Local IEEEXtreme

    Today, was my first attempt at IEEEXtreme. although it wasn't the real worldwide 24 houred IEEEXtreme ... However, it was a simulation in our college for the big day. The competition was held by IEEE CUSB Computer Club team, as I was a competitor, I couldn't join the organization of the event.

   Local xtreme was 7 problems that varied in strength, in one of the faculty computer labs, and our most favorite online judge "Mooshak". (: D) Some problems were easy, however, dear mooshak kept insisting that we missed a test case. Some were moderate, others need much optimization. And finally our dear graphs. Never thought of actually trying to solve it.
 
    My team was supposed to have included Omar Abou El-Khir <3rd year Computer Engineering, CUFE> and Mahmoud Hosny <2nd year Computer Engineering, CUFE>, unfortunately due to some circumstances only me and Hosny managed to come. We managed to solve 3 problems correctly out of 7. Then we tried on another 3, one of which we went to calculate numbers out of boundaries of of C++ containers like int and long long. I tried to convince them that Python could calculate such numbers, however, Moohsak doesn't support that language. :( Hosny, did suggest having an array of 1 billion element to try and solve, and showed some frustration as mooshak stated "Memory Limit Exceeded". Yeah, we were that desperate!! :D

    It was a great experience, not the best though but atleast was a little fruitful ... Now we should begin to train ourselves for the big IEEEXtreme, hopefully, with Omar back to the team, while doing our best. Hopefully, we can achieve a good result.

   For those who don't know IEEEXtreme, it's a 24-houred online coding competition, held worldwide at the same time. It contains 17 problem, that varies in strength.

   I guess that's all for now, see you later ... I hope you enjoyed reading.

Google Student Ambassador Training

     Ever since I knew I am to be a GSA (Google Student Ambassador) for my college next year, and I know that I'm gonna have a boring training week. I thought it'd would have been 5 , five-hour long days for a whole week. But what really happened is the complete opposite. I used to sleep like maximum 5 hours a day and those were practically the time I had to spend at home. Because I used to wake up 5:30 in the early morning, to eventually reach home at midnight, where I practically spent those hours in between in the training.
     The training was a complete surprise, it was so ... Googley. The training was in the German University in Cairo (GUC), it was so like the Google atmosphere we used to hear about and see on YouTube. The place was so full with Google Colors, and Bean Bags, where we used to sleep on in the very morning when no not all have arrived. As it was 6:45 in the morning was the time when we had to take a bus to the GUC moving from the front door of Cairo University. Within the bus, I got to know the best of people, my first fellow Googlers. They were the people that I spent with the best of times on the way to the training or back, no matter how bad the road was.
    Getting into the first day (The first dip), getting into Google with Mohamed Gawdat, Directing Manager of Emerging Markets, and finally, meeting Noha Salem, our magnificent handler, whom have gave us the most magnificent start to what was, the week of the lifetime. However, as fascinating the start was, it wasn't enough to deal with our sleepiness, so it was time for great Andira's ENERGIZER activities, which managed, as it is named, to extract all the hidden energy within us.
     This is how we got to spend the other 4 days of our lives, for no words said can describe what we went through, and how magnificent people were. We ate together, planned together, dreamed together, learnt together, hung-out together and finally graduated together. It was a great experience, and the best of memories. I believe it will remain in memory for a very very long time.
      I'm really honored to have met each and every one of them, where each is unique on his own way, whether if it was hardworking, spiritful, social, creativity, .... and much more. I really hope we all meet again soon.

Google Student Ambassador

        Having met one of Google's first campus ambassadors, who is a colleague in my department, Computer Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University. I started to have my first pieces of knowledge about GCA/GSA program, and also started to broaden my knowledge about Google. It was the time that I got interested of being one for my college.

       And until the 3rd of April, I had been waiting the beginning of the application, it was that day , that I received an e-mail, inviting me to apply. With a deadline being at the 7th of may, plus having my mid-term exams in college, I tried my best to finish the required documents to apply. Fortunately, I managed to submit my application in time.

     And after 5 weeks and on the day I finished my Logic Design exam. I received an e-mail, informing me that I have been accepted as a Google Student Ambassador for my University for the Academic year 2011/2012. And before I can successfully represent Google in my college, I'm scheduled me and all other Ambassadors from the Middle East and North Africa, to a training week held at Google Egypt.

    Wish me Luck, and await me as a Google Student Ambassador.


      

Two-Digit Stopwatch

      Two-Digit Stopwatch, is a simple hardware project as a simple application on counters and hardware design within the scope of "Logic-Design" course. It's a stopwatch that counts from 00 to 59, representing 1 minute, with 2 buttons, one to stop/resume the counter and the other to reset it.

    My team consisted of 3 members, which had been an honor to work with them, my members include:
 1. Heba Ahmed
 2. Mahmoud Aladdin <me>
 3. Mahmoud Hosny

     We managed to attain 20 out of 20 of the grade marks, which reserved us the second place among our class. The following video is a preview to our clock in action.

     

Logic Gate Simulator

     Logic Gate Simulator (LGS), was the first software team work project I make in green department. My team consisted of four people who called themselves "Wizards of Chaos" :
 1. Haron  Shihab
 2. Mahmoud Aladdin <me>
 3. Mahmoud Hosny
 4. Youssef El-Ghareeb

     LGS is a program that is used to design combinational Logic circuits and simulate using primitive gates like: And, Or, and Not, and some more advanced gates as Nand, Nor, Xor, .... etc. Our program supported: Save/Load files, Undo/Redo action, Design/Simulate, show Truth table and Analyze circuit.

    LGS was implemented using C++ and CMU graphics library, it was mainly implemented to apply the rules and techniques of Object Oriented Programming, using C++. It was built and run by Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.

    We managed to attain 15.13 out of 15 of the project grades, achieving by that the 3rd place all over our class.

Dreams of the past? Or ghosts of the future?

    Everyone of us grew up having dreams and aspirations for ourselves free of limitations or any boundaries. who of us didn't dream of flying like Superman, fighting crime like Batman or rule the world like in "Pinky and the Brain" ... etc.
    Until the time comes when we clash with reality, in which no such fantasy can be easily obtained, when we get stuned with the fact "you simply can't win something without a price".
    It's the time where you start to doubt your dreams, asking the same old silly question " Will I ever be what I want?" , this'll be the time where you say farewell to the dreams of your past, and say hello to the ghosts of your future. Then will come the everlasting question; "Will you work for the dreams of your past ? Or you'll let the ghosts of your future choose you your way ?"
    Here, comes the test, but always remember, it's never too late to change ....

Hazards of being a Computer Engineer

    Leading a programmer's life ain't an easy job. Because sooner or later, people will start not to understand you ... You always speak of codes no matter what, call your actions as functions, or even treat yourself and those around you like an instance of a class.
   Not only that, you'll write the best documentation ever, always ending your statements in a semicolon ';' rather that a period '.', using underscores '_' instead of a normal blank space ' ', enclosing your work in a curly braces '{' & '}', pressing 'ctrl' + 's' every time you change a letter in your text, and finally instead of erasing a sentence as you write you simply comment it by either '//' or '/* */'.
   That's some of the hazards of being a Computer Engineer, and it's only my first year as one. God be with us all.

My first Delivery Week

     Ever since I became a student of Computer Engineering Department, I started to get familiar with some new words like "Project" , "Delivery", or even more the most famous "Delivery week". Delivery week, having known about only through words of those of more years in the department, is one of the toughest week you have in the department, week of anger, rush, breakdowns, will and above all, week of nerves. It's the week were you get to submit all the projects you've been working in the few months the precedes it, it's the time, that your honor the all the work and effort of these months or it's the time, that all work flies away for a silly mistake or a non-perfect product.
    Never had I experienced such a week before, however, and after 9 months in green department, here I go, and in the last week, it was my first delivery week.   We were scheduled to submit 2 projects;
• Logic Gate Simulator .. project for "Programming Techniques" course.
• Two-Digit Stop Watch .. project for "Logic Design" course.
    It was kinda of a bad experience, had the worst delivery ever in my life because of one silly mistake, hastiness, which made me learn never to update a working code just before delivery. On the other side, this week was one of the weeks I greatly learned from, not just in my academic life, but within my life in general , it appears man always learn from bad experience, more than he learns out of good ones.
  I believe that's enough for now, will be talking soon about each ...
    

A friend to remember

      Life is never to be, without someone by your side to stay, someone whom before you speak, he hears - a fantasy, ain't it? - or at least someone that when you speak he hears. And it's never harder than when you live within people and end up feeling alone ... So, what's life for ? Not a big deal, huh ?
      It's been me that very day, when every hope I had was nothing more than a pile of clay ... when those I kept near, seemed so very far away. Not sure if they really did, or just my mind deceiving me. All I'm sure they weren't near, the way I wanted them to be.
    And as it seemed so dark, and when all my hopes to ground have gone. He was there, to bear me the way I was, to advice me to the way that I should take by , to take me out of what I feel. He was a true friend, that when I needed he was there ... God bless you, and may you always be there for me.
   And until I find the way to pay you back, Thanks .... And you'll always be "a friend to remember".

My first phone interview

       Yesterday, I was scheduled to a phone interview for the role of a software engineer intern at Google. I was so excited and thrilled that I decided to skip off college, to prepare for that event. Being at my best while coding, I tried to calm down and got ready for the interview ...
       It was 15 mins before the interview, that I started to prepare myself, got my laptop ready, pluged in and had my battery fully charged in case of a power failure, also prepared an internet USB modem, and now I wait. It has already past the time scheduled for the interview. I started to have some doubts, are they gonna call ?! Is the phone working ?! .... Some minutes later, <rings> and here it goes. Voila, here they are, I was so nervous, as I said "Hello!".
      It was Mr. Marcin, I was too nervous to remember whether if he told me his full name and I forgot it or not, he asked to contact me, and he sounded very cheerful as he knew it was me. With a very calm, and cheerful tone he said "Relax!", it was the time that I could feel me trembling from top to bottom. A bit by bit, I gained confidence as we went further in the interview, I started to answer his questions a bit by bit, was still a little nervous though. It was only until, he started to ask me to code, that I nearly stopped feeling worried.
    Although I wasn't at my best performance, he never seemed even for once that he was bored of my silly mistakes or so, but he stayed calm, with the same friendly cheerful tone, which I greatly appreciated. The conversation stayed for like half an hour, after the call I started to wonder, will I get in?! Would I fail ?! honestly, I've always been a little pessimistic about interviews, having failed in nearly all of them so far.
   It was only till today in the morning that I received an e-mail from Google EMEA internship handler, Emma Edwards, that I was unfortunate enough, not to be the best fit for that role. I believe that maybe this was a little disappointing, but on other thoughts, given all what I've heard about 1st years interns, I believe I was so lucky to have reached this far. So, next year, I'll prepare myself even further, and re-apply hopefully, I could do better then.
   And as for summer, I guess I have some plans already made, I want to get my driving license, get my ICDL certificate, and finally get done with our compulsory military education. Good Bye for now.