Sep 30
Just a short note on an item that bugs me about Java. In C++, I tend to use exactly three kinds of method parameters.
- A const reference. I don’t want to copy it, but I promise not to modify it, either.
- A reference. I might modify it.
- A copy. I might modify my local copy, but not the original. I’m getting a copy, after all.
Easy peasy in C++. In Java? Uh, I pass all objects by reference. Continue reading »
Tagged with: const • immutable • Java • linkedin • reference
Jun 14

Programming
I recently heard about a Car Talk puzzler. I don’t listen to Car Talk as much as I used to. Anyway, you can read about the puzzler and the fellow who solved it here. This is an excerpt.
During Christmas week on the popular National Public Radio show Car Talk, the weekly puzzler required listeners to find the longest English word that remains a valid English word as you remove its letters one at a time, but without rearranging any of the letters. For example: sprite, spit, pit, it, I. There are many such words, but, as Barr discovered, only one with 11 letters.
So, only one word with eleven letters: complecting. Maybe. I’m not convinced, but finding out is easy.
Continue reading »
Tagged with: linkedin • puzzler
Apr 14
Grrr. I really wish Java had either:
- Reified generics or
- Closures
In the interim, I offer the following Java code to the world. Does it help? Use at your own risk.
Continue reading »
Tagged with: linkedin
Jul 09
I like Java. Well, that is, I don’t dislike Java as much as I dislike most other langauges. I’d honestly prefer ML, but I’d be without the massive ball of mud that is the Java class libraries, the wonder that is Eclipse, and ANTLR. I need these. It’s a weakness. Continue reading »
Tagged with: Java • linkedin