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August 29, 2008Aug 29, 200808/29/08Last time, we saw how
those extra bits can be used to multiplex HANDLE
with other values.
That was a specific case of a more general scenario:
Expanding the handle namespace to include things that aren’t handles.
(You can also view today’s example as a generalization of the
sentinel value problem,
August 28, 2008Aug 28, 200808/28/08During the NBC coverage of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the announcers more than once said that the teams will not be entering in the normal order, but rather in a random order based on the number of strokes in the team’s name as translated into Chinese.
August 28, 2008Aug 28, 200808/28/08Last time, we saw how
those extra bits can be used to develop safe sentinel values.
That is a special case of a more general problem:
How do you pack 33 bits of information into
a 32-bit value?
Whereas last time, we weren’t forced into the use of a sentinel value
because we could develop a (cumbersome) helper class and switch
people over to the helper class
(or to pass two parameters to every function that used to take one),
August 27, 2008Aug 27, 200808/27/08A little while back, I invited readers to describe what students are taught (or end up believing) are the greatest contributions of their country. Many people strayed from the “what students are taught” part of the exercise, but I didn’t mind too much as long as you were funny.
August 27, 2008Aug 27, 200808/27/08Kernel handles are always a multiple of four;
the bottom two bits are available for applications to use.
But why would an application need those bits anyway?
The short answer is extending the handle namespace.
The long answer will take a few days to play out.
August 26, 2008Aug 26, 200808/26/08Okay, so first there was the story about the planned DHS television series. And then there was the follow-up reporting that the whole thing was an investment scam and there was no such show after all. Following through on the story,
August 26, 2008Aug 26, 200808/26/08I’m particularly fascinated by Microspeak terms which nobody actually knows the meaning of. You can defend jargon by saying that it’s a shorthand way of talking in order to improve communication, but if nobody actually knows what it means, the in order to improve communication part is completely turned on its head.
August 25, 2008Aug 25, 200808/25/08I was in San Francisco this weekend for a wedding. The flower girl was the bride’s two-year-old niece, and when you add a two-year-old to the wedding party, you never know what’s going to happen, because two-year-olds don’t understand the world the same way adults do.
August 25, 2008Aug 25, 200808/25/08Commenter Travis Owens asks, “Why was the RAM drive removed from Windows 95?”
As with many of these types of accusatory questions, this comes with a false hidden assumption, in this case, that the RAM drive was in Windows 95 to begin with.
August 22, 2008Aug 22, 200808/22/08Last year, a friend of mine who lives out of state—let’s call her Lisa—wanted to pay her family in Seattle a surprise visit, and I was enlisted as an accomplice. (Specifically, my rôle was to pick her up from the airport and take her home.) Everything was going smoothly until she made the mistake of telling one of another out-of-state relative about her plans.
