Friday, September 24, 2010

List of useful packages for C/C++ development on Ubuntu Linux Part 2

[SOURCE-ANALYZERS]
apt-get install -y exuberant-ctags
apt-get install -y doxygen doxygen-gui
apt-get install splint #Static analyzer Lint for C programs
apt-get install colorgcc #Colorizer for GCC errors/warnings
apt-get install cppcheck #C/C++ source static analyzer
apt-get install cscope #C/C++ source code browsing/searching
apt-get install cbrowser #browser for cscope
apt-get install cflow #Displays control flow graphs for C source
apt-get install cutils #Various C source code utils - cdecl, cobfusc
apt-get install cxref #Generate HTMl doc for C source code
apt-get install global #Global search/browse C++ source code
apt-get install id-utils #Identifier database used by global for search/browse C++ source code
apt-get install synopsis #C++/Python source code introspection tool
apt-get install gccxml #GCC source code described as xml
apt-get install gobject-introspections #Extract introspection data from libraries
apt-get install explain #Helps explain system call errors after the fact
apt-get install fhist #File history, compare and merge utility
apt-get install fastdep #Generates dependency info as makefile rules for C/C++
apt-get install eresi #Reverse Engineering, instrumentation, debugging, tracing framework
apt-get install evarista #Program transformer and data-flow analyzer for binaries using ERESI
apt-get install frama-c #GUI to combine multiple analyzers for C source code
apt-get install frama-c-base #Framework to combine multiple analyzers for C source code

apt-get install gnulib #Make programs portable using C macros/assertions/declarations/definitions
apt-get install gperf gperf-ace #Generate perfect hash given input strings
apt-get install gsoap #Web service stub/skeleton generator for C/C++ code
apt-get install kodos #GUI to debug, test and view regexps
apt-get install visual-regexp #GUI in TCL to debug, test and view regexps

[BEAUTIFIER]
apt-get install astyle # C++ source code beautifier
apt-get install indent #Beautifier for C Source code
apt-get install bcpp #C++ Source beautifier
apt-get install kwstyle #Ensure source code style of many people is same as one person
apt-get install uncrustify #C++ beautifier highly configurable
apt-get install unifdef #Remove #ifdef sections from source
apt-get install universalindentgui #GUI to configure and compare multiple beautifiers esp. for C++
apt-get install xmlindent #XML beautifier

[COMPILATION]
apt-get install distcc #distributed compiling
apt-get install distcc-pump #distributed preprocessing
apt-get install ccache #compiler cacher
apt-get install distccmon-gnome #GTK+ GUI to monitor distcc
apt-get install icecc #Distributed compiling
apt-get install icecc-monitor #GUI for monitoring Distributed compiling
apt-get install boost-build #Easy Cross-platform compilation
apt-get install gdc # D language compiler
apt-get install bison++ #C++ source generator enhancement to bison
apt-get install flex
apt-get install antlr3 #create compilers/interpreters using ANTLR

[LIBRARIES]
apt-get install libasio-dev libasio-doc #Cross Platform Boost library for Async IO (network programming)
apt-get install libclthreads-dev libclthreads-doc #POSIX threads C++ library
apt-get install libcorelinux libcorelinux-examples #Converting Linux core C libs to C++ libs
apt-get install libdar-dev #Disk archiver
apt-get install uc++ uc++-doc uclibc uclibc-source #Embedded C++ with multi-threading etc.
apt-get install witty-dev #AppServer and library for C++ web-deployment

[JAVA]
apt-get install gwis #C++ wrapper class generator to call Java objects/methods.
apt-get install jaranalyzer #Dependency management utility for jar files
apt-get install jclassinfo #Reads class files to get useful info from them
apt-get install jflex javacc #Flex and Bison for Java
apt-get install junit junit-doc #Unit testing for Java
apt-get install testng #NG unit testing with extra and best-of-breed features of JUnit and NUnit
apt-get install tijmp jmp #Java memory profiler
apt-get install visualvm #Tool for remote-admin, monitoring(dumping), profiling production/dev code, bug-reporting

[DATABASE]
apt-get install sqlite-database-browser #GUI for SQLite dbs.
apt-get install sqlrelay-dev #SQLite C/C++ APIs for proxying speeding up access to N DBMS
apt-get install unixodbc-dev #Unix port of ODBC

[XML]
apt-get install xmlcopyeditor #XML util for xsd, dtd, xslt, validation and syntax highlighting
apt-get install xsdcxx #Generate C++ classes from XSDs
apt-get install xml-rpc-api2cpp #Generate C++ wrapper classes for XML-RPC API

Howto subscribe to this (and other) RSS Feeds.

RSS feeds push the blog content to you, instead of you having to check for updates to the site.
All this from within your browser or RSS feed client s/w.


You can very simply subscribe to any of the below options:
  1. The whole blog, (or)
  2. Individual blog-posts, (or)
  3. Even just the comments part of the blog.

Howto:

0) Just use the newly added gadgets at top of the blog:
   Subscribe to: Posts Comments

1) If you're using Firefox just click on the Orange Icon in your address-bar.
    And choose which folder to save your "Live Bookmark"/RSS feed into.
   Howto subscribe to RSS feeds in FireFox in seconds: http://johnbokma.com/firefox/rss-and-live-bookmarks.html


2) You can also use the below URLs:


3) Also Rss feeds to subscribe to blog comments can be found at the bottom of the blog:
        "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)"

Reference Links:

Why write technical blog posts Part 2

Some interesting quotes (with links) from "Apprenticeship Patterns":
 
Section 6: Construct Your Curriculum
" the vast amounts of wisdom captured in the books of experienced practitioners like Jerry Weinberg, Fred Brooks, Steve McConnell, and Kent Beck cannot be replaced, not even with higher-bandwidth information. Even if you’re not a bookworm, a successful apprenticeship needs to include some books as well as time devoted to studying. You’re not in school, though. There is no assigned reading—it’s up to you to find recommendations and construct your own curriculum."

0) Reading List
          "Problem: 
                   The number of books you need to read is increasing faster than you can read them.
        Solution: 

                Maintain a Reading List to track the books you plan to read, and remember the books you’ve read."

1) Study the Classics:
"Joshua Kerievsky once asked Jerry Weinberg how he keeps up with all the books that come out. Jerry said, “Easy—I only read the great ones”
[...]
"Successful apprentices tend to focus on “long-lived books” and use the Web or experimentation to learn how the information has evolved. Dave remembers vividly the experience of reading his first classic in this field, The Psychology of Computer Programming, and marveling at how relevant the book felt, despite the stories of punch cards and room-sized computers. The wisdom captured in such classics is vital information to keep you heading in the right direction on The Long Road."

2) Dig Deeper:

"Problem:

You keep running into difficulty maintaining the code you’ve written because it turns out that the tutorials you followed cut corners and simplified complex issues. You find that your superficial knowledge of a thousand tools means you’re always floundering whenever a subtle bug arises or you have to do something that demands deep knowledge. People often accuse you of having a misleading CV because you don’t distinguish between a couple of weeks of extending an existing web service and a deep knowledge of the issues inherent in maintaining an interoperable and highly scalable enterprise system. What’s even worse is that because your knowledge is so superficial, you’re not even aware of how little you know until something or someone puts you to the test.

Solution:

Learn to dig deep into tools, technologies, and techniques. Acquire the depths of knowledge to the point that you know why things are the way they are. Depth means understanding the forces that led to a design rather than just the details of a design. For instance, it means understanding type theory (or at least the simplification offered by the typing quadrant at http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TypingQuadrant) rather than simply parroting the things you’ve heard others say"

List of useful addons for FireFox (with links) Part 2

List of useful addons for FireFox (with links) Part 1

Note: These addons have been added on Firefox version 3.6.10

+ScribeFire Blog Editor
        Description: Edit and post your blog from inside firefox with this plugin.
                              Note: ScribeFire Next is a bit buggy i.e. publish button disappears too fast to click.
        Download: Add to Firefox


+ DownThemAll
Description:
The first and only download manager/accelerator built inside Firefox!
Download: Add to Firefox

+ Easy YouTube Video Downloader
Description:
Easiest Youtube video downloader ever, single click non-intrusive direct download buttons for FLV, 3GP, MP3, MP4, 720p HD and 1080p Full-HD qualities.
Download: Add to Firefox

+ NetVideoHunter Video Downloader
Description:
Download videos and music from video sites like Youtube.
Download: Add to Firefox

+ ImgLikeOpera
Description:
ImgLikeOpera allows load only the images that you want in Firefox browser. This extension is very useful for non broadband users...
Download: Add to Firefox
Not available for Firefox 3.6.

+ SessionManager
Description:
Session Manager saves and restores the state of all windows - either when you want it or automatically at startup and after crashes. It can also automatically save the state of open windows individually.
Download: Add to Firefox

+ SpeedDial
Description:
Direct access to your most visited websites
Download: Add to Firefox

+ WOT - Safe Browsing Tool
Description:
Would you like to know which websites you can trust? The WOT add-on is a safe surfing tool for your browser. Traffic-light rating symbols show which websites you can trust when you search, shop and surf on the Web.
Download: Add to Firefox

[BOOKMARKS]
+ TagSieve (Note: This has NOT been reviewed by Mozilla)
Description:
This is a continuation of the excellent but abandoned TagSifter extension.
Firefox lets you tag your bookmarks, but it doesn't give you a great way to browse your bookmarks by their tags.
Download:

+ Xmarks Sync (NOTE: Xmarks is SHUTTING DOWN. Don't use it.  
                     This will backup your ALL bookmarks so DON'T use for official links)
          Description:
          Xmarks is the #1 bookmarking add-on.
          Keep your bookmarks, passwords and open tabs backed up and synchronized across computers
          and browsers. Search smarter with website ratings and reviews displayed with your search results.
          Download: Add to Firefox

+ Firefox Sync by Mozilla Labs
    Description:
    Free browser add-on that lets you stay in sync with your Firefox.
    Access your history, passwords, bookmarks and even open tabs across all your devices.
    Download: Add to Firefox 

+ Bookmarks Duplicate Detector
Description:
Detects Duplicate Bookmarks when bookmarks are added and specify where is the previous URL. You can also search and delete duplicates URL already in your Bookmarks.
Download: Add to Firefox
Not available for Firefox 3.6.10

WikiSeer Keynotes
Description: WikiSeer Keynotes finds the most significant content in any English web page; shrinking the original up to 99%. It serves as a middle ground between skimming the titles and reading the entire article, providing a faster / richer reading experience.
Download: Continue to Download →

Lazarus: Form Recovery

Description: Never lose anything you type into a web form again! Lazarus securely auto-saves all forms as you type, so after a crash, server timeout, or whatever, you can go back to the form, right click, "recover form", and breathe a sigh of relief
Download:  Add to Firefox

Reframe It
Description: Commenting tool to add comments right next to Web pages without permission and share with others.
Download: Continue to Download →

DejaClick

Description: Record and bookmark your browser activities, then with a single click, replay the entire sequence all over again.
Download: Add to Firefox

FloatNotes

Description:
With this add-on you can put notes anywhere on a website. Add comments, links or even images. It can help you doing research on the web, remind you of topics you want to blog about, etc. It is simple and easy to use.
Download: Add to Firefox

Utils for Linux and Windows

Search Everything:
This is a really fast and compact file search utility for windows. It beats Google desktop hollow if all you need is to search file/directory names. Already its saved me from re-downloading stuff, finding work that I’d stored away (safely!!) somewhere and just plain discover that I’ve got more goodies on my system than I’d thought!!
Having a huge HDD (by today’s standards) 1 GB does help to keep useful stuff ready for “Search Everything”.
Some nifty features to add would have been
1) Search inside compressed files and maybe
2) Catalog generation for offline media like CDs/DVDs.

Bharat has written a nice blog post on it called "Search Everything – A wonderful utility to reduce file searches".

Recently reinstalled Windows/Ubuntu and had to reinstall all the stuff.

I was using the old blog editor in blogger and managed to lose nearly 75% of a blog.
No undo function to revert to previous version of my blog. Searched for a work-around in blogger.
Nearly 3 hours of hard-work gone down the drain.
Found these GUI utilities for Ubuntu and Windows to hold ALL copy-paste stuff from the clipboard.

1) Glipper the multiple copies clipboard manager on Ubuntu Gnome Desktop
#a) Installs Glipper the multiple copies clipboard manager into Ubuntu Gnome Desktop
apt-get install glipper
#b) Right click on the "Windows Quicklaunch Bar" and Add to Panel->Clipboard manager
#c) Click on any of the previous copies to get the copy-paste you need.

2) Nautilus elementary -> Elegant Gnome. Making the desktop look neat.
     http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Elegant+Gnome+Pack?content=127826
     (Found it from somewhere inside http://lifehacker.com/tag/linux/!!)

3) Also Clipboard Manager for Windows for extending the basic Windows clipboard.
      http://space.dl.sourceforge.net/project/clipman/Clipman/v1.0/ClipMan_Setup.msi
      Note: May require .net framework 2.0.50727 to run if it's not already installed.
      Easily downloadable  from this site

Why write technical blog posts Part 1


Technical blogs help to:
  • Record and speed-up the process of learning a new topic.
  • Can be used as learning devices. 
  • Provide a useful format for note-taking as you learn new things.
  • Sharing and growing knowledge with others.
  • Provide invaluable feedback necessary for your own growth.
  • Capture the essence of what you learned during research

Technical blogs should evolve from one-liners to concise researched posts.
They should act as brain-dumps of all your research.

Research is a frightfully expensive activity with loads of context building up as you search.
What happens after to all this invaluable context after you spend a week or more researching it?
It evaporates within days of research as you move on to other things.


The beginners mind full of questions is an invaluable resource.
Unfortunately it's impossible to retain as you learn more and more!!


Slowly the questions give way to answers...
Only for more questions to pop-up... with answers following slowly.
The mystery thickens fast as you try to satisfy your quest for understanding.

Researching, reading books, articles, blogs that you browse on the Net, experimenting, theorising, modelling.
All these go into the steaming cauldron of your quest....

Slowly the mists part to slowly yield insights into what makes the thing tick!!


Writing and Revising your blogs is a definite way to nurture and match this process of  growth.
The very process of writing simply and clearly forces you to seek out the core of the concept.
This is THE most valuable gift to the technical blogger - fuelling his own growth while helping others on the path.

Innocence yielding to Experience yielding (very) slowly to Mastery.



Not only does it capture the questions and answers you found.
It can very easily form the basis for helping out someone on the same path.

The Genius of Jerry Weinberg - The Psyche of Programming

Gerald (Jerry) Weinberg - The Programmer Psychologist, Writer, Systems Thinker:
          http://www.geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Home.html


This guys papers, articles and books on "Helping Smart People be Happy" are quoted on books by most of the Experts in any domain of programming.
Check out his articles/books: All books written by Gerald Weinberg on Amazon



See below for customer reviews on Amazon:

Amazon Customer Reviews/Comments on Jerry Weinberg's books:
The Classic :

Guide for Interviewers and Interviewees:

Problem Solving (useful for OnTheJob and Interviews too):

Guide for Technical Leaders:

Guide on becoming a Consultant:

Know Thyself:

Systems Thinking: