Mohamed Atia

We're all in this together - MadV is back!

2009-11-05T19:33:00.004+02:00

And finally MadV made a new video like the previous ones
I heard he had some work in a good tv network or something and I hoped he will be back, and here he is with a new touching video

Distributed Computation and Distributed systems

2009-10-15T04:53:00.002+02:00

ده ريبورت الدكتور هشام كان طلبه عن الأستخدمات اليومية للشبكات , فأنا جاتلى فكرة إنى أكتب عن حاجة جديدة بدل الهبل و أهو بالمرة أعمل بيها بوست جديد, و أديه للدكتور.

الكلام مش عميق أو تكنيكال أوى مجرد تعريفات لأنى أصلاً مدرستش الجزء ده لسه, مجرد قرأت شوية, فأرجو أنه يكون مفيد للبعض

~~أه الموضوع مقرتوش لسه و أنا كنت بكتب من غير مشوف بكتب أيه أصلاً, و مش هعرف أقراءه حالياً لأنى ورايا حجات تانية~~

Distributed Computation and Systems

The Ecstasy of Cinema

2009-10-14T21:16:00.002+02:00

Lots of pearls

Code Readability VS Error centralization

2009-10-11T22:16:00.001+02:00

I found this a good thing to write about and didn’t want to postpone otherwise I might forget.

A very common rule in computer science or Software engineering to be specific is to make the code you write more readable than hacky, even if it would cause a slight performance loss, as readability relatively important than this maybe-tiny performance loss, even in the easiest example it’s preferred to write an if else instead of using the one-line Ternary operator. This is also for people who love to minimize their code >><< that it will look so obfuscated.

Yesterday I was completing an engine I’m writing since this last summer vacation and I had to review a very old code, I remember I was very very lazy while writing it, I just wanted to finish this boring and very repetitive part, so the biggest function was like 190 lines of say 9 ifs, so I wanted to change some variable that controls the logic throughout the whole function and hell started, I had to re-understand every bit of each line to know what to edit, and that’s all in the sake of code readability so that I could divide the function into 8 ifs and formulate the code as the process in real life goes so the reader wouldn’t face problems imagining what the code does.

What made it a real hell that there was whole other 5 functions that had the same logic error :( , so I cursed code readability, i needed to make my errors more centralized so that they can be easily contained and corrected, the next day (the one that’s now) I spent it getting use of what I know about digital design and made something close to a truth table gave each action 2 bits … and reduced the code to 40 lines with two for loops and only one place to edit the flow afterwards.

//About my domain, 3MaTeS wanted to change the company that’s registering my domain, and so told me to wait a month till it expires and be free to register from anywhere else, after a month (28-9) I found that the original company I wanted to replace had already registered my domain for itself for another year so If wanted to have my domain back I have to renew it only from them only :s, seems that I don’t have another way around.

Basic science research is going down, DOWN

2009-08-30T23:40:00.004+02:00

This morning I happened to read the wikipedia page about Bell Labs, where I was surprised by the amount of research and inventions done by the scientists in it, I only need to say that they invented the first transistor !!!!, they invented electronics :D ! also the C programming language and UNIX was a work done in there.

But at the end of the page a bad news struck me, as of the last year (Aug 2008) they stopped any research in “Basic Science”, you know physics chemistry and things like these, and moved to more marketable areas, I felt disappointed :s. The basic science research is supposed to be the solver of every problem facing the advance in technologies, as when certain bottleneck faces a tech these sciences would be the first to solve the problem, like when Bell labs invented transistors they solved the problem of the huge sizes of computers due to using tubes. Nowadays we have a similar problem we need something better than these transistors, we devices much smaller than electronic devices.

What surprised me more that lately tonight I found Slashdot posting a topic talking about similar fears, and mentioned : “While IBM, Microsoft, and HP collectively spend $17B a year on R&D, only 3%-5% of that is for basic science.”

I see the markets over saturated and most of the technologies reached their high end with no substantial change in them (we still have mechanical HDDs, please make bigger SSDs :D).

Yeah most of them look at Nanotechnology as the salvation of most of industry problems, I think we will have to wait a lot to see this change they allege.

Coldplay Strawberry Swing music video

2009-07-20T17:23:00.002+03:00

Coldplay again makes a new music video, and I’m speechless it’s great, funny and new. I thought “Life in technicolor II” was the best, but I gotta say this one is outstanding as I always liked Strawberry swing as the happiest song in the album

Watch the video here exclusively :

Or download :

HQ with no ads

I lol-ed when the cape got cut :D, damn them evil squirrels.

Imageshack got hacked

2009-07-11T05:44:00.006+03:00

yeah the title says it all
despite the fact that most of my site's images are hosted by it
but I'm not really sad after I read this :

Click to enlarge

The OST of my life [2]

2009-06-07T15:42:00.003+03:00

Priscilla Ahn always gets me, can’t get bored of her. Her debut album is great and songs I like are : Dream, Red cape and I don’t think so.

And over listening to post-rock, that I think I don’t listen to rock a lot anymore, bands like Mogwai, Sigur Ros, Explosions in the sky, This will kill you, World’s end girl friend, 65daysofstatic, Yndi helda and The album leaf are wonderful, lol I can’t even find a post-rock band that suck I like them all, may be I should link some :

Sigur Rós: Í Gær- Minn Heima

Minn Heima - Hjartao Hamast

Mogwai - Glasgow Mega-snake

Explosions In The Sky - Birth and Death of the Day

65daysofstatic - Retreat! Retreat!

World's end girlfriend - singing under the rainbow

And to the just released album from Eels : Le hombre lobo it’s very good nothing less than their previous albums, but I don like the new Black eyed pees album :s and I want to have sometime to listen to Eminem’s new album.

This is very overrated

2009-05-29T15:37:00.001+03:00

كده الموضوع أوفررررررررررر جداً

ليه خبر زى ده يجى فى الجرايد و كماااان أول صفحة ده أحنا سمعتنا هتبقى هباب

أنا مش عارف أزاكر من اللى بيحصل ربنا يستر فى الداتابيز

أنا مش شمتان

2009-05-29T11:49:00.002+03:00

هففففففف, ناس كتير زعلانة على موضوع التحقيق و أن الموضوع كتر زيادة عن اللزوم و ناس بتنتقضنى على إن مؤيد, و ان الحكاية متستهلش و كده مش هنعدى من المادة و السنة الجاية الدكتور هيستقصدنا. طيب أنا عاوز أعرف الموضوع هيستاهل أمتى ؟ كل دفعة تتخرج تقول الحمد لله خلصنا و طز فى الكلية و أحنا مستنيين كده و ملناش دعوة باللى يحصل و بنطلع نتصدم برة و نلاقى اللى بناخده ولا حاجة و يمكن يكون ولا حاجة لكليات جوه مصر كمان !!, أنا على سبيل المثال السنة اللى فاتت قدمت على تدريب فى القاهرة و محدش عبرنى !!

قولت لبابا يسألى ليه ؟ ردوا عليه أصله من المنصورة , المهم

مفيش حد مبيغلطش , بس فيه مناصب متقدرش تمسكها غير لما تكون مدييها حقها و قادر عليها , مناصب يتعلق بها حياة ناس أخرى, مش لما طيار يسبب غلطة فى رحلة و يموت الناس اللى معاه هنقول إنه أنسان و بيغلط

و مش معنى أن أحمد زويل دكتور واخد نوبل أنه يبقى بيشرح أحسن واحد

المُعلم لازم طول حياته يزاكر و يكون أذكى واحد قاعد فى المحاضرة و عارف أزاى يدرس و يتعمل مع الطلبة

أنا عاوز بس لما يبقى فيه مادة علينا يبقى بستفاد منها و منهجها محطوط صح و متراجع علشان و أنا بزاكرها مبقاش خايف إن اللى بزاكره ده فيه حاجة غلط و ده حال معظم اللى بناخده

و يمكن المادة الوحيدة الجديد اللى أخدناها بضمير الفيريلوج بس الكتاب كان فيه غلطات طيب ميهمش , الألجوريثمث و الداتا ستركشر أنا أتحدى لو كان الدكتور قال سيرة ال بيج أوه و ده مثال على كورس منهم :

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/software/AlgAnim/ds_ToC.html

أكاد أقسم أن أحنا مخدناش تلت الكلام ده , يقولك أصل أحنا لسه ضغيريين على الكلام ده , أما هنكبر أمتى ؟؟

الكمبيوتر أركتكتشر : أخدناها حلو والله هييييه و قلت أزاكرها من مرجع لأنى حبتها مووووت , لقتنا مخدناش منه غير 3 شاباتر من النص من 13 شابتر!! قولت يمكن الكتاب مستفيض و مكمل أدفنسد و لما كنت وصلت فيه لشبتر 9 قلت لأمير أبن عمى اللى فيى جي يو سي أنا زاكرت لحد 9 فى الكمبيوتر أرك على أساس إنى عملت أعجاز لاقيته أصلاً و اخد ال 13 فى المنهج السنة اللى فاتت يعن ده طلع منهج كورس واحد, بالظيبطططط زى الكنترول المفروض منهج سنه و أحنا بقالنا 3 سنين بناخده

مش لازم اللى معاه الدال يدرس و مش لازم يبقى برفكت بس لما نقول أنه أحنا مش بناخد ألجوريثمث صح يقولنا لأ و لازم نبقى غلطانين أى نعم الدكتور ممكن يكون بيعملنا كأولاده حتى بعد كده كان عاوز يطلعنا رحلة للقرية الذكية معاه , بس أحنا فى جامعة و المفروض نتخرج نشتغل و مستقبلنا متعلق باللى بناخده فى الكلية , مش حكاية 5-4 سنيين و نتخرج

أنا كتبت كده علشان أبين أنى مش شمتان و عارف أنه عادى الدكتور هيدينا السنة الجاية إن شاء الله بس دلوقتى أقدر أنتظر بعض التغيير فى المعاملة و لكن الكل متوقع طبعاً التحول للأسوء , و ده هنعرفه من النتيجة طبعاً

صحيح فيه “حاجة “ حلوة حصلتلى مرة , أنى فى محاضرة دكتور هشام مرة كنت وصلت يادوب و ملقيتش غير أنى أقف ورا , و فجأة قبل ما المحاضرة تخلص ب 10 دقائق الدكتور طردنى أنا و واحد تانى و أنا أصلاً طول المحاضرة متكلمتش و برفع أيدى لمل يسال !! بعد مخلص سألته ليه يقولى علشان مش واقف عدل , ماشى أنا كنت زعلان سعتها جداً بس الأهم أن الأسبوع اللى بعديه الدكتور أعتذر فى وسط المحاضرة و قالى أنا أسف المفروض مكنتش أطردك أنا أتصدمت مكنتش عارف أقول أيه !! قولت شكراً مكنتش أتخيل أنها تحصل و من ساعتها و أنا بحترمه .

و ياريت تشوفوا الدكتور ده و هو بيشرح: لانه السبب فى بعض التعقيد اللى أنا فييه كان أحمد سليمان قلنا عليه و مكنتش أصدق أنه فيه كده

شكلى هعمل بوسط و أمرى لله مع أنى حاسس أنى هعيد السنة لو حد منهم قرأ الموضوع و لو حد شايف أنى غلطان يا ريت ينتقدنى و ياريتتتتتتتتتتتتتتتتتت حد يقولى إن الموضوع ده مش مناسب أنه يتحط و إنى لازم أمسحه

BTW This was some good mind discharge :D.

We had an exam, A graphics one and it was HILARIOUS

2009-05-29T02:57:00.003+03:00

I sat to take the exam’s paper and looked through the images we are supposed to draw using JAVA and it wasn’t very bad I saw the same problems we had in mid term exam in there, and I said what the hick a plane AGAIN !!!! the plane for us is like 8 queens for an AI course, we have it as an example in every course I remember : VB .net C#, OOP + Databases, Data Structures, AND Graphics with Java :D.

But then I started to read the questions as always, and THEN at a question a hidden one the number 4, only one line and the one that made me dance and laugh :

I left about half an hour for it , this what I wanted to draw :

She’s lovely, isn’t she :P ?

I didn’t want to make this post REALLY it’s already said before, but I read this news on masrawy :

التحقيق مع أساتذة بكلية الهندسة بشأن سؤال للطلاب عن برنامج يحاكى الراقصة

and since then ……………………… hysterically :D, and we are having the best and funniest messenger group chat ever…………………… XD

AND we excelled really :D in this ex. :

http://www.freewebs.com/4upload2/General.html Copyrights reserved for Mohamed Daif

and a more interactive one :D : http://projects.abdulradi.com/Belly Dancer/ Copyrights for Tamer the radiant one.

I wanted to make mine :D , but I would after the exams isA .

and yeah btw the fifth question suxxxxxxxxxxxxx, I had to write 12 X 2 lines in the exam to only change colors :’( , I HATED this part.

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain , Wanna live in a fair world

2009-05-09T01:21:00.006+03:00

There is a type of movies which make you wish you would reach its end fast and you may even start skipping parts (I once watched a 1:35 h movie in 45 mins, it was so boring that I won’t say its name :D), and movies that you would be sorry when you sense it’s reaching the end, the other one is when it’s too wonderful that if it’s already finished you want to watch again and may be again, this was Amelie a beautiful movie, Amelie Amelie Amelie <3, this is my second French movie , I can’t find a movie to match it with, may be El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth) would be somehow similar, but Amelie is waaaaay better for me.

I wish I could spoil it :D but I would be like doing a crime for anyone didn’t have the chance to watch it already, let me say mainly it’s about a girl who didn’t have a good childhood and grew up with socializing problems, one day she had the chance to change someone’s life, and discovered that she can change the world around here and how simple is that, so by very simple acts she could bring some justice and love to people needing, but always ignoring her needs as she wanted it to be completely an act for better world she wanted to live in, an ideal one. The acting was brilliant and there is one scene I can’t get out of my head which is the one when Burdoto (or whatever his name is) found his childhood belongings …

The soundtracks are superb done by Yann Tiersen, very calming: most of the time uplifting and sometimes sad, listen to this one :

and the other one was a surprise for me,as for a long time I wanted to know the soundtrack of the Egyptian Food Bank ad I loved it very much but searching didn’t help me, then i found it playing in the movie:

Creativity ... Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie

2009-05-02T19:26:00.002+03:00

begad video ye32d :D
thanks banna

A very critical programming sheet, yalla ner2os

2009-05-01T14:50:00.012+03:00

و مرة أخرى نعود لأخر نكت قسمنا

فى أخر محاضرة للبرمجة,

Graphics with Java

الدكتور كان بيشرح فى أمثلته العظيمة و الحيوية

و فجأة مش عارف أيه اللى جاب فى دماغه أنه يشرح مثال الرقاصة بتاع السنة اللى فاتت

و كان “زمان” عبارة عن صور بتتعرض ورا بعضها بسرعة , بس خلناها راقصة باليه

لكن المرة ديه بالرسم اللى هو خط خط

فبيشرح:

الوسط بيبقى مثلاً مربع و توعد تحركه لوحده

و ال … أحم …

Chest

يبقى

Ellipse

و قعد يشرح بقى فى الباقى زى اليد بطريقة غريبة , و كأن ده عادى

أزاى تحرك و كل متزود الكنرولر بتاع كل حركة وبحيث أن كل حركة لوحداها يبقى أحسن

و طبعاً اللبس و الألوان كل واحد و حسب قدرته

و أهم حاجة طبعاً فى الموضوع الخبرة و المعرفة , أيوه طبعاً يا دوك

و الدكتور كان بيشرح بمزاج فعلاً و أو ل مرة أشوفه فرحان كده بجد D:

و أحنا كنا هلكانين من الضحك و هو بيشرح

مممم أيه الهبل ده

و غير كده الدكتور طريقته فى كلامه معانا عدت معاه خالص

“ بتضحكى ليه يا بيضه لو عاوزه ترقصى تعالى أرقصى بره”

مش هعلق طبعاً

أه صحيح البرنامج ده مطلوب المحاضرة الجاية و عليه خمس درجات

Update: http://www.freewebs.com/4upload2/General.html , isn't she gorgeous :P

Copyrights reserved for Mohamed Daif

The first time to notice the Arabic with English inline problem in blogger .

أنا غير مسئول تماماً عن ما نشر فى موقع اليوم السابع لأنه قد يبدو لوهلة كتحريف وضيع مما هو مكتوب هنا , و هذا لأن هدف من حرف الكلام بهذه الطريقة البشعه تشويه صورة الدكتور لهدف ما و ليس ما يحصل فعلياً

Windows 7 RC availability

2009-04-29T21:38:00.001+03:00

So finally a Release candidate for win7, I love this windows :D, it has been doing great with me although I’m using the 7000 beta. The RC will be available for MSDN subscribers 30 April, tomorrow, and for public in 5 May isA, if you’re hasty the RC can be already downloaded from torrents, but I prefer a version with my serial this time.

The very good news I read that there will be a new feature for running a virtualized version of WinXP (backward compatibility with a new point of view), so you can run WinXP programs seamlessly under Win7 with other programs, just like other virtualization software, and this Winxp version will be legal but available as an update.

Click to enlarge, Pic from :Win Super Site

Some people in MS is coming up finally with good ideas, I wish the team working on VS helps the one on Windows :P.

Programming LCD custom characters

2009-04-26T23:46:00.005+03:00

Before I start, I wanted to make a LCD supports Arabic characters, but :s , first : the max number of stored chars in LCD is 8 :(, ooh ok I can store them in PIC then load each one if needed (as if you have that lots of memory luxury in the PIC :D ), secondly : each damn cell have spacing between each other, so ججج won’t be connected :@ , it will be like : جـ جـ ج, so stopped looking for making it for now, and I found the last resort for using custom characters in LCD is when printing a not supported character in LCD , I think like º (the degree, can be used for math OR temperature(le dr. shereef aho :D ) )and $ .

So how to steps :

You need to initialize you LCD first.

Next you want to move the address register of the LCD to the CGRAM(that will hold the 8 custom characters data), so you will change : RS = 0, R/W = 0 as a start to tell the LCD that you will use Data input (D0-7) as an Instruction. the CGRAM starts from 64 , so to store your (0) char you set D(0-7) = 64, and the next char = last char’s address + 8.

Each character consists of : 8 rows and 5 columns of pixels, you set each row of the 8 sequentially alone for each char, ex. : for a row to light its second pixel (from the right) set it as (010 = 2), there is a pretty script that generates each row’s code from the char you draw, and have the drawing thingy explained better:

          1:           2: PORTA.1 = 1 'E = 1         3: PORTA.2 = 0 'RS = 0         4: PORTA.3 = 0 'R/W = 0         5: PORTB = 64  'move AC to 64, 0 character         6: Delay_ms(5)          7: PORTA.1 = 0 'E = 0         8: Delay_ms(1)         9:          10: PORTA.1 = 1 'E = 1        11: PORTA.2 = 1 'RS = 1        12: PORTA.3 = 0 'R/W = 0        13: PORTB = 14  '01110 , pixel off > 3 pixels on > pixel off        14: Delay_ms(5)        15: PORTA.1 = 0        16: Delay_ms(1)        17:          18: PORTA.1 = 1        19: PORTA.2 = 1        20: PORTA.3 = 0        21: PORTB = 2        22: Delay_ms(5)        23: PORTA.1 = 0        24: Delay_ms(1)        25:          26: PORTA.1 = 1        27: PORTA.2 = 1        28: PORTA.3 = 0        29: PORTB = 12        30: Delay_ms(5)        31: PORTA.1 = 0        32: Delay_ms(1)        33:          34: PORTA.1 = 1        35: PORTA.2 = 1        36: PORTA.3 = 0        37: PORTB = 16        38: Delay_ms(5)        39: PORTA.1 = 0        40: Delay_ms(1)        41:          42: PORTA.1 = 1        43: PORTA.2 = 1        44: PORTA.3 = 0        45: PORTB = 20        46: Delay_ms(5)        47: PORTA.1 = 0        48: Delay_ms(1)        49:          50: PORTA.1 = 1        51: PORTA.2 = 1        52: PORTA.3 = 0        53: PORTB = 17        54: Delay_ms(5)        55: PORTA.1 = 0        56: Delay_ms(1)        57:          58: PORTA.1 = 1        59: PORTA.2 = 1        60: PORTA.3 = 0        61: PORTB = 14        62: Delay_ms(5)        63: PORTA.1 = 0        64: Delay_ms(1)        65:          66: PORTA.1 = 1        67: PORTA.2 = 1        68: PORTA.3 = 0        69: PORTB = 0        70: Delay_ms(5)        71: PORTA.1 = 0        72: Delay_ms(1)    

Jump BACK to the last data address (last character you printed on the screen) to resume printing, so if you start by defining your custom chars and then start printing, you can jump to 128 address (Start of DDRAM), but if you already printed then jumped to CGRAM you need to return to the same address AC was in before going to CGRAM, so you can keep track of the number of chars printed so that you can later return, OR you can read the AC just before jumping to CGRAM storing it and use it to return later the later solution I have spent about an hour trying it, but I couldn’t do it in simulation mode :s, I tried every thing but D(0-7) never outputs AC.

   1: PORTA.1 = 1 'E = 1         2: PORTA.2 = 0 'RS AND R/W = 0         3: PORTA.3 = 0         4: PORTB = 128 'return to DataRAM start postion = 128         5: Delay_ms(5)         6: PORTA.1 = 0         7: Delay_ms(1)    

Live you regular life and print characters as you want, if needed to print a custom one , just set D(0-7) to N , where N is the number of the cust char in CGRAM :

   1: PORTA.1 = 1 'E = 1         2: PORTA.2 = 1 ' RS = 1 , R/W = 0         3: PORTA.3 = 0         4: PORTB = 0   'Print custom char 0         5: Delay_ms(5)         6: PORTA.1 = 0         7: Delay_ms(1)         8:
         9:          10:          11: PORTA.1 = 1        12: PORTA.2 = 1        13: PORTA.3 = 0        14: PORTB = 1   'Print custom char 1, and so on to 8        15: Delay_ms(5)        16: PORTA.1 = 0        17: Delay_ms(1)    

As for the return thing if you already have been printing before moving to CGRAM, then if you returned to 128 again and print it will overwrite the already printed chars.

Win Susan Win. Susan Boyle - Britains Got Talent.

2009-04-22T00:25:00.003+02:00

Can't help but to watch it again

Naruto Shippuden Movie 3: Inheritors of the Will of Fire, Edit : download Shippudden 2 Bonds

2009-04-15T05:43:00.011+02:00

and

A newer longer trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LDHxfKZMpw

aha, the next movie announced
nothing special I see, a huge beast ...... :s

but whatever, Naruto Shippuuden Bonds is coming out on DVDs 22nd this month (April) , so will be watching it around 25-29 or something isA.

Celebrate the 10th anniversary: http://www.naruto10th.com , shame it's in Japanese :(

Download : Naruto Shippuden movie 2 : bonds

The torrent for Dattebayo : http://www.dattebayo.com/t/

OR Watch online

28-7-09 Edit : a visitor gladly supplied me with some good spoilers for the 3rd movie Click here if you want to read.You can also watct those for spoilers (clips took form the movie) : clip 1, 2 3

Ribbons, I love this visualization

2009-04-15T01:22:00.002+02:00

elegant, eye relieving and soft.

just alt+enter and enjoy :)

to get it : Download , it’s a collection of many other visualizations,select Ribbons > Dense, Ribbons or Mystify .

Coldplay to make recording sessions in Zero Gravity, in high Air

2009-04-05T17:11:00.003+02:00

Form Coldplay official website:

Good morning. It's been announced today that Coldplay are to boldly go where no musicians have gone before, by recording in zero gravity. Later this year, the band will board a modified Boeing 727 aircraft, which can provide zero gravity for periods of 20-25 seconds at a time. Wearing self-designed outfits based on early Russian cosmonaut suits, they will be joined by producer/collaborator Brian Eno, who will use custom-made "heavy" microphones to record the sessions on a 1969 analogue cassette player.
"We've been searching for the right environment to record the perfect snare drum sound for many years now," Chris Martin told Coldplay.com, "and I've just got a gut feeling that zero gravity is the place to do that, y'know?"
Anchorman

haha, that’s why Coldplay is so cool :D, I would like these records “songs … New album ? ;) ”just for that.

Source : Coldplay.com

Initializing your LCD for PIC

2009-04-05T03:48:00.004+02:00

I have been the last few hours debugging a PIC Basic instructions so that I can output for a LCD without using compiler’s functions, so went through many websites and was the worst code searching experience ever, these things aren’t well documented like other high level known languages, so I will try to explain my code here a little bit.

I connected the LCD’s Data/Instruction 8 bits with port B in my PIC 16F84A, and it E to RA1, RS to RA2, and R/w to RA3. The basic algs for outputting to the LCD pins :

1-set RS and R/W to to 0, to make the LCD use the value on the Data pins (from B) as an instruction like clear, home and so on.

2-RS = 0, R/W = 1, to Read the most significant bit D7 which is the busy flag that indicates that the LCD is currently processing a command and busy if high(D7 == 1).

3-RS = 1, R/W = 0, what you will mostly need, write the current value on data pins(as ASCII) to the LCD RAM so it will be printed on the Screen.

4-RS = 1, R/W = 1, Read from the LCD RAM.

the tricky thing now is the usage of E in each command you want to out to the data pins because acts as a switch for the LCD that it won’t act upon any request if E is low (even if you set Rs. R/W …), so if you want to write on the LCD you say do : RS –> 1, R/W –>0, D = “H”, that’s alright but first you need to set E –> 1 high, and then the previous commend , wait a delay say 1 ms, the set E –> 0 again, that’s because when writing to the LCD it doesn’t take the your value until the high to low edge for E, but if you’re reading you can read after a very short while from you setting E high.

For commands you can use : visit the LCD’s instructions page here

now we will have to do some sequence of operation to start using your LCD :

1-Set you function set (parallel bit number, lines num, characters font), you can find the code for it in the commands page linked above , for me I used : 0x38 and as follows :

PORTA.1 = 1
PORTA.2 = 0
PORTA.3 = 0
PORTB = 0x38
Delay_ms(5)
PORTA.1 = 0
Delay_ms(1)

note the delay after E (at port RA1)= 1, and then E = 0. then another delay so that the LCD can process the operation, and I’m being lazy here and set them all to delay 1ms but the data sheet said some of the instructions take 49us.

2- Instruction Set Display On/Off control (1 D C B) , see the instructions page too.

PORTA.1 = 1
PORTA.2 = 0
PORTA.3 = 0
PORTB = 0xf ‘001000
Delay_ms(5)
PORTA.1 = 0
Delay_ms(1)

3 –Entry mode instruction (see different types here) : I used the one with value 6 .

PORTA.1 = 1
PORTA.2 = 0
PORTA.3 = 0
PORTB = 6
Delay_ms(5)
PORTA.1 = 0
Delay_ms(1)

4-Finally :Clear it (first instruction) :

PORTA.1 = 1
PORTA.2 = 0
PORTA.3 = 0
PORTB = 1
Delay_ms(5)
PORTA.1 = 0
Delay_ms(2)
'Initialize ends

after that I can write whatever I want, so I made my Hello World! :

PORTA.1 = 1
PORTA.2 = 1
PORTA.3 = 0
PORTB = "H"
Delay_ms(5)
PORTA.1 = 0
Delay_ms(1)

PORTA.1 = 1
PORTA.2 = 1
PORTA.3 = 0
PORTB = "e"
Delay_ms(5)
PORTA.1 = 0
Delay_ms(1)

and so on for each character……

The whole code :

        1: program LCD_Test       2:   main:       3:    PORTA = 0       4:    TRISA = 0       5:    PORTB = 0       6:    TRISB = 0       7:         8:         9:    PORTA.1 = 1      10:    PORTA.2 = 0      11:    PORTA.3 = 0      12:    PORTB = 0x38      13:    Delay_ms(5)      14:    PORTA.1 = 0      15:    Delay_ms(1)      16:        17:    PORTA.1 = 1      18:    PORTA.2 = 0      19:    PORTA.3 = 0      20:    PORTB = 0xf      21:    Delay_ms(5)      22:    PORTA.1 = 0      23:    Delay_ms(1)      24:        25:        26:        27:    PORTA.1 = 1      28:    PORTA.2 = 0      29:    PORTA.3 = 0      30:    PORTB = 6      31:    Delay_ms(5)      32:    PORTA.1 = 0      33:    Delay_ms(1)      34:        35:        36:    PORTA.1 = 1      37:    PORTA.2 = 0      38:    PORTA.3 = 0      39:    PORTB = 1      40:    Delay_ms(5)      41:    PORTA.1 = 0      42:    Delay_ms(2)      43:    'Initialize ends      44:        45:    PORTA.1 = 1      46:    PORTA.2 = 1      47:    PORTA.3 = 0      48:    PORTB = "H"      49:    Delay_ms(5)      50:    PORTA.1 = 0      51:    Delay_ms(1)      52:        53:    PORTA.1 = 1      54:    PORTA.2 = 1      55:    PORTA.3 = 0      56:    PORTB = "e"      57:    Delay_ms(5)      58:    PORTA.1 = 0      59:    Delay_ms(1)      60:          61:    PORTA.1 = 1      62:    PORTA.2 = 1      63:    PORTA.3 = 0      64:    PORTB = "l"      65:    Delay_ms(5)      66:    PORTA.1 = 0      67:    Delay_ms(1)      68:          69:    PORTA.1 = 1      70:    PORTA.2 = 1      71:    PORTA.3 = 0      72:    PORTB = "l"      73:    Delay_ms(5)      74:    PORTA.1 = 0      75:    Delay_ms(1)      76:          77:    PORTA.1 = 1      78:    PORTA.2 = 1      79:    PORTA.3 = 0      80:    PORTB = "o"      81:    Delay_ms(5)      82:    PORTA.1 = 0      83:    Delay_ms(1)=      84:          85:    PORTA.1 = 1      86:    PORTA.2 = 1      87:    PORTA.3 = 0      88:    PORTB = " "      89:    Delay_ms(5)      90:    PORTA.1 = 0      91:    Delay_ms(1)      92:          93:    PORTA.1 = 1      94:    PORTA.2 = 1      95:    PORTA.3 = 0      96:    PORTB = "w"      97:    Delay_ms(5)      98:    PORTA.1 = 0      99:    Delay_ms(1)     100:         101:    PORTA.1 = 1     102:    PORTA.2 = 1     103:    PORTA.3 = 0     104:    PORTB = "o"     105:    Delay_ms(5)     106:    PORTA.1 = 0     107:    Delay_ms(1)     108:         109:    PORTA.1 = 1     110:    PORTA.2 = 1     111:    PORTA.3 = 0     112:    PORTB = "r"     113:    Delay_ms(5)     114:    PORTA.1 = 0     115:    Delay_ms(1)     116:         117:    PORTA.1 = 1     118:    PORTA.2 = 1     119:    PORTA.3 = 0     120:    PORTB = "l"     121:    Delay_ms(5)     122:    PORTA.1 = 0     123:    Delay_ms(1)     124:         125:    PORTA.1 =      126:    PORTA.2 = 1     127:    PORTA.3 = 0     128:    PORTB = "d"     129:    Delay_ms(5)     130:    PORTA.1 = 0     131:    Delay_ms(1)     132:       133:    PORTA.1 = 1     134:    PORTA.2 = 1     135:    PORTA.3 = 0     136:    PORTB = "!"     137:    Delay_ms(5)     138:    PORTA.1 = 0     139:    Delay_ms(1)     140: end.  

Screen shoot :

Side note : Debugging is so funny at this level, you revise theories(Data sheet) and re code try again, search, then I just try to move things around until they work :D, as I found in many pages mentioning another 3 instruction before the ones here that I didn’t find a use for them , see here : Initialization.

DrawSquare

2009-03-30T23:50:00.002+02:00

A trivial post :D :

     void DrawSquare(Graphics gfx, int x, int y, int l)            {                for (int i = 0; i <= 1; i++)                {                    for (int j = 0; j <= 1; j++)                    {                        gfx.DrawLine(new Pen(Color.Black), new Point(x + i * l, y + i * l), new Point(x + j * l, y + (1 - j) * l));                    }                }            }  

specially for DR. Ali :P ,

he wanted a one drawLine call to draw a square, Osama supposed to show it to him.

WordCamp Egypt 2009 , Impression

2009-03-30T01:49:00.002+02:00

I’m really happy that such a great event was handled this good, really good work. The day started with a keynote from Jane Wills one of the Automatic team which develops WordPress and she talked about how the team works not so tied together and only depending on online monthly meetings and showed here obsession with open source development after she finished many people asked here many questions (mo3zamha as2ela malhash lazma el sara7a) the this session with followed with a not bad good introductory for any beginner talking about Apache , MySQL and PHP the basic dev. tools you would use for every day web development, then how to install WordPress, the next session was a about top 10 WordPress plug-ins and a break for an hour or so.

The next session given by Ibraheem was really awesome (AWESOME gedan ya3ny :D ), Bingo gave a session on how to make your first WordPress plug-in that would send email for subscribed members every new topic posted on the blog, he had to use the “oven” theory :D , but afterwards he realized that it was a connection problem and the plug-in was working alright, the last session given by Sayed Fat-hy was the funniest of them all, it was about how to make your own theme for WordPress and “Saba7 el search engines” :D.

The day ended so fast , and took some pics :

note : Jane had a dinner consisting of “Koshry masry” in el 3omda :D , a place I didn’t even know about.

To download pictures of the event in Hi-Res :

Some Math came to my Mind, Integration

2009-03-29T20:25:00.001+02:00

Math is much better when used in practical problems, so it would be even waaaaay better when related to Programming. Since this made me start looking at formulas in different way, the one I asked about today is REALLY simple one, like ones I always was taught it will be only like this. You know Integration is typically a summation (Σ) but summation is for discrete values and Integration for continuous, so why always books I always had been studying from put the table for integrating equations why when integrating 1 dt it becomes t and t is 1/2 t^2 etc …. , this what came to my mind, what I see that they always missed this part about pointing out for the proof/reason, that for example the equation = 1 is a horizontal line from 1 and to get the area under it for certain t we multiply Height X Width = 1 X t, so the integration of 1 dt = t, and for equation y = x :

I want to find the area of the rectangle under the line, the horizontal side of it is x and the vertical is y which equals y so it’s area = 1/2 * x * y = 1/2 x^2 , and hence x dx = 1/2 x^2.

After this comes the curves, and it’s not that straightforward and is done with some approximation, for intuition look here : fundamental theorem of calculus.

I think I need to set with Osama more :D, to get some math intuitions from him.

Another thing that was pissing me is in Digital point about shifting always said : “Shift left can be used to multiply by 2, and shift right to divide by 2 ” , I can’t say how many times I had to memorize this part then forgot it, then I don’t remember the reason why or when, I got the intuition behind it and was so easy and I can never forget it now :

suppose you have a decimal 1000, so when you multiply by 10 it will be 10000 which is shifting left with zero, and if you divide by 10 it will be 100 which is shifting right with zero, in the binary case the 2 replaces 10 (the bases!) and that’s all, can you forget :D ?

EasyParallel : Control your parallel port, as presented in CSED’s session in Scope

2009-03-27T18:54:00.004+02:00

This is a small application I made for CSED’s session to be presented in CAT Scope 10, so you can control the output on your parallel port (the one for the printer) so that you can afterwards control many other electrical machines/objects, after working for few hours –3 to 4- in Emam's home (such a funny day :D ), I came up with a command line app, and added some useful functionality to it, like you don’t have to specify the whole value of the port to change only on pin’s value, that’s useful if you have many objects controlled by each pin.

I came to realize that I would finally use some of Digital Design fundamentals -in a high level language- to work in this app, like using AND(&) to set the pin off, OR (|) to set it on, and then XOR (^) to complement the value.

It’s a windows only app and the Dll used to interface with the parallel port is already provided.

Screenshot :

Download : Box.net

Note : Box.net is such an awesome file host, it has it all.