Development on saoe: The Nifty Oddity

C++ Diagnostics and Debugging Utilities

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 09:50:05 +0100

Some tools and techniques for detecting, reporting and investigating errors and unexpected behavior in C++ code.

Notes on Pico-8

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

After reading and hearing quite a bit about Pico-8 in the last weeks¹, I dipped my toes into these waters one weekend (2025-10-18/19) and made a few notes about it…

Powershell: Working with XML

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 19:33:58 +0100

A few tips and tricks for handling XML data with Powershell.

Powershell: Console Colors

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 17:46:34 +0200

A brief reminder for the topic of Console Colors and Powershell.

How to set up a SSH key pair with PuTTY on Windows

Sat, 05 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

When these steps are done, you’ll only need to enter the passphrase of the SSH key(s) once when Windows boots, instead of each time Git wants to communicate with the remote repository.

On Software: API Design

Sun, 22 Jun 2025 16:33:23 +0200

I recently had the inspiration of writing a new post about my current thoughts on how to design/make a good Application Programming Interface (API), for functions/methods, classes, programs/scripts, and other things that offer such an interface.

On Software: Open Source Licenses

Sun, 22 Jun 2025 12:42:46 +0200

I mostly prefer permissive open source licenses that allow a lot but don’t restrict (or demand) much.
But this may also change, depending on specific projects and/or use cases…

Building SDL 3

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 20:18:07 +0200

The Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL) recently released its version 3 (not as 3.0, and not as 3.1, but as 3.2, for some reason).

Building wxWidgets

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 20:18:07 +0200

A short guide on how to build wxWidgets (the cross-platform GUI toolkit) from source (the recommended way), on Windows, by using CMake and Visual Studio.

How to use CMake

Fri, 30 May 2025 17:45:28 +0200

This is just a reminder for some syntax/parameter details on how to invoke CMake (i.e. the actual cmake program), mainly from the CLI, to configure/generate/build a project – it’s not a tutorial on how to write a CMakeLists.txt file!

Doxygen Cheatsheet

Tue, 13 May 2025 14:55:12 +0200

This is my personal Doxygen cheatsheet: Its initial (and primary) purpose is to be a compact help on this topic for myself.

It’s not meant as a general introduction or comprehensive reference for this tool, but it is meant to be a small knowledge base or collection of basics & “gotchas”, often-used commands, snippets, tips, and instructions on how to do certain tasks.

Calling a Lua/C++ function from C++/Lua code

Sat, 03 May 2025 19:40:00 +0200

(Part 3 of my little series on “Lua”)

Another post in my series on how to use C++ with Lua; this time it’s about calling a function of one language from code of the other language.

A C++ program that calls a Lua script

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 20:27:18 +0200

(Part 2 of my little series on “Lua”)

Alright, so after preparing Lua, here are a few small first step on how to make use of this language within a C++ context.

Building Lua (on Windows, with Visual Studio)

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 21:01:40 +0200

(Part 1 of my little series on “Lua”)

Although one can get pre-built binaries of the Lua (programming language) interpreter, to me that seems to be just a semi-offical or lackluster way.
But luckily, building it yourself from source is very easy (especially with the help of this post from Dennis D. Spreen).

On Software: Documentation

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 14:38:10 +0100

Some background: I am indeed interested in writing documentation, for myself and for others.

The initial trigger is usually to note it down for my future self, and/or for helping me to understand a topic better; if it’s also useful for others: great.

Powershell: Dynamic Parameters

Thu, 17 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This is an extension to my notes on parameters for scripts or (advanced) functions in Powershell:
Dynamic (or conditional) parameters are an interesting and cool feature, but also a bit tricky and cumbersome to set up.

Powershell: Working with JSON

Thu, 09 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

A few tips and tricks for handling JSON data with Powershell.

Powershell: Working with the Windows Registry

Wed, 28 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Here are some tips and trick on how to work on the Windows Registry with Powershell.

On Software: Logging

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Quite a while ago, I was thinking about settling on a steady logging convention, after always having slightly varying versions in my different projects.

Powershell: Using Write-Information

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 15:07:36 +0200

This started out as a short entry for my Powershell Snippets page, but it quickly turned out that this cmdlet needs a longer text for explaining proper handling…

Powershell: Select Choice

Mon, 10 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The need to prompt a user for a choice in a text menu (i.e. in the console), and a slight dissatisfaction with the commonly recommended $Host.ui.PromptForChoice() after experimenting a bit with it, triggered me to ultimately write my own function.

Powershell: Name of the current Citrix desktop

Sun, 02 Jul 2023 17:28:09 +0200

For my day job, I wanted know the name of the ‘Citrix’ desktop on which I was currently logged in, because some features are only available on certain desktops in our environment.

C++ Snippets for the MS Windows platform

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 21:09:25 +0200

A collection of code snippets, small pearls of wisdom and bits of knowledge, that may come handy at times.

C++ Snippets

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 16:13:57 +0100

A collection of code snippets, general notes, small pearls of wisdom and bits of knowledge, that may come handy at times.

Python Snippets

Sun, 20 Feb 2022 19:28:43 +0100

A collection of code snippets, small pearls of wisdom and bits of knowledge, that may come handy at times.

C++: On #include guards

Mon, 14 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

In C and C++ there exists the concept of include guards (header guards) to prevent that a header file (or rather the content of such file) is included more than once, because that could cause errors and strange behavior due to redeclarations or name collisions¹.

C++: Namespace

Sat, 05 Feb 2022 14:22:20 +0100

I moved the (growing) section on namespaces from the C++ Snippets page to this separate page, where I had already written some notes about using anonymous and inline namespaces in the same translation unit/file (see below).

The page therefore now also got a more generic and encompassing title.

Powershell: PSCustomObject

Sat, 29 Jan 2022 14:06:32 +0100

Powershell’s PSCustomObject type has been a great tool, but since I don’t use it every day, I jotted down some sample code and links for my future self (or any other interested reader 😄 ), as a reminder.

Building Qt 6 on Windows with Visual Studio

Sun, 09 May 2021 19:24:52 +0200

Time for another short guidance on how to build your own copy of the Qt framework from source.

Fucked Up Text in Code Snippet

Sun, 02 May 2021 21:35:46 +0200

The story of how I lost an hour of my life because of a weird unicode copy-&-paste character in a code snippet.

Prepare a CMake project for find_package()

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Although I’ve already published an article on how to bring an external CMake project into your own CMake project, I recently realized that I haven’t written about how one can prepare a CMake project for the use with find_package() — despite the fact that I’ve used it already for quite a while in RandFill for my own WPDLib(rary); so let me make up leeway for that oversight with this post.

Powershell: Using Regular Expressions

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 21:04:54 +0100

This is not a introduction or tutorial on what Regular Expressions (RegEx) are or can do, but on how to use them with Powershell!

How to use CMake to setup Visual Studio for using the Clang compiler

Sun, 07 Feb 2021 17:23:07 +0100

This is a brief post on how to use CMake to setup a Visual Studio 2019 solution on Windows that will use the LLVM Clang compiler instead of the orginal Visual C++ one.

Powershell Snippets

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 20:09:04 +0100

A collection of code snippets, small pearls of wisdom and bits of knowledge that may come handy at times.

Powershell: Remote Session

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 19:04:38 +0100

Notes on using a remote session with Powershell

Powershell: Cmdlet Aliases, Automatic Variables and other Shortcuts

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 19:36:31 +0100

Some notes on the items listed in the title 😉

Powershell: Splatting

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 19:20:29 +0100

Some notes on the method of “splatting” in Powershell code.

Powershell: Help

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 18:53:38 +0100

Some notes on where and how to get help-information for Powershell commands.

Powershell: Parameters for Scripts and (Advanced) Functions

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Some notes on parameters for scripts or (advanced) functions in Powershell.

Powershell: Handle input from the pipeline

Mon, 18 Jan 2021 20:36:13 +0100

A short description on how to make a Powershell function that can accept and process input data that it gets from the pipeline.

Journal #8: Updates on WPDLib and RandFill

Sun, 28 Jun 2020 15:32:48 +0200

So, it’s been quite a while since the last post of this sort, and I did slow down on the projects mentioned there for some time, but…

Tabs to Spaces

Sun, 28 Jun 2020 15:13:57 +0200

I was always a proponent of the tabs side on the eternal tabs or spaces war; but recently I decided to swap sides.

Hotkey 1.0

Thu, 28 May 2020 22:41:10 +0200

A small utility to scratch my own itch: Having global shortcut keys for often needed actions.

QuickADUserInfo 1.0

Tue, 05 May 2020 21:27:56 +0200

The first version of my new little helper script QuickADUserInfo has been released.

Powershell: Starting a Script the Easy Way

Sat, 25 Apr 2020 13:32:33 +0200

Powershell scripts can be very practical tools, but they lack an easy Just Do It mode:
Even as a developer/administrator/power-user, one has to remove several obstacles before you can use it; and if you plan to deploy a script to (normal) users, you should take care of some issues before.

Using CMake with External Projects

Sat, 03 Aug 2019 12:40:23 +0200

The reason for this post is that I spent a considerable amount of time¹ the last two days to convince CMake’s External Project feature to do what I wanted. And without the help of the usual suspects (Stackoverflow, old mails, blog articles, code snippets, etc.), I might still not be done. So I thought I could pay back the general public by posting some notes on this topic 😉

From Mercurial to Git

Sun, 21 Jul 2019 14:14:11 +0200

In the last weeks, I migrated all my personal projects from Mercurial to Git (they remain hosted at BitBucket.org for now, under the same URLs).

Checksum Python Script

Sun, 26 May 2019 16:07:49 +0200

Added a Python script to calculate or verify a file’s checksum/hash/message digest (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, etc.) to my tools.

Autologon

Sun, 29 Apr 2018 00:14:25 +0000

A small utility program to modify the Windows Autologon settings in the Windows registry with a GUI.

Icons: Visual Studio Image Library

Thu, 26 Apr 2018 19:49:04 +0000

Although not new, I stumbled just now upon a fine collection of icons from Microsoft¹, the Visual Studio Image Library:

CLIOptions: Code to handle command line interface options

Sun, 11 Feb 2018 17:52:06 +0000

A tiny header-only C++ library to handle options (parameters, arguments, …) which are given to programs on the command line.

MOC error message when building a small single file Qt program

Thu, 14 Sep 2017 21:56:59 +0000

Just a reminder for myself, because I will certainly stumble over it again in the future:

SIMInfo 1.4

Tue, 08 Nov 2016 02:14:50 +0000

A new version of SIMInfo has been released (side note: version 1.3 was omitted from publication, because it’s been mainly a work of internal restructuring).

WPDLib 0.1.0

Sun, 25 Sep 2016 22:31:49 +0000

After quietly working on it for several months, the project has now reached a point where I feel
comfortable to make it public:

Distributing a Python program to Windows users

Sun, 10 Jul 2016 22:31:48 +0000

I use Python for several tasks (mostly small routine jobs or one-off scripts; not to devalue the language, I just haven’t used it yet for bigger projects), but since it’s an interpreted language, you can’t easily distribute the scripts to normal users on Microsoft Windows (my main ecosystem), because that platform doesn’t come with any version of Python installed by default.

Journal #7

Tue, 31 May 2016 02:04:41 +0000

Time for a quick update on my activities in the last couple of months:

SIMInfo 1.2

Sat, 28 May 2016 13:48:06 +0000

A new version of SIMInfo has been released.

Remi 1.4

Sat, 28 May 2016 12:10:35 +0000

A new version of my small command-line utility remi has been released.

Journal #6

Wed, 25 Nov 2015 22:20:16 +0000

At the moment, I’m working on my library to support Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) devices via the Windows Portable Devices (WPD) API, so that future versions of RandFill will be able to use also smartphones as targets and not only Mass Storage Class (MSC) devices like plain USB flash drives.

SIMInfo 1.0.1

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 01:04:21 +0000

A new version of SIMInfo has been released.

RandFill 1.2.1

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 22:08:52 +0000

New minor release of RandFill.

RandFill 1.2.0

Mon, 18 May 2015 00:22:44 +0000

Finally, a new release of my pet project is done: RandFill 1.2.0 is here!

SIM Info

Thu, 14 May 2015 23:59:34 +0000

SIM Info is a new small console program for Microsoft Windows to display SIM identification data like ICCID, IMEI and IMSI.

No QtTools (lupdate/linguist/lrelease) when built as shared libraries

Tue, 12 May 2015 22:44:17 +0000

So I’ve built Qt from source and used it successfully in the last year or so.
Some time ago I turned my attention to multilanguage support and learned about Qt’s tools: linguist.exe, lupdate.exe and lrelease.exe.

Building Qt for static linking

Tue, 31 Mar 2015 02:38:17 +0000

One of the drawbacks of using such a comprehensive framework as Qt is the massively increased size of you program. When my pet project RandFill was only using the plain Win32-API, it was a single executable file of a couple of hundred kilobytes.

Now, using dynamically linked Qt, the whole package (with DLLs, MSVC redistributables, etc.) is bigger than 20 megabytes as a 64-bit build!

The case of the mysterious crash

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 21:30:09 +0000

In case you get mysterious crashes, inexplicable messages of access violations and other strange errors on seemingly innocent code:

On Software: Check for errors and do not fail (too) silently

Sat, 07 Feb 2015 11:54:32 +0000

While I was running the old-but-still-officially-current version 1.1.0 of RandFill recently (to analyze a change between that version and the 1.2.x branch), I stumbled upon a strange behaviour:

Vectorized RandFill Logo

Tue, 09 Sep 2014 02:38:53 +0000

While I’m (slowly) continuing to convert RandFill from Win32 to Qt, I’ve added the icon of the logo to the main window and the executable today.

Miscellaneous Public Source Code Repository

Fri, 05 Sep 2014 22:24:10 +0000

Updated the Software page: Moved some of my (old) source code, scripts etc. to a public Mercurial repository on BitBucket.org named misc_public.

Size comparison: RandFill 1.1.0 vs. 1.2.x-devel

Wed, 02 Jul 2014 01:37:33 +0000

I’m currently migrating RandFill from plain Win32 code to a mix of Win32 and Qt 5 code (mainly the GUI parts, at the moment); and the size comparison between these two versions is sobering.

CMake, Visual Studio and Qt 5 with MOC...

Sun, 15 Jun 2014 14:22:12 +0000

After building a 64-bit version of Qt with/for Microsoft Visual Studio, building a simple Qt test program and doing first steps with the CMake build system, the next hurdle appeared on the horizon in the form of support for Qt and its Q_OBJECT features (I am currently fighting more with the changes I made to my build environment than improving the actual program code…).

Generating 64-bit projects for Visual Studio with CMake

Sat, 31 May 2014 15:18:42 +0000

Describes a few tips on how to generate a 64-bit project for Visual Studio with CMake.

On CMake

Sun, 04 May 2014 13:31:36 +0000

I’ve changed the build process of the RandFill project recently from using the Visual Studio files (*.sln, *.vcxproj, etc.) to maintaining and generating those with CMake.

Building a simple Qt application on Windows with Visual Studio

Sat, 12 Apr 2014 17:59:06 +0000

After preparing the Qt framework, I needed to check if everything works; therefore I built a very simple Qt (5.2.1) application, the GUI-equivalent of a “Hello-World” program.

Building Qt 5 on Windows with Visual Studio

Sat, 12 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Short guides on how to build your own copy of the Qt 5 framework from source.

These were originally separate blog posts, but since they are now pretty outdated (since they are for old versions of Qt, Windows and Visual Studio), I combined them here on a single page, for archival purposes (with many dead links…), and edited them a bit.

RandFill: Open Source

Thu, 05 Dec 2013 01:35:50 +0000

The project is now open source (published under the terms of the MIT license) and available on BitBucket.org.

RandFill 1.1.0 re-released

Sun, 20 Oct 2013 13:16:08 +0000

No functional changes yet, but it comes now with a proper installer instead of just an executable in a zip file (for this tool and at this stage not really necessary, but it will come handy in the future).

RandFill 1.1.0 released

Sun, 01 Sep 2013 09:01:00 +0000

While looking through the files of that tool for the first time in years and comparing it with my old homepage, I realized that I’ve forgotten to publish the latest version (not really surprising, since it’s only a small utility, only used by me and put on the internet just for the sake of completeness and delusions of grandeur).

How to use Notepad++ to create a log file

Sun, 18 Aug 2013 01:11:05 +0000

The original Notepad of Microsoft Windows has a nice feature to create log files: Save a new file with the text .LOG as its first characters and a timestamp will be appended on subsequent openings.

On Software: Some Golden Rules

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 08:00:21 +0000

Here are some rules of thumb for program authors.

On Software: Configuration

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 08:00:48 +0000

These are a few thoughts (from the point of view as an user and also as a developer) on handling configuration data for [application] software.

On Software: Open Formats & Open Protocols

Thu, 30 May 2013 08:00:31 +0000

Let’s kick off the text with the sad-but-true bits of wisdom found here:

On Software: Introduction

Mon, 27 May 2013 08:00:55 +0000

In this series of posts I plan to write down some of my views regarding all things ‘software’, both as an user as well as a developer/programmer.