This paper was written by Ken Thompson around August 1984. Ken Thompson is the co-father of UNIX: "You can't trust code that you did not totally create yourself. No amount of source-level verification or scrutiny will protect you from using untrusted code. In demonstrating the possibility of this kind of attack, I picked on the C compiler. I could have picked on any program-handling program such as an assembler, a loader, or even hardware microcode. As the level of program gets lower, these bugs will be harder and harder to detect. A well installed microcode bug will be almost impossible to detect."

This article by Mark Fussell provides an in-depth overview through a climax-building top ten countdown of the best features of the core XML classes in System.Xml in the forthcoming .NET Frameworks Beta 1 release. These enable you to read, write, manipulate, and transform XML. With improvements in performance, usability, typing, and querying the XML support in the V2.0 release continues to lead the industry in innovation, standards support, and ease of use.

No OS is perfect, but by combining the ease of use that Windows users expect, and the eminent hackability of the *NIX platforms, OS X makes a great case for a one-size-fits-all solution.

Now that you made the necessary preparation to migrate from Windows to Linux in Part I, you are ready to complete the move. THG offers a step-by-step Linux installation how-to, complete with screenshots and videos, to guide you on your path to Windows independence.

On time and in-sync, gtkmm 2.4 is now here. gtkmm provides a C++ interface to GTK+, with comprehensive documentation. gtkmm 2.4 wraps additional API in GTK+ 2.4. gtkmm 2.4 installs in parallel with gtkmm 2.2, so you can have both installed at the same time. glibmm is now a separate module, for use in non-GUI software.

While Microsoft is pleased with robust sales of new PCs that come loaded with Windows XP, the company has been less than satisfied with the rate at which large companies are installing its latest operating system.

A month ago, a trial version of a little-known Linux application called "CoLinux" was released that is the first working free and open source method for optimally running Linux on Microsoft Windows natively. It's the work of a 21 year-old Israeli computer science student and some Japanese open source programmers; in Israel, analysts are already saying it could help transform the software world.

In this installment, David looks at Python's two standard modules for unit testing: unittest and doctest. These modules expand on the capability of the built-in assert statement, which is used for validation of pre-conditions and post-conditions within functions. He discusses the best ways to incorporate testing into Python development, weighing the advantages of different styles for different types of projects.

Javalobby founder Rick Ross wrote the commentary "Where is Java in the settlement?" while Richard M. Stallman replies on his own commentary asking developers to develop the GNU Classpath instead of hoping on a Free Java.

If it's a good idea to learn proper memory management skills, as Cameron Laird has suggested in his series, then you'll need to gain skill at using the tools that help you do so. In this article, you'll learn how to use a free memory debugging utility and find out how easily it can help you solve memory problems.

This technical overview by veteran real-time instructor David Kalinsky examines a number of design patterns used to architect high-availability embedded systems that utilize a real-time operating system. The design of high availability systems is based on a combination of redundant hardware components and software to manage fault detection and correction, to achieve "five-nines" (99.999%) or greater availability, equivalent to less than 1 second of downtime per day.

"You ever tried Linux?" my wife's Uncle Toby asked me as I sat in his home office that cold winter day. We had been discussing the rise and fall of the BeOS and he mentioned that he had tried a few different *nixes on his home server/firewall. "Here let me show you," he said as he flicked the switch on the monitor next to his Windows XP box.

Would you invest your hard-earned dollars in a company like this? Its revenues soared an average of 36% through the 1990s, but now it's heading into miserly single-digit growth. It has long been a powerful engine fueled by major updates of its products, yet the next major one, an unprecedented five years in the making, isn't expected until 2006. The company hasn't made much headway in newer, promising markets. And its share price is stuck exactly where it was in mid-1998. Not buying, huh? Well, tough luck: You probably already own a piece of this rock, says Yahoo! Finanace.

To help the advancement of Linux in the telecom space, the Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) started a working group called the Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) working group. Its mission is to specify and help implement an open source platform that is highly available, secure, scalable, and easily maintained—suitable for carrier-grade systems. Read more at LinuxDevCenter.