This is a collection of code patterns for some of the common Personal Computer programming tasks which tend to repeat from time to time. When not singled out and and classified this patterns get easily lost in the bulk of an application-specific code and constant rewriting (and debugging) them from scratch is a senseless waste of time.
Normally there are several ways to code the same logic and some ways are better than the other in terms or size, effectivness, readability and ease of modification. These criteria are rather fuzzy (except for the "size") and are affected by personal preferences. Yet, there seems to exist a certain common sense concensus of what is "good" — like mnemonic names and labels, use of indentation, etc.
This selection is my attempt to collect the most usable of such "good" code patterns into one document hyperlinked for the ease of use and accessible from anywhere and by anybody who might have interest in it. However, this selection is not compiled for the Web only — rather it's my working reference which I try to maintain as accurate and current as possible As such it inevitably will always lack the overall integrity and completeness, yet it is still a useful tool which often saves time.
Most of the tasks originated from a real-life experience of a PC programmer. Most of the solutions were coded and debugged in the process of practical programming of various applications. Every pattern was checked to the best of my competence and was as a rule tested by a substantial time of repeated usage. This is not to say that it is in any way guaranteed to be error-free — you will be using any advice you pick from this FAQ entirely at your own risk and will be completely responsible yourself for any problems that might arise from this usage. So when trying an advice, please exercise the common sense precautions and test it most thoroughly yourself before applying it to anything serious.
This legal mantra been chanted, I want to mention that all error reports and any comments about this FAQ are most welcome and I'll try to do my best to fix any known problem as quick as I'll be able to do this.