Ted Leung on the air

Ted Leung on the air
Ted Leung on the air: Open Source, Java, Python, and ...

Mon, 27 Oct 2003

I spent some time today clearing my backup of Wired issues. In the August 2003 issue, there's an article on random number generation. The current technique uses a webcam (with a lens cap on) as a source of chaotic information -- the original used lava lamps. The inventors have developed an open source library for those who need really good random numbers.

[00:06] | [computers/programming] | # | TB | F | G | 0 Comments |

Linkers and Loaders

I just finished reading John Levine's Linkers and Loaders. It's one of the few books out there on the linking and loading phases. It covers the principles of how linkers and loaders works, using ELF, MS PEF/COFF, and OS/360 as examples. There's a fair amount of detail concerning the specifics of these systems, which helps if you are working one of those environments.

This book has been sitting on my shelf (along with a bunch of others), so I decided to move it from one pile to another. The last chapter is a summary of research in linking and loading up til 2000, when the book was written. There's still a bunch of stuff that hasn't made it into the linkers that you and I use every day (perhaps with the exception of the JVM and CLR, but even then it seems like there's room for improvement).

[00:05] | [computers/operating_systems] | # | TB | F | G | 1 Comments |

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