James's Weblog

Cygwin, a port of various Unix utilities to provide a Unix-like environment on Windows, has been around for a long while. It’s well-known; sites such as Lifehacker gives tips about using it. My tip is: avoid Cygwin unless absolutely necessary.

Cygwin-based tools depend on cygwin1.dll, and cygwin1.dll is obnoxious because:

• It’s DLL-hell squared. You can’t simultaneously use different Cygwin-based tools that depend on different versions of the cygwin1.dll. Normally Windows programs can avoid DLL-hell by storing dependent DLLs in the programs’ own directories, but cygwin1.dll goes out of its way to search for other instances of itself.
• To avoid that problem, the Cygwin authors discourage developers from bundling cygwin1.dll with their applications and instead want developers to include the Cygwin installer, which automatically fetches the current version from the Internet. Unfortunately, the Cygwin installer is horrible. The UI is non-standard and is completely bewildering. There is no uninstaller. Making end-users download and run the monolithic Cygwin installer just to get a small command-line tool also violates the Unix philosophy of having small tools for specific tasks.
• The approach of bundling the Cygwin installer is fundamentally flawed anyway. Even if each application includes the installer, there’s no guarantee that the current version of cygwin1.dll is compatible with all of them. Installing one application could break existing ones. Did I mention it being DLL-hell squared?

So what are people to do?

• If you want common Unix command-line utilities, check UnxUtils first, which is a collection of ones that have been ported to run natively on Windows.
• If you want to compile a program written for Linux, try using the MinGW compiler first. For command-line programs, there’s a good chance that MinGW can compile it, and the generated binary won’t have any cygwin dependencies. (Yes, Cygwin’s version of gcc has an option to not require cygwin1.dll, but it basically puts it into a MinGW mode anyway.)
• If you need a full Linux environment, install Linux in a virtual machine (shameless plug) or use andLinux. (andLinux doesn’t support 64-bit versions of Windows yet, however.)
• If you want an X Server, try Xming.

I should note that Cygwin is still a necessary evil for stable versions of bash and sshd. I don’t know of any good alternative implementations of those.

Last June while playing volleyball, I jumped to tip the ball but twisted in the air, landed badly, and felt my knee buckle with a popping sound. I was busy with work to get it examined by a doctor, and after a couple of weeks of limping around, I resumed walking around normally and seemed fine for a long while. Every so often, though, I’d hurt it again trying to play some random sport, although usually it wasn’t too bad and just left me with a limp for a week or so.

Last week I hurt it again while throwing a football, and this time I hurt it badly enough to not be able to walk, finally motivating me to get it checked out by my orthopedist. I woke up at around 6 AM for a 7 AM appointment, showed up at 6:55 AM—before the doctor’s office opened—and there already was a line. I waited there for about 90 minutes before I got time with the doctor. He then sent me down the street to get an MRI scan. Since I didn’t have an appointment there, I had to wait there for a few hours while they tried to work me into their schedule. Then back to the doctor’s office to undergo more waiting. I think I spent about six hours in waiting rooms that day—a reminder why I am usually so reluctant to go.

It turns out that—as I had long suspected—I had torn my ACL a year earlier. By now there’s nothing visible left of it (which is just as well given that completely replacing it usually works better than attempting to repair it), and in the meanwhile I’ve torn some cartilage in my medial meniscus, which is probably what caused the pain last week.

I’m having surgery tomorrow to get everything fixed.

Downloadable games for the Wii are purchased through credit (“Wii Points”). Wii Points are purchased in the form of gift cards from retailers or are purchased directly through the Wii. The gift cards have a redemption code that must be entered on the Wii. Typing this in without a keyboard seems somewhat laborious. Purchasing points directly through the Wii requires entering a credit card number and some billing information. Typing this in is even more laborious. The gift cards therefore are a bit easier, but they lack instant gratification and seem physically wasteful.

I don’t understand why customers can’t make an account on Nintendo’s website, link their Wii with their web account, and then purchase Wii Points directly through the web. (Potential problems where people mistype their Wii ID number can be prevented by a simple two-step confirmation system.) You’d think Nintendo would want it to be even easier to separate customers from their money.

(Oh, I know I’m being a nitpicky pedant, but when buying points directly on the Wii, the confirmation screen confused me a bit. What am I answering “yes” or “no” to?)

I saw some code:

std::string s = foo();
bar(s.c_str());

I tried changing it to:

bar(foo().c_str());

and things broke. It turns out that bar() was a macro that expanded to:

#define bar(s) do { struct st; st.someString = (s); baz(&st); } while (0)

(If you’re wondering about the do ... while (0), consult the comp.lang.c FAQ.)

This is fine for C code, but in the C++ world, this is dangerous. In this case, foo() returns an anonymous std::string object by value. That anonymous object then is destroyed after its internals are assigned to st.someString but before baz() gets to use it, causing baz() to be called with garbage.

Moral #1: Macros that don’t have perfect function-like semantics shouldn’t look like functions. For example, macros should be clearly indicated by naming them in all uppercase.

Moral #2: Use inline functions when possible. (In this case, however, the macro was provided by a C library.)

An attempt to measure the state of a relationship can affect its outcome.

Is one person genuinely interested in the other, or is it just polite fiction? Should that wave function really be collapsed?

(Not that I have the slightest clue about dating. And, yes, I’m probably overthinking all of this, although I make no admission to being smart.)

On CableCARD impressions:

• It’s been suggested to me that CableCARDs might seem to have a high defect rate because the process self-selects defective cards. If a customer has issues with one, the cable company probably can’t tell if the card is actually faulty, so it likely throws the card back into the pool of available ones rather than returning it to the manufacturer. This means that if a cable company gives you an unboxed card, it’s probably one that someone else already returned.
• After trying a Comcast set-top box at relatives’ houses, I think as annoying as it is for the TiVo HD to list channels I don’t receive, I’m grateful that I at least can hide them manually. Comcast set-top boxes don’t offer even that. (I’m not sure if they can hide the adult programming channels from appearing in the guide either.)

On Government bureaucracy in action:

• And almost exactly a year after the last jury summons, my dad received another one. At least he didn’t receive an absentee ballot this time.

On Exit excitement:

• I’ve recently discovered that the answer is: no, I haven’t.

My mom’s cell phone rings. My mom’s upstairs, so I answer it.

A woman on the phone says, “Your ??? are ready. You can come pick them up anytime.” (She’s speaking very quickly, and she’s speaking loudly enough for there to be audio clipping. Plus, I get lousy cell phone reception at my house, so I can’t fully make out what she’s saying.)

“Uh, what?” (She’s not expecting to pick up anything.)

“??? are ready.”

“I’m sorry, could you say that again?”

“This is ??? and we’re calling about the ??? you ordered” (If someone asks you to repeat something, slow down!)

“I think you have the wrong number.”

She confidently replies, “No, I have the right number.” (A normal person would simply apologize and hang up, trusting that the called party knows what they’re talking about.)

“Exactly whom are you looking for?” (Isn’t this something she should have established from the start?)

“Martha.”

“There is no one named Martha here. Sorry, bye!”

The next day, she calls again. This time my mom answers the phone and has almost the same exact conversation. (The woman calling from the store is so loud that I can hear her over the cell phone speaker, again insisting that she has the right number.)

After submitting a credit card purchase at Newegg, I was greeted with a “Verified by Visa” webpage:

This page is idiotic.

• I was directed to this page without any warning.
• The page uses the domain verifiedbyvisa.com, not visa.com. A tip to financial institutions trying to thwart phishing scams: pick one domain name and stick with it. People are going to be directed to this page automatically, so the address does not need to be memorable or even human-readable. Using other domain names is confusing and looks suspicious, and if users become accustomed to it, it opens the door for phishers to use their own, look-alike domains (such as, say, verifiedbyvisacard.com, which is available as I write this).
• For goodness’ sake, register your security certificate properly and completely. “Run by (unknown)” is not reassuring, nor is being verified by “Thawte Consulting”. (I’m sure Thawte Consulting is a big name in the security certificate space, but are they as recognizable as VeriSign? Besides, VeriSign acquired them 10 years ago. Again, pick one name and stick with it.)
• The page provides me with none of my basic, personal information so that I can have some assurance of whom I’m dealing with. Verification is a two-way street. Continuing to ignore this makes phishing easier.
• The page outright lies to me. The button says, “Sign up to complete purchase”, but Newegg already emailed me my purchase confirmation. I shouldn’t have to say this, but lying does not build up trust. Duh.

Even ignoring my flight cancellation fiasco, my trip to Massachusetts for Christmas/New Year’s a few weeks ago was particularly memorable, being full of a number of firsts for me:

• It was the first time that I’ve played Guitar Hero.
• It was the first time that I’ve used a Wii Fit.
• It was the first time that I’ve played Brain Age. (I apparently impressed my cousins by getting “jet speed” on the basic arithmetic tests. I stink at Sudoku though, but I already knew that.)
• It was the first time that I’ve tried Comcast video-on-demand. I’m thoroughly unimpressed by the selection. (It was particularly disappointing considering that Comcast misleadingly includes its video-on-demand selection in its advertised comparisons against DirecTV.) I like Netflix Instant Watch on TiVo better.
• It was the first time that I’ve rented a car.
• It was the first time that I’ve driven in Boston. I hate rotaries.
• It was the first time that I’ve (sort of) driven on snow. Okay, it was mostly limited to driveways, but that was still plenty scary for me. The streets I drove on were plowed.
• It was the first (and hopefully the last) time that I’ve been in a car while it rolled over. (No, this isn’t related to any of the previous items. I wasn’t brave/crazy enough to drive while it was snowing. And yes, everyone thankfully escaped injury.)