Site FAQ

What this is

• Bits of information that I want to share with other people are published here.
• Content can range from useless bits of personal information to not so useless (?) items related to
  • my work,
  • teaching, etc.
• Sometimes I jot down my computer programming experiences that are related to my work or hobbies.

What this is NOT

• A complete work: I write this whenever I have free time. Not based on any plan or framework. I create links first, and may complete the target article later, if ever. So, if there are links in RED, don't follow and more importantly, don't keep your fingers crossed -- it might never be written.
• Serious work: Well... at lest most of the stuff appear here are not to be taken too seriously. Read the copyright notice if you are so inclined -- but I'll state it here anyway: Most of the content may be useless.

Why bother

Let me explain it this way. I was creating web based dynamic systems back in late nineties, when such things were quite hard. There were not many standard tools for linking databases, other applications and web seamlessly. I spent almost an year writing code for a database-backed, multi-user hydrological analysis system using Oracle's PL/SQL. It worked and I was happy. Then I moved away from the area for a several years before started reading about the subject again. Then I was in for a sort of 'Culture shock'. What we have thought as work has become play and anyone with half a day to spare and a old computer could have a nice dynamic web system going! For an old-timer like me, this is simply magic!

So by doing this, I am sort of enjoying that magic!

Why bother II (a bit serious)

In this site, I may include several kinds of information

1. The part of personal information that I believe is useful for me to share with the world.
2. Various information that I need to disseminate to my associates (e.g. Students that I teach and supervise).
3. Knowledge I collected from doing various things (mostly related to computers, as a hobby) I believe to be useful for others.

E-mail contact

What is this strange e-mail address?

You may want to read this article, particularly this part.

You may have seen the following:

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Please use this e-mail address 3tv-assela@pathirana.net to contact me, if needed.

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and may be wondering why I am using this strange e-mail address. Well.. this is how it works.

• I have created a 'disposible' e-mail adress to be used in this site. All the mail that is sent to it are automatically forwarded to my regular e-mail account.
• Having your e-mail address on the web is the best way to get spammers to gain access to your address and misuse it.
• So, I periodically change the above address to something else.
• That way, I will be able to get any message someone will be sending related to stuff on this site. Meanwhile, I always have the chance of removing a 'polluted' address and replace with a new one.

Should I keep this address in my address book?

Please don't. See the above answer. It is not meant to be a channel for regular contact. It is just for the first time contact.

Hosting

How do you host your site

• I pay for hosing, albiet a measly amount and get a mediocre service. Please read this article for a bit of information about current hosting situation. Of course there are better solutions if one pays around US$ 20-30 per month, but for me this is a hobby and it does not earn anything!

Site uptime

The current uptime can be checked from this link (Note: This opens an external site.)