Here is a highly simplified but hopefully relevant view of what happens when you build your code in C++. C++ splits the load of generating machine executable code in following different phases – Preprocessing – This is where any macros – #defines etc you might be using get expanded. Compiling – Each cpp file along … Read more
Unit test: Specify and test one point of the contract of single method of a class. This should have a very narrow and well defined scope. Complex dependencies and interactions to the outside world are stubbed or mocked. Integration test: Test the correct inter-operation of multiple subsystems. There is whole spectrum there, from testing integration … Read more
An interface is one of the more overloaded and confusing terms in development. It is actually a concept of abstraction and encapsulation. For a given “box”, it declares the “inputs” and “outputs” of that box. In the world of software, that usually means the operations that can be invoked on the box (along with arguments) … Read more
REST is the underlying architectural principle of the web. The amazing thing about the web is the fact that clients (browsers) and servers can interact in complex ways without the client knowing anything beforehand about the server and the resources it hosts. The key constraint is that the server and client must both agree on … Read more
Those are old K&R style function parameter declarations, declaring the types of the parameters separately: int func(a, b, c) int a; int b; int c; { return a + b + c; } This is the same as the more modern way to declare function parameters: int func(int a, int b, int c) { return … Read more
IB: Implementation-defined Behaviour. The standard leaves it up to the particular compiler/platform to define the precise behaviour, but requires that it be defined. Using implementation-defined behaviour can be useful, but makes your code less portable. UB: Undefined Behaviour. The standard does not specify how a program invoking undefined behaviour should behave. Also known as “nasal … Read more
This is a good article about the subject. To summarize, Managed code is not compiled to machine code but to an intermediate language which is interpreted and executed by some service on a machine and is therefore operating within a (hopefully!) secure framework which handles dangerous things like memory and threads for you. In modern … Read more
A Y-combinator is a “functional” (a function that operates on other functions) that enables recursion, when you can’t refer to the function from within itself. In computer-science theory, it generalizes recursion, abstracting its implementation, and thereby separating it from the actual work of the function in question. The benefit of not needing a compile-time name … Read more
Eric Lippert has a nice blog post entitled What is this thing you call “thread safe”? about the definition of thread safety as found of Wikipedia. 3 important things extracted from the links : “A piece of code is thread-safe if it functions correctly during simultaneous execution by multiple threads.” “In particular, it must satisfy … Read more
Asynchronous JavaScript And Xml. A technique for achieving bi-directional, script-driven communications between Web browsers and servers via HTTP. See also: definition on Wikipedia AJAX Introduction on w3schools Ajax Workshop 1 on Ajax Lessons Edit: As pointed out by Nosredna, JSON is often used in place of XML.