The Old New Thing
Practical development throughout the evolution of Windows.
Latest posts

Windows Runtime API design principles around read-write properties: Idempotence and self-assignment

Setting it to the value it already has is not a crime.

Remembering the end of support for VRML in Internet Explorer

No one left standing.

Code comments should apply to the state of the system at the point the comment “executes”

Putting them in the flow.

Can we get weak functions for static linking? The Visual C++ compiler says “We have weak functions at home”

It's already there, just under a different paradigm.

The problem with inferring from a function call operator is that there may be more than one

auto
parameters make this easy to write, particularly for lambdas.

How do I convert a FILETIME
to a C++ clock like std::system_clock
or winrt::clock
?

The winrt::clock
has a conversion for you.

Microspeak: Convicted

False backformation.

How can I enumerate the overflow icons in the Notification Area without showing them?

If they aren't shown, then they aren't automatable, so there's no requirement that they exist in the UI automation tree.

Why didn’t Windows 95 setup install a miniature Windows 95 so that it could be written as a 32-bit program?

Getting to the GUI quickly, and rebooting only once.