Desktop Programming

Desktop programming related articles not related to .NET (Java, Python, Ruby etc)

Java Doesn’t Need A Rewrite It Needs Hardening

So we have all seen the almost daily reports of zero-day bugs creeping into Java's platform recently. Many out there have said things like "Oracle has dropped the ball" and others have made calls for a massive rewrite of the way Java works. I understand that this recent flood of exploits have caused many of you concerns, I think the future of Java is getting brighter. I don't think Java ...

Help Wanted: Developers Who Are Also Janitors

Once, long ago, I use to be a janitor cleaning up after executives in office buildings as I put myself through school. At the time I would be sweeping the floors as I saw some of those workers crunching through their spreadsheets late at night getting ready for their presentations the next day. One guy I saw did a lot of print shop type of stuff, graphic work, troubleshooting etc ...

A Review of Two Python Books

In today's blog post I am going to review two books on Python. I decided to do two because both of these books are essentially reference books from the Developer's Library series by Addison Wesley publishing. The first book I will be reviewing is titled "Python Essential Reference, Fourth Edition" by David M. Beazley. It is a bit of an oldie (2009) but I think is a great reference book ...

Transforming Shapes With Java AffineTransform

You, a retro gamer, are on a new quest to bring back a classic arcade hit to a whole new generation of space faring digital cosmonauts. But it is dangerous out there and you need to show these rookies the dangers of journeying their ships alone in the vastness of space. So you want to create your own game of Asteroids. For those unfamiliar with this game, and I can't ...

Can Tools Make Coding Too Easy?

I caught a wonderful article on Dzone today by Jonas Gauffin titled "How Resharper rocks my average work day". In this article Jonas talks about a tool he uses regularly called "Resharper" that makes common tasks a bit more automated when coding in C#. This article reminded me that we are continuously developing better and better tools that help us write code. But is there a point where we are ...

The Comma Operator in C++

When we think of the comma character we often think of it as a separator. It separates values in an CSV file, it separates items in lists, it may separate index values in multidimensional arrays (in other languages) and more. But in C++ an obscure way of using them was as an operator. The reason it never made it big as an operator and into the typical programming psyche is ...