Why “a caret, euro, trademark” ’ in a file?

Why might you see †in the middle of an otherwise intelligible file? The reason is very similar to the reason you might see �, which I explained in the previous post. You might want to read that post first if you’re not familiar with Unicode and character encodings. It

A valid character to represent an invalid character

You may have seen a web page with the symbol � scattered throughout the text, especially in older web pages. What is this symbol and why does it appear unexpected? The symbol we’re discussing is a bit of a paradox. It’s the (valid) Unicode character to represent an invalid Unicode

When zeros at natural numbers implies zero everywhere

Suppose a function f(z) equals 0 at z = 0, 1, 2, 3, …. Under what circumstances might you be able to conclude that f is zero everywhere? Clearly you need some hypothesis on f. For example, the function sin(πz) is zero at every integer but certainly not constantly zero.

Quick Sort in C Guide [With Code]

How to build a role-playing video game in 24 hours

Ben and Ryan chat about how the human body can act as a resonance chamber for remote car keys, the potential for GenAI to revolutionize game development by creating an infinite array of dynamic game worlds, and advancements in brain-computer interfaces.

Accelerating the Cloud: The Final Steps

We explore how to approach cloud native application development and where to start the process within your organization. Continue reading Accelerating the Cloud: The Final Steps on SitePoint.

When High Performance Computing Is Not High Performance

Everybody cares about codes running fast on their computers. Hardware improvements over recent decades have made this possible. But how well are we taking advantage of hardware speedups? Consider these two C++ code examples. Assume here n = 10000000. void sub(int* a, int* b) { for (int i=0; i<n; ++i)

Best-Ever Prices on Programming Courses

Leading zeros

The confusion between numbers such as 7 and 007 comes up everywhere. We know they’re different—James Bond isn’t Agent 7—and yet the distinction isn’t quite trivial. How should software handle the two kinds of numbers? The answer isn’t as simple as “Do what the user expects” because different users have

Maximum Glitch: How to break Tetris

The home team is back with a conversation about the 13-year-old who beat Tetris by breaking it; stories from the Mathematics Stack Exchange; and the robot butler that will do your dishes, fold your laundry, and water your plants. Happy New Year!