Publications

This page details the published books, columns, articles / tips and blogs written by employees of Synesis Software and others.

Books

Published

Imperfect C++, by Matthew Wilson, was published by Addison-Wesley in October 2004.

Selected chapters are available online:

Check it out at Amazon, where it's currently averaging four and a half stars:

Extended STL, volume 1, by Matthew Wilson, was published by Addison-Wesley in June 2007.

Selected chapters are available online:

Extended STL, volume 2 is in early preparation, and is aimed for publication by Addison-Wesley, in 2010.

In preparation

There are several books in various stages of preparation:

Breaking Up The Monolith

A detailed look into how to design high-quality C++ libraries that do not sacrifice correctness, efficiency, expressiveness, or flexibility.

This book discusses the concepts, patterns, practices and principles that underpin the leading C++ open-source libraries FastFormat, Pantheios and VOLE.

website: www.breakingupthemonolith.com

Imperfect C#

The C# language (and the .NET runtime), while (increasingly) useful and powerful, are still flawed.

Imperfect C#, by Matthew Wilson, et. al., will take a critical but constructive look at C#/.NET, providing practical solutions for of the imperfections discussed.

Imperfect C# is currently in preparation, with the hope that it will be published in 2010.

Columns

From August 2009, Matthew Wilson will write the Quality Matters column for the ACCU's Overload magazine.

"Quality Matters #4: Diagnostic Measures", Overload #95, February 2010
"Quality Matters #3: A Case Study in Quality", Overload #94, December 2009
"Quality Matters #2: Correctness, Robustness and Reliability", Overload #93, October 2009
"Quality Matters #1: Introductions, and Nomenclature", Overload #92, August 2009

From 2003-6, Matthew Wilson wrote for C/C++ User's Journal in the (in-print) column Positive Integration.

"A View to a String, part 1: Design and Definition", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 24 Number 1, January 2006
"Argument-dependent Return-type Variance", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 23 Number 11, November 2005
"Footprints in the butter, part 2", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 23 Number 9, September 2005
"Footprints in the butter, part 1", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 23 Number 7, July 2005
"Open-RJ/D, 100-Percent D", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 23 Number 5, May 2005
"Open-RJ Memory Databases, and C++.NET", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 23 Number 3, March 2005
"Open-RJ and Python", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 23 Number 1, January 2005
"Open-RJ and Ch", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 22 Number 11, November 2004
"recls refactored", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 22 Number 9, September 2004
"Ruby: The Next Facet", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 22 Number 7, July 2004
"Mapping recls to COM Collections", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 22 Number 5, May 2004
"Mapping D and Java", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 22 Number 3, March 2004
"Introducing recls mappings: C++, C# and STL", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 22 Number 1, January 2004
"Introducing recls", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 21 Number 11, November 2003

Bjorn Karlsson and Matthew Wilson write an occasional column for The C++ Source: Smart Pointers.

"Contract Programming 101", The C++ Source, December 31st, 2005
"Stream Thy Strings", The C++ Source, May 28th, 2005
"Reducing Pre-processor Namespace Pollution", The C++ Source, November 6th, 2004
"The Law of the Big Two", The C++ Source, October 1st, 2004

From 2003-5, Matthew Wilson wrote for C/C++ User's Journal/Dr Dobb's Journal in the the online Expert's Forum column Flexible C++.

"Finding Child Windows with Simulated Local Functions", December 2005
"Beware Mixed Collection/Enumerator Interfaces", November 2005
"Imperfect enums, part 2: Forward Declarations", May 2005
"Imperfect enums, part 1: Declarations, Definitions, and Namespace Leakage", April 2005
"Beware Logical Constness", February 2005
"Succinct Options Validation with Expression Templates", December 2004
"Union Casts Considered Harmful, but Necessary", September 2004
"Handling Parameter Sets in Member Initialiser Lists: With A Little Help From MUMI!", June 2004
"Friendly Templates: Redux", June 2004
"Flexible Implementations Without Using Directives", April 2004
"Efficient Integer To String Conversions, part 4", January 2004
"Friendly Templates", December 2003
"Efficient Integer To String Conversions, part 3", November 2003
"Efficient Integer To String Conversions, part 2", September 2003

Articles

Our staff have contributed to the following articles at technical conferences and in industry publications:

Matthew Wilson, "C++ and format_iterator", Dr Dobb's Journal, June 2010
Matthew Wilson, "recls 100% .NET", Dr Dobb's Journal, November 2009
Matthew Wilson, "Safe and Efficient Error Information", CVu, July 2009
Matthew Wilson, "An Introduction to FastFormat, part 3: Solving Real Problems, Quickly", Overload, June 2009
Matthew Wilson, "An Introduction to FastFormat, part 2: Custom Argument and Sinks Types", Overload, April 2009
Matthew Wilson, "xCover", CVu, March 2009
Matthew Wilson, "An Introduction to FastFormat, part 1: The State of the Art", Overload, February 2009
Matthew Wilson, "!(C ^ C++)", CVu, November 2008
Matthew Wilson, "An Enhanced ostream_iterator", Dr Dobb's Journal, June 2007
Matthew Wilson and Garth Lancaster, "A Custom Event Layer for the ACE Reactor Framework", CVu, April 2007
Matthew Wilson, "The Nuclear Reactor and The Deep Space Probe, part 1", The C++ Source, Jan 1, 2006
Matthew Wilson, "Adapting Interface-Incomplete Types At Compile Time", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 23 Number 12, December 2005
Bjorn Karlsson and Matthew Wilson, "Stream Thy Strings", The C++ Source, May 28, 2005
Matthew Wilson, "What's Your Address?", The C++ Source, April 8, 2005
Matthew Wilson, "C++ & operator []=", Dr Dobb's Journal, #371, April 2004
John Torjo and Matthew Wilson, "Ranges, part 2: Iterable Range Adaptors, Algorithms and Composition", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 22 Number 12, December 2004
Matthew Wilson, "Wild-card Searches of UNIX Directories with Random Access Iterators", The C++ Source, September 12, 2004
Matthew Wilson and John Torjo, "Ranges, part 1: Concepts and Implementation", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 22 Number 10, October 2004
Matthew Wilson, "Reading UNIX Directories via STL-compliant Sequences", The C++ Source, June 21, 2004
Matthew Wilson, "Identity and Equality in .NET", Dr Dobb's Journal, #361, June 2004
Matthew Wilson, "Fast, Non-intrusive, String Concatenation", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 22 Number 6, June 2004
Matthew Wilson, "C/C++ Compiler Optimization", Dr Dobb's Journal, #360, May 2004 - Errata
Walter Bright and Matthew Wilson, "Collection Enumeration: Loops, Iterators and Nested Functions", Dr Dobb's Journal, #358, March 2004
Matthew Wilson, "Adapting Callback Enumeration APIs to the Input Iterator Concept", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 22 Number 2, February 2004
Matthew Wilson, "Handling Multiple Win32 Operating Environments", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 12, December 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Efficient Variable Automatic Buffers", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 21 Number 12, December 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Open Source Software: What, How and Why", BYTE, week of 24th November 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Data exchange between COM enumerators and Windows controls", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 11, November 2003 - Errata
Matthew Wilson, "Identity and Equality: Syntax and Semantics", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 21, Number 10, October 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Comparing C++ Compilers", Dr Dobb's Journal, #353, October 2003 - Errata
Matthew Wilson, "C# Performance: Comparison with C, C++, D and Java, Part 2", Windows Developer Network, special online supplement, fall 2003
Matthew Wilson, "C# Performance: Comparison with C, C++, D and Java, Part 1", Windows Developer Network, special online supplement, fall 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Win32 Security in Managed C++", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 9, September 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Rebooting from the Shell", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 8, August 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Generalised String Manipulation: Access Shims and Type-tunnelling", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 21 Number 8, August 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Open-source Flexibility via Namespace Aliasing", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 21 Number 7, July 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Win32 Performance Measurement Options", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 5, May 2003
Matthew Wilson, "XML Parser Usability and Performance", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 14 Number 4, April 2003
Matthew Wilson, "True Typedefs", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 21 Number 3, March 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Adapting Windows Enumeration Models to STL Iterator Concepts", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 14 Number 3, March 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Avoiding the Visual C++ Runtime Library", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 14 Number 2, February 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Embedded Dialog Management", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 13 Number 12, December 2002 - Errata
M. D. Wilson, "Photonic packet-switching networks", PhD Thesis, MMU, January 1996
J. M. Senior, M. D. Wilson, R. A. Cryan, I. Hawker, "Traffic study of ATM over passive optical networks", SPIE Proc., Vol. 2614 All-optical communication systems: Architecture, control and network issues, Philadelphia, October 1995
M. D. Wilson, J. M. Senior, R. A. Cryan, I. Hawker, "Topology effects in ATM core-network performance", Communication Networks Symposium. The Manchester Metropolitan University, pp. 141-44, 10-11 July 1995
M. D. Wilson, A. J. Phillips, J. M. Senior, R. A. Cryan, I. Hawker, "Bursty traffic modelling for ATM networks", Proc. SPIE, 2450, 'Broadband networks: Strategies and Technologies', Amstersam, Holland, pp. 90-6, March 1995
J. M. Senior, M. D. Wilson, A. J. Phillips, R. A. Cryan, I. Hawker, "A programmable bursty traffic algorithm for use in packet-level discrete time packet switch simulation studies", 1994 IEEE Singapore International Conference on Communication Systems, pp. 1001-3, 1994
M. D. Wilson, A. J. Phillips, J. M. Senior, R. A. Cryan, I. Hawker, "An algorithm for generating bursty traffic", Communication Networks Symposium. The Manchester Metropolitan University, pp. 110-113, 11-12 July 1994

Tips / Small Articles

Matthew Wilson, "Enumerating Registry Sub-keys in D", Dr Dobb's Journal, #362, Volume 29 Number 7, July 2004
Matthew Wilson, "Accessing C-string Representations of Strings in Managed C++", Dr Dobb's Journal, #359, Volume 29 Number 4, April 2004
Matthew Wilson, "An Even Better RegDeleteKey", Dr Dobb's Journal, #358, Volume 29 Number 3, March 2004
Gregory Peet and Matthew Wilson, "Cleaning up Component Categories", Dr Dobb's Journal, #358, Volume 29 Number 3, March 2004
Matthew Wilson, "Safer Node Browsing with Microsoft's XML DOM", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 11, November 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Beware Null ListViewSubItems in .NET", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 11, November 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Inserter Function Objects for Windows Controls", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 11, November 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Accessing IDL ref Types as C++ References", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 8, August 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Accessing Old-style List-view Headers", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 8, August 2003
Matthew Wilson, "MIDL Semantic Analysis Bug", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 8, August 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Beware of GetFullPathNameW", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 7, July 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Visual SourceSafe and .NET interroperability", Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 7, July 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Locking Window Updates" Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 6, June 2003
Matthew Wilson, "A printf for Message Boxes" Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 5, May 2003
Matthew Wilson, "A Shareable Approach to Debugging Additional DLLs" Windows Developer Network, Volume 2 Number 5, May 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Duplicating Registry Keys with RegKeyDup", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 14 Number 4, April 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Translating Paths On Mapped Network Drives", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 14 Number 3, March 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Spying on Function Returns and Local Variables in Debugging", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 14 Number 2, February 2003
Matthew Wilson, "Taming CoInitializeSecurity", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 14 Number 1, January 2003
Matthew Wilson, "A Function For The Flexible Centering Of Windows", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 13 Number 12, December 2002
Matthew Wilson, "Custom Keyboard Navigation with Mnemonics, Part 2", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 13 Number 12, December 2002
Matthew Wilson, "Efficient Integer To String Conversions", C/C++ User's Journal, Volume 20 Number 12, December 2002
Matthew Wilson, "Custom Keyboard Navigation with Mnemonics, Part 1", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 13 Number 11, November 2002
Matthew Wilson, "Custom Keyboard Navigation with Radio Buttons, Part 2", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 13 Number 11, November 2002
Matthew Wilson, "Querying Multiple IDispatch Method Identifiers", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 13 Number 10, October 2002
Matthew Wilson, "Counting NULL Termination in Path Length Computations", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 13 Number 9, September 2002
Matthew Wilson, "A Function For Sending Messages To Threads Synchronously", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 13 Number 7, July 2002
Matthew Wilson, "Custom Keyboard Navigation with Radio Buttons", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 13 Number 5, May 2002
Matthew Wilson, "Options for Indicating Progress of Variable-Length Operations", Windows Developer Magazine, Volume 13 Number 2, February 2002
Matthew Wilson, "Generating Out-Of-Memory Exceptions", Windows Developer's Journal, Volume 12 Number 5, May 2001

Blogs

Professional / Guest
- From November 2009, Matthew has been asked to write a blog on Windows/.NET as one of the guru blogs on Dr Dobb's CodeTalk
  [content: technical; frequency: 2-4/month]
- Prescriptions, Proscriptions, and Prognostications on Artima
  [content: programming related; frequency: rarely]
Book-related
- blog.extendedstl.com, covering issues related to the 2007 book Extended STL, volume 1: Collections and Iterators, by Matthew Wilson, published by Addison-Wesley
  [content: technical/news; frequency: occasional]
- blog.imperfectcplusplus.com, covering issues related to the 2004 book Imperfect C++: Practical Solutions for Real-Life Programming, by Matthew Wilson, published by Addison-Wesley
  [content: technical/news; frequency: occasional]
- blog.imperfectcsharp.com, covering issues related to the forthcoming 2010 book Imperfect C#: Practical Solutions for Real-Life .NET Programming, by Matthew Wilson, et al
  [content: technical/news; frequency: occasional]
- blog.breakingupthemonolith.com, covering issues related to the forthcoming 2010 book Breaking Up The Monolith: Advanced C++ Software Design without Compromise, by Matthew Wilson
  [content: technical/news; frequency: occasional]
Open source-related
Miscellaneous
- Skegging it out - a blog that contains useful tips for getting programming/setup things done in a future-shocked, technology-swamped world

WhitePapers

Some company internal whitepapers that have not found their way into other forums.

M. D. Wilson, "Move Constructors", 2001, 2002, 2003
M. D. Wilson, "Shims - A Definition", 2002
M. D. Wilson, "Safe CString Buffer Access", 1998, 2002