Menasoft Menasoft Menasoft Menasoft Menasoft
Menasoft
Menasoft

November 21, 2006

Things to worry about…

This is a fun topic i just had to write something about. I was listening to the radio today and heard the host (Clark Howard) say I should worry about “computer addiction”. He named a bunch of warning signs and introspective questions we should each ask ourselves to see if maybe we have a problem with our use of computers. Computer addiction I was told can have all sorts of bad consequences and many people are effected by it and don’t even realize it. After confirming that I have 9 out of the 10 watch signs of this dread condition, I promptly decided to ignore it. I’m more or less happy with my use of the computer.

The real point I took from this radio show was how often I hear such warnings. Every day there seems to be some new things I should worry about. Every single one of them is VERY important. The world is just full of scaremongers. Are these people really just attention starved? They realize that scaring people is a way to be heard? So often I hear people under 30 talking about how things are “nowadays”. hehe. The world is plenty scary without inventing silly things to worry about. I figure if i have a better chance of winning the lottery than being effected by X, then its not worth worrying about. You know anyone who has won the lottery?

Anyhow, I started thinking about all the things I’ve been told I should worry about:

(more…)

Filed under: Philosophic — admin @ 1:28 pm

June 28, 2006

Windows Kernel Mode – Who writes code in C anymore?

I’ve recently been working on some windows driver code amoung the many other things on my list. Oddly most of the sample code I find is in C. I began writing kernel mode (driver) code in C++ back in 1996 in VxD’s. Back then I was asking the same questions. Whats wrong with C++? It appeared to me at the time to be just another of the religious issues that programmers have to deal with on a regular basis. This of course makes me want to dig deeper.
(more…)

Filed under: Philosophic,Research — admin @ 5:05 pm

May 3, 2006

What qualities do you look for in an interview?

If you have had the role of hiring manager, you already know that hiring good people is a really difficult job. It’s one of the more difficult problems you will ever have. The issue with hiring someone is almost anyone can lie effectively on an interview that lasts an hour or two. What is learned in this interview may not be a good prediction of exactly how they will act on the job.

After hearing many of the things people look for in an interview, and being on both sides of the interview process enough times, I’ve put together my mental list of things to look for in a candidate. These are not listed in order of importance because importance depends on the actual role. Some qualities are more important in some jobs than others. I’ll get to that next …

(more…)

Filed under: Philosophic — admin @ 8:09 am

April 27, 2006

Why MSDN publishes more Managed Code than Native Code Information

This was a response to a response to a post on MSDN. But it was still interesting. The original thread is at:
Tom Archers Blog. His explanation was interesting, though too political for my taste. Anyhow here’s my rant/response…

(more…)

Filed under: Philosophic — admin @ 4:14 pm

April 14, 2006

Enforced coherent coding standards

I could go on all day about this one. I just had to start a thread on it. There is a proliferation of poor code in the world. I’ve recently had opportunity to see some potentially horrendous examples of code used in actual commercial products. (no names will be mentioned).

There are of course many ideas about how strictly managers should enforce coding standards. One extreme is that style is just a matter of taste and nothing matters except testable results. i.e. If the code passes unit tests and functional tests, then that’s good code.

Needless to say I disagree… I think style = maintainability. One day the person that created this code will be gone. Someone else will inherit it. The faster that person can look at and understand the flow of that code the better.

Here are some things I’ve seen in code I’ve inherited:

(more…)

Filed under: Philosophic — admin @ 3:49 pm

How well do you know C++ ?

I found this a fun subject from a very old article. The August 97 issue of Dr. Dobbs Journal has an article that discusses tips for interviewing C++ programmer candidates. We all want to show off how smart we are don’t we? We have all heard some of these trick questions in interviews. Usually I think it has more to do with the interviewer trying to show off how smart they are. hehe. but they are still interesting.
(more…)

Filed under: Philosophic — admin @ 3:44 pm

Legal notice regarding software produced by Menasoft

This really should be obvious but I will state it anyhow.

Any software downloaded from this site is to be considered shareware and is for educational purposes. Any of it may be distributed and executed free of charge if all of the included files remain unchanged and you make no profits from it. If there is profit to be made I see no reason why I should not be included (hehe).

Warning: Most of the software found here is BETA at best. I can’t be held responsible for possible damages. Use at your own risk. It is not guaranteed to be suitable for any purpose. blah. blah. blah.
That was simple now wasn’t it.

Filed under: Philosophic — admin @ 10:37 am

Menasoft