₦airaland Forum

I think there is only 1 good reason to learn C:

You want to code that is close to the metal (operating system, driver, network, or some other place where speed and small size are essential); where you're more concerned with the flow of control (hardware, bits and bytes) or number crunching.

For most other problems, I think you're better of starting with JavaScript, Python, Java, or C++. Ideally one should learn to solve problems in a language that doesn't make the programmer manage memory (pointers) or deal with many other low level details the way C forces you to.

Unfortunately for me, learning how to program in C conditioned me to think in only imperative ways:

Declare this
Assign that
if condition is true
do this
else
do that

which is not necessarily the best way to solve many types of problems that can be better solved with thinking of data and objects (as opposed to thinking of control flow). C was invented to talk to keyboards, terminals, disk drives, network interfaces, serial ports, etc., basically a glorified assembler language (and I use that term without diminishing C's historical importance)

See this page for a good example of how object oriented programming differs from imperative programming

http://inventwithpython.com/blog/2014/12/02/why-is-object-oriented-programming-useful-with-an-role-playing-game-example/


My first real language was C, totally adequate for my foray into embedded electronics, but I think it has gotten in the way of truly understanding object oriented and functional programming. So rather than insist that C is the go to language, I think the choice of a first language depends on the paradigm you want to learn/teach.

For those who think C++ is slow: I used to think that, but learned that if the classes are well written, the compiler takes care of optimizing the code to where there is negligible difference in size or performance.

Middle finger to Trey. Would he dare call any of his senators "baby"? Or use any casual language? It's simply the usual sign of disrespect and disdain they have for us. I see it in how their officials, airplane cabin assistants, artists regard us: grass wearing shoeless natives.

If he can't use that language with officials of his country, what would make him think it's ok to use it with one of ours? Simple: contempt. It leaks out in their utterances and attitudes, and those of us who take offence are simply reacting to a correct perception.

A country doesn't gain respect by allowing itself to be disrespected, no matter how small or poor. As the adage goes, it's mostly our own fault, our own insecurities, for not putting our own country in order. In that light maybe we should be quiet and just go about fixing our country, so we're not so sensitive to slights and insults.

Left to me, I'd pay the guy (contractual obligations) cancel his concert, and get his ass on the next plane out.

Sure, I also commented that the Senator doesn't smile, but middle finger to Trey for using such casual language that highlights his disrespect for Nigerians in general.

Yes, he and his ilk might come out and say "no disrespect intended", but we all know that real truth.

Dis Ben Bruce never smiles. Wassup?

"We're not pointing fingers, but in any case it's FAAN's fault".

Wow... something worthwhile by our guy.!

Nevermind that he was on the opposite side of the argument last year.

Abeg, no vex when my 2002 toyota scratches your 2015 Prado while in heavy traffic on the dusty potholed roads of Ikorodu.

I'm interested. A few questions:

1. How much money is needed?
2. How big is the expected turnover?
3. In other words, for X amount of naira, how much of your business will you sell to me?
4. How quickly can you start seeing revenue?
5. What are your costs?
6. How did you arrive at you 300% returns?
7. Are you planning to process? Sell to whom?

NigerianMusic:
Pls anybody knows how much Gt Bank sold dollar today (18 Dec. 2015) ? Thanks in advance. Important

199. Then they'll go and sell to street dealer (ab0k1) at 250, who will then sell at 270. Bastards.

kITATITA:
I don't think that Emiefiele is the right CBN governor at this difficult period. Mrs. Adeosun is also inexperienced to manage Nigeria economy in a period of difficulty such as this.

As a former banker, I would like to think he has some idea of how economies work, but unfortunately his hand are tied by his oga, who does not understand macro economics, has never invested and grown his own personal wealth; an oga who wants to micromanage and is unwilling to let his ministers excel at their jobs.


Sad sad sad

I really want to believe in the CBN policies, and that it will help Nigeria in the long term, but I just don't understand the rationale behind all they're doing:

1. The spread between official and parallel markets is just too much to ignore, and more people will add more pressure. Afterall, who will use official means to exchange 1USD at #200 when you can get #270 for that same 1USD?

2. The restriction of how much money people can spend abroad is just going to force more people to move money outside official channels. This does not stop ppl with stolen funds, yet harms honest Nigerians who are doing business, or going to school, or touring abroad.

3. Importers and manufacturers cannot readily import, so goods won't be readily available, driving inflation. Worse, what used to cost #200 will have to cost at least #270 because the importer has to meet his margin. Even worse, he'll have to raise prices in anticipation that his naira will buy even less next time he wants to get goods. He might even decide to stop importing, making good scarce.

4. Even if people want to start manufacturing, how will they buy all the machines and raw materials they need?

5. Banks are less willing to lend money, which will drive up real interest rates, despite what CBN claims


All this will stunt the growth of the economy, make things hard to buy, make things harder to manufacture (since equipment is also imported).

So please tell me how all these CBN restrictions and bans is supposed to help the economy. Or does this mean that in 2016 I will need to stand in long queues in the sun for soap and rice, like I did when I was a child, back in 1984?

henryanna36:
Shiite sect members in India took to the streets to protest the killing of their members by Nigerian army in Zaria.

This is really getting out of control.Don't you think the story is generating a global attention which is likely to tarnish our image at the international scene?The earlier President Buhari arrests the condition,the better for Nigeria.

Source: http://trezzy2..com.ng/2015/12/shiite-sect-members-in-india-protest.html

Tarnish? Hah hah, our image is beyond tarnished. You can't tarnish what was never shining. And I say this as a Nigeria lover.

Finally got to this stage, Dec 12. Pictures are in this order:
- back, showing 4 small window in the bedroom
- front, showing doors. Damage still being patched
- left, sitting room window
- right, with bathroom window showing

The theme is minimalist, with very simple features and uniformity; time will tell how this design ends up

The rooms face East, so they should be relatively cool by night time. The front face West and gets a lot of sunshine later in the day. To minimize heat windows are tall and thin and should be tinted. We might pursue options that reduce heat gain: vines on that side of the building, insulating foam, or an overhanging extension to the roof.

The solar panels (not yet installed) will tilt West, high on the back, where the rooms are, and lower in the front, where kitchen and living room are.

I've received feedback as to why we're bothering to make a 1-storey building when a bungalow would suffice (i.e. why waste so much money on the decking?) The footprint of the building is determined by the number of panels we plan to install, and panels are more expensive per square foot than decking.

Lobeez:
Now you are pushing the discourse to a different direction, lets remain in line.
Was the military provoked? yes, did they over react? in my opinion, Yes.

Fair enough.

Lobeez:
So what happened afterwards, did the world justify it? was there not worldwide outrage over that barbaric act?
Nothing can ever justify the massacre in Zaria as well. Period!

That's what we call hypocrisy: the West displays no outrage when it kills Blacks in the US, or Irish in Britain, or harmless Kenyans, or...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_war_crimes

You're leaving out the part where
hundreds to thousands civilians were killed at Tiananmen Square after the tanks got there.

Lobeez:
This video sums it up for me.
I am amazed at how Nigerians in this 21st century would support the carnage by the NA.
there is nothing whatsoever in that video that justifies the killing of these civilians and even if we can justify that, what about the massacre that followed at the residence of the sect leader and the eventual destruction of the place?
For goodness sake, where in the world do you disperse an angry mob with live ammunition? and to think that so many are silent or even support this is just beyond me.

Look at the attached video I just quoted, this incident happened in China in the 80's just imagine a civilian standing in the way of a convoy of military tanks, also notice he even climbs on top of one of the tanks in defiance. this act would have been interpreted as an assassination attempt by our dear NA, in fact that man would have been gunned down instantly.

I give up man! I give up!!

magicminister:
So, they deserve to be gunned down?
Women, chidren and men gunned down for resisting the almighty coas and his truculent brigandes?
They were agressive but not violent.
Bro, ive seen alot of things in the killing of those people is gross injustice

This guy said what I wanted to say: go and see how US and UK preserve law and order. Nobody dares block their police and armies.

FolarinLondon:
Having watched this video, the so called shiite deserve their untimely death. It was an open suicide.

I can bet my life on this, UK and US military would have killed more in a similar situation. Let black communities in US tell you what they have been through during protest with a common US police.

Let Irish people in Northern Ireland tell you what their experiences were with British army on their streets during IRA-British confrontation.

No police in US will stand you holding a cutlass or any weapon for few minutes after few warnings; US police will kill you in broad day light in a similar situation in which Nigeria Army found themselves.

gists:
First of all, I am a muslim.
But this nonesense of road blocks must stop!!

HOWEVER, the army is just too crazy!!
At the begining of the video, it took the army leader to shout at one of the soldiers not to shoot!
Can you imagine a soldier trying to kneel down to take position to fire at harmless civilians - Thank God they were led by a sensible chief.

I have made my opinion known on this issue and this video just confirmed it

A sensible chief who could have been killed by the mob. Part of a soldier's duty is to protect his company and especially commanding officer from harm, real or perceived. He did the right thing until told to stand down. It's not his place to negotiate when a superior is there. That is how armies operate.

In civil riots around the world, and in the Western world, police and armies have used deadly force against their own citizens to maintain law and order. I don't think it's fair to single out NA.

I'll leave you to imagine what would happen in the US if a crowd of Black people tried to stop the police or army from discharging their duties...

CeterisXVII:
That is totally untrue!! Have you ever been part of any project in that church?? More than 80% of materials, men and resources used at any point in time, are locally sourced. All labour is 100% local personnel. So where did you draw your erroneous impressions from??

You're telling me that the steel, aluminium, plastic, and wood products have their origins in Nigeria? The banisters, chairs, lights, pianos, electronics, tiles, air conditioners, flooring, toilets, paint, etc all originated in Nigeria? That the machines to forge, bend, lift, and affix these items are made in Nigeria? Unless I'm mistaken the vast majority of inputs to this and many other projects end up feeding families not in Nigeria. Labour is bound to be made of Nigerian personel, but I'm not convinced that they constitute up to 1/20 of the budget.

In fact the only things I can think are truly Nigerian in origin are: cement, blocks, wood for roofing. The roofing sheets are either tiles likely made in Korea or sheets manufactured in China (albeit corrugated in Nigeria). They might deign to use Nigerian doors and windows, which is open to doubt.

My initial argument was that the money might have been better spent directly funding small Nigerian enterprises for production. You might be right that there's significant money given to contractors and suppliers in Nigeria, but I think you'll find that the lions share of profits leaves the country in one form or another

emerged01:
Hmmm,na ghost workers wan build the church? I believe some people problems will be solved through this project and some people will be made millionaires through this projects. Go and check how many people that are gainfully employed under his ministry. He said that supply of resources is not church problems,the problem will supply of labour.
Don't be quick to judge.

The most value will be taken to foreign contractors, foreign manufacturers of equipment and part suppliers. Local labour would probably only see 1/20 of the total money, who would then spend the money on foreign goods and gadgets

Church is for sure Nigeria's industry. If you took the 100 millions of naira this will cost and used it to start 1000 medium scale enterprises...

"Dazzles"?!? I don't want to sound like a hater cut let's call this for what it is: these are simply badly taken pictures of a girl in an everyday, uninspiring outfit.

There are 1000s of ladies, right now, walking around surulere or vi looking way fresher than this. Snap those instead abeg.

saxywale:
are you sure they are looking the other way

Siemens was found guilty of paying bribes to Nigerian officials and fined 201m euros ($248m; £122.3m) by a Munich court on 4 October.

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7130315.stm


Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- KBR Inc. , the engineering company accused of bribing Nigerian officials to win more than $6 billion in contracts to build a liquefied natural-gas project, agreed with former parent
Halliburton Co. to pay $579 million to resolve U.S. criminal and regulatory charges.


www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a5SIJHgE3rXA

You're right, there were those two cases and I remember them. I think it's safe to call 2 (or even 20) out of 1000s of unreported cases statistical anomalies that don't invalidate the general argument that the governments looked the other way.

I would not be surprised if the cases we hear about were exposed by disgruntled parties who were not adequately compensated. It's also possible there is some back room deal with the European governments that didn't make the news, but somebody got upset.

I'm also reaching far here, but it would also not surprise me if the fine was written off and was less than the tax they would have had to pay on profits for that time period...

Good... hopefully the thesis is available online so we can all learn from it. In addition to the usual Nigeria-bashing, the book should cover:
1. how Nigeria is developing and growing in spite of corruption
2. how Nigeria's money has funded Europe over the decades
3. why Europe's governments looked the other way as their banks and real estate sector took in money
4. how we can transition from a consuming economy to a producing economy.

In my view, corruption is caused mostly by the perception (not fact, but perception) that there is only one way to get rich: oil and gov't connections. Once more and more people realize that wealth can be and is created by "making stuff", and Nigerians make and buy made-in-Nigeria products, corruption will be drastically reduced.

Instead of punishing "corrupt people", steps should be made to reduce the enabling environment.

spyder880:
I produced them right inside this very house, N120,000 only

No way! Who's your carpenter? That is some quality work. I'm in Asaba... if the guy could come down after Christmas (and you can spare him for 2 weeks), we have quite some work for him/them: closets, desk, bunk bed, kitchen and bathroom counters & cabinets.

spyder880:
Update on the wardrobes

Wow, where did you find these? I'm guessing they're China prefabbed? How much do these sell for. We need 4 units like this for our experimental hostel that we're about to finish.

brabus, I don't know the full story of your dealings with clients, but unfortunately, in spite of the good works you showcase here, these recurring stories with k-leg don't do you any good. I've seriously considered you for some projects, but have awarded jobs to others because I wonder if someday, we'll be acrimoniously airing our dispute.

As we close out on this year, please humbly reflect and right whatever past wrongs you need to assuage your past clients, so that your ministry will grow unimpeded. I'm not saying your clients are always right or that you're always wrong, but there is a growing perception that people should be extremely wary of doing business with you. That perception, in spite of how well you think you're doing now, is going to stunt the future prospects of your business.

I have owned an electronics manufacturing company for over 10 years now, and the hardest thing for me personally, yet the best for the business long term, is to humble myself in my clients' eyes, accept whatever blame is thrown at me, strive to always be upfront even when I forsee problems, and take on only jobs that I know I can execute completely without the distraction of too many projects going on.

I've lost money on projects that were not complete; I've had to give away products; sometimes shipments get lost in the mail or parts don't arrive on time and I've had to replace them at no cost to client; sometimes my workers use the wrong parts and I've had to redo the entire production with my money.

Permit me to indulge in one story:
In July 2013, there was an almost comical turn of events on one particular job for a Japanese customer: somehow we requested the wrong type of circuit board from the board manufacturer. By the time we redesigned and got the new boards 3 weeks had passed. Then more trouble: some wrong parts were sent, and one critical piece got lost on the way to us (so I had to order again with the most expensive shipment, because time is money). By the time we sorted out the crisis and finished production, our client's trade show was in 2 days and there was hardly time to ship internationally. I got a ticket to Tokyo last minute with products in my carry-on and luggage, and hand-delivered them the night before the trade show. We saved face for our client, and I have to really thank them for their eternal patience. I lost a ton of money on that particular project, but we gained a reputation for always delivering. We also learned how to better manage our process from that experience.

In all these cases, I use that as opportunity to learn how to prevent that particular mistake from happening again, whether it's by better managing client expectations throughout the process, improved quality control, employee training, or self reflection. At any rate, I always, always, humbly apologize and genuinely feel bad for letting a client down, and do what it takes to make things right, in the eye of the client. I would like to think that our reputation is what garners us repeat and new business, not even our technical capability.

Reputations are hard worn, yet easily lost. I can only ask that you consider the anecdote, particularly with regards to protecting your reputation, no matter what.
Thanks.

Holamidhe:
56. First morning after Sweden changed from driving on the left side to driving on the right 1967

Looks like daily traffic in Lagos. Everybody driving and walking anyhow in whatever direction

Nice one for China:
1. stimulate Chinese economy by providing jobs to their industries
2. give a loan to Nigeria, which will be paid entirely back to Chinese companies
3. get the loan back (principal)
4. earn interest on the loan.

Let's see what Nigeria gains:
1. a power plant that might stimulate industry, but more likely just stimulate more consumption
2. no new jobs are created in Nigeria
3. plant won't be maintained so that after 5-10 years, plant will not be functional or at 30% capacity
4. to rehabilitate or fix means we have to call our Chinese masters, instead of making spare parts locally
5. meanwhile, we've paid for a huge loan, and interest on top that will finance China's economy.

There are many capable Nigerians, inside and outside Nigeria, we can call upon to lend their brains and their money to develop our country, yet we always turn outside. Is there any reason the gov't could not issue a bond to Nigerians and banks to finance this? Hydroelectricity is at least 100 year old technology. Is there any reason we can't teach people how to build dams?

Wow. It's like we never really learn anything: we help develop French, American, British, German, Indian, Pakistani, and now Chinese economies and industries, and never learn to develop our own. I wonder which currently poor country we're going to give our money too in the next 15 years. ***sigh***

After iron works but before decking is poured. I went offsite for about 1 hour to buy more materials, then came back to see the plumber cutting reinforcement bars. He had already broken the lintel, cut 2 out of 6 reinforcing bars, and was about to do more damage before we stopped him. He said he needed to make space for the 4-inch toilet piping.

When I challenged him, he insisted that we could patch the damage with concrete, proving he didn't really understand anything about loading, structure, and the possible future damage he could have caused. That point of the wall would have been resting entirely on blocks (which are not load bearing in this building), and somebody could die when that section failed. He still didn't get it. I was so furious, so I paid him for work so far, and asked him to leave the site that moment.

Even if you don't have space because of the small blocks we used, please use your common sense and ask the site engineer before you damage such an important part of the building. To make matters worse, the site engineer said he approved the cut! Can you imagine!
Well, I'm watching him more carefully now.

The waste pipe will now be external, and we may cover it with some design down the line.

Thank God we found out before he made more cuts, or worse covered it up with un-reinforced concrete. The plan is to tie more bars to bridge the cut. Not perfect, but the lintel has already been cast. The picture shows the sink and shower drain pipe; the toilet drain didn't fit.

DPM and iron works before decking

Got to the site and encountered this sad state of affairs: some people had come in at night to vandalize the building!

There is significant damage to all external walls, and I'm sure that without the columns and lintel, the whole thing could have
collapsed...

We must carry on, even as we try and find out who was responsible and why.

The house is taking shape by the 3rd day after we broke ground. Interesting how they're casting the columns in stages... bottom, middle, top. I assume it's best to cast the entire length of column at once so it bonds together well, but the site engineer seems to be comfortable with this. Any arguments for/against casting in sections?

Finally, I got to walk inside the building and get a feel for the space... it's a little tight but not too cramped...