1. I chose to use the Play Framework with Java for this exercise. My reasons being that
it is the framework I have the most experience with and it is also a very high quality 
framework.  The application supports versioning through the URL.   For the database I chose mysql as I 
have not yet worked with mongo or nosql solutions.  My research indicates that nosql can be better for 
certain situations so it is possible it could be a good choice for this exercise. However, mysql 
performs adequately as well. This solution was developed on Ubuntu 13.10. 

2. I did research about versioning support and found several different opinions about how to support it. 
It seemed that for this exercise, versioning directly in the URL was best as it is more challenging
to set headers, etc. that it is to simply paste a link in a web browser.  This would enable
quick verification of the solution.

3. To support pagination, the methods could have a extra parameter "page".  Assuming that the data
is divided into chunks of 100, page "0" could return the first 100, and page "1" could return the next 100.

4. Setup:

a. Install MYSQL server on the machine. Use the password "root" and a blank password.
b. Make sure that the server is running. 
c. In the server, create a database called "mgo".
d. Download and install the play framework version 2.2.2
e. Make sure that the framework is installed and in the system PATH by typing "play" at a command prompt.
f. Sync the project from github to a directory on your machine.
g. Inside the directory, type "play run" to start the application.
h. To initialize the database, I have created a special route. To call it, open a web browser and
   type "http://localhost:9000/populate".  This will place several entries in the database.
i. Now would be a good time to run the unit tests. To do so, shut down the application by typing 
   CTRL + D.  Now type "play test".  This will unit test the various methods.
j. If desired, manual testing can be done in the browser. To do so, type "play run" in the directory.
k. To test the status route, type "http://localhost:9000/v1/status". You should see a json structure
   with the status of the database.
l. To test the user listing route, type "http://localhost:9000/v1/allusers?gender=male".  You will
   see a listing of the male users.  
m. To test the file listing route, first decide on a directory, i.e. /home/myuser.  Now type
   "http://localhost:9000/v1/listfiles?directory=/home/myuser". 
n. To test the user authentication route manually, it will be quite challenging because it requires
   posting a JSON structure. The easiest way is to install the POSTMAN plugin for the chrome browser.
   Select a RAW JSON POST payload that looks like: "{ "name": "ash", "password": "blah"}".
   Add a header called "Content-Type" with the value "application/json".  Now enter the route
   "http://localhost:9000/v1/authenticate".