Phani Vaddadi

Pointers and Memory

this chapter discusses techniques that can help you write safer, more efficient code when working with pointers and memory. Some of these techniques, such as not freeing memory multiple times, are just common sense. Others, such as using smart pointers, are slightly more sophisticated.

Abstract Base Classes

using abstract base classes lets you set up a structure for a class and forces users of that class to provide implementations.

Dealing with Compiler-Generated Code

you write code in c++. the compiler writes code in Assembly. Guess which one the user receives? If you understand what type of code the compiler generates, you can learn how to write more efficient code. In this chapter, we examine a few techniques you can employ to make your code more efficient.

Start with a Good Design

this chapter discusses general techniques related to programming. None of these involve code. Rather, they provide advice for dealing with the processes and problems of creating and shipping products. As you read through these techniques, you might say to yourself, “Thanks a lot for the advice, guys. It sounds good on paper. Too bad you don’t understand what I’m going through.” But that’s exactly the point of these techniques. We do understand what you’re going through. We’ve shipped a lot of products under a lot of circumstances. We know all too well what it is like to be coding at two in the morning, week after week, to meet an impossible deadline. We’ve worked in both dysfunctional and smoothly operating teams. So although sometimes these tips may sound wishy-washy, they really do work.

Regular Expression Matching

regular expression matching is one of our favorite examples because it is chock-full of techniques. Regular expression matching provides a powerful way to examine strings. Instead of looking for exact matches, such as “Is the value of the string foo” or even “Does the string contain the substring foo,” regular expression matching lets you find patterns. For example, you could look for strings that start with f or strings that start with f and then contain a sequence of one or more bar substrings. You can look for very sophisticated patterns.

Darn Reasonable Practices

i’m sick of the term best practices. I have no clue what it means, outside of it being a nice-sounding buzzword for attracting people to seminars. This chapter instead focuses on some darn reasonable practices. These practices don’t concentrate on any specific area but, rather, cover the gamut of programming.

Specific Debugging Stuff

in this chapter, we walk through some specific techniques for debugging programs, from handling first chance exceptions to tracing the stack.

General Debugging Stuff

in this chapter, we go over some general advice and approaches to debugging. Then in the next chapter, we’ll walk through some specific debugging techniques.