(Danny Kalev) Five years ago, I explained how to simulate heterogeneous containers by storing raw pointers to polymorphic objects in an STL container. C++ has come along way since: tuples now allow you store arbitrary types in one object. Alternatively, you can replace the raw pointers with shared_p

(John Mueller) In days gone by, developers would cringe every time Microsoft released a new version of any product. Applications would commonly stop working or, worse yet, they would exhibit some very odd behaviors due to changes in runtime libraries.

(Mark Hutchinson) While training and mentoring a new user with a Microsoft Access application I’d written for the client, a quite unexpected condition occurred in my application. This would normally be the kind of condition that prompts me to find an error I’d introduced and not trapped. However, th

(Alejandro Gervasio) This article, the second part of a series, is focused on implementing the Factor Pattern by designing a form element factory.

(Tony Patton) The Microsoft Enterprise Library was introduced in last week’s column. It provides a collection of seven application blocks that utilize similar design patterns as well as development and configuration requirements. These blocks may be used to enhance your application while reducing de

(Imrose V. Kumar) I have been working on data warehouse development projects for several years. Every project brings new challenges, but the most important challenge of every new project is to decide upon the tools used to develop and maintain the data warehouse. Making this decision has never b

Learn the five best practices for achieving the COBIT objectives and how BMC Change and Configuration Management solutions can help you achieve compliance. It’s all in this complimentary BMC white paper. Get it now. (R, pdf)

(Mike Talon) Every so often, I like to review a system that has been proposed to classify disasters and potential responses. While nearly everyone involved in disaster recovery (DR) planning has some idea of the types of disasters that could strike, few have concrete ideas on how to apply those conc

(Bradley Jones) Although Visual Studio 2005 was initially planned to release in the first half of 2005, the ambitions of the product caused a few delays to help ensure a product that was solid enough for production use. This new version of Visual Studio follows well over two-and-a-half years aft

(Brian Vaughn) Businesses that hope to sell items through their website need a searchable inventory system for the web. This article, the first in a four-part series, will start you on your way to building one.