Busy week!

It has been a busy week with a race to learn as well as perform at work. I have learnt a lot of XML stuff in the past week or so. So much so that I can claim that XSLT is one of the most powerful tools available in the XML world. Allows you to transform data to XML, HTML, Text, PDF , you name the document format amd it does it.

For those who are newbies to XML. You will find lots of tutorials on XML and Parsing it. Things most tutorials lack is- Completeness of Description. I found http://www.PerfectXML.com and http://www.topxml.com/ very helpful in terms the learning phase and how to do stuff. I used the Microsoft MSXML parser. It is a great parser, very fast and efficient in XML processing but has its limitations. As most XML buffs know,there are 2 different parsing types-DOM( Tree based)parsing and SAX(event based)parsing. One thing I realised was Microsoft MSXML parser is strongly DOM oriented. It doesnt mean,you can't do SAX parsing, but you cannot use SAX to do XSLT transformations. By this I mean the MSXML XSLT processor cannot take the SAX model as input as it requires the DOM structure of the document to transform the document. Thanks to Stuart Celarier ( http://www.ferncrk.com), I realized this fact :).

If you want to do basic XML parsing without need to remember whatever happened as you traversed the nodes, use the SAX parser else use the DOM parser. More on SAX and DOM in the next blog.

Now for my sports blog:
Topic of the Day? Steve Nash voted MVP! Isnt this the hardest choice voters have to decide? What were Shaq's numbers vs his average yearly performance? What are Nash's numbers versus his numbers in Dallas? What about AI? How about Lebron James? How about KG or Nowitski? I love AI and what he has done and i know that NBA is too partial on winning teams but isnt that the case in most sports. Both Shaq and Nash improved in points per Game. Nash had an increase in his Assist numbers from 2003-04 season. So what? wasnt he expected to? especially with the rotation of big men and shooters he has around Phoenix, it was obvious that his numbers would be up. Now what i cant really understand is how voting is done on this? Is the NBA MVP Award a marketing gimmick? Let us defend the point guard who cant defend?Take the MVP winners in the last 10 years: Shaq/Duncan/KG/Malone/Jordan/AI. Is there any player among this list whom you would replace as a coach if the opponent has the last possession? Steve Nash is always replaced on the Suns' last defensive stand. If there was a pickup game and you had the entire NBA to pick from who would you pick first? I would pick Shaq first and then think of Kobe/T-Mac. The voters always honor somebody who brings a huge change or somebody who would be a fresh story in the media. Consider this-Shaq left the Lakers and the Lakers didnt even make the playoffs; Nash left Mavericks and their record improved to 58 games. Consider this: Replace Steve Nash with Jason Kidd on Phoenix and do you think Kidd wouldnt take Suns to a similar record? You remove Wade and Miami still has a chance to enter the Finals.I know Dwayne Wade has done an amazing job for Miami, but Shaq has made them a championship team. You remove Shaq and Miami is not a championship team! On the filpside, Nash is a great player, great distributor, controller of the game but his defensive liability tips Shaq for my vote.

Things are getting a little bit more intense!

As midyear approaches, deadlines approach...meaning higher intensity. My work deadlines get tighter by the day and NBA playoffs keep me awake till 2 a.m. This is by far the most athletic playoff season i have seen in a long time. Houston vs Dallas and Denver vs San Antonio are as my blog says the 2 best series of the playoffs. Boston vs Indiana, Chicago vs Washington have been interesting but nothing compares to my top 2. Let me rate the first round of playoffs based on intensity and game-closeness:

1) Houston vs Dallas
2) Denver vs SanAntonio
3) Sacramento vs Seattle
4) Boston vs Indiana
5) Detroit vs AI( i would rather take AI over the entire roster)
6) Wade+sidekicks vs Nets
7) Bulls vs Wizards( all games were blowouts even though the score is 2-2)
8) Sun Guns Grizzlies ( Was this even a matchup....I wish Minnesota played better).

My second round predictions are straightforward:
1) Dallas vs Suns :
2) Spurs vs Sonics:
3) Detroit vs Boston
4) Miami vs Bulls.

Seems like the whole schedule is going according to what the commissioner predicted. As everyone expects: Phoenix will face San Antonio in West and Detroit will face Miami. I wont predict further till i see the injury status.

Denver(my favorite) Nuggets fell short in overtime today falling to 3-1. The key difference i thought was not lack of effort, but a poor game by Kenyon Martin and Andre Miller and little coaching blunders by George Karl. George allowed the game to drift a little towards SanAntonio before taking timeouts whereas Pop took whenever Denver was threatening to run. Score changed from 61-57 SanAntonio to 61-61...and Pop took a timeout. Karl let the game go away to almost 10 point leads by SanAntonio before calling time. Denver will improve next year for sure..but was Kenyon Martin worth 90 million dollars? This is my big question to Kiki and Stan Kroenke. Denver needs a good shooter and another good rebounder to support Camby. Martin is not a consistent Power Forward and I think shows off his antics more than playing ball. Tim Duncan needs to serve a coaching manual to play Basketball and talk less to him.
Watch this space for more playoff tidbits!

XML rocks and so do the Phoenix Suns!

Whoever invented XML did a great service to the WWW and otherwise. Some things go so unnoticed and it is these little inventions that matter a lot to all of us. I am writing XML Schemas, using stylesheets to convert them, writing complex xml files and I would say that this invention kicks ass! If anyone is a newbie out there writing schemas, Google is the best resource for almost everything i found. I also used A9.com to read through some stuff in the books.

As I am an avid sports fan, the NBA playoffs( as of today) seem to be set in the western conference and a little undecided regarding who plays Miami Heat.
Western Conference Matchups and my predictions:
1) Phoenix Suns vs Memphis Grizzlies
Winner: Suns
Why?

Phoenix can fail only if Steve Nash is injured and Memphis is totally inspired else they have too many weapons. They are the #1 scoring offense in the league and nobody but Dallas/SanAntonio can push them in a 7 game series. Grizzlies have good defense and a good bench but hard to stop the desert runners.

2) SanAntonio Spurs vs Denver Nuggets
Winner: Tim Duncan plays - Spurs else Nuggets
Why?

One of the best defenses in the league + Duncan makes them an amazing combo but Denver has a chance to upset SanAntonio if Camby plays and Denver is able to run the ball well. Even with Duncan i think Denver can give them a good fight. But Duncan is not playing completely fit and if Denver wins 1 of the 2 road games in the beginning, they have a great chance. I predict this to be the second best series in the west

3) Seattle Supersonics vs Sacramento Kings
Winner: Supersonics
Why?

Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Danny Fortson, Reggie Evans...do we need more reasons? especially with an injured Kings roster. I feel sorry for Rick Adelman, one of the best coaches in the league that something always prevents him from reaching the finals.

4) Dallas Mavericks vs Houston Rockets
Winner: Mavericks
Why?

Nowitzki, Dampier, Stackhouse, Howard vs Houston defense- This is gonna be the playoff series of the First round. It will be the hardest fought, but i predict Dallas to cut through.

Hope the best teams win! My next blog will answer the Eastern Conference predictions