Static constructors get called only once in the entire program’s lifetime- the first time the class or any of its members gets referenced.

Instance constructors are called per object instantiation.

public class Base
{
    static Base()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Base static class constructor");
    }

    public Base()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Base instance constructor");
    }
}

public class Derived : Base
{
    static Derived()
    {
       Console.WriteLine("Derived static class constructor");
    }

    public Derived()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Derived instance constructor");
    }
}

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Base b = new Derived();
        Console.WriteLine("Done");
    }
}

The program results are shown here:

Derived static class constructor
Base static class constructor
Base instance constructor
Derived instance constructor
Done

Something interesting came out of this test.
- instance constructors are called base class first, derived class second
- static constructors are called derived class first, base class second

Accrued interest is calculated as follows:
AI = P x IR x T
where
AI = accrued interest
P = principal
IR = interest rate, annualised
T = fraction of the year


The fraction of the year is calculated as follows:

1. actual/360, Each month is treated normally and the year is assumed to be 360 days e.g. in a period from February 1, 2005 to April 1, 2005 T is considered to be 59 days divided by 360.
2. 30/360, Each month is treated as having 30 days, so a period from February 1, 2005 to April 1, 2005 is considered to be 60 days. The year is considered to have 360 days. This convention is frequently chosen for ease of calculation: the payments tend to be regular and at predictable amounts.
3. actual/365, Each month is treated normally, and the year is assumed to have 365 days, regardless of leap year status. For example, a period from February 1, 2005 to April 1, 2005 is considered to be 59 days. This convention results in periods having slightly different lengths.
4. actual/actual (ACT/ACT), Each month is treated normally, and the year has the usual number of days. For example, a period from February 1, 2005 to April 1, 2005 is considered to be 59 days. In this convention leap years do affect the final result.

It was also the first time I’ve ever gotten an airline’s escort boarding the plane. We were the only passengers with a baby on the all business seat plane- and the airline staff carried our baggage and stroller onto the plane. All along the flight- 40,000 feet over Canada, the Arctic, Siberia, and China- the service was high class. A big shoutout kudos to Singapore Airlines!

A waiting company-hired driver awaiting us at the airport whisked us efficiently in the early morning to our residence. Upon arrival, he refused to take a tip. Is that the culture here?

The company-provided residence likewise is first world first class.

Today, a day after our arrival, a company-provided guide took us to a local food court. WOWZERS. It’s like a living dream come true. Food stalls lined up from one of a football stadium-sized court to the other end. And cheap! Needless to say, the wife was very happy.

And at the same time, there was a live Chinese opera show in Mandarin. Awesome. This is the exact reason why I took my kids here- to infuse them with a love of Chinese culture- and yet take on an education with westernized touches. Livin’ da Dream.

It’s been an unbelievable ride.

After I downloaded and extracted the tarball, I followed the usual README instructions to build and install this perl module. Then I hit upon another error:

cc -shared -O2 -g -L/usr/local/lib EXIF.o asahi.o canon.o casio.o exif.o exifgps.o exifutil.o fuji.o getopt.o jpeg.o leica.o makers.o minolta.o nikon.o olympus.o panasonic.o sanyo.o tagdefs.o timevary.o -o blib/arch/auto/Image/EXIF/EXIF.so \
-lexif \

/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lexif


What’s this exif library? I searched for this exif library online and found the source here.

Exif is a lower level C library used by the perl Image::EXIF module. I extracted, built, and installed this library without any other problems. Once installed, I was able to extract photo metadata information just fine.

Perl rocks.

In fact, in all my time in NYC, I’d say there are no places to go during the winters. The winters here are so cold that we just stay home almost the entire season. That’s another reason NYC doesn’t suit me.

“Absorb what is useful. Reject what is useless. Add specifically what is your own. ”

“Showing off is the fool’s idea of glory.”

Bruce Lee

But hah! No more. Now that I get paid in Singaporean dollars, I dread the US dollar decline no more. In fact, I now praise it. Each 1% appreciation in Chinese renminbi is like a 1% raise for me. Super f….ing awesome.