String has, however, a package-private "quick" constructor that just takes a char array, offset and length and blats them directly into its private fields with no sanity checks. Most of the time this is benign and useful. Most of the time. →

The cable modem is the most hated device on my desk. Everything else was chosen by me, to be an efficient part of my lifestyle. The modem was supplied by my cable company, with the most likely motive of shaving a few bucks off the cost of each new subscription. →

Maciej Ceg?owski, who for a while has been a member of my list of bloggers I desperately wish I could write as well as, has poked a well-aimed skewer into Paul Graham's essay, "Hackers and Painters". It's one of those articles where, in trying to find an excerpt, I had to stop myself quoting the whole thing. →

One of the commonly repeated lies spread about the Mac by non-believers is that it is somehow 'limited' by the fact that it only ships with a single-button mouse. You see this 'fact' trolled across every single Apple-related discussion on the Internet. →

Oh, of course. You can't just click on the link, this is Linux. →

It's no wonder that games like this quickly end up revolving around leveling and getting more powerful items - you can't change the world around you one iota, so the only thing you have the power to do is change yourself. →

Unremarkable, except that the word "your" changes what should be a warning into an accusation. Should I be battening down the hatches in case a pack of rabid NDA lawyers descend on me? →

So, I built a third one. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. →

How to unknowingly deploy an application twice under Tomcat. Subtitle: all support and no coding makes Charles increasingly short-tempered. →