Nabtron!

This is an aspiring voice, which is quite thought-provoking in my opinion. Lets discover him. ~Emaar Kasbati

Ramsha: So, how do you see your journey from a doctor to a developer?

Stare it is the only way to educate eyes.

Nabeel Khan: It is a long road. It all began with the craze of being a ‘hacker’, even before I started my MBBS, as a teenager. I remember in schooling days, we learned GW-BASIC, nothing important though. But then I guess I was about 15, when I bumped into using VB, from then I kept learning and developing these stuff.

Initially it was all just a hobby, to hack better, help friends, etc, later, I started getting projects offers from community so I started programming professionally when I was around 21.

Ramsha: What is your favourite developing script?

Nabeel Khan: I love to code in PHP along with C++.

Emaar: What is the reason behind the craziness for these scripts?

Nabeel Khan: They say love is unconditional. Basically, I prefer developing for web rather than for desktop. Then PHP and ASP are the most opted platforms. And my preference of PHP over ASP, is due to the on-going bills line up by ASP like server bills, license etc.

Emaar: Many people place geographical distinction in matter of contribution done to IT (Information Technology). Where do you see Pakistan, in that terms?

Nabeel Khan: It is believed that the first PC virus, Brain originated from Pakistan. Other than that, practically speaking, Pakistan is not contributing much to the IT sector.

Emaar: What IT efforts of Pakistanis, do you aerially see? Mechanical or intellectual!

Nabeel Khan: I believe intellectual. But the core problem with them is they intend to harm others. Rather than being a hacker, they should be programmer and developer.

Aerial glance over the scenario is quite exasperating. Especially, when it comes to our .PK registry, PKNIC, it is managed by a private firm. Even then the site isn’t upto the expectations.

Emaar: How do you view the situation of ‘Desi‘ (people originating from sub-continent) people being blamed for intellectual theft?

Nabeel Khan: I may not sound prudent. I decry with the copyrights. Theft is when you steal something out from someone’s possession. Whereas, copying is not stealing. It is a debatable topic.

Let me make the concept vivid. If I take a picture, I own it. But when some one places his picture in the composition of my picture. Does he own it? It is something to ponder over. In my opinion, whole copyright issue, is to get traffic, which is for many a medium of earning money.

When it comes to ones writing, then it is the only case where it is justified. Well, it is my opinion.

Ramsha: So how long now, have been then since you are in tech world?

Nabeel Khan: These days have restraint their assumption with tech to only Apple products, Android, and their so-called “gadget” related stuff. In this perspective, I have been for almost 3 years, when I bought my first iPhone.

Tech in broader perspective, to cherish that very moment of coding and programming. I have been in it for more than a decade.

Ramsha:  So how this “Nabtron” thing came into existence?

Ruminating at the mishaps.

Nabeel Khan: I started with Nabtron, in early 2009, as a portfolio and general company website, when I registered it in UK as a firm. I added a blog to it, as a sub-domain, which later turned out to be on the main domain.

Emaar: What is the essential component of blogging in your view?

Nabeel Khan: It is to blog about something you really know.

Emaar: Don’t you think many of us (blogger) lack the trait of getting communicative with our readers? And at the same time, readers do hesitate to comment?

Nabeel Khan: In my opinion, good bloggers don’t lack communication with their visitors. It could be that they lack time to do so on regular, as on my blog. I have more than 1500 comments pending response, even when I try to my fullest to reply most of them.

However, blogs run by people who pay writers to write content for them, obviously lack communication in comments as the authors have no interest, in the comment section of the blog.

Life is these days boomed up. If I search for something, would get thousands of thousands of results, and eventually land on some blog. I might not comment on them, unless I’ve found something really extra ordinary. This is a common scenario with information sharing blogs.

But the case is slightly different, where blogs are aimed at entertainment and help people pass their time. They tend to get more comments.

Ramsha: By analyzing the situation, it is clear that people from Pakistan very rarely comment. Even though they come across, some thing very fascinating and extra-ordinary. How do you view this situation?

Nabeel Khan: I view it due to computer illiteracy. For example, on my very own blog, once I removed Captcha from comments section, I am since then experiencing higher number of comments.

Another reason could be that most of the blogger tend to be fluent in English, in their post. But commentators might be shy to express through a comment, uneasy for being imperfect.

Ramsha: What is your reaction on the banning of AdSense accounts, in our country? Are you one of those victim?

Nabeel Khan: In my view, it is not natural banning. I got my AdSense disabled in mid-October.

Ramsha: So what is among your favourite, in the cyber world?

Nabeel Khan:

Stack Overflow – No wonder, it is one of the best resource for discussion among programmers.

Labnol -  I am a regular blog reader. But since I have been asked about my favourites. The reason of being in my favourites is that this guy don’t do plagiarism. He writes what is commonly not blogged, he knows what he is writing and researches well before writing it. It is clean and organized very well.

Facebook – It is a place, where I connect to my community and friends. And get a lot of business done.

Emaar: In your opinion, design or content. Which matters the most?

Nabeel Khan: In my view, content is the most important part of a blog. However, thats not true for all sites, as most entertainment sites just workout due to their design.

Emaar: Pakistan has a small portion but elite class concentrated internet audience. And Paypal being not initiating its service in Pakistan is somehow unfair in your view or not?

Nabeel Khan: Yes! Paypal is an essential and helpful tool to get your online payments done. It is not due to lack of interest on Paypal part. As we come across, in 2010, Paypal’s efforts to initiate service in Pakistan. But due to some hindrances, probably due to instability in government along with National Bank’s inefficient methods of updating it books.

Emaar: Have you ever tried Codeigniter or other frameworks? Is it recommended?

Simpler the better.

Nabeel Khan: Well I have used it, along with Yii, and CakePHP, for some of my clients. In my opinion, creating websites and programming through any platform other than just blogging, is highly recommended. But I think one shouldn’t be much dependent on frameworks. As most of the part of the script can be done with out those frameworks. Along with this, most of the bugs can’t be avoided easily once discovered. Leaving your whole script vulnerable until its fixed by the DEV team. Just like the more you use calculators, your arithmetical skills get weaker. Similarly, your creativity and ability to develop script gets weaker.

Ramsha: Which platform do you use the most to develop your websites and blogs? What is the reason for preference over them?

Nabeel Khan: Joomla and WordPress! I preferred Joomla over WordPress once. Until they started to roll out completely new version, after every 6 months, with no legacy support. I started with Joomla, as it requires only one file to be edited, to edit the whole site.

When it comes to WordPress, the reason it is simple and powerful. Not only for me, but for the clients, and it is easy to compel them using it.

Emaar: Many people regard Joomla 1.6 as a failure? What about you?

Nabeel Khan: Of course, as development gets more complex, Joomla provides overriding to almost all core functions. In my view, Joomla 1.6 was an attempt to compete with WordPress. If it would have been a slightly more creative approach, they wouldn’t have came up with Joomla 1.7 and 1.8, in such a brief while. Whatsoever, I loved the Joomla 1.5.x, the most.

Emaar: In an aerial view. Which topics are deficit in this blogosphere?

Nabeel Khan:  Martial arts, Physics and related topics.

Emaar: What is your opinion over Google+?

Nabeel Khan: Its fate is some how similarly destined as their employees. It is a failure. Well they say, every super power has its limited time. Google was the super power of the internet. But right now it drowning. It is failure is perhaps hastened due to launch of so called their “revolutionary products”, in last few years, Google Wave, Orkut, Buzz. Google+ is a part of this series of failure. Those who use Google+ know it is the hub of spam.

Emaar: How do you view uprising blogging, in a yet apprehensive scenario of plagiarism?

Nabeel Khan: I agree that there is a lot of plagiarism, specially by the newcomers, in the field. Search engines are trying to build robust and efficient, yet it is not effectively able to block the search results. In this tense scenario, I can only comment that at the end day who delivers the best survives.

Emaar: Some comments for “Bloggerine“?

Nabeel Khan: I would like to thank you guys for interviewing me. I appreciate that. But in my opinion, there is a lot of space for improvement, starting from site design and layout, whereas restricting to some specific niche only.

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