Sep 22, 2012

A year after C++11

A spherical horse from MOBITECH
.. But - there's one proviso.
The model is only valid for a perfectly spherical horse
moving through a vacuum.

C++11 has been standardized on August 2011, more than one year ago. Though I'm not using it in everyday tasks (ARMCC for 3DS is said to have support for C++11 maybe in 2013), it's still interesting to know what's happening in a world of big programs and unrestricted resources.


Feb 13, 2012

Even more rope to shoot yourself in the foot

The title of this book describes what I consider to be the main problem with both C++ and C: the languages give you so much flexibility that, unless you're willing and able to discipline yourself, you can end up with a large body of unmaintainable gobblygook masquerading as a computer program. You can do virtually anything with these languages, even when you don't want to.
Allen I. Holub

C++11 is already here. I'm not going to make another overview of all the good new things in it. Actually, I don't know much about those good new things. What I'm going to make - is an overview of why these good new things don't matter much (and why I am not too ashamed of not knowing much about them). There are few reasons.

Feb 10, 2012

Write-only code

There are lots of modern and mature languages stating the speed of coding as one of major language advantages:

Python lets you write the code you need, quickly. 
Perl -- Because life's too short to code without punctuation.

Phrases like this always puzzle me. While it sounds nice to be able to write code quickly, what's about reading it? I mean, the code you write is not only for a compiler to read. The code is to be read by humans. By you! And by those unfortunates, who will have to support your code after you leave the building. These poor guys will be glad to know that the fancy language allowed you to write that shit of a code by 15 minutes faster. This warm thought would be with them all that hours they would spend sticking eyes into cryptic lines, trying to fix that little mistake you did 6 months ago..