Online Java IDE

     If you are a programmer, or even if you just code as a hobby, you will know how important having a well equipped IDE is for the creation and debugging of code.

     While web development can be handled easily using the built-in tools that come with popular browsers such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, certain other languages such as C++ or Java requires an IDE hundreds of megabytes in size. While it is strongly recommended that you go for a full IDE (Especially considering how most of them are free) if you are working on something serious, having to download and install a large file just for the execution of a few lines of code you picked up on the way can be a tedious process.

    In such cases, online IDE's are the way to go. These are websites that allow you to write, compile, debug, and execute code while using minimal data as the IDE is located in the website's server.

     I made a post about an online C++ shell a while ago, and now it's time to look at a Java IDE.

http://www.compilejava.net/ does the job beautifully well, no questions asked. 

It claims to be a Java compiler created in PHP, and allows you to key in code or paste source and see the compiler as well as the program output as the program runs. You can even enter command line arguments if necessary, and the whole thing comes with a number of delightful markup formats.

     Oh, the compiler is fully online, completely free to use, and no annoying registrations are required. Truly a great service!

Grab your free copy of The Byzantium now!

     The Byzantium, the novel published by Aswin G, the author of this blog, is FREE on Amazon on October 25, 2015. Make sure you grab it!

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015NE5M46?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

Original post describing the book : http://agzuniverse.blogspot.in/2015/09/the-byzantium-aswin-gs-debut-novel.html

Want to count words in an article?

     The first and foremost thing we look for when we start off writing an essay or article is the word limit. Whether it is an official limit set by others or just a personal limit to control the size of your work, knowing how much words are in your document is always a pain to find out.

     While it's not difficult to know exactly how much words are there in a text, thanks to Microsoft Word's handy feature that displays the word count on the status bar, knowing how much words that actually count towards the word limit is the real trouble, as a usual word count excludes all common words such as 'the', 'and', 'is' etc. 

     The website www.wordcounttools.com is a perfect solution to this, giving you a complete analysis of any piece of text. You can upload text in a wide variety of file formats or paste it into the given box, and you get quite a bit of details regarding the text. These include, word and character count, unique words count, difficult words count, readability level and much more.

A particularly useful feature is the keyword density indicator, which shows how often you use unique words. This becomes really useful in removing excessive repetitions of the same word in an essay, article or story, instantly making it better.

Timezone conversion

We've all been at that point of frustration because we just cannot find out the timing of that football match in our own timezone. Sure, the official site says CET 7pm, but that means nothing to me. In the end we've always had to hunt down timezone conversion sites to do the work for us.

Thankfully, there are quite a few, like:

5) EveryTimeZone
www.everytimezone.com
What I love about this site is it's simple description: "Never warp your brain with timezone math again"

Unfortunately, it just allows you to see your local time and the equivalent times in 14 evenly spread timezones across 3 days. Still, pretty handy, and dead easy to understand.

4) WorldTimeBuddy

http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/
World Time Buddy is a tool that allows you to calculate the time on any day, across any amount of time zones of your choice from all the timezones in the world.

Really useful, but reading time zones will take more than just a glance, as the interface is not exactly simplified.

3) TimeZoneConverter

http://www.timezoneconverter.com/
Time Zone Converter is much tidier and simple to use: You set the date, key in the time, and choose the from and to conversion options for timezones.

Quite a step forward from the previous two, and really nice to use.

2) TheTimeZoneConverter
http://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/

This website's URL may have only a 'The' extra, but it is massively different from all usual timezone converters. This one follows a simple and stripped-down design. Like, really, really, stripped-down design.

That's pretty much all it has.

The flip side to this simplicity is, you can't convert timezones for days other than the current one. But really, it's all you need.

1) TimeAndDate

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Time and Date is perhaps the best of the bunch. An elegant user interface easily allows you to convert between every relevant timezone including compensation for things like daylight saving, and also has a catalog of national time zones and other extras.

So next time you decide to find out whether you would have to stay up all night to watch your fav band's live show on TV, you know which site to hop on!

The Byzantium - Aswin G's debut novel

     Hello readers,

     I'm extremely happy to announce that my debut novel, The Byzantium, has been published and is available for purchase as an e-book on Amazon. I've been working on what is a relatively short novel (at 117 pages on Kindle) over the last few months, and now it's live and ready to be read.

(Link to purchase the book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015NE5M46?*Version*=1&*entries*=0 )

     The history and geography specialists (or Age of Empires specialists, it depends.) among us will know that Byzantium was the capital of the Byzantine empire and the old name of Constantinople, which in turn is the old name of Istanbul. However, The Byzantium has nothing to do with this city, and is in fact, set in a parallel world in an unnamed planet orbiting the star Procyon.

     This book is crafted to be a mystery suspense thriller with all the elements of a detective novel, but it also branches out to capture raw human emotions and questions the fundamental aspects of life, and our notions regarding them.

     Here's a sneak peak at the prologue of the book. An extended preview can be viewed on Amazon.

     The Byzantium is avaiable for purchase on www.amazon.com at 2.99$, and at comparable prices in other Amazon marketplaces as well. Please do stop by and take a look.

     Hoping you'll enjoy,

     Aswin G.

Achieve 'True Randomness' with random.org

    It's fairly easy to make a random number generator. Nearly all programming languages have a function build in just for random number generation. Randomization is a very important aspect in several things, ranging from the probability of a player taking a good touch factoring in their ball control and angle of ball reception in FIFA to daily lotto draws.

      While the generic random() function might get you acceptable results, none of them are 'truly' random, according to www.random.org  . Those functions are pseudo-random, that is, their number generation is predictable to an extent. And if it's predictable, it's not random. Right?

     So random.org offers us 'true' random number generation, based on atmospheric noise. This enduring service has existed since 1998, and is being used for many things, such as lotto draws and online games.

     The site offers many services, free as well as paid. It's worth checking out if you are searching for something that's truly random, no questions asked.

How to make images transparent in PowerPoint

     PowerPoint, the massively popular presentation software from Microsoft that comes as part of MS Office has been around for over a decade and has become synonymous with 'presentation making'. PowerPoint, or PPt in short, is now actively being used for everything ranging from school projects to business seminars.

     This popularity of PPt is no gimmick. The software has gained trust and credibility by coming loaded with posh features and options that keep getting better and more diverse with every update.

     But one of the few 'limitations' of the PowerPoint is the lack of the ability to make images transparent, preventing you from adding in cool 'faded' effects or simply having semi-transparency whenever required. Thankfully, there is a workaround for this, and it's a fairly simple one.

1)Launch PowerPoint, and open the presentation where you want a transparent image.

2)Now go to Insert → Shapes and choose a shape, and draw it on the presentation.

NOTE: You don't have to worry about the size of the shape, as you can always re size it later, but choosing a shape corresponding to the image you intent to make transparent helps. (For example, choosing the circle shape if your image is circular will make managing it easier later on.)

3) Right click on the shape and choose 'Format Shape'. The Format shape pane will open up.

4)Under the 'Shape Options' tab, click 'Fill' and choose 'Picture or Texture fill'. Now, from the options that show up, choose 'Insert picture from file', and proceed to browse and open the image you wish to make transparent. (Format shape changes to Format picture as you do this.)

5)And just like that, you're done! Now you can use the transparency slider to adjust the transparency of your shape, which is now an image.

Hope that helped!

How phrases change with time

You may have heard of 'Bastardization', the process by which the use or meaning of a phrase or a word change with time. In this image, there are some great examples of bastardization in English, with the phrases even ending up having the exact opposite of their original meanings. It's a totally cool read to check out.

All credits go to www.facebook.com/pages/Tumblr-is-life/1420819151499426 for finding out this gem.

Command Prompt tricks - Writing file names to a text file

 That's right, the mysterious black window that most new users of windows steer clear of has more utility than you thought it did. (Missed my post on how to remove viruses just by using Command Prompt? Read it here : http://agzuniverse.blogspot.com/2016/05/remove-viruses-and-malware-using.html)

     The Command Prompt, hereby referred to as CMD, can do a lot of things that would otherwise require a user to download fancy programs stuffed with adware and additional installations. If the reason why you shy away from CMD is because it is too complicated - you're wrong. Although the higher-level functions require a respectable level of computer knowledge, basic commands in CMD that can carry out tons of useful functions are no-brainers.

     And through this post, I'm pointing out such a useful CMD utility : Writing all the names of files in a folder to a text file. This can be incredibly useful for making a quick list of all the files relevant to a project or something else you have on your computer. Making a list of all the files in your movies folder or all the songs in your songs folder can be a great way to back them up or use them to put up a reminder to collect or share some movies or songs.

     So, let's get on to the method. First step, of course, is to locate the folder that requires it's filenames written to a text file, and open up command prompt by either typing in 'cmd' in the search box in the start menu (Users of Windows 8 just needs to type in 'cmd' from their home screen), or launching Run, typing in 'cmd' and pressing enter.

     Then, change to the local disk drive your folder is located in by typing 'z:' and pressing enter. (Replace z with the local disk drive in your computer.) In my case, I want to change to local disk 'e'.

     Then, go to the folder you want to use for this, and copy it's path.

     Type in "cd" followed by the path you copied, and press enter. (cd here stands for Change Directory)

     NOTE: Ctrl +V doesn't work in command prompt. In order to paste, you have to right click in the window and choose paste.

     Now it's time for the command to generate the text file : type in "dir /b > filename.txt" and press enter. You can replace 'filename' with any name you want, but don't forget the '.txt' extension.

     And with that, a text file should be generated in the same folder, with the names of all the files in that folder.

     Useful, isn't it?

How predictable are you?

     Ever had that feeling of having your mind read? Ever wondered how some people can see right through your skull and all your mental shields? (I'm not talking about magicians, duh.) Well this post......will not be telling you the science behind it(=P) but instead will direct you to a video, that proves that a random guy with sticky notes and some math behind him can make your jaw drop in wonder.

Once again, a great pick by ScienceDump.

Watch the said video here:

http://www.sciencedump.com/content/how-predictable-are-you