July 2005

Does Windows have a limit of 2000 threads per process?

Raymond Chen July 29, 2005 Jul 29, 2005 07/29/05

Often I see people asking why they can't create more than around 2000 threads in a process. The reason is not that there is any particular limit inherent in Windows. Rather, the programmer failed to take into account the amount of address space each thread uses. A thread consists of some memory in kernel mode (kernel stacks and object ...

What is this “web site” thing you are talking about?

Raymond Chen July 28, 2005 Jul 28, 2005 07/28/05

One reaction I've seen when people learn about all the compatibility work done in the Windows 95 kernel is to say, Why not add code to the installer wizard [alas, page is now 404] which checks to see if you're installing SimCity and, if so, informs you of a known design flaw, then asks you to visit Electronic Arts' webpage for a patch...

When the normal window destruction messages are thrown for a loop

Raymond Chen July 27, 2005 Jul 27, 2005 07/27/05

Last time, I alluded to weirdness that can result in the normal cycle of destruction messages being thrown out of kilter. Commenter Adrian noted that the WM_GETMINMAXINFO message arrives before WM_NCCREATE for top-level windows. This is indeed unfortunate but (mistake or not) it's been that way for over a decade and changing it now would ...

What is the difference between WM_DESTROY and WM_NCDESTROY?

Raymond Chen July 26, 2005 Jul 26, 2005 07/26/05

There are two window messages closely-associated with window destruction, the WM_DESTROY message and the WM_NCDESTROY message. What's the difference? The difference is that the WM_DESTROY message is sent at the start of the window destruction sequence, whereas the WM_NCDESTROY message is sent at the end. This is an important distinction ...

Dinner at the Herbfarm in Woodinville

Raymond Chen July 25, 2005 Jul 25, 2005 07/25/05

As part of the going-away festivities for my friend, a group of us went to The Herbfarm, the local restaurant referenced in Clue I of Puzzle #3. The restaurant is nestled in the Sammamish Valley, right next to the Willows Lodge resort and its restaurant, The Barking Frog. Less than a kilometer down the road is the Chateau Ste. ...

On paying for your meal upon leaving a restaurant

Raymond Chen July 25, 2005 Jul 25, 2005 07/25/05

Robert Scoble's embarrassment over forgetting to pay a restaurant bill reminds me of an even more embarrassing incident experienced by a component team from the Windows 95 team. To celebrate something or other, their team went to lunch at The Salish Lodge, a fine dining establishment. At the end of the meal, everybody thought somebody...

Marin Alsop to be music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Raymond Chen July 22, 2005 Jul 22, 2005 07/22/05

Marin Alsop has been selected to lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The development has gotten a lot of attention, presumably, because this makes Maestra Alsop (as she prefers to be called) the first woman to be named music director of a major U.S. orchestra. I saw her perform in Seattle earlier this year and thought she did a fine job. ...

The importance of passing the WT_EXECUTELONGFUNCTION flag to QueueUserWorkItem

Raymond Chen July 22, 2005 Jul 22, 2005 07/22/05

One of the flags to the QueueUserWorkItem function is WT_EXECUTELONGFUNCTION. The documentation for that flag reads The callback function can perform a long wait. This flag helps the system to decide if it should create a new thread. As noted in the documentation, the thread pool uses this flag to decide whether it should create a new ...

News flash: Going for a walk on a nice day makes you feel better

Raymond Chen July 21, 2005 Jul 21, 2005 07/21/05

Scientists continue to amaze us with their research breakthroughs, such as a discovery late last year that going for a walk on a nice day makes you feel better. What would we do without science...

FindFirstFile is not a SQL query

Raymond Chen July 21, 2005 Jul 21, 2005 07/21/05

The FindFirstFile function is not a SQL query. It's a very simple directory enumerator. There is a slightly fancier version called FindFirstFileEx, but even that function doesn't add much at present beyond filtering for directories or devices. You don't get to pass it sort criteria like or "return the files/directories sorted smallest file...

The Old New Thing

July 2005 - The Old New Thing