The Old New Thing

Using fibers to simplify enumerators, part 5: Composition

January 4, 2005 Jan 4, 2005 01/4/05
Raymond Chen
Another type of higher-order enumeration is composition, where one enumerator actually combines the results of multiple enumerators. (Everybody knows about derivation, but composition is another powerful concept in object-oriented programming. We've seen it before when building context menus.) In a producer-driven enumerator, you would ...

Using fibers to simplify enumerators, part 4: Filtering

January 3, 2005 Jan 3, 2005 01/3/05
Raymond Chen
One type of higher-order enumeration is filtering, where one enumerator takes the output of another enumerator and removes some elements. In a producer-driven enumerator, you would implement filtering by substituting a new callback function that responds to callbacks on behalf of the client for items that should be filtered, and forwarding ...

Using fibers to simplify enumerators, part 3: Having it both ways

December 31, 2004 Dec 31, 2004 12/31/04
Raymond Chen
As we discovered in the previous two entries [second], the problem with enumeration is that somebody always loses. Now we will use fibers to fight back. Before you decide to use fibers in your programs, make sure to read the dire warnings at the end of this article. My goal here is to show one use of fibers, not to say that fibers are the ...

Computing the size of a directory is more than just adding file sizes

December 28, 2004 Dec 28, 2004 12/28/04
Raymond Chen
One might think that computing the size of a directory would be a simple matter of adding up the sizes of all the files in it. Oh if it were only that simple. There are many things that make computing the size of a directory difficult, some of which even throw into doubt the even existence of the concept "size of a directory". Reparse ...

Alton Brown book tour 2005: I’m Just Here for More Food

December 27, 2004 Dec 27, 2004 12/27/04
Raymond Chen
Alton Brown, geek cooking hero and Bon Appetit Magazine Cooking Teacher of the Year 2004 will be spending January 2005 promoting his latest book, Food × Mixing + Heat = Baking (I'm Just Here for More Food), sequel to his award-winning debut cookbook Food + Heat = Cooking (I'm Just Here for the Food). ...

You can create an infinitely recursive directory tree

December 27, 2004 Dec 27, 2004 12/27/04
Raymond Chen
It is possible to create an infinitely recursive directory tree. This throws many recursive directory-traversal functions into disarray. Here's how you do it. (Note: Requires NTFS.) Create a directory in the root of your C: drive, call it C:\C, for lack of a more creative name. Right-click My Computer and select Manage. click on the Disk ...

Why does the system convert TEMP to a short file name?

December 24, 2004 Dec 24, 2004 12/24/04
Raymond Chen
When you set environment variables with the System control panel, the and variables are silently converted to their short file name equivalents (if possible). Why is that? For compatibility, of course. It is very common for batch files to assume that the paths referred to by the and environment variables do not contain any embedded ...