
2. Set it to localhost and the port you set above.
3. Browse the Flex application and try to use it as usual.
4. The JMeter should capture the HTTP request operations you made to the server.
5. Press Stop on the HTTP Proxy Server to stop the recording.

Do the Load Test
1. Now we have the example of HTTP request operations, click the Load Test 1 Test Plan.
2. Press Ctrl+R to run the load test, you should see the green indicator on the top right that it’s running the tests.
3. Check the Test Results in all four Listeners you added earlier.

This steps were proven working in my case and I use Apache JMeter 2.4 r961953. If they don’t then try to put some comments below. Happy load testing!

For the past week, I’ve really into Agile software development practices, especially Scrum.

So far, to learn more about Scrum, I’ve read the Scrum Primer (which I believe is still the very best brief introduction to the Scrum world), Do Better Scrum, and What Every Product Owner Should Know. If you’re interested, you might check them out.

If you, however, prefer video tutorials, Rally Software provides free Scrum video tutorials on their wiki site. They’re not stellar (I would give 3.5/5 stars) but they provide good information if you want to know more about Scrum and Agile development.

Think of starting Scrum Agile Development in your team? but you’re not so sure where to start? read the Scrum Primer!

It’s not a book, it’s a 22-page introduction to Scrum.
It doesn’t cost anything, it’s graciously given free.
It’s not a dry whitepaper, it’s an interesting information about Scrum.

It explains quickly some of the Scrum buzz words, such as Sprint, Backlog, Burndown charts, and don’t forget, the ScrumMaster!

So, spend an hour or two to read it, and I guarantee you will have a lot clearer picture about Scrum.