Articles by WebBiscuit (Articles: 2, Technical Blogs: 8, Tip/Trick: 1)

An article exploring the Strategy Pattern as part of the Design Patterns series. We look at an example using MD5/SHA256 hashing algorithms for strings.

The second part in WebBiscuit's design pattern series, this one examining the factory pattern. We look at an example of coping with ever-changing requirements by programming to interfaces and allowing the factory pattern to decide on the implementation.

A hidden danger of wrapping using RAII rears its head when we start copying the object around. Let's look at why and what we can do.

So far we have concentrated on the 'AII!' part of RAII, so now let's look at the important bit, the R, the Resource.

Looking at a simple MIDI handle wrapping class

Well, I was looking for a Base64 library recently, and I thought, "I know, I bet it is in Boost, I have Boost, and Boost has EVERYTHING." And it turns out that it does! Kind of. But it's a bit odd and sadly incomplete.

Microsoft has violated the holy rules of COM and broken their msado15.dll. The violation occurs after the installation of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (version 6.1.7601.17514).

The macro journey begins here, moving a function from a header file into its source file. The first problem presents itself as this: how can I get at the source file from the header file? I have never known why this functionality has not been present in Visual Studio, perhaps it is harder than it.

An introduction to three VC++ Macros: How they came to be

From the header declaration, this macro opens up the .cpp file and creates the skeleton so you can begin to add the implementation. This makes adding functions a breeze, so now there really is no excuse for having horribly unfactored code.

There is also InterlockedExchange (or your operating system's equivalent).long a = 1;long b = 2;b = InterlockedExchange(&a, b);