AeroModelling

Since i was getting a little bugged with the monotonous routine of my life, thought it would be a great idea to put my creativity to some use and build something. building an airplane was an obvious choice as it's lind of a passion and has been my desire for some tiime now.
Found this beautiful place in ulsoor which deals with all the things required for AeroModelling. it was perfect. So on saturday after we were done with work Rohan and me went to that store. Checked out the wood and the engine and everything else. But we decided its better we build a glider before we build the actual plane. So we picked up two pieces and decided to see who's would be better.
today we started making the glider at around 7:30 pm and it's done now( its 10:30 now). got to see if it actually flies.

Books I strongly suggest

I started learnign the java language with the help of a book called 'HeadFirstJava'. It's a really cool book filled with pictures and examples which help u learn about the objects and all the OOP concepts and the java language itself in a very good way. It's a great book for any one who's starting off with Java. trust me the pictures really help.
Another book I would suggest for Java has to be 'Thinking In Java' by BruceEckel. It's one of those book , that i think every Java programmer can learn something from. All the concepts are explained very well in the book. Most of the examples are good ( but i must confess, some of it was not very good) . It's definately a must read for anyone learning Java.
I picked up a book called 'Open Source Java Programming', which explains some of the open source frameworks which can be used to develop complex web applications. They have done a very good job with explaining the reason these technologies could be usefull. I am curently reading the webwork part of it, would also want to check out Hibernate.

TWLIbrary project

Some of us at ThoughtWorks decided that we would involving ourselves in a project which would be starting from the begginning, would be a perfect way to learn about all the technologies and decisions that go with it, and in my case all get better at coding.
we started off by talking to chris, who helped us decide the technologies that would be suitable for our project. At present we are planning to use Hibernate for the OR Mapping layer and WebWork for the MVC frame work. As kini and me both were not familiar with both Hibernate and WebWork, we started off by looking at some online tutorials and reading some books. I would say 'Hibernate in action' is a pretty good book about Hibernate. I would strongly suggest reading 'open source java programming', i think they have done a very good job with explaining about WebWork.
we then got Naresh's help in setting up CVS and ajey gave us an account on Jhakas.
after all the set up we finally started coding on friday(28th i guess). we decided that we would use all the XP practices and make it a TestDriven Project.
we are planning to do some work on it today. I also have to speak to some of the analysts to ask them to write some story cards for us.