The Sheares Hall portal "SHout" is for the Shearites to be updated with the hall activities and to know more about the upcoming events. It is managed by Sheares Hall Publications and is under the technical supervision of the Sheares Hall IT team.
As the Design IC of the IT Team 09/10 I was given the task of revamping SHout. This was my first experience with Content Management Systems. The website is built with Joomla.
For those hearing it for the first time: "Joomla!" is an open source content management system platform for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets as well as a Model–view–controller (MVC) Web application framework. It is written in PHP, stores data in MySQL and includes features such as page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, search, and support for language internationalization.
The entire project was a fun and learning experience. Though I did not get paid for it but the appreciation I received for my work is truly satisfactory. I feel proud to have contributed to my hall with this web portal. Take a look here:
Sheares Hall Photography Competition 09/10 is open. Every year Sheares Hall Photocomm holds this competition for the shearites to appreciate their photography skills. There is a theme every year and this year's theme is "Cadeau de nature - a nature's gift".
The webiste for the competition is my first "officially" launched website. I learned a lot of PHP and dealt with MySQL for this purpose. Here is the link.
Forgot to mention this was the main reason why i had to prepone my tickets and be back to hall 12 days in advance. After seeing the website up and running I realized I made the right decision. (A great leaning experience). Well people have told me I am workaholic.. if thats so.. so be it!
If you are interested in programming games using C++ and do not know where to begin, this is the article for you! Here I have provided a tutorial to teach the basics of game programming using the Allegro Library in C++. If you not already know, Allegro is a external library for C++ that allows functionalities to code games with graphics and user interface.
Before you begin:
You must have some basic knowledge of C++
You must have Allegro Game Programming Library installed and working with the C++ compiler of your choice. For information on this refer to: Install Allegro
This tutorial is a comprehensive powerpoint presentation. It comes with a demo game and its code.
In the tutorial:
You will learn about the very basics of game programming.
In the process of this interactive learning you will also write a very simple game to gain some hands-on experience.
You will learn the syntax and the purpose of the common in-built functions provided by the Allegro Game Library.
Recently, for my Semester 1 module LSM1302: Genes and Society, I designed a brochure as an assignment. The purpose of the brochure is to propogate the genetic testing for breast cancer. I had a fun time doing this brochure. Used photoshop! Here are some snaps:
In the whole process I learnt some important facts about breast cancer!
Reverse engineering is a critical set of techniques and tools for understanding what software is really all about. Formally, it is “the process of analyzing a subject system to identify the system’s components and their interrelationships and to create representations of the system in another form or at a higher level of abstraction” (IEEE 1990). This allows us to visualize the software’s structure, its ways of operation, and the features that drive its behaviour, even when the source code and documentation for the software are unavailable. It also equips us with the ability to modify software applications according to our needs.
Learning software reverse engineering requires a combination of skills and a thorough understanding of computers and software development, but like most worthwhile subjects, the only real prerequisite is a strong curiosity and desire to learn. Software reverse engineering integrates several arts: code breaking, puzzle solving, programming, and logical analysis.
While on one hand reverse engineering is used by software analysts to find flaws and faults in a software, to develop a strong protection scheme for the software and to improve the original code, it is also used (and I suppose more often) by hackers and crackers to modify an application to overcome its protection schemes, inject malicious features into an application and enable-disable restricted features. Reverse engineering, as Elliot Chikofsky describes in his foreword to the book “Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering”, is like a stethoscope, which could not only be used by a doctor to detect breathing or heart problems but also by a burglar to listen to the lock mechanism of a safe as the tumblers fall in place. It is a tool which is not inherently good or bad but the issue is the use to which it is put.
While legal issues surround the usage and application of reverse engineering, acquiring knowledge about the techniques of reverse engineering is perfectly legal. As a beginner, you can learn how to create patches for a software in order to bypass restrictions. You can learn the internal working of a protection scheme to be able to find a password/ serial key for it or (even more) to be able to write a keygen for it. More advanced techniques may also teach you how to inject your own code into a piece of software. It is important for good guys to know these techniques too, as it provides one with a perspective of a hacker. To be able to think like hackers motivates one to develop stronger protection schemes and take anti-reversing measures for your software.
On a more personal note, learning reverse engineering is fun. You suddenly find yourself in a world of endless possibilities. There are several websites offering legal “crackme” files. It can be challenging, mentally satisfying and often addicting, when cracking these files. You force your mind to work analytically as never before. You can take your first step in being someone different from those you see all around you.
I wrote this article a few months back to help people (beginners) understand what reverse code enginerring is all about. I myself am a beginner in this field and hopefully someday I could advance to the next level. For now I already have enough stuff at hand !!
