Multithreaded I/O in the DMD compiler (DDJ article by Walter)

[Sean Kelly]

== Quote from Andrei Alexandrescu (SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org)'s article
> Jarrett Billingsley wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 3:31 PM, dsimcha <dsimcha at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> Yeah, I've always wondered why some people put so much emphasis on the 10% of
> >> computer security that's highly technical in nature when 90% of the problem of
> >> computer security is between the keyboard and the chair.
> >>
> >
> > ComputerIlliterateFriend: Hey Jarrett, can you come over and fix my computer?
> > Jarrett: What's it doing?
> > CIF: It's popping up all sorts of dialog boxes telling me I need to
> > get Spyware Aweseom Remover and stuff, and it's running really slow,
> > and my files keep disappearing.
> > Jarrett: And where have you been on the internet?
> > CIF: Oh you know, normal sites.
> > Jarrett: Like?
> > CIF: Porn, more porn, horse porn, warez.  I also used Limewire to
> > download *every song and program ever made*, and I make it a habit to
> > click on interesting-looking [read: violently-flashing] ads.
> > Jarrett: ...
> > CIF: What?  Did I do something wrong?
> >
> > Seriously.  It's like sleeping with every prostitute on the East Coast
> > and acting surprised when you have seventeen STDs.
> I think this is a large exaggeration. People of all walks of life are
> exposed to dangers when using a Windows machine.

I followed a link in Firefox on Windows not too long ago, and the simple
act of doing so installed a trojan on my computer.  I was unable to get rid
of it manually so I downloaded a trial copy of Norton AntiVirus and in the
process of trying to get rid of the trojan, NAV killed my PC... completely.
I was still able to boot it, but login was impossible, as was every attempt
to rebuild from the recovery console.  Fortunately, I had network shares
for most of my important data and I siphoned it all onto a Mac.  My
Windows machine is now used exclusively for playing games.  I have no
intention of ever using Windows for anything else again.  Games are
the only thing the other OSes lack compared to Windows anyway.

> Whenever the endless debate of windows vs. linux vs. mac comes up, I
> repeat my comment: if you are a programmer, you better acquire some
> experience in each. For Windows/Mac it's not as easy because they may
> cost money, but now with virtual machines, good distributions etc. I
> think there is no excuse for a programmer to not seriously looking into
> Unix.

I desperately wish my computer-illiterate family members would move
off of Windows as well, since it would eliminate basically every tech-
support call I field from them.  Perhaps I've simply had good luck with
other OSes, but Windows is the only one I've had regular problems with.

As for programming specifically... I made a deliberate shift away from
Windows years ago because it's a nightmare to develop for (aside from
Visual Studio, which is a great debugging environment).  Best move I
ever made.