Tomorrow, the forecast is zero degrees. It sure is cold.
This morning I found blood inside my nose, but since
another intern had told me about this, I knew it was quite
natural and didn't panic.
Anyway, today was a busy day for everyone.
I think I understood only 10% of what they were saying.
It's quite difficult actually, but hey, with that 10%,
I would say I still learned a lot.
Quite sleepy now. I don't know why I'm having
problems waking up in the morning. Well, maybe because
I don't sleep early. But tonight I can't sleep, it's really cold, crazy cold.
The heater is turned up to the maximum 31 degrees and it's still cold.
This is crazy, crazy cold.
Tomorrow is another day of not understanding
what's going on. I really should not come back to
Japan until i REALLY learn the language.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Resolutions
Since learning a lot of new things now,
I have some resolutions for when I get back:
1) Really learn Japanese, real Japanese. This can be done by watching Japanese movies or TV everyday, at least 30 minutes. And memorizing some Kanji and vocabulary per day on the daily commute. And writing an activity journal in Japanese daily. My estimate is that it will take an hour per day to do this. Even if I don't go back to Japan, I can have another job as a translator.
2) Learn new languages ALL THE TIME. Both programming and natural. To do this, read and try installing stuff. Get a new computer, a PC. And get 2 screens, it looks really great, and it's a really really big help, especially for programming. All that's needed is a new videocard. The object of this is to program more. I can program new applications for my cellphone - a Japanese-English dictionary, complete with Kanji. Also, software development tools and plugins. And join an open-source effort. Keep you fresh.
3) The tools I've used, try to use them or other applicable tools. If there's anything I've learned from my stay in the lab, it's that I'm not alone. They're doing research on the things I've always wondered about. It's the like soft part of software, it's the programmer management, not program management. Something like that. I've always been reading about these CMMI dreams of mine. Project management, issue tracking, all these stuff. But these are just tools. The guys in the lab are doing wonderful work regarding using these tools for data collection and data mining. By trying to discover patterns in how people develop software (not just coding, the whole project suite - from requirements to testing to bug fixing), they'll be able to predict future project durations (well, there still is the human factor, hmmm..), and suggest better ways of working. What works and what doesn't.
4) These presentations and posters are really good. I was thinking of doing the same thing, maybe something revised. And the use of wikis, which is long overdue. It's very simple and will make life simple for us. Google calendar? For the meantime? Maybe it will do. The thing is, we're very small and on a tight budget. I want to have all these tools. At least we can have some.
I have some resolutions for when I get back:
1) Really learn Japanese, real Japanese. This can be done by watching Japanese movies or TV everyday, at least 30 minutes. And memorizing some Kanji and vocabulary per day on the daily commute. And writing an activity journal in Japanese daily. My estimate is that it will take an hour per day to do this. Even if I don't go back to Japan, I can have another job as a translator.
2) Learn new languages ALL THE TIME. Both programming and natural. To do this, read and try installing stuff. Get a new computer, a PC. And get 2 screens, it looks really great, and it's a really really big help, especially for programming. All that's needed is a new videocard. The object of this is to program more. I can program new applications for my cellphone - a Japanese-English dictionary, complete with Kanji. Also, software development tools and plugins. And join an open-source effort. Keep you fresh.
3) The tools I've used, try to use them or other applicable tools. If there's anything I've learned from my stay in the lab, it's that I'm not alone. They're doing research on the things I've always wondered about. It's the like soft part of software, it's the programmer management, not program management. Something like that. I've always been reading about these CMMI dreams of mine. Project management, issue tracking, all these stuff. But these are just tools. The guys in the lab are doing wonderful work regarding using these tools for data collection and data mining. By trying to discover patterns in how people develop software (not just coding, the whole project suite - from requirements to testing to bug fixing), they'll be able to predict future project durations (well, there still is the human factor, hmmm..), and suggest better ways of working. What works and what doesn't.
4) These presentations and posters are really good. I was thinking of doing the same thing, maybe something revised. And the use of wikis, which is long overdue. It's very simple and will make life simple for us. Google calendar? For the meantime? Maybe it will do. The thing is, we're very small and on a tight budget. I want to have all these tools. At least we can have some.
More Labwork
The cafeteria is interesting. Japan has vendo machines for all sorts of things
you can imagine. For drinks, for food, for newspapers, for cigarettes.
In the cafeteria, you pay for your food by buying a ticket from the vendo machine.
Then you give the stub to the cafeteria people, who'll then prepare the food for you.
These past days, I've always ordered noodles - ramen and udon cause I'm afraid of
not finishing my meal if I eat rice with chopsticks, I think the rice will all fall off.
But I noticed that they eat curry with a spoon, so maybe I can eat rice after all.
Anyway, yesterday was labwork again. I got the script to work on the project
I built Monday. But then after running the script, Ubuntu crashed again, so I
left the lab with my computer still rebuilding the whole thing. I also got to understand more
about Program Slicing and its applications.
So the next morning, that is this morning, I arrived to find my project rebuilt.
but since I didn't want to crash the OS again, and rebuild again for another hour,
yes, the build takes one hour. I tried to figure out how to build the hello project.
As we all know, every basic programming language introduction begins with
"Hello world". but this had some variation - you could select language - French
or English. So anyway, after much attempt and after reading the files, I got it to
build. This is where I practiced running the slicing and trying to understand what's going on,
really. I also got the script to run, and modified it a bit so that instead of output to screen,
it would output to a text file. It worked without problems. So, next step is just to dump it all in a database. While doing this, I was really very thankful for that programming class
with Doc Mana, where he taught us Haskell. The scripts were written in Scheme,
but learning Haskell was good enough to figure out Scheme.
What I wanted to accomplish today was really master the basic concepts behind
Program Slicing and create a new script to get a line number, and automate the slicing
per line number. What my tutor wants me to do is to automate the slicing of all the generated
nodes, I think, well, if I understand correctly.
So anyway, I did not accomplish that anymore today. He just kept telling me,
hey, don't work anymore. Interns shouldn't work, you should eat and sleep.
I really want to get to know them more, their research, where they're from,
what they like doing. The guy who looks the friendliest is Katayama-san,
and he's quite good in English, but I'm really very shy and they all look so busy,
I'm quite hesitant asking them stuff. Maybe I should ask. No, seriously, I should.
They had their weekly meeting today where everyone reports their progress.
Everything was recorded on Wiki. And planning is done with shared calendars,
using Sun Convergence. Great tools. Maybe we should do our meetings that way.
And hold them weekly. Yes, I do believe.
Yesterday I was feeling really down, and I wanted to go home.
Now, it's quite fine, but still I'm not convinced that I should be studying here.
Maybe if there was at least one other girl in the lab. Why is it that there are none?
Maybe I should just talk to them and get to know them more.
Anyway, so tomorrow is Spring Seminar. I'll be joining the visiting undergraduates
and high school (yes, high school) students. It'll all be in Japanese. I think I understand
just 10 percent of what they're saying. I hope I get something from the demo.
Maybe I'm just so uptight, I don't know. Or maybe the internship is just too short.
Or maybe I don't know as much Japanese as I need, it's the limiting factor.
But, no, I don't think so. It's probably just me. I'll try to ask more questions.
I can speak in English anyway. The other interns are doing quite fine without any Japanese
language.
Anyway, I still need to do my paper. Oh, I'm the great procrastinator. Procrastinating
like I'm doing fine.
you can imagine. For drinks, for food, for newspapers, for cigarettes.
In the cafeteria, you pay for your food by buying a ticket from the vendo machine.
Then you give the stub to the cafeteria people, who'll then prepare the food for you.
These past days, I've always ordered noodles - ramen and udon cause I'm afraid of
not finishing my meal if I eat rice with chopsticks, I think the rice will all fall off.
But I noticed that they eat curry with a spoon, so maybe I can eat rice after all.
Anyway, yesterday was labwork again. I got the script to work on the project
I built Monday. But then after running the script, Ubuntu crashed again, so I
left the lab with my computer still rebuilding the whole thing. I also got to understand more
about Program Slicing and its applications.
So the next morning, that is this morning, I arrived to find my project rebuilt.
but since I didn't want to crash the OS again, and rebuild again for another hour,
yes, the build takes one hour. I tried to figure out how to build the hello project.
As we all know, every basic programming language introduction begins with
"Hello world". but this had some variation - you could select language - French
or English. So anyway, after much attempt and after reading the files, I got it to
build. This is where I practiced running the slicing and trying to understand what's going on,
really. I also got the script to run, and modified it a bit so that instead of output to screen,
it would output to a text file. It worked without problems. So, next step is just to dump it all in a database. While doing this, I was really very thankful for that programming class
with Doc Mana, where he taught us Haskell. The scripts were written in Scheme,
but learning Haskell was good enough to figure out Scheme.
What I wanted to accomplish today was really master the basic concepts behind
Program Slicing and create a new script to get a line number, and automate the slicing
per line number. What my tutor wants me to do is to automate the slicing of all the generated
nodes, I think, well, if I understand correctly.
So anyway, I did not accomplish that anymore today. He just kept telling me,
hey, don't work anymore. Interns shouldn't work, you should eat and sleep.
I really want to get to know them more, their research, where they're from,
what they like doing. The guy who looks the friendliest is Katayama-san,
and he's quite good in English, but I'm really very shy and they all look so busy,
I'm quite hesitant asking them stuff. Maybe I should ask. No, seriously, I should.
They had their weekly meeting today where everyone reports their progress.
Everything was recorded on Wiki. And planning is done with shared calendars,
using Sun Convergence. Great tools. Maybe we should do our meetings that way.
And hold them weekly. Yes, I do believe.
Yesterday I was feeling really down, and I wanted to go home.
Now, it's quite fine, but still I'm not convinced that I should be studying here.
Maybe if there was at least one other girl in the lab. Why is it that there are none?
Maybe I should just talk to them and get to know them more.
Anyway, so tomorrow is Spring Seminar. I'll be joining the visiting undergraduates
and high school (yes, high school) students. It'll all be in Japanese. I think I understand
just 10 percent of what they're saying. I hope I get something from the demo.
Maybe I'm just so uptight, I don't know. Or maybe the internship is just too short.
Or maybe I don't know as much Japanese as I need, it's the limiting factor.
But, no, I don't think so. It's probably just me. I'll try to ask more questions.
I can speak in English anyway. The other interns are doing quite fine without any Japanese
language.
Anyway, I still need to do my paper. Oh, I'm the great procrastinator. Procrastinating
like I'm doing fine.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Lab Work
So Monday, yesterday was labwork.
I was introduced by my wonderful tutor, Raula,
who also met us at the airport Sunday
to what the lab is currently working on.
Everything sounds great.
Sounds like all the things I was wishing for
since doing software development.
He's doing Program Slicing, not as an end in its own,
but as a way to correlate reported bugs in the
bug-tracking tool to the actual bug, trying to determine
bug complexity (how much it spaghettis (new verb) with the rest of the code)
with the length of time to close a bug.
There are some problems with this due
to again, the human factor.
Since if the bug tracking tool is not updated correctly,
the data is shot.
Introduced me to CodeSurfer and
by Monday I had a grasp of what the tool could do,
had successully built a project for one open source repository.
I don't think I have accomplished much,
and I want to learn more,
especially about the other research work.
But this tool has opened my eyes to the many possibilities
we can do with it. Not just bug correlation,
but the obvious, as a productivity tool. In our company we do a lot
of maintenance and debugging. Probably eats up 70% of our time,
I would say. Time for a new recruit to get up to speed is 6 months,
usually even more. Cause you have to have the whole system
in your head. This tool will eliminate, or maybe lessen that requirement
and make it easier to get up to speed in a shorter time frame.
And of course, quality code. That;s the whole point really.
It's not just for post-mortem. It has very big potential for
before implementation.
The other interesting thing is documentation. Everyone hates documentation.
Using this sort of tool to get requirements back, that's wonderful,
automatic documentation, perfect. Just a dream.
I was introduced by my wonderful tutor, Raula,
who also met us at the airport Sunday
to what the lab is currently working on.
Everything sounds great.
Sounds like all the things I was wishing for
since doing software development.
He's doing Program Slicing, not as an end in its own,
but as a way to correlate reported bugs in the
bug-tracking tool to the actual bug, trying to determine
bug complexity (how much it spaghettis (new verb) with the rest of the code)
with the length of time to close a bug.
There are some problems with this due
to again, the human factor.
Since if the bug tracking tool is not updated correctly,
the data is shot.
Introduced me to CodeSurfer and
by Monday I had a grasp of what the tool could do,
had successully built a project for one open source repository.
I don't think I have accomplished much,
and I want to learn more,
especially about the other research work.
But this tool has opened my eyes to the many possibilities
we can do with it. Not just bug correlation,
but the obvious, as a productivity tool. In our company we do a lot
of maintenance and debugging. Probably eats up 70% of our time,
I would say. Time for a new recruit to get up to speed is 6 months,
usually even more. Cause you have to have the whole system
in your head. This tool will eliminate, or maybe lessen that requirement
and make it easier to get up to speed in a shorter time frame.
And of course, quality code. That;s the whole point really.
It's not just for post-mortem. It has very big potential for
before implementation.
The other interesting thing is documentation. Everyone hates documentation.
automatic documentation, perfect. Just a dream.
We're Here!
Ah, at last, we're here!
Arrived Sunday in Osaka. The first thing I saw upon landing were the lights,
especially the big ferris wheel lighted green. Upon getting off the plane,
the wind hit us, and it was cold. We came from 35 degrees into 5 degrees.
Then we rode in this train shuttle to get our bags.
Filled up some forms for immigration and customs. Answer questions.
Have photograph and picture taken.
We walk to the train station, really impressive.
The airport is connected to the train station.
There's no need to go down the street.
Really convenient.
We ride the express and switch trains at the last station.
Our very good organizers then get us home
in their car, this has GPS, and it's so confusing,
right-hand drive, I feel like we're going to bump into
incoming cars.
Anyway, we get home. Home is this impressive guesthouse,
just like a hotel. Almost everything has a remote control or a button.
They have talking everything here.
The elevator talks, the door talks, the water heater talks.
Oh yeah, and it's not just everything that talks,
everyone too. Everyone will greet you and say hello,
good morning, good evening..
Nara's such a nice town.
Arrived Sunday in Osaka. The first thing I saw upon landing were the lights,
especially the big ferris wheel lighted green. Upon getting off the plane,
the wind hit us, and it was cold. We came from 35 degrees into 5 degrees.
Then we rode in this train shuttle to get our bags.
Filled up some forms for immigration and customs. Answer questions.
Have photograph and picture taken.
We walk to the train station, really impressive.
The airport is connected to the train station.
There's no need to go down the street.
Really convenient.
We ride the express and switch trains at the last station.
Our very good organizers then get us home
in their car, this has GPS, and it's so confusing,
right-hand drive, I feel like we're going to bump into
incoming cars.
Anyway, we get home. Home is this impressive guesthouse,
just like a hotel. Almost everything has a remote control or a button.
They have talking everything here.
The elevator talks, the door talks, the water heater talks.
Oh yeah, and it's not just everything that talks,
everyone too. Everyone will greet you and say hello,
good morning, good evening..
Nara's such a nice town.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
25 and 1/2 days to go and Preparing
Next comes the what I need to bring with me:
Using the help of this packing guide,
I created my own list..
Stuff to Bring (in no particular order again):
1) A good jacket / coat
I was told that the temperature would be 1-digit (in degrees Centigrade)
during the time we're there, so this is essential. I'm used to 30+ degrees and
I feel cold when our aircon goes below 25 deg, so I can't, can't make a mistake here.
2) Omiyage
presents for our hosts. What presents should I bring from my country?
Healthy drinks / food? Tokens? Uh, I don't know. Dried mangoes? Eh?
3) A map of Japan
including train lines - where can I possibly get this? Maybe in the travel guide!
4) A phrasebook / dictionary
can also be a travel guide
to augment my broken Japanese
5) A luggage bag to put all my stuff in
have to buy this, oh no, this is getting expensive
and I haven't even left! :)
6) A good camera!
With enough memory on its card(s).
Will my camera suffice or do I have a DSLR from Hidalgo for 20k? :)
Or will it be better to just bring my point and shoot and than purchase a DSLR in Japan?
7) My laptop.
To upload pics and to blog! Oh, where am I gonna get Internet connection?
Unfortunately it's now under repair but I'll get it back soon.
Make sure everything installed is with licenses, hehehe.
8) A power plug adapter
to make sure I can charge my laptop and camera
9) Lotion and lip balm
for the cold, again
10) Medicines and first aid kit
for diarrhea, pain medications, fever meds, band aids?
11) ATM card / debit card
cash is king but this is for emergencies - read: emergency shopping? :)
Quite a list, and I haven't started!
Using the help of this packing guide,
I created my own list..
Stuff to Bring (in no particular order again):
1) A good jacket / coat
I was told that the temperature would be 1-digit (in degrees Centigrade)
during the time we're there, so this is essential. I'm used to 30+ degrees and
I feel cold when our aircon goes below 25 deg, so I can't, can't make a mistake here.
2) Omiyage
presents for our hosts. What presents should I bring from my country?
Healthy drinks / food? Tokens? Uh, I don't know. Dried mangoes? Eh?
3) A map of Japan
including train lines - where can I possibly get this? Maybe in the travel guide!
4) A phrasebook / dictionary
can also be a travel guide
to augment my broken Japanese
5) A luggage bag to put all my stuff in
have to buy this, oh no, this is getting expensive
and I haven't even left! :)
6) A good camera!
With enough memory on its card(s).
Will my camera suffice or do I have a DSLR from Hidalgo for 20k? :)
Or will it be better to just bring my point and shoot and than purchase a DSLR in Japan?
7) My laptop.
To upload pics and to blog! Oh, where am I gonna get Internet connection?
Unfortunately it's now under repair but I'll get it back soon.
Make sure everything installed is with licenses, hehehe.
8) A power plug adapter
to make sure I can charge my laptop and camera
9) Lotion and lip balm
for the cold, again
10) Medicines and first aid kit
for diarrhea, pain medications, fever meds, band aids?
11) ATM card / debit card
cash is king but this is for emergencies - read: emergency shopping? :)
Quite a list, and I haven't started!
26 Days to go and Preparing
Less than a month to go!
Visa's ready, what's next?
I should be preparing, err, prepared!
How should I prepare myself
Stuff to know (in no particular order):
1) Conversational Japanese
I need to refresh my broken Japanese
2) Basic geography and transportation
How not to get lost in Japan
Well, we're going to take a trip on our own, oh no!
Maybe purchasing / borrowing a travel guide will help
Learn of nice places to visit
3) Will my cellphone work
And what I need to do with it before leaving
Yeah, I'm using a Nokia 3120 classic (yeah, budget phone) and it says in one forum that I can use it as a phone and for Internet since it's a 3G phone. Let's see. Now, to activate roaming?
Let's check out the Smart website.
4) How to use chopsticks.
Or else I'm gonna starve or I'll have to use my hands
or bring a fork in my pocket everywhere we go, hehehe!
5) All the nice technology
I need to learn about to make more out of our stay
- ubiquitous computing
- robotics
- simulation and modeling
- networks
This will definitely require a lot of reading!
Visa's ready, what's next?
I should be preparing, err, prepared!
How should I prepare myself
Stuff to know (in no particular order):
1) Conversational Japanese
I need to refresh my broken Japanese
2) Basic geography and transportation
How not to get lost in Japan
Well, we're going to take a trip on our own, oh no!
Maybe purchasing / borrowing a travel guide will help
Learn of nice places to visit
3) Will my cellphone work
And what I need to do with it before leaving
Yeah, I'm using a Nokia 3120 classic (yeah, budget phone) and it says in one forum that I can use it as a phone and for Internet since it's a 3G phone. Let's see. Now, to activate roaming?
Let's check out the Smart website.
4) How to use chopsticks.
Or else I'm gonna starve or I'll have to use my hands
or bring a fork in my pocket everywhere we go, hehehe!
5) All the nice technology
I need to learn about to make more out of our stay
- ubiquitous computing
- robotics
- simulation and modeling
- networks
This will definitely require a lot of reading!
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