Books

Currently reading - Rust Brain Teasers

I’m currently reading Rust Brain Teasers by Herbert Wolverson. It’s a nice book of bite-sized puzzles in Rust that are ideal for the way I like to learn (randomly jumping around from subject to subject that happen to interest me). Each puzzle presents some code, asks you what you think it does and then shows you the hidden complexity. At the end of each section are some links to further reading.

Book review: Instant Windows 8 C++ Application Development How-to - Packt Publishing

I have recently been sent a couple of ebooks to review. It seems people at Packt Publishing think that I’d be a good person to review their C++ books… Anyway, bear in mind that this ebook was given to me for free and that I was asked to review it… Instant Windows 8 C++ Application Development How-to is a short book, but then that’s what the “Instant” range of books are supposed to be.

L'Hexapod: ATTiny2313 24 channel servo controller schematic

Previously published This article was previously published on lhexapod.com as part of my journey of discovery into robotics and embedded assembly programming. A full index of these articles can be found here. Here is a schematic for a 24 channel version of the ATTiny2313 servo controller. You can expand the number of channels up to the full 64 by adding additional CD74HCT238Es where each additional MUX chip is connected to the next available pin on port b.

L'Hexapod: Books for programming an AVR micro

Previously published This article was previously published on lhexapod.com as part of my journey of discovery into robotics and embedded assembly programming. A full index of these articles can be found here. So far I’ve bought three AVR programming books. AVR: An Introductory Course, Programming and Customizing the AVR Microcontroller and Atmel AVR Microcontroller Primer: Programming and Interfacing (Synthesis Lectures on Digital Circuits and Systems). They are three quite different books and each has a distinct focus.

Major Vista Overlapped I/O change

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 a little, and some things have changed a lot. Unfortunately the book doesn’t detail the actual changes. Note to publishers; I’d PAY for a slim book that DOES detail the changes between the APIs that are being discussed…

Currently Reading: Windows via C/C++

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 Vista and other changes that have happened since the last version, Programming Applications for Windows (Microsoft Programming Series). I’ve decided to read it from cover to cover to refresh my knowledge and pick up on any changes.

Currently reading: Excel add-in development in C/C++

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 can write code in C# and expose it to Excel as worksheet functions. Over Christmas I picked up a copy of Excel Add-in Development in C/C++: Applications in Finance by Steve Dalton.

Charles Petzold on why he loves books

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 the books that knocked me over. I love knowing that I still own virtually every book I’ve read.” I have shelves and shelves of technical books as I’ve always been quite happy to buy a book on the chance that I might learn one thing from it.

Book review: Rootkits by Hoglund and Butler

I’ve just finished reading Rootkits: Subverting the Windows Kernel. Overall I enjoyed it but I’m in two minds about its usefulness… The book covers “hacking” the Windows kernel using various techniques to get your code inside the kernel and, once there, various other techniques to keep others from knowing you’re there. Once you have this kind of code in the kernel of someone’s machine you can do lots of damage; or, of course, you can gather information for security forces, or protect the machine from other rootkits…