Coding Blog

Junior year’s over. New daily schedule has emerged. In a day there must be at least 2 hours of bass exercises which include music bass theory, scales, funky bass lines, and jamming sessions. 6 hours of programming (right after this sissy FoxPro RDBMS project). In weekends, there must be at least 2 jamming sessions with my band for compositions and reviews. Play at different bars at night, for pleasure and income. My top priority for this summer break is to code some modules for our final project ahead. Of course, schedule is subject to change due to unpredictable and uncontrollable forces such as heavy household chores, family affairs, family business, or anything that concerns morality.

I really do not enjoy coding in MS Visual FoxPro but I have no choice. Damn! I swear not to use it any longer after this RDBMS project. I was asked by a friend to code a simple program to check if a string is a palindrome. I miss coding in C and assembly a lot! So to satisfy my urge, I tried to do it in a different manner. A timed coding session! #include<stdio.h> #include<string.h> #define MAXSTRING 50 int main(void) { int i; int ctr = 0; char c; char string[MAXSTRING] = "\0"; char temp[MAXSTRING] = "\0"; printf("Enter a string: "); for (i = 0; (c = getchar()) != '\n'; ++i) string[i] = c; string[i] = '\0'; for (--i; i >= 0; --i){ temp[ctr] = putchar(string[i]); ++ctr; } if (!strcmp(string, temp)) printf("\nString is a palindrome!\n"); else printf("\nNot a palindrome!\n"); return 0; } I finished coding in 4 minutes and 37 seconds. Not a good record though. So sad.

Last Sunday, I was coding some modules for our RDBMS project and playing Dungeon Siege: Legend of Aranna (quite old but it would be a waste of time if I did not) in parallel. I received a phone call asking a favor to write a program for sending signals through the parallel port. It sounds a little scary at first because I did not have any idea on parallel port interfacing. Let me explain the project. The project is a Car Control System. They have 2 bipolar stepper motors. One is responsible for the forward-reverse function and the other one is for the left-right function. Signals recognized by the floppy drive stepper motor: Clockwise 18-degree turn 1001 or 0x9 0110 or 0x6 Counterclockwise 18-degree turn 0110 or 0x6 1001 or 0x9 Now, how is it possible to send these signals using the parallel port? Not all 25 pins are needed. For this project, only the data pins are needed. Pin Function 2 D0 3 D...

Is hacking ethical? It is if viewed within the context of the three definitions offered: hacktivist, hobbyist and researcher. We have the right in this country to protest, and if our activism takes a digital or electronic form, we have the right to do so. But don’t take my word for it. Who are ethical hackers? These early efforts provide good examples of ethical hackers. Successful ethical hackers possess a variety of skills. First and foremost, they must be completely trustworthy. While testing the security of a client’s systems, the ethical hacker may discover information about the client that should remain secret. In many cases, this information, if publicized, could lead to real intruders breaking into the systems, possibly leading to financial losses. During an evaluation, the ethical hacker often holds the “keys to the company,” and therefore must be trusted to exercise tight control over any information about a target that could be misused. The sensitivity of the in...