December 24, 1998

Why qsort is Still Useful in C++

C++ defines a set of generic algorithms such as sort and find. However, the corresponding C algorithms, qsort and bsearch, are still useful in C++ programs for at least three reasons: Legacy code. Familiarity with C algorithms is needed to maintain legacy C code. Efficiency. You cannot apply STL algorithms

Live Action Captions

When building a TextBox or Label UserControl, the Caption or Text property sometimes doesn’t work well with the standard controls, as the control’s appearance doesn’t change when you type the value into the Properties window. To make your UserControl behave the way you want, go to the UserControl’s code window

Add a New Number Format

A client needed the numbers to show up in certain data files in the “x100” format to accommodate interchanging data with a legacy system. That is, if the number is “23.56,” it shows up as “2356,” and “23” becomes “2300.” Because I didn’t want to create a special case throughout

Is Missing Behavior Changed in VB5

In VB5, you can assign a default value to a typed optional argument. But you must then use the IsMissing function carefully, because when the optional argument is typed, IsMissing always returns False. Only when using an untyped (Variant) optional argument will IsMissing be accurate in determining whether a value