Expert: vijayan - 5/18/2010

Question
Well to begin with, I admit that my question isnt so clear. But I will try to clarify –

I know no one can be an ALL Expert. My question is not so straight forward, and has multiple queries in one. So, I request you to answer the part u know and understand well.

First of all, I must clearify that I am pretty new to programming, and do have confusions  and misconceptions about a lot of things. So if u see that I have  misconception of something , pls challenge it and give ur opinion.

I think (just my opinion & preference) that designing and developing a DBMS system is the real programming (something I like); but not working with an already developed dbms (like MySQL) even though programming the business logic requires some skills. I would rather be developing something like MySQL. I mean atleast be a part of such a project. Usually, I like playing and using with data structures.  One may use data structures to build a DBMS (so I like it), but an already developed Dbms like Mysql  might not demand the programmer to be expert in data structure (if I am right) thus taking away the pleasure of programming.  ( I have given this example simply to give u an idea about what in programming interests me more).
Frankly speaking , I am not too keen on driver prog. I.e. designing and programming for hardware devices. I am mentioning this so that u get an idea of my likes/dislikes in prog that could help u to guide me.

I want to know more about middleware. Can u giv examples and explain middlware . How do u develop them.  Is C++ the preferred lang for middlewars and y?

Since u r into c,c++,  can u pls explain me the importance of pointers. What r the major advantages of pointers, and where r they preferably used.

Basically, I have just entered the world of prog and am confused  which domain should I make a career in. I am slightly scared of embedded prog because I am not good in microprocessors or electronics. What is SCADA? Is it embedded prog?

But I consider myself having good logic, I.Q. I have programmed the N queens prob, the water jugs prob that requires using breadth first search (BFS). Ofcourse only the prog part, as I am pretty poor in graphics . usually, I like things which have a numerical component or puzzles. Or even something like compiler prog project.
Your opinion will be of gr8 help.

THANKS>>>!

Answer
> Can u giv examples and explain middlware .

Middleware explained:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middleware
http://middleware.objectweb.org/

Examples:
ACE: http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/ACE-overview.html
CORBA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Object_Request_Broker_Architecture


> What is SCADA?

See my earlier answer to the same question.