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Welcome to Software Development on Codidact!

Will you help us build our independent community of developers helping developers? We're small and trying to grow. We welcome questions about all aspects of software development, from design to code to QA and more. Got questions? Got answers? Got code you'd like someone to review? Please join us.

Posts by Olin Lathrop‭

23 posts
84%
+9 −0
Q&A Should I check if pointer parameters are null pointers?

As with most everything in engineering, how much call arguments to a subroutine should be validated is a tradeoff. There is no single universal right answer. Note that checking for null pointers ...

posted 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
83%
+8 −0
Q&A How to set text-align for whole column of HTML table?

To start off, here is the complete HTML of a simple example table: <html lang="en-US"> <head> <title>Title</title> <style> table { width: 20em; ...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Alexei‭

83%
+8 −0
Q&A How to proportionally convert a number in the range of -1 and 1 to a number in the range of 0 and 319

You want to scale from one linear range to another. That can always be done with     y = mx + b where X is the input value and Y the output value. M is the scale factor, and B the offset. You ...

posted 1y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
81%
+7 −0
Q&A What are disadvantages of static functions (ie functions with internal linkage) in C?

There is basically only one reason not to use static functions in C, as opposed to functions with global scope. That's if you want to access the function from outside the module. Otherwise, if th...

posted 9mo ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 9mo ago by Lover of Structure‭

Answer
81%
+7 −0
Q&A Behavior of Pointer Arithmetic on the Stack

I'm able to access a, since b is below a on the stack. No, it's not! You have no guarantee in what order the compiler allocates temporary variables on the stack, and even whether it does so at al...

posted 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
77%
+5 −0
Q&A Why object-oriented instead of class-oriented?

Object and Class aren't necessarily the same thing. Back in the 1980's when object oriented programming started to be talked about by practicing software engineers writing real production code, th...

posted 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 2y ago by Canina‭

Answer
77%
+5 −0
Meta Are questions about language design on-topic?

This is a good question. It depends on how much this site is about getting language X to do Y versus the higher level concepts of software design and computer science that should largely transcend...

posted 1y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
76%
+11 −2
Meta Should we allow answers generated by ChatGPT?

Now that we've had a few of these answers, I really don't like them. It seems there are three separate problems with the ChatGPT answers we have seen: Quote-only. Just like we don't allow link-o...

posted 1y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
75%
+7 −1
Meta Importing Selected Q&A?

Just mass-importing from elsewhere is generally bad. Look at the mess this has made of the Outdoors and Scientific Speculation sites, for example. Bringing over your own content is a bit different...

posted 3y ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
75%
+4 −0
Q&A Interpreted language: What is its benefit for being written in that way ?

Some additional advantages of interpreted languages: Interpreted programs are basically scripts run by the interpreter. The interpreter can be embedded into other applications that want to provid...

posted 3y ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
75%
+10 −2
Q&A Conditionally ignore files in git

I'm not familiar with Latex, but it seems the PDFs are generated from the Latex files. It then seems the real problem is that you are trying to keep source and objects derived from that source in ...

posted 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
71%
+3 −0
Q&A Explaining the result of an arithmetic expression in JavaScript

Now, (x != 42) which is false yields 0 OK so far. so I have expected to get in console "-42" No. As you say, the expression evolves: (x == 42) * -1 + (x != 42) * x (1) * -1 + (0) * x...

posted 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
71%
+3 −0
Q&A memcmp(3) memory containing invalid values

MEMCMP simply compares the memory bits between two locations. This has nothing to do with whatever those bits might mean. Your first example, on the other hand, compares the contents of variable ...

posted 1y ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 1y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
66%
+2 −0
Code Reviews Measuring arithmetic overflow checking overhead in C#

Most general purpose computing operating systems can't be counted on for accurate timing as short at 1 to 2 ms. Any test case should run for a few seconds at least. Those runs should then be repe...

posted 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
66%
+2 −0
Meta Deciding if a concept can be materialized to a tag

The sole purpose of tags should be to help classify posts into what they are roughly about. Being able to easily get the broad topic of posts is obviously useful in searches, but may also be usefu...

posted 1y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
62%
+3 −1
Q&A C naming convention, module trigrams?

Personally, I don't like the first form (initCanDriver) at all. The routine name is supposed to present some information as to where/how the routine fits into the larger software world. Informati...

posted 1y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
62%
+8 −4
Meta Questions easily answered by studying a beginner-level book

Downvote them for now. If it becomes a common problem, then create a close reason of no-research, and close them. Such questions should not be "answered" in comments. First, comments aren't for ...

posted 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
58%
+5 −3
Q&A Why is it considered bad practice to use float for representing currency?

I see that Klutt has explained why integers should be used, but there is more that the programmer must keep in mind. Consider the number of bits the integer needs. For US currency, you'd use cent...

posted 2y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
57%
+2 −1
Q&A What does "namespace" mean?

A namespace is a category of names within which they must all be unique. This also means that names do not need to be unique between namespaces. For example, states of the USA is a different name...

posted 4mo ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 4mo ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
50%
+1 −1
Q&A How would I go about chunk loading around player in a 3 dimensional cartesian coordinate space

It seems I'm missing something since the answer should really be obvious. Nonetheless, I'll answer what you appear to be asking to get the obvious case out of the way. The method has already "f...

posted 1y ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 1y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
50%
+0 −0
Q&A Library that is platform-specific via selective compilation?

The general mechanism you describe has been in use since there were cross-compilers and libraries that were meant to provide the same application interface on different platforms. Your specific ex...

posted 10mo ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
37%
+1 −3
Q&A How can I make --reset-author the default?

Here's the problem: Wednesday I make the changes, git commit --amend them Just do a normal commit. You are trying to re-write, or cover up, history. That's generally bad. The record should ref...

posted 3y ago by Olin Lathrop‭  ·  edited 3y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer
22%
+0 −5
Meta Email alerts for notifications

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posted 18d ago by Olin Lathrop‭

Answer