Few facts in J2EE world

• A Web Server is supposed to support HTTP and/or FTP, SSL HTTPS, etc protocols..Doesnt have to do anything with Java.
• An Application Server is an extension of WebServer, which basically should support all the technologies in J2EE spec (JavaServlets, JSP, JMS ...)
• WebLogic, Websphere are commercial (proprietary) JEE Application Servers whereas JBoss and GlassFish are open source JEE Application Server.
• Catalina is a term used for Tomcat. Unless you're talking about the nitty-gritty details, just call it Tomcat.
• Tomcat is a Web Server cum Servlet Container which can work as a container for Servlets and JSPs. Being a Servlet Container Tomcat does not provide certain JEE enterprise features like EJB, Messaging etc.

View: Why institutions are corrupt?

Today I read an opinion entitled "Why Nepali institutions are corrupt? ". The article is written by Dr. Ananda Jha where he presents reasons behind the corruption that is going on in our institutions. He has presented very interesting thesis and supporting examples.

Dr. Jha writes, "A person accepting bribes compares the benefits of taking bribes with its costs. If the benefits exceed the costs, he accepts it; if it does not, he rejects it. Regardless of his race, place of residence, education, and his level of income, it is this cost and benefit analysis that determines whether he accepts bribes." In other words, a person tries to analyse the possible negative consequences of taking bribes as well as the benefits. For example, he considers whether there is a chance of doing investigation on it and so on. And benefits of course in terms of the amount of money he is going to receive. Based on this analysis, he determines whether to take bribe or not. To illustrate more, Dr. Jha presents an example: "Try giving 5,000 rupees to the police chief of Kathmandu to hush a murder, and he will throw you out of the room. Try giving him 5 million, and maybe he will think twice before being impolite to you. Try giving 50 rupees to motorcycle license granting operator to bend the rules for you, he will get offended. Try giving him 5,000 rupees, and he might actually bend the rules for you." Moreover, he says that the same rule i.e. cost and benefit analysis applies to the one who is offering bribes. If he has to pay more cost, he doesn't offer else he does.

Dr. Jha tries to focus on the rules in Nepali institutions. I admit that if the laws are strong and they are enforced properly, costs of taking and offering bribes are high. Developed country also have corruption cases though the cost is higher compared to the developing and poor countries because the benefits offered are comparable with the corresponding costs and they are higher compared to that of the developing and poor countries.

In conclusion, I agree with the cost and benefit model of corruption mentioned by Dr. Jha. The rules are equally applicable to any institutions in the world.

Study is important

I was grazing in web and got a page where I found following view:

"Once upon a time, there was a boy who had everything what he desired, lots of good friends and a good paying job. Life was a party for him and he used to enjoy every bit of it. But some people have tendency to screw up things when everything goes fine. So did he, and on one fine day he decided to leave everything and go for further studies."

I feel that these are my sentences though somebody else typed first :) . Of course, money is necessary to make life enjoyable but it is not sufficient to keep the happiness in "the whole" life. I reckon that study is what carries the highest weight for making a person happy for whole of his life because it provides more knowledge. The more knowledge one has, the more powerful he can become! This is a reason that motivates me to go for further studies :).

Yahoo Pipes

Yahoo Pipes is a composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web is in a visual programming environment. I had heard about it and was thinking that it is same as igoogle. Today I tried it to create my own application and found that it is different from iGoogle. I love the concept of Yahoo Pipes :).

Wikipedia API

APIs are available to access Wikipedia's articles' information. Here is a live demo that uses wikipedia to check spelling of word we type.

Quick resources for processing XML with JAVA

• Here is a chapter of a book from Sun.com that talks about using SAX parser for XML processing in JAVA. 

• A quick overview of using DOM, SAX, XML in JAVA is also available here
  

Invention & Innovation

Invention is the conversion of cash into ideas. Innovation is the conversion of ideas into cash. This is best described by comparing Thomas Edison with Nikola Tesla. Thomas Edison was as innovator because he made money from his ideas. Nikola Tesla was an inventor. Tesla spent money to create his inventions but was unable to monetize them.

Reference:
1. Wikipedia