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Do not send me spam email! That means do not me send advertisements for commercial products, advice or anything else I have a remote chance of not being interested in. For homework questions, please read the "Common Questions" section further down this page.

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If it appears as though I've sent you junk email or spam, please, don't believe it; the mail has been forged. This is common practice among email telemarketers. I abhor spam. I find it absolutely disgusting, and there is no way I would ever send it. If you wish to retaliate against the spammer please look in the header of the email and try to respond to "postmaster@" at the various hops that the mail took to reach you, with whatever you think of that spam. (Usually the first listed non-trusted mail relay IP address is the best choice.)

Common questions sent my way

It seems that as soon as you put up a technical site such as mine that you immediately become a dear Abby for all the newbies out there. Well, at the very least, I want to keep from answering the same questions over and over so here are some of the easily answered questions that have been sent my way.

Can you help me with my homework?
No. Unless you are willing to consider hefty compensation terms (upwards of $200 an hour, depending on how annoying the question is).
Can you teach me assembly language?
See above.
I am not a software pirate!
No I can't get you the lastest copy of software application X or application Y. I don't know of any warez sites or anything of that nature. I am a software developer and take great offense when somebody asks me to engage in this illegal activity.
Is C++ slower than C?
Revised answer: Yes and no depending on your source. Most C can be compiled by C++ compilers, and will for the most part have equivalent performance to the C compiled version of that code.
But as you start using C++ abstractions you start incurring additional overhead that results from the common practice of building classes and templates with myriads of layers. In particular, many standard C optimizations cannot be applied to commonly used C++ conventions.
C++ is an interesting language to say the least, but it was not designed with performance in mind.
How do I read PCX files?
I don't know actually, but I do know that you can get this information from something called the PC Game Programmer's Encyclopedia, or PCGPE. You can find an online version of this manual at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2151/pcgpe.html
Is NASM as good or better than MASM/TASM
I have not used NASM myself, but certainly the concept of an open assembler is more appealing than proprietary assemblers. Like Linux, NASM has received quite a reasonable amount of support that has made it a stable product.
Why do you hate Apple you biased twerp?
Before you start flaming me for the things I say about Apple computer, please re-read my Apple page and be sure that you understand my stance, what is my opinion, and what I claim are the facts. In particular, I have nothing against Power Computing, BeOS, or (Strong)ARM.
Is there a DOS version of MSVC++?
The last version of MSVC, that could reasonably used to make modern 32 bit DOS applications was MSVC 2.0, in conjunction with the Pharlap DOS extender. MSVC 1.5 and earlier could also make 16 bit DOS applications. Microsoft is currently not supporting DOS as a compile platform, and are not likely to ever again.
I have problem X with WATCOM C/C++ ...
In the past I was the only resource for net wide information about WATCOM C/C++. However, recently this has changed for the better. In particular, PowerSoft now hosts a news server for questions about PowerSoft (including WATCOM C/C++) products. I have no official connection to WATCOM or PowerSoft and don't have the same degree of expertise as others who frequent this news server, and thus recommend your send your questions there before sending them to me. See the WATCOM C/C++ FAQ for more information.
I've got this great web site, can you link to it?
Please note that I am very particular about what pages I link to. Your site must contain deep technical information along the lines of the topics I cover. If your site is nothing more than a collection of outdated links, less than an hour old, or whatever I will not link to you. I will also not link to product pages, unless I have tried and honestly endorse that product; you cannot pay me to advertise a product on my pages, I do so only on my own volition.