2006-07-18
2006-07-17
Using JabRef to keep track of references
Hi,
I've just finished the references section on my thesis. It was tiresome!
As I mentioned in a previous post, I had my references sorted in directories, in alphabetical order. However, to build the references section in the thesis, I had to check which references were actually used. Not easy to do when you're using Microsoft Word. I developed a couple of macros for Ultra-Edit http://www.ultraedit.com to extract the references list - values within squared brackets - from the text. Then I sorted and removed duplicates from the result.
To produce the listing I used JabRef http://jabref.sourceforge.net/ an excellent free tool that uses the BibTex format, from LaTeX. Even though I was using Microsoft Word it still proved very useful. I did the references section using the custom export option, for results just like I wanted them.
I absolutely recommend using JabRef, it is excellent! Especially if you're starting your thesis now or still have a long way to go. Believe me, it will spare you a full working week (and a boring one, I can add).
I've just finished the references section on my thesis. It was tiresome!
As I mentioned in a previous post, I had my references sorted in directories, in alphabetical order. However, to build the references section in the thesis, I had to check which references were actually used. Not easy to do when you're using Microsoft Word. I developed a couple of macros for Ultra-Edit http://www.ultraedit.com to extract the references list - values within squared brackets - from the text. Then I sorted and removed duplicates from the result.
To produce the listing I used JabRef http://jabref.sourceforge.net/ an excellent free tool that uses the BibTex format, from LaTeX. Even though I was using Microsoft Word it still proved very useful. I did the references section using the custom export option, for results just like I wanted them.
I absolutely recommend using JabRef, it is excellent! Especially if you're starting your thesis now or still have a long way to go. Believe me, it will spare you a full working week (and a boring one, I can add).
2006-07-13
Evaluation and Conclusions
I've finished writing the Evaluation and Conclusion chapters of my thesis. I wrote them in parallel because they were very interrelated. I started outlining the chapters from the ideia register document, collected over the course of the work. It made it much easier not to forget anything at this late stage.
For the Evaluation, I identified the most relevant results. In my thesis, almost all results were qualitative and not quantitative. Still, it was very useful to include summary tables to capture the overall results in a quick, visual way.
For the Conclusion, I wrote three subsections: Contributions, Future Work and Final Comment.
In Contributions, I identified the contributions from each chapter of the thesis in bullet points, adding some comments. I summarized using short sentences like "A is better than B at something because of this and that". I ended with a main contributions list with just three items, that I considered the "juice" of the work, i.e., what people would most likely find useful.
In Future Work I wrote down the new work ideas and opportunities. It was a fun subsection to write, because you realize how your work opened up new improvement paths to explore.
To finalize, in the Final Comment subsection, I gave my personal opinion about the subject. It was the time and place to "make the strike on goal" (in soccer terms) or to "take the ball to the basket" (if you prefer basketball).
The hardest work of thesis is finished. Now I'll wait for additional comments from my advisor and I'll finish the references section.
More about the 'refs' on my next post. Bye!
For the Evaluation, I identified the most relevant results. In my thesis, almost all results were qualitative and not quantitative. Still, it was very useful to include summary tables to capture the overall results in a quick, visual way.
For the Conclusion, I wrote three subsections: Contributions, Future Work and Final Comment.
In Contributions, I identified the contributions from each chapter of the thesis in bullet points, adding some comments. I summarized using short sentences like "A is better than B at something because of this and that". I ended with a main contributions list with just three items, that I considered the "juice" of the work, i.e., what people would most likely find useful.
In Future Work I wrote down the new work ideas and opportunities. It was a fun subsection to write, because you realize how your work opened up new improvement paths to explore.
To finalize, in the Final Comment subsection, I gave my personal opinion about the subject. It was the time and place to "make the strike on goal" (in soccer terms) or to "take the ball to the basket" (if you prefer basketball).
The hardest work of thesis is finished. Now I'll wait for additional comments from my advisor and I'll finish the references section.
More about the 'refs' on my next post. Bye!
2006-07-01
Writing wrap-up
This last month i've finalized the thesis prototype and started writing the dissertation. It's a challenge condensing years of work in a 100 page document. You have to do a sort of 'movie directing', writing not everything you learned, but the most relevant things you learned, in a build-up, meaningful, sequence.
So far i've written 4 complete chapters, including Introduction, Context, Service Platform, and Security. The remaining chapters are Case Study, Evaluation and Conclusion. They are the most challenging, let's hope I can write them well (and fast - my deadline is now overstretched...).
Wish me luck and work.
Yours truly,
Full time Engineer ;-)
So far i've written 4 complete chapters, including Introduction, Context, Service Platform, and Security. The remaining chapters are Case Study, Evaluation and Conclusion. They are the most challenging, let's hope I can write them well (and fast - my deadline is now overstretched...).
Wish me luck and work.
Yours truly,
Full time Engineer ;-)
2006-06-01
Still busy, after all these months...
Just a brief MSc status update post.
I've been working 'full throttle' on my MSc prototype, envolving a Notary, a Buyer and a Seller (sounds a little like a Narnia style title, doesn't it?). There is still much work to be done, but things are beginning to (finally) converge.
Like me and my colleagues massou and jpsn in LEIC used to say: "I see the light at the end of the tunnel... Let's hope it's not a train..." ;-)
Since my last post, I've been trying and testing different Web Services Security implementations. It's a long story, but I've switched from Dot Net to Axis2, then from Axis2 to Sun's JWSDP 2 with XWSS package. You'l be able to read the full review when my thesis is published.
All the best!
I've been working 'full throttle' on my MSc prototype, envolving a Notary, a Buyer and a Seller (sounds a little like a Narnia style title, doesn't it?). There is still much work to be done, but things are beginning to (finally) converge.
Like me and my colleagues massou and jpsn in LEIC used to say: "I see the light at the end of the tunnel... Let's hope it's not a train..." ;-)
Since my last post, I've been trying and testing different Web Services Security implementations. It's a long story, but I've switched from Dot Net to Axis2, then from Axis2 to Sun's JWSDP 2 with XWSS package. You'l be able to read the full review when my thesis is published.
All the best!
2006-03-05
Most useful book on web services security (so far)
The most useful book on Web Services Security that I've read so far is:
Web Service Security - Scenarios, Patterns, and Implementation Guidance for Web Services Enhancements (WSE) 3.0
It takes a patterns-based approach to security, with architecture, design and implementation patterns. As you could expected from a Microsoft book, all the implementation details are for Dot Net's WSE 3.0.
Web Service Security - Scenarios, Patterns, and Implementation Guidance for Web Services Enhancements (WSE) 3.0
It takes a patterns-based approach to security, with architecture, design and implementation patterns. As you could expected from a Microsoft book, all the implementation details are for Dot Net's WSE 3.0.
2006-02-27
My quick Knowledge Work System
Recently, a dear friend of mine was having troubles starting off her PhD. It happens to the best people, as you surely know.
I gave a look at my informal knowledge working system and decided to present it to her, hoping to help her get off the working slump. Now I am going to post it here, on my blog. Please give a look at it and tell me what you think. The main design goal was simplicity - keep it simple! Computers are supposed to help, not get in the way of work...!
QuicKWS – A quick working Knowledge Working System
This document describes QuicKWS that enables the knowledge work necessary for working on PhD or similar thesis. The necessary tools are a Windows computer, Microsoft Office and CVS. You can use LaTeX as well, because it’s a standard tool for scientific work. The file store is organized in two zones, as follows:
ZONE 1 – EXPLORATION WORK (alias Dress Casual)
/Ideas
/Calendar – write your working schedule and dead-lines
/Logs – files for registering activities, ideas, etc. No concerns on formatting. Just place /dump your info here. Never delete anything from this, just add. After one week or one month, just extract the most useful contents to deliverables or to summary logs
ZONE 2 – DELIVERABLES (alias Dress Formal)
/Thesis
/Subjects – place here documents written by you, with adequate source referencing
/Chapters – same as subjects, but to be used later on, while filling up material for the thesis’s chapters
/References – file store for all references used in the work
/A
...
/Z
/Zorro D. Jackson P., 2005
notes.doc – my notes on this reference
paper.pdf / html / … - actual paper
paper.bib – bibtex file describing the paper – for LaTeX users
or the next two files for non-latex users:
url.txt – text file whose contents are the reference URL
desc.txt – short text description of contents (abstract)
/ThesisCVS – CVS repository for all files contained in /Thesis (but not /Ideas)
I gave a look at my informal knowledge working system and decided to present it to her, hoping to help her get off the working slump. Now I am going to post it here, on my blog. Please give a look at it and tell me what you think. The main design goal was simplicity - keep it simple! Computers are supposed to help, not get in the way of work...!
QuicKWS – A quick working Knowledge Working System
This document describes QuicKWS that enables the knowledge work necessary for working on PhD or similar thesis. The necessary tools are a Windows computer, Microsoft Office and CVS. You can use LaTeX as well, because it’s a standard tool for scientific work. The file store is organized in two zones, as follows:
ZONE 1 – EXPLORATION WORK (alias Dress Casual)
/Ideas
/Calendar – write your working schedule and dead-lines
/Logs – files for registering activities, ideas, etc. No concerns on formatting. Just place /dump your info here. Never delete anything from this, just add. After one week or one month, just extract the most useful contents to deliverables or to summary logs
ZONE 2 – DELIVERABLES (alias Dress Formal)
/Thesis
/Subjects – place here documents written by you, with adequate source referencing
/Chapters – same as subjects, but to be used later on, while filling up material for the thesis’s chapters
/References – file store for all references used in the work
/A
...
/Z
/Zorro D. Jackson P., 2005
notes.doc – my notes on this reference
paper.pdf / html / … - actual paper
paper.bib – bibtex file describing the paper – for LaTeX users
or the next two files for non-latex users:
url.txt – text file whose contents are the reference URL
desc.txt – short text description of contents (abstract)
/ThesisCVS – CVS repository for all files contained in /Thesis (but not /Ideas)
2006-02-25
Web Services Security
In this post i'll talk a little about Web Services Security, that has been the subject of version 2.0 of my master's thesis.
Recently I did a survey to find out what is the best web services security development environment. I tried to be specific about the WS (Web Services) standards support. I knew that Microsoft was ahead of the competition - IBM, Sun, Oracle - I just didn't know it was so far ahead!
Microsoft's Web Services Enhancements 3.0 (WSE 3) just surprised me by the sheer quality of the work. Also, I had a chance to read a "patterns & pratices" e-book on the subject, and I was very pleased with what I read.
Now I plan to use this environment to develop the prototype for the business case I'm addressing in my thesis: buying and selling real estate.
So, despite being what you can call a "Java guy", I have to give credit to Microsoft for developing a superior development environment.
Note: I still haven't actually used the environment, so I can't tell you yet if it is stable. But I can bet a service pack release may be just around the corner. That's always a sure bet in any complex software ;-)!
Recently I did a survey to find out what is the best web services security development environment. I tried to be specific about the WS (Web Services) standards support. I knew that Microsoft was ahead of the competition - IBM, Sun, Oracle - I just didn't know it was so far ahead!
Microsoft's Web Services Enhancements 3.0 (WSE 3) just surprised me by the sheer quality of the work. Also, I had a chance to read a "patterns & pratices" e-book on the subject, and I was very pleased with what I read.
Now I plan to use this environment to develop the prototype for the business case I'm addressing in my thesis: buying and selling real estate.
So, despite being what you can call a "Java guy", I have to give credit to Microsoft for developing a superior development environment.
Note: I still haven't actually used the environment, so I can't tell you yet if it is stable. But I can bet a service pack release may be just around the corner. That's always a sure bet in any complex software ;-)!
2006-02-23
Welcome to my blog!
Welcome to my blog!
I'm sure this same phrase has been written times and times before... but today it is needed once again :-)
In this first post, I would like to clear out a little issue: why 'mflpar'? What does it mean?
Actually it was the user login that was provided for me back in 1995 when I entered 'Instituto Superior Técnico', in Lisbon, Portugal, to study Computer Science. With time this user name got stuck on me, over many hard nights on projects and other works, and because it's not very popular, I kind of adopted these six letters for almost all my digital identities. So... that's it! Sorry if you expected something more... exciting.
What will be subject of this blog? You probably guessed by now... I'm a computer geek, so the main subject will be computer science. More specifically, I will share ideas and experiences on my teaching and research, hoping to spark discussions on interesting topics. I'll try to convey the messages with sprinkles of lighthearted humour, so prepare yourselves! Stick around, and enjoy the flights of the Sparrow*!!!
* That's me ;-) Sparrow is Pardal in English, and Pardal is my family name.
I'm sure this same phrase has been written times and times before... but today it is needed once again :-)
In this first post, I would like to clear out a little issue: why 'mflpar'? What does it mean?
Actually it was the user login that was provided for me back in 1995 when I entered 'Instituto Superior Técnico', in Lisbon, Portugal, to study Computer Science. With time this user name got stuck on me, over many hard nights on projects and other works, and because it's not very popular, I kind of adopted these six letters for almost all my digital identities. So... that's it! Sorry if you expected something more... exciting.
What will be subject of this blog? You probably guessed by now... I'm a computer geek, so the main subject will be computer science. More specifically, I will share ideas and experiences on my teaching and research, hoping to spark discussions on interesting topics. I'll try to convey the messages with sprinkles of lighthearted humour, so prepare yourselves! Stick around, and enjoy the flights of the Sparrow*!!!
* That's me ;-) Sparrow is Pardal in English, and Pardal is my family name.
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