Do computing companies these days need to give good service? I think they should, I cling to the belief that they might, and I'm quite sure they must if they want my money. (Warning: this post may disabuse any readers who think that the English don't know how to complain!)

If object models are tied to languages, then there are some real implicatons to how we do distributed computing (and how we make objects persistent). If this is indeed the case, then why are we so stuck on language-independent systems?

Or not.

Do all C++ applications need to perform overload of operators new and delete? Does failure to do so indicate a naïve presumption on the part of the programmer of goodness in the language facilities provided by your compiler?

(With apologies to Smiths fans) I've been using a technique I call Memory Parachutes for some time. I'm interested in (i) whether I've stolen the technique (& name) from someone else and forgotten, and (ii) what people think of it. It's a simple strategy to increase the chances of a safe-bail-out from low memory conditions

Having realized that I didn't get the essence of blogging, I resolve to post with greater regularity and with less guilt. Heaven help us all...

A light-hearted look at the similarities between the characteristics of Software Engineer and Cyclists

Career day wasn't as fun as it could've been.

C++ is too complex? Or just super-powerful? Or a confusing mix of both truths, not amenable to being tied down and categorised? There's an elephant wandering round the living room, and it's time someone offered it a chair. (Or a bun.)

Just an introduction to the blog and its author. Interests, approaches, current and future work, etc.

I am just starting to investigate Technorati. In order to verify the claim that I am the owner of this blog I have to publish a specific string in it. I couldn't bear to just post the string, so I ended up reflecting on blogging and coding in general. Apologies to William Shakespeare. This doesn't mean much.

My colleague Matthew Wilson made a post recently suggesting that overloading operator&() should be avoided. While I agree with much of what he says, I would like to suggest a valid use for overloading operator&() which enables writing safer code.

There are many different models of computation. Here's an uncommon one which could have relevance in the future.

I am working lately a lot on dynamic typing and functional programming in C++. I've recently hacked Kevlin Henney's cool boost::any type and introduced a variation, which allows referencing of values of any type without copying.

The hardest part of writing a book is discovering that you can't read it any more. That's when you get scared.