The Best Software Writing I Joel Spolsky (editor) Apress, 2005 Despite plenty of examples to the contrary, there is actually some good writing out there on various software subjects. Even though most of what you can read on the subject (on and off the web) is not particularly well-written, there are some gems out there.… Read More »
This essay continues my exploration of misunderstandings about multi-threading. In the first essay of this series, Unintuitive Multithreading: Speed, I explained that multi-threading does not inherently speed up a process. In this essay, I plan to show how to not achieve more performance from a multi-threaded system. Many new multi-threading (MT) developers make the same… Read More »
This begins a short series of essays on what most programmers get wrong about multi-threading. Over and over again, I’ve seen programmers make the same mistakes in multi-threaded applications on multiple operating systems and in multiple languages. So I decided to give you the benefits of what little insight I have into the problem. The… Read More »
C++ Common Knowledge Stephen C. Dewhurst Addison-Wesley, 2005 The subtitle of this book sums it up nicely, Essential Intermediate Programming. If someone has not mastered, or at least understood, the material in this book, he or she is still a junior C++ programmer. Although this material is necessary, it is not sufficient to make someone… Read More »
Isn’t it funny how you sometimes run into the same concept everywhere at once? A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece (Another View of Human Multitasking) refuting some of the conclusions in a Joel Spolsky article on human multitasking. This week, I stumbled across another article, Creating Passionate Users: Your brain on multitasking,… Read More »
Exceptional C++ Style Herb Sutter Addison-Wesley, 2005. Once again, Herb Sutter provides us with a set of problems that teach important lessons about the C++ programming language. Each problem in the book covers some problem that a C++ programmer might see in a particular program or design. As Sutter solves each problem, he gives insight… Read More »
I’ve recently finished reading Joel Spolsky’s Joel on Software in book form. In the book, I read the essay Human Task Switches Considered Harmful. As someone who has had a lot of experience with multitasking myself, and a fair amount with computer multi-tasking, I found this claim to be pretty amazing. I have looked at… Read More »
Joel on Software Joel Spolsky Apress, 2004 This book collects some of the best entries from the Joel on Software website. Joel has an interesting view of the software industry based on three years at Microsoft, time spent at Juno, and now with his own company. This is a guy with quite a bit of… Read More »
Effective C++, Third Edition Scott Meyers Addison-Wesley, 2005 I was really excited when I found out that Scott Meyers was releasing a new edition of Effective C++. The first edition provided a major step on the path for many of us from writing code in C++ to actually programming in the language. What surprised me… Read More »
Perl 6 Now: The Core Ideas Illustrated with Perl 5 Scott Waters Apress, 2005 I had mixed feelings about reading this book caused by my current views of Perl 6. Some of what I have heard about Perl 6 is exciting and I really can’t wait. Other things I have heard fill me with dread.… Read More »