Virtual functions are a great feature, but they have a rather severe limitation. They can only be implemented by extending the definition of all classes involved. A lot of operations on classes […]
Why don’t we have runtime virtual dispatching?
Everything can and will go wrong: all functions fail
In a dreamy programming utopia, functions behave correctly and nothing unexpected ever happens. In technical reality however even the most mundane of actions can suffer failures and errors. It’s a misguided notion […]
The exceptional myth of non-local flow
“Exceptions are bad because they introduce non-local flow into a program.” It’s an argument I’ve seen often and it even came up in the comments in my previous article. It’s nonsense though. […]
Messy error handling in Rust with `try!`
I just read the documentation for std::result in Rust. A friend had pointed it out and said it left a sour taste in his mouth, as it does mine. These are essentially […]
Adding the first type expression to Leaf: type_infer
I’ve added the ability to type a variable based on an expression. The type_infer type operator resolves to the type of the provided expression — a useful feature for parametrics. Though not […]
Defects allowed by imprecise access modifiers
I recently fixed a defect that I felt the compiler could have caught. Some initialization code was not being run as I was calling a protected function instead of the correct public […]
Robot journalist predicts programmers will be obsoleted
Am I, as a programmer, in danger of being obsoleted by a program of my own creation? A recent BBC article gives programmers an 8% chance of being automated, whereas an NPR […]
The curse of varargs
Unexpectedly I needed to add support for variable argument functions to Leaf long before I intended to. I just wanted to print out a value, but it turns out that the standard […]
Reusing existing test suites for new features
Redundancy is one of the biggest sources of problems on any project, especially in tests. Having an unmaintainable test suite is in nobody’s interest. Eliminating redundant code is one of those things […]
Calculating square root using Newton’s iterative method
I suddenly had a desire to calculate square roots. It’s been one of those things that just sits at the back of my mind lingering. I knew roughly that an iterative method […]
A real cost of low performing applications
The platform as a service model adds new importance to the performance of our software. Despite ever decreasing hardware costs, metered services make every bit count. My previous article on performance touched […]
You can’t trade privacy for security
The idea that one can give up privacy in exchange for security is misguided and dangerous. It’s a cliché peddled by politicians who either just don’t understand or are intentionally misleading the […]
Essential facts about floating point calculations
Floating point numbers are everywhere. It’s hard to find software that doesn’t use any. For something so essential to writing software you’d think we take great care in working with them. But […]
Be a good mentor, not a dickhead
I’ve worked with a lot of people of varying skill levels, from superstar programmers to not-sure-how-they-got-the-job types. Integrating and working with new people is always a daunting task. For great people, it’s […]
