Well maybe not below freezing but it was damn cold this morning, first ice covered windscreen I've seen this year.

I have been messing about with my PC now for the last two days trying to Windows XP to be my main OS. I first uninstalled windows XP, (Formatted it's partition). then I tried to upgrade Win 98 to XP. This seemed to be going ok untill I logged in. It was then I was bombarded with a rally of error message, software is not supported, drivers don't work. I got most of it working but there was still some problems with outlook express and outlook. I eventually sorted this by reupgrading windows, reinstalling internet explorer and outlook express (a lot of messing in the registry). Then i found another problem….windows explorer would not read my dvd drive. I tried to re-upgrade to XP and it was then everything got fucked up. I couldn't boot to windows anymore (even in safe mode) and Linux was not booting either. I eventually got into Linux using the install CD. I then got all the files i thought I wanted to save from the mounted windows partition (looking back I forgot loads). I then did a clean install of Windows XP which to my delight worked fine and I was able to boot into Linux fine after it too. I went into Linux and put my files back on the recently formatted windows partition. Super Duper I said untill I realised all the software I would have to install again. I spent all day yeaterday installing programs and i have just downloaded loads in college to install later. With look I will be good to go tomorrow sometime. What a Hoo Har. I'll have to catch up next week on college stuff.

 Today I paid more than I have ever paid for a book before ˆ69.40. It's a very good book though and I hope well worth it, not just for college but for the future too.

Extreme Programming
or XP (as it is called) says to pretend you are not a smart as you think you are, and wait
until this clever idea of yours is actually required before you take the time to bring it into being.

Extreme Programming Mantra :

"You're not going to need it"

Another Good Programming Practice Quote:

Some years ago, Harlan Mills proposed that any software system should be grown by
incremental development. That is, the system first be made to run, even though it
does nothing useful except call the proper set of dummy subprograms. Then, bit by
bit, it is fleshed out, with the subprograms in turn being developed into actions
or calls to empty stubs in the level below.

Nothing in the past decade has so radically changed my own practice, and its
effectiveness.

One always has, at every stage, in the process, a working system. I find that
teams can grow much more complex entities in four months than they can build.
— From "No Silver Bullet" [Brooks 1995]

Hello there folks,
I am now blogging from the new PC I set up over the weekend. The PC is for my brother and my mother. It cost just ˆ539 (excluding monitor).

1. AMD Duron 1200+ Processor
2. 256MB DDR SDRAM memory
3. DVD ROM
4. CDR/RW
5. On-board LAN
6. On-board Sound
7. On-board Graphics
8. 56kbps Modem
9. Keyboard
10. Mouse
11. 60GB 7200rpm Hard Disk
12. Standard Case
    

There was a few teething problems while setting it up but it is fine now and running ultra quick. It's the first PC that i built myself so there one thing off my “to do before I die” list.

College is in full swing again;
I don't seem to have time to do anything else bar college work and it is only the second week, I can see the year being a tough one. I haven't really started studying yet but I have made my 4th year project page and also my college webpage. These took a while as I wanted them to look professional for when I get to Demo my Project.
College Webpage http://www.computing.dcu.ie/~proche-case4
4th Year Project http://rss.philroche.net

http://www.bmwworld.com/bmw/history/ . BMW stands for "Bayrische Motorenwerke", German for "Bavarian Motor Factory".

I found this quote in a Software Process Article I was reading :
"The sooner you fall behind, the more time you will have to catch up."

As you might have seen on my main page I've kind of started my 4th Year project. I've created the website and a blogging tool to go with it. This site will show my progress throughout my project and also what the project is about.

Check it out http://rss.philroche.net

I have been slacking on my Blogs i'm afraid but check out this site http://www.stupidvideos.com/ It's Brilliant. Any body that knows any last year fourth year CA students that are selling books please let me know.

caveat studior:  (let the student beware !)

 To the left you can see me when I went snorkelling, I'd never done it before but I just watched the others and within a few minutes i was out and about looking at all the splendid fish and coral life. I didn't have a snorkle myself so i had to rent one from the sunbed attendents which i am sure wasn't the most hygenic but I haven't died yet. Not that you want to but if you click on my picture you can see a bigger version of the same picture.

Well the firat paper has been submitted for the year; my Intra report. I thinks I have decided on my modules for the year but you never know I might change my mind again. Cryptography is a definite as is Multimedia Information retrieval. Apart from that I am still undecided. I have to decide my monday though when I register. Check out http://www2.webmagic.com/eastereggs.com/ ; has all the Software surprises (known as Easter Eggs) .