|
Top Articles
You Should Learn Objective C
[2012-01-06] You should learn Objective C. Why? Sure, the program language itself has some pretty nifty quirks, but from an objective point of view, the language offers nothing out of the extraordinary or ground breaking as far as programming languages go. Many programmers, however, have reported a somewhat easy transition from C or C++ to Objective C. Although not a prerequisite, having a solid understanding of object oriented programming eases the transition. So what are the reasons you should be learning Objective C?
Oh GCC, Where Art Though?
[2011-12-08] Recently through the course of my work, I have had the opportunity to reformat and reinstall several different systems with different Linux distributions. Once installed, I would then begin installing other packages and programs necessary for the system to fulfill its purpose. It was through these installations that I found one common factor between each distro I have installed. None of them come by default with the extremely popular C compiler, GCC.
New C++ Standard, New Focus
[2011-11-01] Now that the new version of C++, C++11 is out in the wild as an ISO C++ Standard, there's a renewed focus on getting applications, tools, and books up to date with the new standard. The leaders of the ISO Committee have weighed in on the latest versions of the language. There's Herb Sutter writing about C++11, there's Bjarne Stroustrup's C++11 FAQ, and the upcoming C++Now! conference that's going to be held in Aspen Colorado. Clang is racing to get C++11 support into the stable release of the compiler, and GCC is humming along nicely with it as is Microsoft's Visual C++. Instead of write about any specific things, I would lend my opinion on what needs to be the new focus not for C++11 the language, but the supporting toolchains surrounding this new language - and the version that's coming after this one.
Dennis Ritchie, Creator Of C And Co-creator of Unix, Dies At 70
[2011-10-20] Ritchie is best remembered for developing the C programming language and countless programming mainstays such as the simple "hello, world" program that is used in just about every programming textbook made since.
Wall Street Programmers
[2011-09-29] Wall Street's crew of programmers for high-frequency trading (HFT) software are the top of the food chain among C programmers. What exactly does it take to be a Wall Street programmer? Is C going to continue to be the language of choice? Let's find out.
Minus the Header-Only Dogma
[2011-08-30] I've been working on the C++ Network Library for a few years already total but have been on-and-off with it until recently. One of the first decisions that I made in implementing the library was to try and do a header-only approach to implementing a network library implementation. At first it made perfect sense - you get the compiler to optimize as much of the code as it can while being able to expose a very friendly and expressive interface. When it was merely a handful of header files and there was just the notion of a message and the HTTP client, all was fine. I was perfectly happy showing off really simple but powerful use-cases where you'd want a C++ application to be able to make HTTP calls and get the contents without having any knowledge of how networks worked or how to program sockets on either Windows or UNIX-like systems. Until I got ambitious and it became a real project that people wanted to use - then reality became real.
C++0x Is Official: Unanimously
[2011-08-15] Herb Sutter, one of the rock stars of the C++ development world has posted his thoughts and shares with the world that C++0x has been approved unanimously as an International Standard. From his post:
Traditional Programming Language Job Trends
[2011-08-04] Once again, it is time for the job trends for traditional programming languages. Just like the last update, we are only looking at Java, C++, C#, Objective C, Perl and Visual Basic. I know people will complain about some other language not being included or whether "traditional" is bad terminology, but this is what I have for now. Without further ado, let's look at the trends.
What You’ve Missed With C++: 2011 So Far
[2011-07-13] The past few months have been a jam-packed with a few developments in terms of C++. Not only did C++0x get the almost unanimous nod of the industry to be good enough to be called C++11 but there's also a few stories that have come out that need some attention too. There was the Google findings which show that C++ is by far the best performing programming language (if you have enough programmers that know the language well enough to wield it proficiently) and C++ AMP which aims to bring massively parallel C++ programming closer to the mainstream by Microsoft. Also, last May BoostCon 2011 was held with a pretty good lineup of talks that Boost users would be most appreciative of. It seems like 2011 is the year that C++ dusts off its boots and starts marching on again to the top of the programming language hill. Or is it?
Computer Software Engineers Expected to Increase 32%, With a Caveat
[2011-07-01] The US Department of Labor's recent publication of the Occupation Outlook Handbook, 2010-11 Edition, outlines the changing work environment we live in. The great news for programmers is that their share of employment is expected to increase by 32% between 2008-2018. Yet, those who get the higher paying jobs will need a few features in their bag.
Another Decade of C++: New C++0x Standard and Google Benchmarking
[2011-06-13] "The world is built on C++," says Herb Sutter. For the nearly 30 years since its release it has been the "atom" of the computing world. Numerous applications rely on it: Google Chrome, various Adobe programs, nearly all Windows OS's and software, Firefox, Thunderbird, MySQL, and more. A recent benchmarking test by Google is just one example of the firm basis the new C++0x standard to build on.
iOS Demand May Put Objective-C in the Spotlight
[2011-05-20] One of the most popular trends among programmers is the iOS platform. The onset of Apple's fleet of mobile devices combined with their high demand has created a huge demand for Objective-C programmers. The "underdog" status of Objective-C compared to other C variants may change.
cpp-netlib 0.9.0 Released!
[2011-04-28] After the one-week beta period for the 0.9.0 release, I'm happy to announce that the official 0.9.0 release is now available for general availability at the Github project downloads page. This 0.9.0 release is the first version of the library to be submitted for review to the Boost C++ Library project. Most changes that happened from the beta to the official release involve adding debugging information to critical parts of the server and client implementations as well as documentation and Boost.Build system updates.
cpp-netlib 0.9-beta Out Now!
[2011-04-14] After months and months of delays, finally the 0.9-beta version of The C++ Network Library project is out now. The beta period will take a full week before an official release is made available for general availability. The 0.9 release will be the version that gets submitted for review to the Boost C++ Library project.
C++0x will be C++ 2011
[2011-03-31] As you might already have heard from other places and read from other sources, the ISO C++ committee has now finally voted to publish the current Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) for the language referred to affectionately as C++0x.
Free/Delete Not Returning Memory To OS?
[2011-03-17] As I do keep tabs on what's going on with C++ around the web, I chanced upon this short and succinct article about ‘free' and ‘delete' not returning memory to the OS from Thought Garage which starts with:
Broken C++: Old Compilers
[2011-03-03] Up until recently I've only had to deal with standard-compliant C++. I've pretty much enjoyed writing C++ code that abides by an accepted and well-defined standard. This means I have been for the most part using most of the standard features of the Standard Template Library. That changed most recently when I had to deal older versions of compilers which did not support standard C++, and thus I felt the pain that most others have had to deal with a while back.
Green Computing with C++
[2011-02-17] Have you heard of green computing? It's basically the concept of lowering the energy requirements of computers in order to reduce the carbon footprint of datacenter operations and desktop/mobile applications. The idea is that since computers already suck out a lot of juice from the power grid around the world, at least we should be able to reduce the amount of heat that the computers generate to save on the costs of cooling the machines in data centers.
How To Wield C++ In An Effective Manner
[2011-02-03] There is a largely unspoken understanding between/among C++ developers that goes a little something like this: "any sufficiently complex problem can be solved by working with the appropriate abstractions". This is not a hard/fast rule but it's something that the senior C++ guys understand and internalize from an engineering perspective...
Why Generic C Programming Has Not Taken Off
[2011-01-21] I thought about the subject a little more and tried to look into myself and what was stopping me from learning generic programming earlier in my C++ programming experience. One recent interview I had still sold C++ as an Object Oriented Programming language, which was surprising to me because it was only half-true. I knew better than trying to correct the interviewer, but that's a different thing. After a little introspection, here are a few reasons why I think GP has had a hard time getting into the mainstream.
Writing a C Makefile
[2010-12-30] There are a few things that you as a programmer can do to simplify your coding experience. You can use an integrated development environment (IDE). There are several free IDEs out there that do a surprisingly good job consolidating all the aspects of coding and simplifying them to the point of brain-numbing monotony. That's not the way I like to code. I prefer to do my coding in vim, plain and simple. So when it comes to managing a large programming project, I need a way to make sure that all of my files are up to date when I compile. I accomplish this through the use of a Makefile.
Aculab Simplifies C Programming
[2010-12-16] When Aculab introduced its AMS Server a few months ago, it intuitively knew that the ability to create telephony-based applications in less time-and for less money-would be a concept that would be readily embraced by various developer communities.
Aculab Simplifies C Programming
[2010-12-16] When Aculab introduced its AMS Server a few months ago, it intuitively knew that the ability to create telephony-based applications in less time-and for less money-would be a concept that would be readily embraced by various developer communities.
Writing a Quality Function Driver
[2010-12-02] After my last article on writing stubs, I figured I would follow up with how to write function drivers. Where stubs are miniature functions used to test your main code, a driver is a miniature main code to test your functions. Knowing how to write an effective driver is a key tool in producing valuable functions.
Writing a Quality Stub Method
[2010-11-18] When writing a program of any size, it is always a good idea to write incrementally. What I mean is that you want to write one piece of code and test it till you work out all the bugs. Then once it works the way it's supposed to, you add more code to it and test that section. Continuing in this fashion will eventually get you a complete program with minimum bugs in it.
|
