Windows never ceases to Amaze!

These past few days I have been working towards my scholarly paper which hopefully will culminate into a thesis. The problem at hand requires me to implement a system. I will not talk anything about the system itself, but rather the programming part. Programming furiously, I had designed a system ground up after reading a paper on the same. It was a tough task, more so on the GNU C++ compiler, which is rather strict in adherence to some technical specifications- more specifically the ways I could call an object constructor and initialise the object.

It was a little irritating at first, but I like programming and it only required a minor change in my style. Plus I really had no other option than to oblige. Majbuuri ka naam Mahatma Gandhi.

While compiling the program, though it seldom happens with me, but this time it happened big. The dreaded word “Segmentation Fault” appeared on the gnome-terminal. Now, since I was using an older version of Linux the debugger plugins simply won’t install. Attaching the gdb manually is a little too mundane for me, plus the extra code I would have to write would only have bloated the program and given more headaches. What to do?

At time like this when faith in Linux is shaken, I always look towards Saint Bill Gates. Windows to the rescue!

Now the funny part happens, I fired up Orwell Dev C++, and put all the critical variables in the watch stack. But every time I compiled and ran my program, somehow the IDE would crash every time, without any sufficient explanation.  There had to be one. I double checked by writing a dummy “Hello World” program, the compiler install was intact. There had to be another reason.

And then one of those Eureka moment happened, when realisation dawns upon you.

Windows have a feature of DEP (Dynamic Execution Prevention), which when translated into English means, whenever a program tries to access memory locations other than its own, the Windows OS shuts down the program as a potential malware which could cause harm. Due to Segmentation Fault, my program was accessing memory locations which were out of bounds, hence the sudden IDE crash.

Sometimes I forget how amazing Windows OS is. But moments like these remind me why it’s still the most popular. Speaking of Windows, I recently and finally acquired Windows Phone 8. A proper review of my phone Lumia 720 shall soon follow. But in one word it is simply beautiful.

How does Modern Healthcare touch lives?

Healthcare in today’s time has become a fundamental right in most countries. Most governments are increasing their allocation of the budget in providing it to the society. Coming from a family where being a doctor is a tradition, I am the black sheep who is “the engineer”! My father often tells me about the times when there weren’t so many diagnostics lab available as there are today, and testing for symptoms and diagnosing them was a challenge. All this has changed now.

I remember the time I first heard about Apollo Hospitals. It was almost 15 years back. My late grandfather had then suffered a coronary stroke. It was a difficult day for all of us. I for one only knew that Baba was ill and it was something to do with his heart. My father, who’s a doctor, had a decision to make, as to where Baba was to be hospitalised. A decision that he didn’t take long to make- Apollo Hospital was (and still is) the best when it comes to private medical healthcare. They were one of the first hospitals in India to offer coronary bypass surgery.

And there we went. I was obviously left at home. But when I asked, my Dad tried his best to explain the situation as to what Baba had and how the surgery would be done. It was complicated. I can still only imagine the complexity and the risks associated with such a procedure.

A cardiac arrest is caused by cholesterol deposition on the walls of the arteries. Due to this deposition there’s congestion and reduced blood flow, which causes the heart to go into overdrive to maintain proper circulation. The bypass surgery consists of grafting of veins or arteries from other parts of the body, usually the legs and bypassing the congestion, thus improving circulation.

I still remember seeing Baba’s stiches when he came home, they were scary.

Today, yet again Apollo is a pioneer with the introduction of Minimally Invasive Coronary Artery Surgery. A fast and elegant approach, where only a 4 cm incision is made. There is no cutting of bones and only some muscle damage is done. Recuperation time is not only faster, but with better results than the traditional surgery. You can read more about it here.

I remember watching those old movies, how every time, whenever something serious happened to the actor or someone usually the mother/father of the actor, how they would show that they went to US for surgery because help wasn’t available locally. No more. And I believe it’s no longer shown because as it’s no longer relevant to the Indian sub-context. India now boasts of one of the best medical healthcare facilities and practices. All this is possible with continued efforts of Apollo Hospitals. They were here first, the rest simply followed.

Coming back to the title, “How does Modern Healthcare touch lives?” – Because it matters. It certainly made a difference to mine, after all it brought my Baba back home healthy.

I normally refrain from writing blog entries for contests and promotions, but this time it was personal. This entry is a part of IndiBlogger- Apollo Hospital initiative.

You can read more about Apollo Hospitals here: http://www.apollohospitals.com/cutting-edge.php