Chetan's web scribblings! » Chetan

Thinking and having fun at the same time!

Chetan — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 10:06:54 +0000

If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?
I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where’s the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.
If a man is standing in the middle of the forest speaking and there is no woman around to hear him…is he still wrong?
If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?
Isn’t it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice?"
What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant?
Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
Why do they lock those bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?
If a turtle doesn’t have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
If the police arrest a mute, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?
Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.
Women like silent men, they think they’re listening.
Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it.
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?
If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest have to drown too?
If you ate pasta and anti-pasta, would you still be hungry?
If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?

Abstraction

Chetan — Fri, 13 May 2011 08:14:17 +0000

Finding common properties among set of objects so as to differentiate identified set of objects from other sets of objects.

Example:

Classification of anything e.g. taxonomy in biology.
Defining classes in source code with defined characteristics.

Temperature of Heaven

Chetan — Thu, 12 May 2011 09:53:20 +0000

The temperature of Heaven can be rather accurately computed. Our authority is Isaiah 30:26, "Moreover, the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun and the light of the Sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." Thus Heaven receives from the Moon as much radiation as we do from the Sun, and in addition 7*7 (49) times as much as the Earth does from the Sun, or 50 times in all. The light we receive from the Moon is one 1/10,000 of the light we receive from the Sun, so we can ignore that…. The radiation falling on Heaven will heat it to the point where the heat lost by radiation is just equal to the heat received by radiation, i.e., Heaven loses 50 times as much heat as the Earth by radiation. Using the Stefan-Boltzmann law for radiation, (H/E) temperature of the earth (-300K), gives H as 798K (525C). The exact temperature of Hell cannot be computed…. [However] Revelations 21:8 says "But the fearful, and unbelieving…shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." A lake of molten brimstone means that its temperature must be at or below the boiling point, 444.6C. We have, then, that Heaven, at 525C is hotter than Hell at 445C.

-From Applied Optics, vol. 11, A14, 1972

Hierarchy

Chetan — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:56:05 +0000

Tree like structure

Examples:

Inheritance tree of classes.
‘Part of’ relationship among parts of composite object.
‘Reports to’ relations among employees in a company.

Modularity

Chetan — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 07:05:43 +0000

Degree to which system is capable of being disassembled or assembled into/with many parts at a reasonable cost

Example:

Cup is not very modular as if you ‘disassemble’ it by breaking, putting it back together, exactly as it was like before, will be tough.
Laptop is more modular as you can disassemble it with screw driver.
Modular software system is made up of many components which are very independent and replaceable.

Polymorphism

Chetan — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:09:29 +0000

Multiple implementations behind single public interface

Examples:

Multiple cars with different engines behind similar interface to drive them.
Virtual method with same signature implemented in different classes in same hierarchy.
Two different classes implementing same interface.

Encapsulation

Chetan — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:40:30 +0000

Private implementation behind public interface

Example:

Car engine is an implementation which is ‘hidden’ behind public interface made up of steering wheel, clutch, gear-knob, brakes, accelerator and key.
In a restaurant, waiter is public interface which hides kitchen & chefs – an implementation.
Computer IO (Display, mouse, keypad, touchpad) is an interface while mother-board, processor, RAM etc. are implementation.

I have questions…

Chetan — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:07:42 +0000

1. How can we defend Ram for sending pregnant (that too with twin) Sita to jungle?

2. How can we defend Lord Krishna having many wives?

3. How can we defend Lord Krishna to have affair with Radha who was already married?

4. How can we defend Ram taking Agni-pariksha for Sita and not taking it himself ?

5. How can we say “No” to a child begging for a rupee at the cross roads?

6. How can we say “We have to bribe in India”, if we believe in Dharma?

7. Where is Atma? What is it? Who has it? How to find it? And what is Parmatma and Jeev?

8. We are going to have rebirths? Where? Why? Who decides?

9. Ramayana and Mahabharata has actually happened? Why such big wars which sacrificed many-many innocent soldiers for resolving disputes of respective Royal families?

10. How come planets orbiting thousands and millions kms away affect us?

11. Are there ghosts? Why cannot they join our society and we give them voting rights – at least to good ones?

12. Why a person with money is respected very much, at least in person, regardless of means of earning it in our religious society (and poor guys never get real respect)?

13. We thank god in our prayers. Why do not we thank (at least few prominent ones) scientists, researchers, doctors, engineers etc in our prayers?

Why would you buy Nokia N8 ?

Chetan — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 03:18:54 +0000

I am aware that there is a war out there.

Following is what I find ‘valuable’ in Nokia N8 based on my own experience, in no particular order. Note that India still has no good 3G coverage.

1. Watch AVI, mp4 videos.

You can watch a movie easily without breaking for recharge.

Performance is amazing. Both video and audio goes great.

2. Store movies on 16GB on-device or 32GB card storage.

Less hassles. Also, copying files is reasonably fast.

3. Connect to HD TV with HDMI cable.

4. Good battery performance.

I spend whole day easily with video, game, bluetooth, wifi and phone usage.

5. Connect USB drive to device.

This is very convenient some times.

6. Great Radio.

Amazing audio quality.

7. Great Audio output with supplied headset.

Keep on hearing music!

8. Great camera.

I have almost forgot I have a digital camera. Except limited zooming, as with all mobiles, there is no other short-coming compared to usual digital cameras.

9. Organize photos.

You can create albums or tag your photos.

10. Great video capture.

Really great quality.

11. Reasonable fast search within device.

12. Charge battery both from USB or wall charger.

13. Sturdy, scratch-less metal body.

14. Superb power saving mode. Only works with GSM.

15. Easy connectivity with PC with Ovi Suite 3.x.

16. Easy to update device.

17. GPS with free maps with own voice navigation.

18. Gr8 FM transmitter.

19. Easy backup on PC or web.

20. Free music download.

21. Bluetooth which does not eat away battery.

22. Connect to internet via WiFi.

23. Check mails/News/Cricket score or browse using Opera mini/mobile browser.

24. Use snaptu for various information from net.

25. Use skype and fring to call or chat on net.

26. Use free software to access wikipedia, youtube, dictionary, translation etc .

27. Very reasonable price.

Gap analysis template for single requirement (against a software product)

Chetan — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:07:25 +0000

Can this requirement be dropped?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Is requirement implemented fully, as it is, by proposed product?

Yes

Does product has superset functionality of what is required?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Can this requirement be replaced by another requirement to remove gap with proposed product?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Can this requirement be changed to remove gap with proposed product?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Is requirement implemented fully, by tweaking requirement a bit, by proposed product?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Is requirement implemented fully, by tweaking user operations, by proposed product?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Is requirement implemented partially by proposed product?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Does requirement need repurposing proposed product feature/use case/UI element/DB element?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Does requirement need configuring proposed product?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Does requirement need change in UI of proposed product?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Does requirement need change in proposed product code or database? Please note that ‘change’ is considered different than ‘addition’.

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Does requirement need addition in proposed product code or database?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

Does requirement need development effort?

Yes

If yes, provide details.

‘NA’ stands for ‘Not Applicable’.

Inside/Outside

Chetan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:50:08 +0000

You look at a thing and you want to describe and understand it. There are many ways, but we can broadly define two principal ways.

Outside View Point (OVP):
Everything has external view to its environment. When a thing is described with less focus on its internals, that is OVP.

Inside View Point (IVP):
Everything is internally composed of other things. When a thing is described with more focus on its internals and less focus on its externals, that is IVP.

Also, internals of a thing are things too. So, internal things have their own IVP and OVP.
Here are some examples. Note that decision, if a statement is IVP or OVP, is subjective.
Following are my views on few statements as a layman car user, based on my intellect and knowledge.

A car has a red color: OVP
A car has an MPFI engine and is 4WD vehicle: IVP
A car has engine made with special aluminum alloy: IVP
A car is saleable thing: OVP
A car needs maintenance every 10000 kms: OVP
A car turns left when you turn steering wheel counter clockwise: OVP
A car needs proper suspension: IVP
A car must not jump too much during ride on normal road: OVP
A car has factory-installed locking differentials use a computer-controlled multi-plate clutch or viscous coupling unit to join the shafts: IVP

It is very important that IVP and OVP are understood enough to clearly describe a thing. How much details are enough for IVP or OVP is usually context sensitive. These two views are important because you can always use them fruitfully in some way. They are more important because our brains are programmed to use them.

Usually, we tend to use either IVP or OVP. Once we are biased about one, we become blind toward the other. Each thing is a unity in itself even if externally only few characteristics are manifested and internally it is made of multiple things. Being blind towards either IVP or OVP renders description of a thing incomplete.

Most of the times, thing to be described, is not trivial. So it is very normal to further partition within both IVP and OVP. It is normal to create team, with each person focusing on subset of such partitions. For big thing, there may be need for team of team of teams. Note that each partition has its own IVP and OVP.

IVP focuses more onto these: analysis, structure, architecture, design, utility, technicality, how & why
IVP usually have more amounts of details. To grasp IVP, you need good left brain.
OVP focuses more onto these: intuition, judgment, aesthetics, surface view, what & where
OVP usually have comparatively less amount of details. To grasp OVP, you need good right brain.

In nutshell, you need to know enough of IVP and OVP of a thing to ‘know’ it. That will be more complete knowledge!

PS: All these apply to software and its artifacts very well!

Interesting predictions for out sourcing

Chetan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 11:40:50 +0000

It is highly likely that India will be challanged even more for cost efficiency and higher valued services. Here are some observations and predictions from Gartner, Bernstein Research and Forrester Research; with my interpretation for implications.

Evolving From	Evolving To	Implications
Offshore labor primarily in India	Labor in multiple geographies	India will have competition; also as market size increases, India will have opportunity to rise in value chain
Off shoring provides cheap labor	Off shoring provides efficient access to large talent pool and great technologies	All offshore work will have to be higher in value
Many tactical out-sourcing vendors	Few strategic out-sourcing vendors	Customers will weave out-sourcing as part of business strategy instead of just focusing on cost efficiency
More focus on maintenance	More focus on design, test and maintenance	Out sourcing vendors will have to do both creative and labor oriented work
More focus on code	More focus on consulting, SOA, infrastructure and code	Simply put, out sourcing vendor will be key to success of customers’ IT success both in cost and value terms
Out sourcing is special	Out sourcing is standard	Out sourcing business will still keep growing

Design is a contexual process

Chetan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:41:19 +0000

(Though following is written from point of view of software designer, ideas are valueable to any engineering designer.)

Software design is creative process. Design involves significant mental efforts towards creating new ideas or using existing ones for a purpose. Software does not exist before you design it. You, as a designer, play a role of The God. You make decisions about structure and behaviour of software-to-be-constructed.

Design is more of an invention and less of a discovery. As a creator, you may take guidance from other experienced creators or knowledge-base, but you must never forget that your design is primarily your creation and it is up to you to make final decisions about it during specific project, and be accountable for it as a designer.

And design is done, by definition, before construction. Note that design may be for a system, for a subsystem, for a component, for a class, for a method or for any other element. Sometimes you first construct software, then learn from software construction and then design a better one. Still, this better design will be meaningful only if it is implemented. In the most basic sense, designs are created for implementations. That is where painters are luckier than building architect. Both draw pictures of some sort. But architect’s drawing is called design as it is intended to be implemented. This essential property of design that, it is intended to be implemented, is called feasibility of design. Every design must be feasible to sufficient degree.

Any design can be subjectively judged for quality from judgement of how easily design can be implemented in a context. Obviously, judge’s skill and knowledge about both construction and design comes into picture. This make design evaluation two-folds.

1. Design must be fit for purpose sufficiently in a context or in other words, design must be sufficiently easy (ignore inherent complexities) to use for constuction for a context.
2. Design’s quality attributes may easily become subjective in practical situation of a specific project.

Overall, design is very context-sensitive activity. If you do not understand context of design, then you may end up taking inappropriate design decisions. Let us try to see what kind of contextual information you need to do good design.

Purpose: If you are not purposeful, either you will come up with design which will not serve its purpose or design will not allow constructors to produce software with proper quality attributes. Without purpose, you will not have any yardstick to measure success of design. This usually means your clarity about software developement lifecycle objectives.

Business: Beyond knowing verticals, you should be clear about your customer’s business and his expectations in context of a specific project.

Design Tools and Processes: Beyond knowing modelling platform e.g. UML & tools in combination with methodologies e.g. OOAD, you need to know contextual application to specific project after tweaking generic ideas.

Construction Platform: If you do not have good contextual information about construction platform, you may end up doing less feasible design.

Organization Platform: You will work for yourself or somebody else. Make sure you know ways of working within your organization or your project team or your immediate-colleagues team in such a way that your personal context is aligned with organizational context.

Any other project specific contextual information: This one is toughest, and this is what makes each project unique. This is where your creativity, communication and analytical abilities are tested. No matter what, each project has this and you have to unconver this context.

Summary in nutshell: Design is a contexual process.

You can utilize guidance from articles, knowledgebase, best practices, patterns, frameworks, consltants etc but finally, you have to apply all guidance according to your understanding of your context as a designer. You do not have to apply all generic things as they are. In a hindsight, you must have kept your brain on while you have applied generic ideas to your specific project!

New features of C# 3.0

Chetan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:37:10 +0000

Look at simple source code to learn few of new features of C# 3.0.

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public class Book
{
//Auto implemented properties
public string Name { get; set; }
public int ID { get; set; }
}
public class AllLINQ
{
public static void ShowAll()
{
//Collection Initializer and Implicitly Typed Local Variables using 'var'.
//Note how List is created and filled in one line of source code.
var Books = new List<Book> { new Book { Name = "Learn C#", ID = 1 },
new Book { Name = "Learn .Net", ID = 2 },
new Book { Name = "Power Electronics", ID = 3 } };
//LINQ
var BooksQuery = from book in Books
//calling extesion method
where book.IsLearningSeries()
//Anonymous Type
select new { FetchedBook=book, TimeStamp=System.DateTime.Now };
foreach (var SearchedResult in BooksQuery)
{
Console.WriteLine(" Searched at : " + SearchedResult.TimeStamp);
Console.WriteLine(" Book Name : " + SearchedResult.FetchedBook.Name + ",
Book ID = " + SearchedResult.FetchedBook.ID);
}
}
}
public static class Extensions
{
//Extension Method for Book class. Note 'this' against parameter.
public static bool IsLearningSeries(this Book b)
{
return b.Name.Contains("Learn");
}
}

C# and .Net Delegates

Chetan — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:11:26 +0000

Please read following simple source to know more about delegates in C# and .Net. Note that this article is for people who wants to learn by looking at simple sample source code without reading too much weed.

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using System;
namespace Delegates
{
class Program
{
//Following is delegate capable to refer to method taking two int para and returning int.
delegate int SimpleDelegate(int i, int j);//SimpleDelegate is a type
int Subtract(int i, int j) { return i - j; }
static int Sum(int a, int b) { return a + b; }
static void Main()
{
int res;
SimpleDelegate dlgt;
Program p = new Program();

dlgt = Sum;//Assign static method reference.
res = dlgt(20, 10);//Invoke delegate. Equivalent to Sum(20, 10)
Console.WriteLine("n1. Result : " + res);

dlgt = p.Subtract;//Assign non-static method reference. Need object.
res = dlgt(20, 10);//Invoke delegate. Equivalent to p.Subtract(20, 10)
Console.WriteLine("n2. Result : " + res);

dlgt = delegate(int i, int j) { return i * j; };//assign anonymous method
res = dlgt(20, 10);//Invoke delegate
Console.WriteLine("n3. Result : " + res);

//lambda exression: X => Y
//X is list of input, Y can be expression.
dlgt = (i, j) => i / j;//assign using lambda expression
res = dlgt(20, 10);//Invoke delegate
Console.WriteLine("n4. Result : " + res);

//Action<> is generic delegate taking N type-para.
//Action can only refer to method taking N para of specified types and returning void.
Action<int, int> print = (i, j) => Console.WriteLine("n5. Remainder : " + i % j);
print(20, 10);

//Predicate<> is generic delegate taking 1 type-para.
//Predicate can only refer to method taking 1 parameter of specified type and returning bool.
Predicate<int> IsFive = i => i == 5;
Console.WriteLine("n6. Result : " + IsFive(20));

//Func<> is generic delegate taking N type-para.
//Func can only refer to method taking N-1 para of specified type and returning value of Nth type.
Func<int, int> f1 = i => i + 1;
Console.WriteLine("n7. Result : " + f1(20));

//Comparison<> is generic delegate taking 1 type-para.
//Comparison can only refer to method taking 2 para of same type and returning int.
//Method must return -ve, 0 or +ve as a result of comparison
Comparison<int> comp = (i, j) => i < j ? -1 : (i > j ? 1 : 0);
Console.WriteLine("n8. Result : " + comp(20, 10));

//Converter<> is generic delegate taking 2 type-para.
//Converter can only refer to method taking 1 para of first type
// and returning converted result of second type.
//Following converts string to bool.
Converter<string, bool> convert = s => Convert.ToBoolean(s);
Console.WriteLine("n9. Result : " + (convert("true") == true ? "Conversion done" : "???"));

Console.ReadLine();
}
}
}

Example of Code Snippet for Visual Studio

Chetan — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:05:41 +0000

Ever wondered how to write code snippet? Have a look at these simple example code snippets – these are specially for people who learn by looking!

You have to place these code snippets (basically XML) into file with .snippet extension. Then you can put all your snippet files into appropriate directory. This directory can be loaded into VS from Tools>Code Snippets Manager>Add. Enjoy!

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version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
xmlns="http://NewtonicaOnline.com/VS/CodeSnippet">
Format="1.0.0">
>
>Copy Right - crc>
>Adds copyright comment>
>Chetan Panchal>
>http://www.NewtonicaOnline.com>
>crc>
>
>Expansion>
>
>
>
>
>
>Descr>
>Replace with brief description of file content.>
>Brief description>
>
>
Language="CSharp" Kind="any">

// (C) Copyright 2008, Chetan Panchal, All rights reserved, http://www.NewtonicaOnline.com
// Description: $Descr$$end$]]>
>
>
>
Format="1.0.0">
>
>Console.WriteLine Surrounds>
>Surrounds selection with Console.WriteLine>
>Chetan Panchal>
>http://www.NewtonicaOnline.com>
>cws>
>
>SurroundsWith>
>
>
>
>
Editable="false">
>SystemConsole>
>SimpleTypeName(global::System.Console)>
>
>
Language="CSharp" Kind="method body">

>
>
>
Format="1.0.0">
>
>Console.ReadLine>
>Inserts Console.ReadLine()>
>Chetan Panchal>
>http://www.NewtonicaOnline.com>
>cr>
>
>Expansion>
>
>
>
>
Editable="false">
>SystemConsole>
>SimpleTypeName(global::System.Console)>
>
>
Language="CSharp" Kind="method body">

>
>
>
>

Programmers need these!

Chetan — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 05:58:56 +0000

Large monitor, or if possible – two of them!

Reasonably fast PC
(compiler, IDE, browser and db server etc to go fast)

As much RAM as possible
(PC should not slow down due to lack of RAM when RAM could be expanded)

Reasonably fast internet connection
(Not to watch movies, but to view self-learning videos etc)

Good keyboard and mouse
(Keys must not be stuck, standard KB design, working mouse clicking etc)

Great chair and table

Peaceful environment

Latest Development support tools
(IDEs, DBs, ORMs, Components, Libraries, etc)

Freedom to wear casuals

Freedom to have tea/coffee etc at table

Top features of Visual Studio 2010 and .Net 4 (not all, only which apealed to me)

Chetan — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 06:22:12 +0000

Better Ajax (e.g. ClientID in webforms, clean HTML emission)
Better Entity Framework
Better WCF, WF and WPF (specially DataGrid in WPF)
Covariance and Contravariance
Code Contracts
Charting in ASP.Net
Dynamic Language Runtime and dynamic keyword in C#
Generate code element from usage
Improved Intellisense and Code navigation
Managed Extensibility Framework
Memory-mapped files
Multi-Monitor
MVC (Area and Asynch controller)
Named and optional argument in C#
Office programmability
One-click Deployment
Profiling, Debugging and IntelliTrace
Routing
Silverlight Capability
Text templates
Type equivalence
Visualization Tools
XSLT Profiling & Debugging and XSD Designer

Great but lesser known shortcuts in Microsoft Word 2007

Chetan — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 06:13:12 +0000

Ctry+Y: Redo (reversing Ctrl+Z!)
F4: Repeate Last Command
F5, Ctrl+G: Open Go To Dialogbox
Ctrl+L/E/R/J: Align Left/Center/Right/Justify
Ctrl+B/I/U: Bold/Italics/Underline
Ctrl+F/H: Find/Replace
Doubleclick on word: Select word
Ctrl+Click: Select sentence
Triple Click: Select Paragraph
Click small arrow on bottom-right of group in ribbon: Open dialogbox
F7: Start spell checker
Ctrl+Arrow Keys: Jump words
Ctrl+Shift+Arrow Keys: Select words
Alt: See shortcuts on screen
Ctrl+F1: Show/Hide ribbon
Ctrl+F2: Show Print Preview
Ctrl+F6: Change window
Shift+F10: Customize Statusbar
Ctrl+Shift+Space: Non-breaking space
Ctrl+Hyphen: Non-breaking hyphen
Ctrl+[/]: Increase/Decrease font size by one point
Ctrl+Space: Remove formatting
Ctrl+Alt+V: Paste special
Ctrl+Delete: Delete word on right
Ctrl+Backspace: Delete work on left
Ctrl+Alt+Y, Shift+F4: Repeate find (after clsoing find dialog)
Ctrl+Alt+Z: Switch between last four editing places
Ctrl+PageUp/Down: Move to previous/next editing place
Ctrl+Alt+Home: Select browse option
Ctrl+Alt+P/O/N/I: Print Layout/Outline/Draft/Print Preview
Ctrl+Alt+1/2/3: Apply Header 1/2/3
Alt+Shift+O/I/X: Insert ToC/Citation /Index entry
Ctrl+Alt+F/D: Insert Footnote/Endnote
Ctrl+F3: Cut and collect to spike
Ctrl+Shift+F3: Paste and empty whole spike
Ctrl+Alt+C/R/T/MINUS/PERIOD: Copyright/Registered/Trademark/EmHyphen/Ellipsis
Shift+F3:Change case

How to unhide column A in Excel 2007

Chetan — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 11:36:18 +0000

I was working on a spread sheet in excel 2007 and suddenly reallized that there is no column A. It was starting from B!. I could not remember when I had hidden that column. Column contained information, but was not very important one – or atleast I did not need to see that data very often. I thought, may be, in one of my frenzies, I would have hidden that column for a reason I cannot make out today . I googled to find how to unhide column A. Then as per my finding, I used Ctrl+G to pop up Go to Dialog, and I asked excel to go to A1. Then I went to Home tab and then to Format drop down -> Hide and Unhide menu to unhide column. DID NOT WORK!

Then there was stroke of light. I had frozen panes! I unfroze them and voila, column A was there again.

I am now laughing on myself.