Tuesday, January 30, 2024

The Tale of Finance Calls: India vs. the World

Have you ever found yourself bombarded with calls from finance companies offering personal loans, credit cards, and other financial products? If you're in India, chances are you've experienced this phenomenon firsthand. But how does it compare to the experience in other countries? Let's dive into the world of incessant finance calls and see how different regions stack up.

India: The Land of Endless Finance Calls

In India, receiving multiple calls a day from various finance companies is not just common—it's practically a routine. Whether you've ever shown interest in financial products or not, your phone is likely to ring incessantly with offers you never asked for. The competition among financial institutions is fierce, leading to aggressive marketing tactics that often border on harassment.

From personal loans to credit cards to insurance policies, there seems to be no end to the variety of financial products being pushed through phone calls. Despite regulatory measures to curb unsolicited calls, many Indians still find themselves inundated with offers they'd rather do without.

The Global Perspective

How does India's experience compare to that of other countries? Interestingly, the frequency and nature of finance-related calls vary significantly across different regions.

United States: While telemarketing exists in the US, the regulations surrounding it are stricter compared to India. The National Do Not Call Registry allows consumers to opt out of telemarketing calls, providing some relief from unwanted solicitations. However, scam calls and robocalls remain a nuisance for many Americans, albeit to a lesser extent than in India.

United Kingdom: Similar to the US, the UK has regulations in place to protect consumers from unsolicited marketing calls. The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) allows individuals to opt out of receiving unsolicited calls, though enforcement and effectiveness can vary.

Australia: Australians also have mechanisms such as the Do Not Call Register to limit unwanted telemarketing calls. However, like in other countries, scam calls persist as a problem despite regulatory efforts.

Conclusion: Seeking Balance

While the prevalence of finance-related calls may vary from country to country, the underlying issue remains the same: the intrusion into personal space and the constant barrage of unsolicited offers. While regulations provide some relief, they often fall short in addressing the root cause of the problem.

As consumers, it's essential to stay informed about our rights and options for opting out of unwanted solicitations. Likewise, policymakers must continue to strengthen regulations and enforcement mechanisms to protect individuals from intrusive marketing practices.

In the end, striking a balance between promoting financial products and respecting consumers' privacy is key to fostering a healthy relationship between finance companies and the public, no matter where in the world they may be.

So the next time your phone rings with yet another finance offer, remember, you're not alone in this global phenomenon.

Navigating Modern Concurrency in Swift: A Deep Dive into Low-Level C Programming APIs

Swift, Apple's powerful and versatile programming language, inherits many low-level C programming APIs and introduces enhancements to facilitate modern concurrency paradigms. In this blog post, we explore the evolution of concurrency in Swift, focusing on key low-level C programming APIs and their upgraded concepts.

1. Dispatch Queue:

  • Foundation of Concurrency: Dispatch queues are the cornerstone of concurrency in Swift, offering lightweight and efficient task scheduling.
  • Concurrency Control: Explore how dispatch queues facilitate concurrent and serial execution of tasks, enabling developers to manage parallelism effectively.
  • Quality of Service (QoS): Discuss the significance of QoS attributes in dispatch queues for prioritizing tasks based on their importance and resource requirements.

2. Dispatch Group:

  • Grouping Tasks: Delve into the concept of dispatch groups, which enable developers to monitor the completion of multiple tasks dispatched asynchronously.
  • Completion Handlers: Explore how dispatch groups simplify the coordination of asynchronous tasks by providing a unified mechanism for handling completion events.

3. Operations and Operation Queue:

  • Abstraction of Work: Understand how operations and operation queues offer a higher-level abstraction for managing concurrent tasks, encapsulating units of work within Operation objects.
  • Dependency Management: Discuss the importance of dependencies between operations and how operation queues facilitate the automatic resolution of dependencies.
  • Cancellation and Prioritization: Explore the features of operation queues, such as cancellation and prioritization, which enhance control and efficiency in concurrent execution.

4. Async/Await:

  • Modern Asynchronous Programming: Introduce the async/await paradigm, a groundbreaking addition to Swift that simplifies asynchronous programming.
  • Synchronous-Like Syntax: Highlight how async/await enables developers to write asynchronous code in a synchronous style, improving readability and maintainability.
  • Error Handling: Discuss the error handling model of async/await, which streamlines error propagation and management in asynchronous workflows.

5. Actors:

  • Concurrency Isolation: Explore the actor model, introduced in Swift to address the challenges of shared mutable state in concurrent environments.
  • Message Passing: Understand how actors encapsulate state and behavior, ensuring safe access to shared resources through message passing.
  • Concurrency Safety: Discuss how actors enhance concurrency safety by providing exclusive access to their internal state, mitigating common concurrency hazards.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the evolution of concurrency in Swift builds upon the foundation of low-level C programming APIs, offering a rich ecosystem of tools and abstractions for modern software development. By leveraging concepts such as dispatch queues, dispatch groups, operations, async/await, and actors, developers can write robust, scalable, and maintainable concurrent code in Swift.

As we continue to embrace the advancements in concurrency and parallelism, Swift remains at the forefront of empowering developers to harness the full potential of modern computing architectures.

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

Uncovering an iPhone Restart Issue: A Step-by-Step Guide

Uncovering an iPhone Restart Issue: A Step-by-Step Guide

Have you ever encountered a mysterious iPhone restart issue that seems to happen out of nowhere? Today, during our team discussion on the progress of our mobile application project, we stumbled upon a peculiar set of steps that consistently caused an iPhone to restart. In this blog post, we'll walk you through the sequence and share our findings.

The Triggering Steps


  1. Navigate to your Apple mobile home screen:


    • Ensure you are on the main home screen of your iPhone.

  2. Access the Apple Library (most right) screen:


    • Swipe to the rightmost screen on your home screen to reach the Apple Library.

  3. Search for the app in the Apple Library:


    • Click on the Apple Library and use the search functionality to locate the app in question.

  4. Trigger the restart with a keyboard action:


    • Long tap and hold on to the space button of the keyboard.
    • As the keyboard opacity decreases, use another hand/finger to drag it back (default Apple behavior).

  5. Return to the Apple Library screen:


    • Navigate back to the Apple Library screen (rightmost screen).

  6. Search for the app again:


    • Click on the Apple Library and initiate another search for the app.
  7. The Unexpected Result

    After following these steps, your phone may become unresponsive, leading to a forced restart. The typical wait time for the restart is around 2 minutes.



    What To Do Next?

    If you've encountered this issue, we recommend reporting it to Apple support or checking for any available software updates that may address the problem. Additionally, share this information with your fellow iPhone users to raise awareness about the potential glitch.

    Understanding and documenting such unexpected behaviors is crucial for both users and developers. It enables timely solutions and improvements in the overall user experience.

    Have you experienced similar issues, or do you have insights into resolving this problem? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!


Monday, January 22, 2024

Unveiling the Journey: Dharmesh Avaiya - A Technical Project Leader/Manager's Odyssey

Greetings, readers! I am Dharmesh Avaiya, a seasoned Technical Project Manager with a penchant for unraveling complex challenges in the realms of engineering, entertainment, education, casino systems, and indoor positioning and wayfinding. Allow me to share a glimpse into my professional journey, a mosaic of experiences, tools, and technologies that have sculpted my career.

Professional Expedition

Current Role: Technical Project Leader at SculptSoft Private Limited (May 2023 – Present)

In my current role, I orchestrate the symphony of project management, coordination, planning, and resource allocation. Embracing Agile/Scrum methodologies, I navigate the technical landscape using management tools such as Jira Software, Jira Service Management, Confluence, BitBucket, and Trello. My toolkit extends to GanttPro, Google Sheets, Docs, Slides, Mindmeister, Witeboard, Balsamiq, Adobe XD, and beyond.

Brief Stopover: Azilen Technologies - Technical Project Leader (Apr 2023 – May 2023)

In a short but impactful stint, I further honed my skills at Azilen Technologies. Here, I seamlessly integrated my proficiency in Jira Software, Confluence, BitBucket, and other supporting tools. The breadth of my technical understanding encompasses SwiftUI, HTML, CSS, JS, React, VueJS, SolidJS, Firebase, Auth0, AWS Cognito Users, EventBridge, S3, CloudFront, and various databases including SQLite, RealmDB, CoreData, DynamoDB, MySQL, and MongoDB.

Pinnacle of Expertise: Azilen Technologies - Project Lead (Jan 2022 – Apr 2023)

As a Project Lead, I was at the helm of sales team coordination, finance team collaboration, timesheet management, solution requirement engagement, estimations, documentation, training, and change and risk management. This role encapsulated a rich tapestry of skills ranging from project management to interpersonal finesse.

Foundation Years: Azilen Technologies - Team Lead & Senior Software Engineer (Jan 2019 – Dec 2021)

My journey at Azilen Technologies began as a Senior Software Engineer and evolved into leadership roles. These years were marked by continuous learning, from sales coordination to risk management, all the while championing diverse projects.

Earlier Pilgrimages: Hyperlink Infosystem, WeblineIndia, and Project Internship

My journey commenced as a Senior Software Engineer at Hyperlink Infosystem, followed by a tenure as Sr. iOS Developer at WeblineIndia. These roles, along with a project internship, laid the groundwork for my technical acumen and project management skills.

Educational Odyssey

Arming myself with knowledge, I pursued a Master's in Computer Software Engineering (MCA) at Charusat University after completing my Bachelor's degree in Computer Software Engineering (BCA). My academic journey began at Swaminarayan Gurukul, where I completed my Higher Secondary Education with a focus on Biology and General Sciences.

Parting Thoughts

As I embark on this blogging endeavor, I look forward to sharing insights garnered from my experiences, the amalgamation of technical prowess, project management finesse, and a relentless pursuit of knowledge. Stay tuned for upcoming posts delving into the intricacies of management tools, development methodologies, and the ever-evolving technological landscape.

Let the blogging odyssey begin!