Simo Virokannas

Writings and ramblings

Tag: programming

  • Numeric Value of (nothing) Is Zero

    Numeric Value of (nothing) Is Zero

    Background Part of what I do is software salvage. I’ve had the joy of working on bringing life back to abandoned codebases, extend them with new features, modernize services and translate software from obsolete programming languages, operating systems and frameworks. A frequent type of software modernization has risen with the slow tilt of the dinner…

  • Transference of Complexity

    Transference of Complexity

    Summary Programming languages have evolved in accessibility, complexity and readability in the past six decades. The overall internal complexity of a single software application has grown exponentially, while the amount of code lines written to achieve a specific end result has decreased. This naturally occurring transference of complexity brings about completely new kinds of problematic…

  • Compiling Pixar’s USD natively on Windows 11 / VS 2022

    If you’ve tried it, you’ve probably run into the endless catch-22 that is getting everything to behave when trying to compile the Universal Scene Description on a newly setup Windows machine. NOTE: if there’s any way for you to avoid this in your life, don’t look back, rejoice. Prerequisites You’ll need to install at least…

  • Out of the Box Software site is up

    The completely-renewed OOTB site is now up. You can find it either by clicking on a link in the sidebar (statement that might not be future-proof) or here: https://outofthebox.software

  • Swift: as easy as 1, 2, 3…?

    Apple shook the developer community a few years ago with the release of Swift, a language that is “concise, expressive and lightning fast”. As a developer mainly working on Apple platforms, I decided to jump on it right away, trying to keep in mind there was going to be bumps in the road like there has been with any…