July 2005 | The Old New Thing

Does Windows have a limit of 2000 threads per process?

Raymond ChenJuly 29, 2005Jul 29, 200507/29/05

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 ChenJuly 28, 2005Jul 28, 200507/28/05

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 ChenJuly 27, 2005Jul 27, 200507/27/05

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 ChenJuly 26, 2005Jul 26, 200507/26/05

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 ChenJuly 25, 2005Jul 25, 200507/25/05

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 ChenJuly 25, 2005Jul 25, 200507/25/05

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 ChenJuly 22, 2005Jul 22, 200507/22/05

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 ChenJuly 22, 2005Jul 22, 200507/22/05

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 ChenJuly 21, 2005Jul 21, 200507/21/05

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...

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