The Old New Thing

This Game Boy won’t hurt a bit, just help the Powerpuff Girls count backwards from ten

Is there nothing a Game Boy can't do? We already learned that it can be played like a musical instrument. Now we discover that letting children play with a Game Boy before surgery is more effective than tranquilizers or a parent's hand at keeping them calm. You know when you go to the dentist and she asks you, "What flavor fluoride rinse ...

The hunt for a faster syscall trap

The performance of the syscall trap gets a lot of attention. I was reminded of a meeting that took place between Intel and Microsoft over fifteen years ago. (Sadly, I was not myself at this meeting, so the story is second-hand.) Since Microsoft is one of Intel's biggest customers, their representatives often visit Microsoft to show off ...