Resizing an image in Photoshop

Ever tried to resize/rescale an image to different dimensions, and all you got was an image with lesser quality? Look no further. This post is your guide to resizing an image using Adobe Photoshop.

Step 1: Open the image using Adobe Photoshop

Step 2: Select Image -> Image Size.

Image Size Menu

Step 3: The Image Size dialog box appears. In the height and width text box, enter the required dimensions and click OK.

Image Size Dialog

Now, the image would be resized to the entered dimensions, with the same quality as the original image. Have fun.

Macro Concatenation in C

Recently, I came across a question on C programming . The question seemed odd at first, but later on further research, revealed a lot of information, which I had not known earlier.

#define f(g,g2) g##g2
main()
{
int var12=100;
printf("%d",f(var,12));
}

The output would be

100

How you ask? Here’s my explanation.

The ## (double hash sign) operator concatenates two tokens in a macro invocation.

Consider this :

#define f(g,g2) g##g2

The given function call is f(var,12). Here, when the macro is invoked, g would be assigned var and g2 would be assigned 12.

The ## operator concatenates var and 12 to form var12.

Now, consider the printf statement :

printf("%d",f(var,12));

The value returned after the macro has been invoked would be var12, and the printf statement will now be,

printf("%d",var12);

which in turn would print 100 as the answer, since the integer variable var12 has been assigned the value 100.

Error While Deleting a File in Windows

Wanna delete a file from your hard disk and all you get is an error message like the one given below?

Error Deleting File or Folder

If your answer is yes, all you have to do is download Unlocker from here and it’ll do the rest. Alternatively, you can terminate the “explorer.exe” process and restart explorer using the “New Task” option available in the Task Manager. Now, try deleting the file and there won’t be any problem at all.

Have fun.

Google Wave – Tips & Tricks

Having fun Waving? You must be. In this post, I intend to add some tips and tricks which could be time savers in Wave. These are not full fledged posts. I will update this section as and when I find new tricks.

Adding a reply

How do you add a reply to a message on a Wave ? Right click on it and select “Reply”? Outdated. Select the message you wanna reply to using the arrow keys or using the mouse and press the enter/return key. Type your reply and press done, and your new message will be added . Alternatively, you can press Shift + Enter/Return key to add your message to the Wave.

If you’re using Wave, you must have encountered difficulty in scrolling through messages to locate unread items. Simple shortcut? Press the Spacebar key to traverse through unread items.

I’m planning to update as much tips & tricks as possible. Watch out this space for more. Have fun.

Finding System Details in Java

Wanna display the OS name, home directory and version using Java? The code snippet given below does just that.

public class MainClass{
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println(System.getProperty ("user.dir"));
System.out.println(System.getProperty ("java.version"));
System.out.println(System.getProperty ("java.home"));
System.out.println(System.getProperty ("os.name"));
System.out.println(System.getProperty ("user.name"));

System.out.println(System.getProperty ("user.home"));

}
}

Have fun.

Tutorials Point

Searching for tutorials on programming languages? Need well organized and easy to understand content? Look no further. Tutorials Point is what you need. This is a website which offers online tutorials for various programming languages and also for quality & management.

Tutorials Point is well organized and the content is crisp and to the point. It is this approach that I like in this website. The way the content has been presented looks like w3schools.com. But, the similarity ends there.

Also, a lot of external references have been provided. And, each concept has been illustrated with an example, for easy understanding.

Do pass on the URL to your friends/colleagues. Have fun people.

File Downloads

The title of this post may appear deceptive and some of you might have noticed this phenomenon as well. This is something I encountered while downloading a file from major file sharing/hosting websites like Rapidshare, Mediafire etc.,

I use Google Chrome for general surfing and Mozilla Firefox for downloads. I’ve installed this add-on for Firefox called SkipScreen, which allows a user to bypass timers in these file sharing websites.

So, if I wanna download a file from Rapidshare, all I have to do is paste the link in Firefox’s address bar and SkipScreen automates the rest. Rapidshare frequently changes its HTML code structure, so sometimes SkipScreen would work instantly, otherwise you would have to wait until the timer expires.

That is when I noticed something while downloading a file. Generally, when you press the download button in any file sharing site for that matter, a Save As dialog pops up, requesting you for the location to save the file. Once you choose the location and press the Save button, your file starts downloading and you can see the download progress bar indicating the percentage of the file being downloaded.

Now, all you have to do is when the Firefox’s download dialog appears,do not click the OK button. Instead wait for a few minutes and then press the OK button. It prompts you for the location. Choose the desired location and press the Save button.

Download Dialog

Now, if you check the download progress bar, a few MBs of the file would have already been downloaded, even before you had saved the file onto your hard disk.

Now download the same file as usual. As soon as the Firefox download prompt appears, save it to your hard disk. The percentage of the file being downloaded  would be much lesser. If you had followed the earlier method, for the same duration. the percentage of the file being downloaded would be much more.

I’m not sure of the reason. But, I believe that when you use a client like Firefox/Chrome to download a file, all other characteristics like downloading a normal webpage or parallel downloads are taken into account. But, with the other method, you’re actually transferring chunks of data you wanna download, faster than the conventional method directly from the server. If someone knows how this happens, please enlighten. Have fun downloading people.

Google Wave

Got my Google Wave invite today. Wave is a “personal communication and collaboration tool” developed by Google. It is a web based application which can be used for real time communication, has a robust spelling/grammar check feature and lots more. But, the preview is limited.

Developed using OpenJDK and based on the Wave Federation Protocol, Wave also boasts of providing seamless and real-time access to messages, e-mail, chat and the likes. It has support for social networking sites too. To top it all, Wave is open source. Google has planned to make the code available to the public, so that Wave can be customized to  an organization/individual’s needs.

Unless your friends/colleagues have permission to access Google Wave, it would be boring. You can request for a Wave invite here.

Here’s a screenshot of Google Wave on my PC.

Google Wave

For those who have an invite, Happy Waving Have fun people

OpenMentor

Yet another product of random surfing, OpenMentor is a site that provides free training on various technologies. The training isn’t very extensive, but if you wanna get a strong foundation with the basics, then this is the place.

You’ll have to sign up with this website to access the training content, which is transmitted real time, and is handled by volunteers/experts in various fields. And, all this for free. You can also ask doubts.

Do forward the URL of this website to your friends and acquaintances. Have fun people.

IndiaBix.com

IndiaBix is your one stop resource for solved questions in C, general aptitude and anything that has to do with interviews and the likes. I discovered this site while random surfing and found it to be very useful. I’d highly recommend it to people who are preparing for interviews.

Site content is very neat and well-organized. IndiaBix.com is still under development, and an array of new features are to be introduced very soon. Also, this site provides mock tests in general aptitude and programming. If you need some feature to be introduced, just drop them a mail. Have fun navigating through the website and don’t forget to pass on the URL of this website to your friends and acquaintances.

Have fun people. A new post coming up soon.