To the art of painting with light

Sunset in Cherrybrook

2007-08-25T10:42:00.000+02:00

Photo of the road going pass Darling Harbour on the ANZAC bridge

2007-07-22T09:43:00.000+02:00

View from above

2007-07-22T09:28:00.000+02:00

View from Sydney Tower

2007-07-22T09:27:00.000+02:00

Sydney Tower from below

2007-07-22T09:26:00.000+02:00

Colours on the rocks

2007-07-22T09:21:00.000+02:00

Nicely eroded rocks at Copa

2007-07-22T09:19:00.000+02:00

Some seaplants at Copa beach

2007-07-22T09:17:00.000+02:00

Rock texture at Copa Beach

2007-07-22T09:15:00.000+02:00

Tree at Copa beach near Sydney

2007-07-22T09:08:00.000+02:00

Some colourful Love Birds (I think) on the grass in Castle Hill

2007-07-22T09:03:00.000+02:00

Beautiful purple flowers in Castle Hill

2007-07-22T08:31:00.000+02:00

My first picture in Australia

2007-07-22T08:29:00.000+02:00

Stand by...you will soon see some pretty impressive pictures taken in Australia on this blog

2007-05-07T21:20:00.000+02:00

Me and my family are busy moving to Oz. Stand by for lots of impressive pictures from the land down under...

Photo of a cricket

2007-01-27T08:13:00.000+02:00

Another huge cricket in Beaufort West

2007-01-27T08:11:00.000+02:00

A photo of two huge crickets I took outside my parents house in Beaufort West.

2007-01-27T08:03:00.000+02:00

I took this photo over Centurion one evening during a thunderstorm.

Nothing like a braai

2007-01-09T22:30:00.001+02:00

On our way to Cathedral Peak Didima Camp Site

2006-11-17T08:41:00.000+02:00

Here is a photo of the rural landscape in the Drakensberg.

2006-11-16T20:36:00.000+02:00

This is the waterfall at the end of the Rainbow Gorge router...if you looke closely you will see the rainbow formed by the water spray in the middel of the picture.

2006-11-16T20:32:00.000+02:00

A beautiful panoramic view from Mike's Pass near Cathedral Peak in the Drakensberg

2006-11-16T20:10:00.000+02:00

We always go camping in the Drakensberg in autumn, since the autumn colours transform the landscapes into numerous picture opportunities.

2006-11-16T13:14:00.000+02:00

These dove-shaped flowers are plentiful in the Drakensberg

2006-11-16T13:13:00.000+02:00

If you look closely you should be able to spot the little fairy in the top left...

2006-11-16T13:11:00.000+02:00

Another beautiful photo I took of the river in Rainbow Gorge

2006-11-16T13:10:00.000+02:00

Spider waiting for its catch in the early morning

2006-11-16T13:09:00.000+02:00

Beautiful wildflowers on the Rainbow Gorge hike

2006-11-16T13:08:00.001+02:00

Cathedral Peak

2006-11-16T13:08:00.000+02:00

The start of the Rainbow Gorge hike near Cathedral Peak

2006-11-16T13:07:00.000+02:00

Another photo near Catherdral Peak

2006-11-16T13:06:00.000+02:00

Photo taken on the Cathedral Peak hiking trail.

2006-11-16T13:04:00.000+02:00

Have you ever seen this number of grasshoppers together?

2006-11-16T13:03:00.000+02:00

This photo was taken in Rainbow Gorge near the Cathedral Peak Camp in the Drakensberg.

Some more photos of the Beetle

2006-03-31T10:26:00.000+02:00

My 1967 Volkswagen Beetle

2006-03-31T10:08:00.000+02:00

Here are some photos of my 1967 Volkwagen Beetle.

Photo of the bushveld near Nylstroom

2006-02-22T14:56:00.000+02:00

This photo I took near Nylstroom. I only later realized that the reason that the sky is so blue in the picture is because of the blue film on the windscreen...a natural gradient filter

2005-10-13T20:48:00.000+02:00

A beautiful red rose...

2005-10-13T20:46:00.000+02:00

This is a picture I took recently of a honeybee hovering above a Iceberg Rose in our garden. You can clearly see its heavy laden legs.

2005-10-02T18:53:00.000+02:00

The lagune acts as a mirror reflecting the early morning sky.

2005-10-02T18:52:00.000+02:00

This angler were up very early to catch some fish in the Indian Ocean.

2005-10-02T18:49:00.000+02:00

I took this picture of a bluebottle at Banana beach. These creatures have got a nasty sting to them if they touch you in the sea.

2005-09-20T08:27:00.000+02:00

This is a photo of a "castle" I took at Noetsi near George

2005-08-01T08:42:00.000+02:00

Here is another photo of the same boats at Sedgefield's lake. I think it is called the "Swartvlei"

2005-08-01T08:24:00.000+02:00

Here are some photos I took of the boats lying next to the lake at Sedgefield. Tell me what you think. Is this a beautiful scene or not?

2005-08-01T08:21:00.000+02:00

Here is another 'mirror' photo I took over the lake at Sedgefield. We were going for a stroll along this lake one weekend on our holiday.

2005-08-01T08:19:00.000+02:00

Sedgefield is on the way from George eastward on the garden route just after Wildeness. It is situated besides a beautiful lake. At times the surface of the lake looks just like a glass surface. I took this photo from the Placid Waters holiday resort's balcony.

2005-08-01T08:16:00.000+02:00

We recently visited the garden route of South Africa. We flew with the domestic airline Kulula.com. The flight was very nice and the cabin crew friendly. We landed at George airport. From there we set off to Sedgefield. This is a photo I took before we landed of the Outeniqua mountains just north of George.

2005-05-26T11:46:00.000+02:00

I took this beautiful silhouette in Beaufort West. Some of the most spectacular sunsets can be seen in this place.

2005-05-14T08:05:00.000+02:00

And of course...a picture of our beloved 1967 Volkswagen Beetle just after it was washed. I still drive to work and home every day with this car. Its engine and body is still in a mint condition. Forget about buying it...

2005-05-14T07:58:00.000+02:00

This picture of Centurion shopping centre was taken after dark with a 16 second exposure. (focal length(35mm) = 38 mm ISO = 80.0 T = 16 Fstop = 8.0)

2005-05-14T07:56:00.000+02:00

A beautiful lowfeld sunset (The eastern part of South Africa is known as the lowveld due to its low altitude and warm climate)

2005-05-14T07:55:00.000+02:00

This photo of a Strelitzia flower was taken near Nelspruit.

2005-05-11T08:14:00.000+02:00

This photo of Centurion Lake (with the Hotel in the background) was taken using a long exposure AFTER the sun had already set. To the eye the sky looked dark. The camera settings used where: focal length(35mm) = 38 mm ISO = 80.0 T = 12seconds Fstop = 3.0

Click on the picture to magnify it. I thought the reflection of the buildings in the water of the lake, together with the suspension walk bridge provided a very interesting view.

2005-05-10T08:30:00.000+02:00

This photo of wall graffiti was taken from a minibus Taxi in Cape Town. That day we hiked up Table Mountain from the Kirstenbosch gardens,and returned from the mountain by taking the cable car and a Taxi to get to our starting point.

This was actually my very first ride in a South African minibus taxi, and a very new experience I must say. Needless to say...we arrived at our destination QUICKLY, luckily in one piece.

2005-05-10T08:23:00.000+02:00

As anybody can clearly see...this is a photo of a dragonfly on a rock...taken on one of our many hikes in the country.

2005-05-06T08:25:00.000+02:00

They have a collection of very old paintings as well at the Delheim wine estate (Stellenbosch)

2005-05-06T08:24:00.000+02:00

Picture of a a wine cellar at the Delheim wine estate near Stellenbosch, Cape

2005-05-04T08:26:00.000+02:00

Picture of the 2D pattern of guitar keys when they are arranged to be linked together by repeating chords

Above you can see the way that the chords of all the guitar keys fit together like puzzle pieces. Maybe someone can explain it to me. But it seems that all the keys are somehow linked in music. We know that you can play the same song in different keys, by simply substituting the corresponding chords of the 2 keys between which you are transposing. Click on the picture to magnify it.

The following keys seem to be stringed together sequentially in a repeating pattern running from top to bottom next to each other:
D-G-C-F-Bb-Eb-G#-C#-F#-B-E-A-D-G-C-F-Bb-Eb-G#

There must be a reason why it is so. Maybe it is sorted in order of increasing overall tone?

I would like to get feedback from anybody who finds this interesting...

There is another site who looked at colour coding guitar chords:
http://www.tobinmusic.co.uk/articles/guitarmethod.htm

2005-05-04T08:21:00.001+02:00

Picture of how the A, C and Eb keys can be stringed together to form a pattern

I described the stinging/linking together of the guitar chords earlier. Here you can see an example of how the keys fit together almost like puzzle pieces or DNA molecules.

I then looked for a 2Dimensional arrangement where all the guitar keys kan be linked like this and I came across the following...see in next post

2005-05-04T08:21:00.000+02:00

Picture of the C and A keys of guitar chords

Playig guitar and singing is one of the things I sometimes like to do. I also love mathematics. I mostly figured out the chords by myself since I had no formal training.

I leant that you could write all the keys as a group of 6 chords which you can substitute with the corresponding chords of another key when transposing between keys.

Have a look at http://guitarsecrets.com/lessons/modulation.htm for a description of the keys.

For example: In the above picture you can see the arrangement of chords for the keys of C and A.

For the key of C, the chord C is known as the tonic chord since it gives the key note/ first note of the scale. The chord G7 is called the dominant chord, F the sub dominant. These are the major chords of the key. The minor chord Dm is called the supertonic, Am is called the sub-mediant and E7 is called the Major sixth. Don't take my word on it, look for yourself, as I am not an expert.
http://www.dancingcat.com/skbook7-glossary.shtml#SecondG

While using these 6 chord key groupings I discovered that they can be linked together. See it in my next post.

2005-05-03T09:10:00.000+02:00

Photo of a seagull I took at Kalk Bay near Cape town

The name of that other song reminds me of a very great person, to which we in South Africa fondly refers to as Madiba. A person I have very great respect for due to the way he profoundly demonstrated how one should love one's enemies and thereby eventually win them over. His name is Nelson Mandela. Just listen to this extract from his inaugural speech as president of South Africa in 1994:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't benefit the world
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us
It's not just some of us - it's in everyone !
And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people the permission to do the same
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others."

The above was obtained from a CD cover by Nianell, but it can also be found at:
http://www.humanxpression.co.uk/he/aboutus/resources/nelson.shtml
http://www.in-spirit.co.za/nelson_mandela.htm

Here is another of this great man's speeches in Cape Town on 9 May 1994
On 10 May 1994 at the Union Buildings

You can find writings on his life here

2005-05-02T16:00:00.000+02:00

The instant of a droplet falling into a pond of water....captured in time

One big advantage of photography is that it forces you to focus on what is going on around you in the world. You have to really be on the lookout for scenes that are out of the ordinary. You have to look differently at the world around you in order to create photographs that grasp the attention of people. The problem with human life is that you sometimes get so used to things being the same, that you do not notice the beauty of it any more.
I try to take time to become aware of things around me...feeling the scene, becoming aware of how it makes me feel not just noticing it and moving on. That is how I tray to "seize the day", to make the most of every moment. I think the difference between simply existing/surviving and really living lies in how you take advantage of the moments you are given. The more intensely you experience things, the slower times seems to pass, and the more superficially you go through life, the less you notice how quickly time goes past you.
Sometimes you just need to listen inside, to who you really are, to discover what you really love in life...and then focus on those things.

2005-04-28T08:26:00.000+02:00

Here is another picture of the 'Bloukop-koggelmander' (blue head agama lizard) which we came across hiking in the elephants river valley in Mpumalanga South Africa. Getting a sharp photo of a quick and shy creature like this is quite difficult.

2005-04-25T09:15:00.000+02:00

A I took through our kitchen window of a beautiful rainbow after the storm.

Anybody remember the song from "The sound of music": My favorite Things

Well...here is a list my favorite things I like to take photos of:
Sunsets
Sunrises
Moonrises
Rainbows
Mountains
Waterfalls
My kids
Flowers
The moon (and the stars)

The rainbow in the picture is one of the most vivid photos I have ever taken of one.
The reason...a rainbow normally disappears as soon as you had time to go and fetch your camera. It is a fleeting sight. As are a lot of things in life...they disappear before you had time to thoroughly appreciate them. This teaches me one thing...appreciate every moment, every breath you take, every conversation you have with your wife, your kids. Because: before you know it they are grown up. Before you know it your brain do not remember so well anymore, your eyes do not focus se well any more... Life is short.

My RSS newsreader feed

2005-04-22T08:20:00.000+02:00

You can in future stay up to date on changes in my blog by using this RSS feed.

RSS Feed

http://lightfan.blogspot.com/atom.xml

If you have not got an RSS news reader yet. Get yourself one at http://www.sharpreader.net/

2005-04-20T09:09:00.000+02:00

Still from Injisuthi camp in the Drakensberg

2005-04-20T09:07:00.000+02:00

Early morning mist from Injisuthi camp in the Drakensberg

2005-04-20T09:06:00.000+02:00

This shot was taken in Autumn at Injisuthi Camp in the Drakensberg

2005-04-20T08:23:00.000+02:00

Setting of the moon one evening from Monk's Cowl Camp in the Drakensberg.

2005-04-20T08:22:00.000+02:00

This is a phot of sunrise in the Drakensberg. I got up early one morning to experience the dawn of a new day.

2005-04-04T08:11:00.000+02:00

The Drakensberg mountains at sunrise

2005-04-01T08:58:00.000+02:00

This is a picture of Cathkin Peak. One of the mountain peaks in the Monk's Cown region of the Kwazulu Natal Drakensberg.

2005-03-30T15:44:00.000+02:00

This is an upright panoramic picture of Crystal Falls near Monk's Cowl in the Drakensberg. (South Africa)

It been a while since my last post on blogger. But I do try to keep the site relatively fresh. This past Easter weekend we went camping in tents in the Drakensberg Camp of Monk's Cowl near Winterton (close to Ladysmith) in Kwazulu Natal (South Africa). It was a mountain hiking trip. I took A LOT of very impressive pictures of the mountains and streams.

The South African Drakensberg is one of the most beautiful parts of our country. The streams originating from these mountains eventually becomes rivers feeding the biggest dams in our country and provides both Kwazulu Natal and Gauteng with drinking water. The mountain stream water are so crystal clear that you can drink the water anywhere. Above is a picture of one of the Waterfalls in the streams: Crystal Falls (29 degrees 3.433 min South, 29 degrees 23.959 min East WGS-84 Datum).

2005-03-30T15:36:00.000+02:00

Here is a beautiful panorama of the view from Monk's Cowl in the Drakensberg. South Africa.

2005-03-30T15:33:00.000+02:00

In the picture you can see the view of the Drakensberg from Monk's Cowl Camp. (South Africa) From left to right you can see: Cathkin peak (3148 m above sea level), Sterkhorn (2973 m), Turret (2670 m) , Amphlett, and Dragon's Back in the backroung to the right.

2005-03-22T08:37:00.000+02:00

Nice coloured boats in Kalkbaai harbour near Cape Town

2005-03-22T08:27:00.000+02:00

I took this picture of a rusted chain in Simons Town harbour. I thought the moss cover contrasted nice with the rusted colour of the chain.

2005-03-02T08:23:00.000+02:00

We went for a nice dip in the Elephants river on the Slagthoek hiking trail.

2005-03-02T08:20:00.000+02:00

I tok this photo of the Elephant River vallei on the Slagthoek hiking trail near Middelburg in Mpumalanga South Africa. The views are breathtaking. These are the most impressive river meanders I have ever seen.

2005-02-23T08:55:00.000+02:00

A very interesting church near Oudtshoorn (South Africa). The name of the place is "Volmoed" (Full of hope). It was built in in 1910 for the Dutch Reformed church. It is currently in use.

2005-02-23T08:52:00.000+02:00

I took this photo at the top of the "Swartberg Pass" in the southern cape on the way to Oudtshoorn. It was a very hot day, but when we got to this very high point in the pass there was an icey wind blowing. It was difficult just to keep the camera still.

Chapman's Peak Drive South Africa

2005-02-21T12:40:00.000+02:00

Photo of Chapman's Peak Road which has recently been re-opened for the public. (Cape Peninsula South Africa)

One can only get a true feeling of how big things such as mountains and cliffs are when you have something to compare it with. Look at how small the cars look in the picture above against the almost vertical cliff faces next to Chapman's Peak drive near Hout Bay in South Africa. Numerous people have plummeted down these cliffs with their cars in the past. This road has been opened for the public end of 2003 after wet conditions on the cliffs would cause rocks to fall on cars below. They solved this problem now by putting up huge nets and supports.

I can see something similar in real life...relationships. Relationships in real life are much similar to high cliffs. The view can be breathtaking at times, providing us with picturesque possibilities along this mountain pass of life, but the possibility of getting hurt is always there. But if we stay away from this coastal road out of fear of getting hurt we will never experience the joy of being able to share our most intimate and deepest thoughts and feelings with somebody else and getting to know their inner beauty. We're safe if we take the necessary precautions - just as the struts and nets provide the traveler with the much needed safety. A road on high cliffs next to the sea are not built using gravel by simply bulldozing a path...no, it is made by carefully laying a concrete foundation, covering it with the necessary tar to provide sufficient grip, making sure that there are enough strong nets above to protect against falling rocks which might come loose due to the inevitable rain which will fall. In a similar way a relationship must be built on a strong foundation of love and trust consisting of always speaking the truth with oneself and one's companion. You need to cover the road of life with enough caring and listening to prevent each other from losing grip. The nets of forgiveness and saying "I'm sorry" must be firmly fastened to protect against falling words which can crush and hurt. Safe relationships take years to be built just like safe mountain roads...

Though we might not always know where the road will lead us, we can travel securely, knowing that if we obey all the rules of the road, we won't plummet down to the rocks. And even if we might go too fast at times, we know that there is a barrier, a guard rail preventing up from falling.

The rules of these types of roads are : to go too fast is to die too fast. Don't feel rushed into having sex before all the guard rails and nets are in place!!

2005-02-18T14:53:00.000+02:00

These must be some of the most beautiful coastline shots I know of. Isn't the Cape (South Africa) beautiful. This was taken on our way to 'Rooiels' on the road from Gordon's Bay.

We have a beautiful country. I am referring to South Africa. I love living here. What I love most of this country is the people. It is a friendly nation. We have a good leader...Pres Thabo Mbeki, successor to Pres. Madiba Mandela. We are a peaceful nation, we do not like making war - the majority of our nation dreams of a better future. A place where everybody has an equal chance in life. Nobody telling anybody you're not good enough because your skin are black or white or whatever colour. My dream for South Africa is that everybody will be able to find a place where he or she can find a place to work, to feel accomplishment, to play a part in the future rather than sit on the sideline like a beggar.

Our country has enormous potential, something I realised after listening to Nianell, a local singer and songwriter (she wrote the words of the song "Who painted the moon black"). Do yourself a favour and buy a CD of her and visit her website.

2005-02-17T16:12:00.000+02:00

This photo was taken at Pringle Bay on the way to Hermanus from Cape Town in South Africa.

2005-02-13T09:04:00.000+02:00

Another picture of an insect on a flower found on Table Mountain.

2005-02-11T13:22:00.000+02:00

Here is the same bug picture cropped to be a bit bigger

2005-02-11T13:15:00.000+02:00

Anybody recognize these bugs? I took these photos on top of Table Mountain South Africa.

2005-02-08T08:08:00.000+02:00

Man with wheelbarrow on road - near Nelspruit South Africa

Yesterday evening I went to listen to a very encouraging speaker. His name is Nick Vujicic. He was born without any limbs. Yes, without ANY legs and without ANY arms!! But, you would expect someone like this to be discontent with his life, guess again... This is guy studying for a Bachelor degree of Commerce in Financial Planning and Investments. He has what you could call : "a beautiful heart" (in the same way as the guy in the movie "A beautiful mind" had an exceptional mind). He has learnt to be content with what he has in life as opposed to be discontented with what he does not have). He is from Australia and he is currently touring the world giving motivational speeches in schools and churches all over the world with the help of his brother and cousin.

As in the photo he walks his path, carrying his burdens with joy.

Have a look at his website and read his life testimony.

2005-02-07T13:28:00.000+02:00

I photographed this beautiful flower near Nelspruit in South Africa. This is what the dictionary calls it:Noun: Strelitzia
1. small genus of large perennial evergreen herbs leaves resembling those of banana plants; sometimes placed in family Musaceae

2005-02-04T08:09:00.000+02:00

I took this photo of a spider outside our house.

The interesting thing about this spider is that it only hunts at night. In the daytime there is no trace of it. Every evening about the same time, it creates a brand new spider web next to a lamp outside the house. It quickly spins a web and then sits waiting for bugs. It has very impressive speed in catching these bugs. When it has successfully caught a bug it wraps its prey in a nicely spun cocoon until it has about 3 wrapped up bugs. Then it takes its prey and leave again.... Which made me think that my life is not much different from his.

Every morning when I get to work, I take my laptop out of the drawer, connect the wires and start looking for bugs in the software we write. When no measure of sitting around helps me to find the bug, I venture out on the World Wide Web, looking for clues as to what could cause the problem. When I find the software bug, I add some code comments to prevent me from doing it again and remove the bug from the code. I love new software development, since it gives you a nice sense of accomplishment in creating something brand new every day. But also the challenge of finding some hidden away bug or one which only happens sporadically when the correct conditions are met. To this means I use debuggers (especially the WinDbg and SOS I discussed on another place on this blog) to help me spin the web around my bugs...

And then in the afternoons I pack up my things and go home again...knowing that I have some pay to carry home at the end of the day.

2005-02-02T08:11:00.000+02:00

I liked the feeling of depth provided by the lane of trees and the horse in the foreground.

2005-02-02T08:10:00.000+02:00

I took this picture of a horse when we were away for a weekend in the South African lowfeld near Nelspruit.

2005-01-30T08:49:00.000+02:00

I took this picture of a "pirate ship" while holidaying in Cape Town, South Africa. We went on a sailboat ride and I saw this ship in the distance. Booking a ride on this "pirate ship" costs about $40.

2005-01-29T10:11:00.000+02:00

But the way of the upright is like the light of early morning, getting brighter and brighter till the full day.
Proverbs 4:18

Some invaluable utilities every .Net programmer should have

2005-01-29T10:02:00.000+02:00

During my time as a C# programmer I have come across the following useful .Net utilities:
(I am a C# programmer so most of the tools would be geared towards programming in C#)

The first thing you need as a .Net programmer is the .Net Framework 1.1 SDK, which you can download for free from Microsoft. This includes the free .Net compiler and other useful tools.
Have a look at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/
You can download the SDK at
.NET Framework SDK Version 1.1

Probably the most often used tool during programming is the IDE and compiler you use.

IDEs + Compilers:
- I prefer using the Microsoft Development Environment 2003 / Microsoft Visual C# .Net. It has excellent features for development.

- You can also use the COMPLETELY FREE SharpDevelop IDE at www.icsharpcode.net. It can import Microsoft IDE projects.

-Also have a look at CodeSmith, in which you can create code templates to quickly create code for you.
Find it at http://www.ericjsmith.net/codesmith/

Class browsers + decompilers:
- You just HAVE to get the free class browser and .Net decompiler Reflector written by Lutz Roeder at http://www.aisto.com/roeder/dotnet. It can decompile any .Net Assembly to IL (Intermediate language), C#, Visual Basic .Net or Delphi .Net. You can browse the assembly class methods and follow the calls through the call hierarchy as a call or callee graph. This is helpful if you for instance want to know where a certain assembly's class method is used in other assemblies.
He also has a free resource browser and a HTML WYSIWYG editor called WRITER.

- In order to decompile Java .class files (for possible migration to .Net) you can use Atanas Neshkov's DJ Java Decompiler. When I want to migrate an app from Java to .Net I usually decompile the class files using this tool and then use the Java code either directly as C# (since there is much similarity between C# and Java) or you can first compile it using Visual J# and then decompile it to C# using Reflector. Get is at http://members.fortunecity.com/neshkov/dj.html

File comparison Utilities:
- You definitely need Windiff.exe. It is part of the Microsoft Platform SDK available from Microsoft. or look for Windiff.exe on the net

- Another cool source code comparison program is Winmerge.exe. It allows you to selectively choose which part of the code in 2 files you want to merge. Get it at: http://winmerge.sourceforge.net

Both of the above can also compare entire directory paths.

Debugging tools:
- You just have to get the "Debugging tools for Windows" from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/ddk/debugging/. It comes with a debugging extension called SOS (Son of Strike) which can be used to get the method call stack trace from any running .Net assembly (even Release built) and find out exactly in what class method your program is stuck. You attack to any .Net process and you can see all the system threads, .Net managed threads and class and method names. You can also get a heap dump and browse through all the objects on the heap. Run WinDbg.exe. Simply attach to the process. Type .load sos. And then !clrstack : to obtain the common language runtime stack of the thread you picked. (You must have sos.dll in the same directory as WinDbg.exe) . You can also get another version of sos.dll called psscor.dll, which also provide CLR debugging support.
Here is a list of URLs where you can get help on CLR runtime debugging:
A word for WinDbg
Bugslayer SOS It's Not Just an ABBA Song Anymore -- MSDN Magazine, June 2003
Getting proper Stack information from memory dump
More on debugging with SOS.DLL - enter Visual Studio
SOS - Now with 20% More Commands!
SOS Debugging with the CLR
SOS Debugging of the CLR, Part 1
Traversing the gc heap (and introducing PSSCOR.DLL)
You can even set up a symbol path and point it to Microsoft and this app will automatically download all the non-.Net debugging symbols
Simply set:
_NT_SYMBOL_PATH=
SRV*C:\Home\Tools\Development\Debugging Tools for Windows\LocalSymbolCache*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
Speed and Memory allocation profilers:
- When you simply have to find that resource leak have a look at this freeware memory profiler:ALLOCATIONPROFILER.EXE which can be found at - http://www.gotdotnet.com
- If your program is stuck in a loop or if you want to find out which method in your app consumes the most of your process time, have a look at NPROF at http://nprof.sourceforge.net/. It launches your app and monitors all method calls allowing you to see exactly what % of time is spent in each class' method.

Windows System tools:
When your apps are misbehaving you must definitely get some of these apps from www.sysinternals.com:
PROCEXP.EXE Process explorer - can show you exactly which processes are running, what thread is taking all your CPU time and then you can match the thread ID up to the threads in WinDbg to see in which method it is looping. You can also see exactly how much memory is in the GC1, GC2 and GC3 garbage collector heaps if you are suspecting a memory leak...Yes a memory leak in .Net
TCPVIEW.EXE Shows you what tcp connections are connected and what processes are listening on ports on your PC
FILEMON.EXE Lets you monitor all file accesses and filter according to process - showing you where apps are trying to hide files on your computer
REGMON.EXE Lets you monitor all registry reads and writes and you can also filter on processes

SPYXX.exe is an app which is part of the Microsoft Platform SDK and it allows you to determine all the windows and windows handles and you can intercept all the windows messages sent to each and every window....very handy in debugging custom controls.
DEPENDS.EXE (Microsoft Dependency walker) is an app which is part of the Microsoft Platform SDK and shows you all the DLL dependencies of an application. You can even see which functions/procs are called in the DLL from the app in question.

Get yourself the above tools. It will open up your knowledge of .Net programming.

My humble beginnings as a programmer

2005-01-28T10:33:00.000+02:00

I am a programmer at heart. Been doing it for 21 years now. Programming has really become exciting with the emergence of object oriented languages such as C++, C# and Java.

Let me try and remember the encounters I had with computers and programming languages... A long time ago in a galaxy not far away, a small boy of about 8 years or so got introduced to gaming consoles such as the ATARI with its ping pong paddles. There was also a PHILLIPS console on which we played things such as breakout. You connected it to the TV to the irritation of everyone else in the house.
It was also about the same time when I had the first glimpse of the APPLE II computer. I remember how I liked the way it had a built in screen. Any cursor movement on those ancient CRT screens caused a trail where the characters used to be a few seconds before. It was on the APPLE II where I played my very first game of space invaders. We did not own a computer then, but it was at a family friend's house where I got the opportunity to venture into this strange unknown world of computers. I was intrigued by the possibility of being able to tell a machine (in its own language) what I wanted it to do for me. As a captain would order his subjects to turn the sails on a vast ocean of possibilities...
A little bit later my cousin got a Commodore VIC20. You could at that stage slot in different game cartridges at the back and I remember we played a cat and mouse game for hours, enchanted by the ability to control something in another world. A little bit later, when I was in 5th grade my father bought me a Commodore C64, which probably changed my life and altered the course of my life forever. I studied its handbook intently and started to write my first computer programs. I remember coming home from school and wondering how I could write a program to do stuff for me. Programming ont the Commodore 64 was done in BASIC and any program had to be less than about 48 or 40 kilobytes in size (can't remember). Back then I used the GOTO statement a lot and any program I wrote quickly became spagetty code when it passed a certain line number limit. I remember my very first program: it asked you a number of questions concerning some animal or insect and then tried to classify it according to the answers given...does the animal have an endoskeleton or exoskeleton? How many legs does it have? Does it have wings? And eventually it would classify the animal as Crustacea/Mammal/Arachnida etc. That was my first program in 5'th grade...a feat I no doubt know would be easy for any 2'nd grader now a days.

The notion that I could teach a computer to think for me, facinated me. I learned about sprites (movable 4 colour GIFs) which I entered as bytes from sheets and sheets of paper where I plotted the bits/pixels on. Later when I figured out how to used speech synthesis, I wrote a program I called COMPUBANK, to which I could give any one of hundreds (and later thousands) of text phrases or commands and the computer would give me a verbal answer....my first attempt at artificial intelligence. I had a school friend which shared my interest and together we ventured into the area of ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE programming. We learned about INTERRUPTS and wrote ourselves assembly language routines to to smooth scrolling by shifting one of 2 screens down 7 pixels by POKING values into a certain memory location. The data on the second screen would then be copied a full line (consisting of 8 pixels high characters) and we would obtain smooth scrolling by quickly swapping the 2 screens. In so doing we could get smooth downward scrolling using this screen buffering technique. I wrote some games for the fun and challenge of it all...Text Adventure games,Poleconomy, Battle Tanks, my own space invaders. We explored the SID (Sound Interface Device) chip on the C64, we also programmed in Simon's Basic, which was mapped into the address space of the computer by inserting a cartridge at the back. I remember learning about graphics from "Computer Graphics on the C64" and drew spirals on the screen which took an entire night to complete.

As time went on, my Commodore 64 gave up the smoke (ghost) and my father bought us an IBM Compatible XT computer on which we installed MS DOS. It had a 20 Meg hard disk and a 360 K floppy disk and it could only display 4 colours (cyan,magenta, black and white) in 320 x 200 resolution and 2 colours in "high resolution" (640x400). To me it was slower than my Commodore 64, and I missed it a bit. But, I got used to working on this new machine and eventually programmed in GWBASIC. I wrote a PC version of Poleconomy. You only had 640K RAM to play with even though your computer had 4096K RAM on it, a limitation forced on it by DOS. Later when I got Windows 3.1, the computer got even slower!! But at least I could access more that 640K of RAM using Win32S. I started learning Borland Turbo Pascal in 9'th grade and was venturing into the area of object oriented programming.

I suppose you could classify my as a NERD back then, but it did not really bother me. I got something I was really good at and it gave me a deep sense of accomplishment...I became to believe that nothing is impossible...I believed I could write a program to do anything for me. It gave me courage. I have always LOVED mathematics, a novel solution looked beautiful to me. I think ALGEBRA in particular is the language of computers. And that it probably why I loved programming so much.

After school I studied electronic engineering, since it provided me with the best opportunity to satisfy my curiosity into new things. I started to learn the C programming language. The syntax was a bit cryptic at first, but after a while it became second nature. We used Borland Turbo C. We had to write programs for Physics, Dynamics, Electromagnetism, Digital Signal processing, Mobile communication, Telecommunications, you name it. I also used Watcom C++ and Borland Turbo C++. I still enjoyed programming.

After my studies I started on Windows 95 and NT 4. We programmed in Visual Basic 5 then 6. Later also Visual C++. One day I decided it was time for a challenge and taught myself Java. I love the language....it has the syntax of C++, but were much more logical, much easier to work with....and then came C#. What a nice language. As in Java it had a lot of pre-written Collection classes such as Arrays, Hashtables, Lists (not that C++ did not have, but the standard template library does not have the same ease of use as Java and C#). Well that's where I am today....an avid .Net Programmer.

We, like mussels tend to clump together

2005-01-26T08:16:00.000+02:00

A still life of a bunch of blue mussels clumped together on a rock at Scarborough near Cape Point, South Africa

It is difficult for a human to exist alone. All of us has that empty space we want to fill with the love and acceptance from people around us. From childhood we have that yearning for someone special, someone who can share our life's greatest moments with us. Someone to make everything seem worthwhile. When we find that person, or a person sufficiently like that one, and if we are blessed someone who feels the same about us. Then we start the journey with them. They grow on us like moss. Like mussels they attach themselves to us until any separation causes pieces of us to be ripped off in trying to remove them. We try to share our deepest thoughts and wonderings with them. We are not so sure about life and ourselves as we pretend to the world outside. Only to our closest family and friends do we reveal our true self, our true fears. And yet...sometimes we can still feel alone. Does anybody really understand us? Do they really know the effect life has on us? Maybe not, but we stick together. We stand up for each other, we clump together...

2005-01-25T07:53:00.000+02:00

I love sunsets. Here is one we took out of the car as we were driving towards Cape Town. You can see Table mountain far off in the distance.

The focal distance of the Kodak DX6490

2005-01-24T15:35:00.000+02:00

I like to measure things in order to provde me with more info which the casual observer normally do not find out. I recently wondered about how close I have to be with my camera to photographic subjects to render these subjects a certain size in the photo.

I started off by sticking a ruler onto a poster onto which I glued pages from a magazine. The purpose of this was to provide the Kodak DX6490 digital camera something to focus on. I was going to determine what the closest and farthest distances were where the camera's autofocus would still work, (resulting in a green indicator in the LCD).

I wanted to measure the range of distances where I could get sharply focused images, and also determine what subject height would fill the vertical frame in the photo. When you know your camera, it makes it easier to decide how far to stand from a subject to get a specific subject height in the photo.

I put the DX6490 on its highest megapixel value, which is 4MP resulting in images of
2304 x 1728 pixels.

Accoring to the user manual the camera has the following focal distances for the 2 different modes:

Normal:
------
Wide angle : Focus Range S = 60 cm - Infinity
Telephoto : Focus Range S = 2 m - Infinity

Macro:
-----
Wide angle : Focus Range S = 12 cm - 70 cm
Telephoto : Focus Range S = 1.2 m - 2.1 m

Where
Wide angle = 38 mm (35mm equivalent focal length)
Telephoto = 380 mm

This means that by switching the camera first in Macro mode and then in Normal mode, you would be able to focus on subjects anything from 12 cm up to Infinity.
You can then display the range as follows:

Range:

12cm-----70cm (Macro,wide angle)

60cm-------------------------> Inf (Normal,wide angle)

1.2m-----2.1m (Macro,telephoto)

2m--------> Inf (Normal,telephoto)

The problem is that you cannot easily determine the opposite: In order to render a subject with a specific height a certain size on the photo, what the zoom/focal length must be.

In my measurments I would start off with the Wide Angle setting of 38mm of the DX6490 and then increase it to about 1/3, 1/5, 2/3 and 3/3 the distance to the Telephoto setting of 380 mm. Unfortunately the DX6490 does not show you the 35mm effective focal length in the LCD. Im sure that I am not alone in wishing they had put it in.

At each of these focal lengths I would then determine for the Normal and Macro setting what the approximate closest and farthest distances are where the Auto Focus would focus on the subject, which was in this case the poster.

I would make a not of all the pictures I take and also use the EXIF info to match up the image with the distance I measured to the front of the camera's lens. From the image I could then determine the real world vertical distance/height of the 1728 pixel photo.

Here follows my measurements:

At 1728 pixels vertical image size we get:

Normal:

------

Wide Angle:
f = 38 mm effective/6.32 mm
Closest distance: (which camera can focus)
d = 23.6 cm (from front of camera)
h = 180 mm (96 pixels/cm)
Farthest distance:
d = Infinite

1/3 from Wide Angle (approx):
f = 139 mm eff
Closest distance:
d = 44 cm
h = 102 mm (169 pixels/cm)
Farthest distance:
d = Infinite

2/3 from Wide Angle(approx):
f = 268 mm eff
Closest distance:
d = 103 cm
h = 118 mm (146 pixels/cm)
Farthest distance:
d = Infinite

Telephoto:
f = 380 mm effective
Closest distance:
d = 121 cm
h = 112 mm (154 pixels/cm)
Farthest distance:
d = Infinite

Macro:
------
Wide Angle:
f = 38 mm effective/6.32 mm
Closest distance: (which camera can focus)
d = 4.5 cm
h = 51 mm (339 pixels/cm)
Not Farthest distance:
d = 151cm
h = 1047 mm (17 pixels/cm)
Farthest distance: ??
d = 8.3 m
h = 5.6 m (3 pixels/cm)

1/3 from Wide Angle(approx):
f = 139 mm eff
Closest distance:
d = 38 cm
h = 89 mm (194 pixels/cm)
Not Farthest distance:
d = 155 cm
h = 306 mm (57 pixels/cm)

1/2 from Wide Angle(approx):
f = 209 mm eff
Closest distance:
d = 65 cm
h = 99 mm (175 pixels/cm)
Not Farthest distance:
d = 155 cm
h = 216 mm (80 pixels/cm)

2/3 from Wide Angle(approx):
f = 268 mm eff
Closest distance:
d = 78 cm
h = 91 mm (190 pixels/cm)
Not Farthest distance:
d = 167 cm
h = 177 mm (98 pixels/cm)

Telephoto:
f = 380 mm effective
Closest distance:
d = 79 cm
h = 78 mm (222 pixels/cm)
Not Farthest distance:
d = 167 cm
h = 148 mm (117 pixels/cm)
Farthest distance:
d = 175 cm
h = 109 mm (159 pixels/cm)

Here follows a summary of the above info:
----------------------------------------
where d=distance to subject from front of lens

Normal:
------
f = 38 mm eff
Closest distance: d = 23.6 cm (96 pixels/cm) 18 cm subject
Farthest distance:d = Infinite (<0 pixels/cm)

f = 139 mm eff
Closest distance: d = 44 cm (169 pixels/cm) 10.2 cm subject
Farthest distance:d = Infinite (<0 pixels/cm)

f = 268 mm eff
Closest distance: d = 103 cm (146 pixels/cm) 11.8 cm subject
Farthest distance:d = Infinite (<0 pixels/cm)

f = 380 mm eff
Closest distance: d = 121 cm (154 pixels/cm) 11.2 cm subject
Farthest distance:d = Infinite (<0 pixels/cm)

Macro:
------
f = 38 mm eff
Closest distance: d = 4.5 cm (339 pixels/cm) 5.1 cm subject
Not Farthest : d = 151 cm (17 pixels/cm) 104.7cm subject
Farthest : d = 8.3 m (3 pixels/cm) 560 cm subject

f = 139 mm eff
Closest distance: d = 38 cm (194 pixels/cm) 8.9 cm subject
Not Farthest : d = 155 cm (57 pixels/cm) 30.6 cm subject

f = 209 mm eff
Closest distance: d = 65 cm (175 pixels/cm) 9.9 cm subject
Not Farthest : d = 155 cm (80 pixels/cm) 21.6 cm subject

f = 268 mm eff
Closest distance: d = 78 cm (190 pixels/cm) 9.1 cm subject
Not Farthest : d = 167 cm (98 pixels/cm) 17.7 cm subject

f = 380 mm eff
Closest distance: d = 79 cm (222 pixels/cm) 7.8 cm subject
Not Farthest : d = 167 cm (117 pixels/cm) 14.8 cm subject
Farthest distance:d = 175 cm (159 pixels/cm) 10.9 cm subject

Reverse info:
s = Subject size to fill height of photo
d = distance from front of lens
f = focal length (effective)

s d f Macro
--- --- --- -----
5.1cm 4.5cm 38 mm yes wide
7.8cm 79cm 380mm yes tele
8.9cm 38cm 139mm yes 1/3
9.1cm 78cm 268mm yes 2/3
9.9cm 65cm 209mm yes 1/2
10.2cm 44cm 139mm no 1/3
10.9cm 175cm 380mm yes tele
11.2cm 121cm 380mm no tele
11.8cm 103cm 268mm no 2/3
14.8cm 167cm 380mm yes tele
17.7cm 167cm 268mm yes 2/3
18 cm 23.6cm 38mm no wide
21.6cm 155cm 209mm yes 1/2
30.6cm 155cm 139mm yes 1/3
104.7cm 151cm 38mm yes wide
560 cm 8.3m 38mm yes wide

It is supposed to be governed by the formula:
(but this approximation does not hold for multiple lens elements)

f = v * d / h

where v is the vertical size of the image on the CCD
h is the vertical field of view in the subject plane
d is the distance from the (thin lens approximation) lens element
f is the (thin lens aproximation) 35mm effctive focal length

I have been able to figure out that the DX6490 has the following:

Focal Length Multiplier = FLM = 380/63.2 = 38/6.32 = 6.01266...
and
FLM = 43.3mm (diagonal) / sensor diag = 6.01266
where 43.3 mm is the size of 35mm film

This means that the DX6490 must have a
Sensor diag = 7.201471 mm
this means that:
x^2 + y^2 = 7.201471^2

with an aspect ratio of: 4/3
x = (4/3)y

Solving the equations gives:
y = 4.32088 mm
x = 5.761177 mm
for the sensor.

This will result in a physical resoltion for the CCD sensor of:
x res = 2304/5.761177 = 400 pixels/mm
y res = 1728/4.32088 = 400 pixels/mm

The Kodak DX6490 therefore has a CCD image resolution of 400 pixels per millimeter or
400 x 400 = 160 000 pixels per square millimeter.

I have also determined that if the 2.2 inch LCD (which is actually 2.165 inch) has 153000 pixels, then 153000/(4/3) = y^2
y=338 pixels
x=451 pixels
451 x 338 pixels

I hope this helps someone out there. Please give me some comments.

2005-01-24T13:29:00.000+02:00

A beautiful panoramic view of the mountains above Stellenbosch in the Western Cape of South Africa. I created the picture by stitching together a bunch of pictures I took with my DX6490.

I recently visited Cape Town, South Africa. Described by Sir Francis Drake in 1580 as "The most stately thing and the fairest Cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth." It is a beautiful place to visit. You have everything: beautiful beaches, majestic mountains, scenic drives high above the cliffs next to the sea, nature hikes and the list goes on and on.

We even went for a hike up Table Mountain. The views are breathtaking. Even the winelands in the "Boland" near Stellenbosch has very much to offer. Needless to say we enjoyed it very much.

Have a look at http://www.tourismcapetown.co.za/