/* Rambling comments... */

Major Vista Overlapped I/O change Posted by Len at 18 Feb 2008 08:17 AM
I'm still reading the Richter book, highly recommended even if you've read one of the earlier versions. In fact it's possibly MORE highly recommended IF you've read one of the earlier versions... It seems that lots of things have changed...

Currently Reading: Windows via C/C++ Posted by Len at 11 Feb 2008 08:33 AM
I've just picked up a copy of Windows Via C/C++ (PRO-Developer) by Jeffrey Richter and Christophe Nasarre. This is 'version 5' of the book that started out as Advanced Windows NT (Advanced Windows). The book has been updated for Windows...

Currently reading: Excel add-in development in C/C++ Posted by Len at 9 Jan 2008 09:57 AM
As I mentioned a while back, I'm writing a managed XLL style add-in system for Excel for one of my clients at the moment. This is going pretty well, most of the custom marshalling code is now done and we...

Charles Petzold on why he loves books Posted by Len at 19 Jan 2006 08:01 AM
Charles Petzold confesses his love for books. I must admit this bit really hit home for me: "I love how my books remind me of passages in my life. I love the shelves of authors I've been obsessed with, and...

Book review: Rootkits by Hoglund and Butler Posted by Len at 28 Sep 2005 08:27 AM
I've just finished reading Rootkits: Subverting the Windows Kernel. Overall I enjoyed it but I'm in two minds about its usefulness......

Rootkits Posted by Len at 15 Sep 2005 08:29 AM
Just saw a mini review of Rootkits: Subverting the Windows Kernel over on Ted Neward's blog. Looks like the perfect follow up to Undocumented Windows 2000 Secrets as I continue my slow progress towards being able to write Windows device...

Undocumented Windows 2000 Secrets Posted by Len at 24 Aug 2005 08:57 AM
Just finished reading Undocumented Windows 2000 Secrets: A Programmer's Cookbook by Sven B. Schreiber. Well, I say reading, it was really just a first pass through the book. The text and code spends more time in kernel mode than user...

Currently reading Posted by Len at 1 Jul 2005 10:59 AM
Just before I dive back into my other project, the one I don't talk about, I thought I'd post a short note about the pile of books that I'm currently reading......

Currently Reading Posted by Len at 10 Oct 2004 09:28 PM
I've been reading mostly fiction recently. I'd kinda stopped reading anything non-technical for far too long; there was always some new techie book to read, but there always will be... I used to read masses of fiction, mostly SF and fantasy stuff; but recently I'd only read fiction when on holiday, and then only as a backup to the techie stuff I had with me... That changed, on holiday, when I read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. I loved it, bought the other three that he'd done and read those back to back. Angels and Demons was, IMHO, almost as good, Digital Fortress sucked (in the way that books that are about things that you have an understanding of, but that don't do the subject justice suck), Deception Point was OK but by that point I was starting to see the formula too much and the books were less interesting. I enjoyed Close to the Machine: Technophilia and Its Discontents by Ellen Ullman, though the "I'm getting old, I'm losing it, I don't even load all of the MSDN disks anymore" thing hit close to home ;) I enjoyed Zodiac, by Neal Stephenson and To Ride Hell's Chasm by Janny Wurts, but then I've been a long time fan of hers. The latest book was The Magicians' Guild (Black Magician Trilogy) by Trudi Canavan, which was pretty good fantasy; good enough for me to buy the second in the series... Stepping back to reality, if this techie world in which I live can be called reality, I'm reading Hacking the XBOX: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering, which is an interesting looking book about hardware hacking, full of hints and tips on soldering and stuff ;) I've got several hardcore C++ books on order and I'm currently trying to work out which books I should take on The Trip, but more on that later.

Mythical Man Month Posted by Len at 20 May 2004 09:22 PM
I finished re-reading the Mythical Man Month today. It was a good read, and, just as when I read it just after the 20th anniversary edition came out, still very relevant to software development today. I found Brooks' enthusiasm and attitude to be quite compelling; it's so obvious that he loves his work. This quote from the epilogue sums it up and reminds me not to be so grouchy; "To only a fraction of the human race does God give the privilege of earning one's bread doing what one would have gladly pursued free, for passion. I am very thankful." Me too. One thing that struck me is that, whilst in general I agree with the central theme of No Silver Bullet, I think perhaps there are serious gains that can be made in many corporate programming shops just by removing all the unnecessary bureaucratic obstacles that they seem to delight in putting in the way of their programmers... Perhaps the corporates do have a silver bullet out there...

More than 20 years on and still as much to say Posted by Len at 9 May 2004 06:25 PM
I'm currently re-reading The Mythical Man Month 20th Aniversay Edition and I've just finished watching Apocolypse Now Redux. Both seem to have as much to say now about their respective subjects as they did in the day. Brooks' treatment of...

Currently reading Posted by Len at 22 Jul 2003 09:24 PM
Agile Software Development - Principles, Patterns, and Practices by Robert C. Martin This book is physically heavier than most of the books I've been reading lately but I'm still carrying it to work even though I only get around 5...

Waltzing with Bears Posted by Len at 7 Jul 2003 07:27 AM
Finally finished reading Waltzing with Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects and it was well worth the read....

Test-Driven Development (By Example) - Kent Beck Posted by Len at 27 May 2003 07:57 AM
Kent Beck demonstrates the testing side of XP by separating it out into its own simple methodology. Test-Driven Development is exactly what it says it is. The entire design and development effort is driven by the tests that you write...

Slack - Tom DeMarco Posted by Len at 23 May 2003 07:12 AM
I've always been a fan of DeMarco's work. I tend to nod my head and agree as I read, and wish that all the software development managers that I work with would read his books. Slack is an excellent analysis of the problems plaguing large corporations' software development efforts.

Currently reading... Posted by Len at 3 May 2003 03:05 PM
Updated: 23-May-2003 Questioning Extreme Programming by Pete McBreen A useful analysis of the claims that the XP community makes and comparisons between the XP way and other Agile Methodologies. I'm currently about half way through and so far it seems...