JR Galia

Q. What computer abuse would you like to eradicate? How would you do it?

I really hate spam. Receiving unwanted or junk e-mails is annoying for me. The issue on this is not the content of the e-mail but the consent.

Im currently using e-mail services from google (Gmail) and yahoo (Yahoo! Mail). They both have spam filters but I'm still receiving lot of unsolicited e-mail.

I want to be part of the solution to this kind of computer abuse. What I gonna do is to study and implement existing machine learning algorithms that are used in spam filtering. And the last and never ends ambitious thing to do is to improve those existing algorithms.

Q. There are still enormous sources of misinformation on the world wide web, so how can you determine what is good information and what is bad information?

Internet nowadays is the most common and widely used source of information. A lot of students rely from it over the traditional libraries. We can get information from web logs, online journals, news, wiki, forums and social networking sites. Relying unchecked information from this emerging web technologies is somewhat dangerous.

Anyone who have internet access can tweet, update their Facebook status, send email, post web logs and update wiki pages. These the most common sources of bad information like urban legends because it can be spread rapidly by just one mouse click. Before we spread this kind of information, we have to do a simple research. We can use search engines to check the root of the information and its validity.

Q. Today, it is a fact that a lot of Filipino women are into online GOLD digging. You know what it means, right? Suppose one of them is your sister who happens to be your family's breadwinner. What would you do on this matter?

If my sister happen to be engage in a relationship having interest only for material benefits, I have to talk to her. I will advice her to stop what she is doing and look for another source of income, even she is our breadwinner. She can make money online in many ways other than selling herself. She can work remotely as virtual assistant, or she can make money in blogging.

Struggle even its hard,
Light and start from your heart,
Continue fighting
Even not for winning.

A battle against people
With greedy mind and dark soul,
In a long run will be successful.
That one, I can assure.

Q. If you are to choose your top 3 difficult-to-follow computer ethics commandments, what are these?

If I'm going to rearrange the "Ten Commandments for Computer Ethics" according to the most difficult-to-follow, the following will be the top three commandments:

1. Thou shalt not use or copy software for which you have not paid.
   I'm practicing this before. I learned a lot from a pirated software. But it's almost three years since I used and spread the good news about Free and Open Source Software.
2. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's files.
   My curiosity will sometimes break this commandment.
3. Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.
   I sometimes forget to give credit to original idea or work of others specially in a slide presentation for some reporting activities. But right now, a lot of work are licensed under CreativeCommons, so this is not a problem anymore.

@ Matalom Bridge, Matalom, Leyte

Example program showing how to sort ArrayList in Java.

//SortArrayList.java
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;


public class SortArrayList {

	public static void main(String[] args){
		//declare generic ArrayList
		ArrayList<Person> list = new ArrayList<Person>();

		//add person to list
		list.add( new Person("Juan", "Cruz", 16) );
		list.add( new Person("Peter", "James", 14) );
		list.add( new Person("James", "Bond", 16) );
		list.add( new Person("JR", "Galia", 20) );
		list.add( new Person("Jack", "Bauer", 11) );

		
		//sort list of Person according to age
		Collections.sort(list, new Comparator<Person>(){
			public int compare(Person p1, Person p2) {
				if( p1.getAge() < p2.getAge() )
					return -1;
				else if( p1.getAge() > p2.getAge() )
					return 1;
				else
					return 0;
			}
		});
		
		
		//display sorted list
		System.out.println("\n\tFirst Name\tLast " +
				"Name\tAge");
		for( Person p: list ){
			System.out.println("\t"+p.getFirstName() +
				"\t\t" + p.getLastName() + "\t\t" 
				+p.getAge());
		}
		
	}
}

The basic for loop in Java was extended to make iteration over arrays and other collections more convenient. This newer for statement is called the enhanced for or foreach.

Here's an example of using foreach to iterate Arraylist of type Person.

//Person.java
public class Person {
	
	private String firstName = null;
	private String lastName = null;	
	private int age = 0;
	
	public Person(String firstName, String lastName, 
			int age) {
		this.firstName = firstName;
		this.lastName = lastName;
		this.age = age;
	}
	
	public String getFirstName() {
		return firstName;
	}
	
	public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
		this.firstName = firstName;
	}
	
	public String getLastName() {
		return lastName;
	}
	
	public void setLastName(String lastName) {
		this.lastName = lastName;
	}
	
	public int getAge() {
		return age;
	}
	
	public void setAge(int age) {
		this.age = age;
	}

}

Q. How often do you make an effort to practice your strengths and virtues? Are these traits key to a happy life?

I could say that I always practice few good virtues. One is the act of forgiveness. I'm always willing to forgive. Forgiving brings freedom, joy and peace to my heart and mind. It dissolves revenge and anger.

According to Aristotle, the most important factor in the effort to achieve happiness is to have a good moral character, "complete virtue". Thus, those traits I practice are key to a happy life.

Q. For some, happiness relies on money. In some cases, hacking means money. Would you do hacking if its outcome is a sure happiness of your family? What particular Aristotle theory contradicts this concept?

Happiness in a family is everyone's wish. But achieving happiness by doing something unethical is not pure happiness.