A word to newbie Python hackers

Posted January 3rd, 2008 by William

Python passes arguments by reference. What this means is that, if the argument
is mutable, you can pass arguments to be modified. For example,

def add_blee(arg):
    arg.append("blee")

Now, calling add_blee with a list argument will modify that list. Try

this_list = []
add_blee(this_list)
print this_list

Now, if that works as expected, what about this?

def increment_list(input_list):
    input_list = [x + 1 for x in input_list]

Mk Myth

Posted June 16th, 2007 by William

Just a quick rebut of the infamous Linus post on the pros and cons of microkernels. This is the section I'm really poking:

"Now, the real problem with split access spaces is
not the performance issue (which does exist), but the
much higher complexity issue. It's ludicrous how micro-
kernel proponents claim that their system is "simpler" than
a traditional kernel. It's not. It's much much more
complicated, exactly because of the barriers that it has

Re: Two Rings Good, Four Rings Bad

Posted May 18th, 2007 by William

This April gone, a discussion appeared on the NTDEV list at OSR online. Before you ask what I was doing there, I was studying the intended applications of the security rings in x86 processors. While I had studied the security design of the official successor to CTSS, Honeywell's "MULTICS" operating system, I do not know much about the gates in the x86. But this is unimportant, because what I really want to talk about is the bumbling incompetence of some people on the NTDEV list. [Yes, I should have known this already.]

Windows Animated Cursors Exploit

Posted March 31st, 2007 by William

A recent Slashdot article warning MS Windows (C) users about the latest security hole certainly sparked my interest. Well, not the article specifically, but the replies. I understand that Microsoft have invested some time in sand-boxing IE7 in their latest OS ["Vista"], but the number of users -and we are talking slashdot readers here, not Aunt Tillie's- whose undying faith in the techniques Microsoft have used in Vista, is deeply scaring me.

And so here we are.

Posted February 19th, 2007 by William

What this is:

  • It's room for the crazy geekasms and useful code snippets that look out of place or are a little unaccessible on other sites I've been using.

  • It's room for more detailed stories, with a lot more content.
  • It's done in Drupal, and thus inherits awesomeness immediately.
  • It's a present from Leigh, who I already owe a few beers.

It's nice to be here.

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