Proposal for target-private directories for compilers

One of the greatest strengths of the classical C compiler model is that all compile jobs are fully isolated. This means that they can be run... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

How to build dependencies as Meson subprojects using SDL as an example

Today we released version 0.56.0 of the Meson build system. This is an especially important release as it marks the 10 000th commit since th... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

Cargo-style dependency management for C, C++ and other languages with Meson

My previous blog post about modern C++ got a surprising amount of feedback. Some people even reimplemented the program in other languages, i... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

Does C++ still deserve the bad rap it has had for so long?

Traditionally C++ has been seen by many (and you know who you are) as just plain bad: the code is unreadably verbose, error messages are und... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

Is your project a unique snowflake or do you just think that it is?

If there is a national sport for programmers, it is reinventing existing things from scratch. This seems to be especially common inside corp... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

It ain't easy being a unique snowflake: the laptop purchasing edition

As the lockdown drags on I have felt the need to buy a new laptop as my old one is starting to age. A new category in the laptop market is 2... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

Most “mandatory requirements” in corporations are imaginary

In my day job I work as a consultant. Roughly six months ago my current client had a non-negotiable requirement that consultants are not all... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

Windows Process Invocation Will Forever Be Broken

Invoking new processes is, at its core, a straightforward operation. Pretty much everything you need to know to understand it can be seen in... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

Pinebook Pro longer term usage report

I bought a Pinebook Pro in the first batch, and have been using it on and off for several months now. Some people I know wanted to know if ... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

The ABI Stability Matryoshka

In the C++ on Sea conference last week Herb Sutter had a talk about replacing an established thingy with a new version. Obviously the case ... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

What if? Revision control systems did not have merge

A fun design exercise is to take an established system or process and introduce some major change into it, such as adding a completely new c... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

What is best in open source projects?

Open source project maintainers have a reputation of being grumpy and somewhat rude at times. This is a not unexpected as managing an open s... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

Short term usability is not the same as long term usability

When designing almost any piece of code or other functionality, the issue of usability often comes up. Most of the time these discussions go... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 3 years ago

Enforcing locking with C++ nonmovable types

Let's say you have a struct with some variable protected by a mutex like this: struct UnsafeData {   int x;   std::mutex ; }; You sho... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

You have to kill your perlings

Preface This blog post deals only with the social and "human" aspects of various technologies. It is not about the technical merits of a... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

Your statement is 100% correct but misses the entire point

Let's assume that there is a discussion going on on the Internet about programming languages. One of the design points that come up is a gar... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

Statement is 100% correct but misses the entire point

Let's assume that there is a discussion going on on the Internet about programming languages. One of the design points that come up is a gar... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

Statement is 100% correct but misses the entire point

Let's assume that there is a discussion going on on the Internet about programming languages. One of the design points that come up is a gar... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

It's not what programming languages do, it's what they shepherd you to

How many of you have listened, read or taken part in a discussion about programming languages that goes like the following: Person A: "Pro... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

The character that swallowed a week

In the last few posts we have looked at compiling LibreOffice from scratch using Meson. Contrary to what one might expect it was not particu... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

Unity build test with Meson and LibreOffice

In a previous blog post we managed to build a notable chunk of LibreOffice with Meson. This has since been updated so you can build all top... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

Creating your own physical or PDF manual

This post is part 2 of N describing the creation process of the Meson manual, which you can purchase via this web site . Part 1 can be read ... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

The Meson Manual is now available for purchase

Some of you might remember that last year I ran a crowdfunding campaign to create a full written user manual for Meson. That failed fairly s... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

The Meson Manual is now available for purchase

Some of you might remember that last year I ran a crowdfunding campaign to create a full written user manual for Meson. That failed fairly s... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

Some Intricacies of ABI Stability

There is a big discussion ongoing in the C++ world about ABI stability. People want to make a release of the standard that does a big ABI br... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

Apple of 2019 is the Linux of 2000

Last week the laptop I use for macOS development said that there is an XCode update available. I tried to install it but it said that there ... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

Apple of 2019 is the Linux of 2000

Last week the laptop I use for macOS development said that there is an XCode update available. I tried to install it but it said that there ... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

Apple of 2019 is Linux of 2000

Last week the laptop I use for macOS development said that there is an XCode update available. I tried to install it but it said that there ... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago

A personal story about 10× development

During the last few days there has been an ongoing Twitter storm about 10× developers. And like all the ones before it (and all the future o... | Continue reading


@nibblestew.blogspot.com | 4 years ago