Another Java paper: Sorry, I do program in it for a living after all. This one makes some really good points; one point in particular debunks the myth that ints are 32-bits wide in the JVM. Language lawyers will argue (and win) that ints are only specified within a range and that the JLS doesn't specify how wide an int is in the JVM but merely that the number can't be larger than 2147483648 (2^31) and therefore an int could be any width inside the VM. This paper also clarifies what a 'critical' section of code really is as opposed to what people usually call 'critical' sections of code.
[via Brandon Lee]
# — 10 December, 2002