Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with software and programming

Nerd seeks Leigh Steinberg

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:25:01 -0800

I'm a veteran software engineer / technical lead working for an internet company. I think I've got an opportunity to really cash in at my job, and need guidance on how best to do this. For the past two years I have been working on a product that is about to make my company some serious revenue.

Right now, I feel pretty irreplaceable. Because of some organizational turmoil and chronic understaffing, I have enormous development, management, and operational responsibilities. I have no backup for any of these roles. I have a good reputation in the company, as far as I know, and have done well-received presentations for our executives. I also have offers from other companies as a security blanket.

There will be a short window of opportunity for me to cash in, between the time when the deal to sell the product is signed and the time when I can train up whatever new staff comes along. Our product is a B2B thing with significant professional service opportunities. It's not turnkey. During this window, the sale will live and die on my efforts.

I would like to capitalize on that in a career-defining way. Exactly how I'll do that, I'm not sure. I have some ideas, but I need help with them.

So: I would like to hire someone who can give me a reality check, who can help me hone my pitch and define my requirements, and who has a background in business, negotiation, and contract law. I want this person to help me look like I know exactly what I'm doing. I don't think I want to hire someone to do the actual negotiating; I want more of an advisor. Can anyone suggest where to find such a person? I am in Seattle so if you have a recommendation in this area, that'd be especially cool.

How to work in software, outdoors?

mjg123 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:11:54 -0800

What kinds of jobs exist for software engineers who want to work outdoors? Rain, wind, sunshine, sleet, yes please!! I have about 10 years experience as a professional software engineer, mostly working for large companies and a bit as a contractor too. I enjoy it, and I always get good reports from clients and colleagues. But the desk/office lifestyle is getting me down, and I'd love to work outdoors.

Without abandoning the skills and salary that I've built up over the years, what kind of job could I get that would see me working outside for a considerable part of my time? I'm thinking of a minimum of one whole day outside every week, preferably more.

I really don't want to give up the software design aspect of my job, these are the problems that I love solving. But I suppose I could do without the actual programming part of it, so technical architect would be a nice job - if I could do it outside. Help me brainstorm this one, mefites!

Any good books on web penetration testing?

jacobian — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 08:28:13 -0800

Any good books on web penetration testing? I'm a web developer and consultant, and I often deal with web application security. Everything I know about penetration testing I've learned in a pretty ad hoc manner, and I think it's time to give myself a bit of a more formal background.

I'm familier enough with the concepts (SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, etc.); I even teach classes on those subjects. I've got decent knowledge crypto and digital security in general. I also have a few tools I sorta know how to use (Burp Suite being the main one). But I don't really have any good grasp on the "right" way to actually conduct a formal web penetration test -- I usually just flail around for a while trying different things until I "feel" satisfied. Doesn't really make for a very scientific process, I know.

So: any suggestions for books (or any other sort of learning material) on web penetration testing? I'd prefer something more on the advanced side of the spectrum; I'd rather be overwhelmed than bored.

Make me more geeky!

stevyb — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:56:05 -0800

How can I (non-programmer), create a customized installer? (see details please!) I have an application that I have to install on alot of workstations, but it requires to install some MS Office service packs before the ACTUAL .exe file is installed. AND THEN , we still need to copy some data files into different directories. Only after the 20 step installation READ ME is followed to the tee, does the application launch and work correctly. Sorry, I don't know what language it was written in and I don't have any programming experience. I was hoping to make one EXE that does all of the steps automatically in a wizard type format. Sorry for the long explanation!

What do I need to learn to write a Gmail Labs feature?

Matt Arnold — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:14:09 -0800

What do I need to learn to write a Gmail Labs feature? What programming languages and other technologies do I need to learn to write one of the experimental features for Gmail found in the Labs tab under Settings?

I currently know Python and some Java. In case it is necessary to your answer, here is what I want to develop:

The feature, named Herdcat, is intended to help me keep in touch to make sure I and my friends and associates have not forgotten the projects we're working on together. It uses Spaced Interval Repetition (SIR). I got the idea from flashcard software, in which SIR modifies the rate of how often to repeat a flashcard by recording the number of repeated failures or successes. In Herdcat, SIR determines how often to prompt me to nag someone, based on how seldom they reply in Gmail. Each collaborator's interval starts at a length of two weeks. Every week that a collaborator emails me, the interval until Herdcat reminds me to email that person increases in length by one day. Every week that person does not email me, the interval until Herdcat reminds me to email that person and remind them about our project decreases in length by one day. When the interval on one of my projects reaches zero, I get an alert that I should give up on that collaborator and their contact is removed from Herdcat.

Pay for Flex?

drjimmy11 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:58:42 -0800

What, anecdotally speaking, are Flex developers getting paid right now in Los Angeles or a similar city? I have been to the salary calculators and such, they tend to come back with a number up around $120k or so- but I'm not sure how "real world" that is. I'm a Flex developer with about 2 years experience in Flex, and 10 years programming overall. I consider myself an expert in Flex/AS3 (have written my own framework, used all the major ones, can explain their strengths and weaknesses, and stuff like that).

I'm interested in knowing, if I put myself on the market tomorrow, what salary could I expect to find in Los Angeles for full-time? How about as a consultant? How high is the demand, really? Mostly just looking for anecdotes, but hard data is welcome if it's more specific than those generic salary calculators.

Thanks!

Code copyright and freelancers

pengale — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:12:09 -0800

As a freelance programmer, how do you handle code copyright? That is, do you keep copyright to your code and license it, or transfer copyright? If you transfer it, how do you handle doing similar projects for different clients? Do you ever worry that part of your work for one client could end up being too similar to your work for another (to which they now own the copyright) even if you rewrite from scratch? Do you have a 'standard library' of original code that you use on more than one project, or rewrite each time?

(Yeah, YANL.)

Which forums do the best web programmers hang out at?

jackson5 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:15:45 -0800

Which forums do the best web programmers hang out at? Long story short: I've got a web site that already does over 1 million pageviews per month. I've got a great idea to take it to the next level, but I'm looking for someone who can handle the coding and technical aspects in exchange for an equity stake.

I'm wanting to bring aboard a great programmer who doesn't necessarily need the work but will be motivated by the equity.

Which forums would you recommend I post on to find this person?

Also, if there's anyone interested here, let me know.

Last in, first out?

cabingirl — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:01:08 -0800

In software that's designed to process a set of files or records, why do you sometimes see that the last record in the set is processed first? Is this some kind of processing convention, programming limitation, or what? I was uploading batches of photos using Flickr Uploadr today, and I noticed that the last photo iadded to the batch was always uploaded first. Then, the first photo was uploaded, and it progressed through the batch sequentially. It reminded me that I've seen this behavior before - in a custom application at work that processes sets of database records. So, I was just wondering if it's a coincidence, or if it's done on purpose for some reason.

What do I teach my kids instead of line number BASIC?

majick — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:32:14 -0800

What's the modern day equivalent of old school "line number" BASIC as a tool for young children to play and learn with? As with many of us of a certain age, I spent a lot of time writing software in line number BASIC learning how to break problems down into component algorithms and generally getting a sense of how electronic computing works. The advantages of such a language as a learning tool are pretty well known: the constrained vocabulary and relatively powerful primitives make it fairly easy to learn, although obviously not the kind of thing you'd want to write production software with. I'd like to share at least a sliver of this experience with my own children, but the chances of getting them to sit down in front of a crumbling TRS-80 or Apple II in order to learn are slim.

So instead I'm looking at other options. Ideally I'd like a language and execution environment that is somewhat multiplatform, has graphics and sound support, uses a language I know or can learn relatively easily in order to teach, and most ideally is procedural rather than OO. A few I am considering are:

LÖVE - a Lua system for creating games. Lua looks fairly approachable although I don't know enough of it to teach, and I'm not entirely sure about making young children wrap their brains around the idea of callbacks in order to get anything done.

Pygame - a framework for Python game creation. I only speak a little Python but it's learnable, I suppose, and the presence of an "immediate mode" interpreter is compelling in terms of being able to learn the basics interactively. However, I'm not at all convinced I want my kids using an OO language before they understand procedural programming. That seems like putting the cart way out in front of the horse in terms of depth of learning.

Squeak - a Smalltalk implementation. Yet another OO language, although at least a fairly pure one, and I can probably dust off my long-rusted Smalltalk skills to teach it. But honestly, who even knows or cares about Smalltalk any more?

Scratch seems like a Squeak-derived project of some kind, and the visual programming approach seems aimed at very young or only partially-literate learners. I'm not sure this is the kind of thing I'm interested in at all.

Processing has some of the attributes I'm looking for, but may not be an ideal learning language due to being extremely visual in emphasis, the OO, and the Java syntax.

Visual Basic is really BASIC in name only; it's not a language I want to teach, nor one I'd want my children to bother with, and it's tied utterly to a platform I don't particularly care about.

So, folks, I'm not seeing a very attractive range of tools. What am I missing? Aren't there tools for kids to just sit down, play with, and make things? Or is the entire concept of teaching fundamental computer literacy an obsolete one in the modern age of children surrounded by closed, sealed, consumer-oriented devices that are made by distant wizards?

Did he really say that?

pwnguin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:56:15 -0800

I've seen a quotation running around recently, attributed to Bill Gates: "Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight." Did he really say that? At first glance it seems witty: airplanes are supposed to be light! But now that I think about it, it's rather lame. Building an airplane isn't the same as designing one. Its entirely reasonable to measure the progress of putting an airplane together by weight. Perhaps slightly misleading in that the engines contribute the bulk of the weight but not as flat out wrong as the quote implies.

So my question is, is this attribution correct, and if so, can anyone provide a greater context within which it was stated?

Learning Ruby on Rails 2.0?

BoldStepDesign — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:02:51 -0800

Foreword: No ruby background aside from basic tutorials. Here's the deal. I've tired the Agile Web Dev (2nd edition) book for rails, very out of date. I need to learn something. I want to learn ruby on Rails. I've gone through the Rails guide on creating a rails blog (http://guides.rubyonrails.org/getting_started_with_rails.html). So, rather then buy it now (3rd edition of book as beta) or just wait, I want to get on the fast track to learn rails 2.2 (soon to be release 2.3) . Basically I'm looking for a online resource super cheap or free that provides quality information relating to rails and ruby. Help and suggestions welcome

Computer Application Mystery Needs Solving!

jeanmari — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:05:09 -0800

I have an old program that I would like to run. It's on a CD-ROM and it's something that I helped to design and create in 1998 but did not program. I just can't get it to open in Windows XP. Argh. And, other than the files themselves, I have a limited amount of information about the application. Any programmer detectives want to help? This is a stand-alone application that (I believe) was created in Macromedia's Authorware. I can view the folders and the files on my laptop, but can't get it to launch.

It used to launch WAY back when in Windows 98. I don't have a machine running '98 anymore and I'd like to figure out how to get this to launch.

I'm happy to post any file information that I have here. This application contains content that I worked a few years on and would like to reference again. The file extensions include the following: .ANI, .RLE, .DBF, .DLL, .PTH, .PRT, .IW, .IWM, .ICO, and .GIF (natch).

The two .EXE files read as follows:

BC:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\REGSVR16.EXE
AC:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\REGSVR32.EXE

What else could I share to help to solve this mystery?

Help, AskMeFi! You are my only hope!

How do I write a software spec?

thegmann — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:17:51 -0800

Is there a standard to preparing a software specification for an outsourced UI designer and programmer? I have an idea for a piece of web based software, SaaS style, that I could probably write on my own in PHP/MySQL. I have done some software and web design in my days for some custom projects but it is definitely not my specialty, I learned programming on my own and have never done it as my day job. I would love for my app to have an AJAX-y front end but I don't know ruby nor python or any of these other cool languages and I have no reason to learn them when I can easily outsource the project and effectively put together a team. In looking at different design houses, individuals, teams, etc. I have come to the realization that one of the most difficult things in this whole process is going to be getting my ideas across to them- and I would like to shop it around so I can get a good idea as far as price ranges. As a programmer or designer, what do you like to see from a client that immediately gives you a sense of what they are looking for? What can I write up that I can send to these places that will make them go ah-ha instead of scratching their heads? I've come across the terms RFQ and RFP but I don't know if there is some standard I should be going by?

Games Programming vs Software Engineering

hgws — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:51:46 -0800

Help me pick a second major for my computer science degree. Background: I am a 30 y.o. undergrad Bachelor of Comp Sci student in Western Australia. Everything in my early life pointed to a career in computing; I remember being fascinated the first time I encountered a computer (a BBC Acorn), and although my family was too poor to afford any kind of computer I spent hours on the Mac Plus in the local library & would also borrow books on programming & write out programs & go through them in my head. Naturally I excelled in high school computing, & went straight into a CS degree. However life got in the way & I managed to get kicked out of my degree after second year. (Ironically despite failing most of my units in royal fashion I also scored 86% in my HCI unit.)

In the ten years or so between my first attempt at a CS degree & a second one, I discovered a strong interest in research & academic writing & graduated with a first class honours degree in history. I began a Ph.D. with a view for the traditional teaching/research pathway common to humanities graduates, but left after I got distracted by a full-time job & earning a real wage for the first time in my life. During this time I'd always retained a strong interest in computing, getting into HTML & web design in the late '90s, starting a collection of vintage Macs, spending most of my free time on the net/IFOC etc. The job I left my Ph.D. for also requires I spend 90% of my time IFOC, although it begain as data entry & has since evolved into Excel spreadsheets & if I'm lucky, an Access database. Frankly though it's dull work & it prompted me to think that if I was going to spend my working life IFOC I might as well learn to do it in a way that interested me, so I decided to return to a CS degree.

I'm now just starting my second year of this degree & it is going very well - I have gone part-time at work so I can study full time. So far I have straight HDs (A's) & I love what I am studying. I've become an incredibly anal overachiever, in fact, compared to the CS student I was when I left high school. I began my degree with a fairly vague idea of what I wanted to do at the end - something to score me a job in IT - but my life goals have changed, particularly since I've gone from a FT salary to a PT one & realised that I don't actually want or need much more than enough to get by, financially, and have zero interest in business and "getting ahead." In fact I am now eyeing honours and then PG studies in CS after I graduate.

To get to my question: there is no doubt that I should major in CS. I love programming & I find the theory side nifty too. But my degree requires that I either pick a second major or a bunch of electives. I think that a second major will give me more options and I have narrowed it down to two choices: Software Engineering or Games Programming. I assumed from the start of my degree that software engineering was right for me, admittedly without really knowing the contents of the units or what it exactly entails. (I assumed it was sort of an extension of programming.) I also ruled out games programming as I am not a gamer - I mean, really not a gamer! (For one thing I only own Macs, haha...) Well I have a weakness for Tetris & The Sims, and that's it. I would just rather do other things than play games and so have never payed much attention to the whole gaming area (aside from reading Ctrl-Alt-Delete).

But on futher examination of the units involved in games programming & software engineering, I'm starting to waver. Firstly, I emailed a student advisor for ideas & was advised that given my stated interest in programming, AI and HCI, Games Programming was the better fit. Secondly, I did a closer inspection of software engineering & became somewhat suspiscious that it might entail management and business along with the actual software design. In the gap between CS degrees I took an accounting diploma at vocational college & I've had my fill of management theory & commerce. In fact my least-liked unit so far has been first year systems analysis. However, I do see that most of games programming is mostly programming & not so much games: a lot of units on computer graphics, only 2 really specific to gaming.

Given that in many ways I just want to do a double major in CS, but that's not possible, what is the best choice?

PS. I have to confess that some of my aversion to games programming is that the majority of students are 18-20 y.o. males & stereotypical gamers. Not that it should bother me as I'm doing most of my units online at home.

Music analysis software - where is it?

ignignokt — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:30:42 -0800

I'm looking for either free software or an API that could take a wav file and parse it. I'm looking for either free software or an API that could take a wav file and parse it. I'd like it to give me information about the pitches, rhythm, or timbre contained in the wav file. I'm basically interested in any form of musical information as output. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to give me something.

I'm asking because a friend of mine is teaching a class in which he wants to have students to come up with an automated way of making judgments about music. I don't know how well-versed they are in programming, so the less technical the better, but if a C++ library is the best there is, so be it.

I know it's gotta be out there, but the thing is, I can't figure out what the right thing to type into Google is. Do you happen to know?

Can non-programmers suggest open source apps?

tamagosan — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:44:27 -0800

I have an idea for a cool (though not very utilitarian) open source app, but I have zero programming experience beyond some very elementary applescript. Can I still suggest the program on a site like sourceforge.net and still have "ownership" of the project? Not for profit, but just to guide its development.

Interested in developing software for the green energy sector.

Sloop John B — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:53:07 -0800

I'm a senior software developer, and I'd like to start working in the green energy sector. What are the opportunities in this area? Also, if there is a market for developers in this sector, what can I do to make myself more marketable?

How can I learn more about project management beyond to-do lists?

cadge — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:42:35 -0800

I'm a web app programmer lacking good project/time management skills, and I'm not really in the best environment to pick them up. I'm OK at the lower-level tasks like daily to-do lists, but how can I learn to handle higher-level tasks like estimating time, prioritizing, and planning project life cycles? I'm a web app programmer with a computer science education. My jobs have mainly been in education and non-profits; it's very fulfilling but they haven't been the best environment for picking up good industry practices.

My current job (small development team, mostly working alone on projects and doing all my own bugfixing/testing) requires a fair amount of independent project management, and I just don't feel that I have the training. I can maintain a daily to-do list and activity log just fine, but I am falling down on things like:

Figuring out how much time a project should take

Handling existing projects with deadlines AND incoming requests (ranging from "This would be nice" to "This is broken on Production FIX NOW")

Prioritizing when reporting to several project clients

Project life cycle planning

Effective project management tools

I feel like I'm having to research or invent a lot of this on the job, and that's not where I excel at all. I work best if I can learn from a class or if I can pattern myself on a role model (and that last option is not so applicable right now - mostly I work alone on these projects).

I'm not sure where to begin. I'm afraid that I will pick up a book and get completely lost in a world of baffling Gantt charts, workflows better suited for gigantic corporate projects, or outdated/discredited practices.

Are there courses, books, or online resources out there that might help? How can I learn more about practical project management from a macro point of view - the month-spanning project level, not the daily task level? This is actually freaking me out a bit lately - I am swamped with work and requests, and I just don't feel equipped to properly handle it all.

I want to be passionate about my work... while working in my pjs

brandnew — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:42:22 -0800

Can I make a living coding from home, and where can I find such a job? First, I'm a veteran coder. I've been working in the software industry for 10 years. I'm experienced in all aspects of the software life cycle. I'm an expert in C#, and very experienced in Java. Over the last few years I've been trading time between roles as solution architect and lead programmer. That means I do more requirements analysis and development and system design now, but I still do a lot of coding.

A couple of years ago my spouse started a business, and it has become far more successful than we had expected. However, the problem is that she had started her business in a small city, and that city doesn't have a large software development market. In fact there are only four or five companies that develop software within 50 miles. And, for various reasons, she is unable to relocate her business or us.

So, I currently work for a defense contractor, and I'm making great money for a small city (>$100K). However, I'm yearning to get back to the "real" software market - developing consumer, enterprise, or business-to-business software applications. And, I want to get back to working at a start-up-type environment, and being passionate about the products I'm developing.

So, how do I find such a job that will allow me to telecommute 75% of the time? Is there a job board that exists specifically for telecommuting jobs? Or, do I just scour the web sites of potentially interesting software company and email them my sales pitch? Plus, would I expect to take a big pay cut if I switch to telecommuting? I may not care, but just curious.

What is the best way to realtime-render 3D images on a server?

Vorteks — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:22:34 -0800

Does anyone have experience using DirectX in a server-side application? Is it practical? If not, what alternatives are there? My company needs to build a web application that renders dynamic 3D images and sends them to a web browser as static JPEGs. One of my coworkers and I think the best way to do this is to use DirectX to generate the images on the server (assuming a high-end video card in the machine), then save the output as JPEG and send it out. Another developer is convinced that using the GPU for a server-side application is unwise, and advocates using an entirely software-based rendering engine. To me, it seems foolish to ignore the GPU and try to software-render everything, but I'm having a hard time proving my point. One of the criticisms that's been leveled against using DirectX on the server is that "nobody else is doing it". So, I need to know:

Have you used DirectX to render 3D images on a server?

Do you recommend it?

Why or why not?

Have you used a technology other than DirectX to render 3D images on a server, especially software-based rendering?

Do you recommend that?

Why or why not?

Can you think of any company who is using DirectX on a server

... or any company rendering (non-raytraced) 3D images server-side?

In a nutshell: is it advisable to use the GPU to render images in a multi-user server environment?

Thank you, great hive mind!

Software is cool

mpls2 — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 12:39:27 -0800

Describe your software development job. I'm at a fork in the road with my career, deciding if I want to continue doing software development (read: programming). I left university a few years ago all full of excitement about the cool software projects I'd get to work on. Alas, I work on a very boring project for which my CS degree is overkill... but the job pays well enough.

I'm just wondering what the software development landscape looks like. What's your project like? What languages/tools do you use? What's your team like?

I basically want to be convinced to continue doing software development--not only because it's the path of least resistance, but I think software is cool.

Thanks!

Best utility/language to convert text files

mjklin — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:49:57 -0800

What is the best programming language to learn or (open) software to use for converting between text formats? I am trying to educate myself on the wily ways of moving between formats that I've used for writing (mostly journals) in the past. Some of what I've written is in Word files, some in proprietary software (LifeJournal, TheJournal...stored in a database of some kind with IDX, BLB, and DAT files but with an export function), some in a wiki (which can export to HTML), some in other notetaking software that exports to XML.

I'm pretty sure I can export/import everything from either RTF-like or XML-like documents. My question is: what is the best way to "clean them up" so that one fits into the other? Is there some some common utility to do this, or does it require learning a language? If so, which one? (I'm currently learning Python--fingers crossed on that one).

Extra bonus question: where is page data stored in a wiki like MediaWiki? I know they render as HTML, but where is the data coming from? A MySQL table?

Hypothetical software developer hiring situation

saraswati — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:35:38 -0800

A software development specific question regarding the age old experience vs. education argument. Here's the hypothetical scenario:

An individual has 5 years of experience in software QA, and 5 years experience prior to that in systems administration. In the 5 years of software QA, this person worked intensely as a software developer in their spare time on various open source projects which produced tangible results. One of the most important things to know is that this person has no post-secondary degree.

Is it reasonable to think that this person could apply to an average North American tech-based company as a software developer and land the job? I know this is largely based on the company, so if it's not possible to imagine an "average company", put yourself into the shoes of the hiring manager. With all else equal, would you seriously consider hiring this person?

All answers are welcome and appreciated.

Should I port my application to .NET?

jpdoane — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 22:13:59 -0800

Will managed code (.NET) work for me when I'm writing computationally intensive software? I have this on again, off again project of writing my own ray tracer (a la POV ray: http://www.povray.org/) - just as a fun hobby. I have recently been learning C# and .NET, and am interested in taking advantage of the .NET framework for my GUI, file parser, etc.

My main concern is that porting everything to managed code will result in significantly slower performance for the heavy computational nature of the rendering engine. I'm not concerned about the difficulty in *rewriting* the code (it would be a learning exercise - which is the main point), but I want my code to run as fast as possible, and I'm skeptical that will happen with the overhead involved in managed code.

My question is therefore in 2 parts:
1) am I too skeptical of the CLR's performance? Will my code run just as fast as it does natively? I've seen conflicting reports on the web (some say its just as fast, some say otherwise). Any good side by side comparisons out there involving lots of floating point calculations?

2) if I want to port only my front end GUI, etc to .NET, and keep the back end in native C/C++, what is the best way to go about this? I have read about calling unmanaged DLLs from managed code or using C++/CLI with __nogc tags, etc, but I'm worried that these methods are either too clunky to efficiently pass data back and forth and/or involve a lot of overhead as the processor switches back and forth between managed and unmanaged code

Is there a standard manner of handling this issue? Is there a good paper/tutorial you could point me towards that addresses the questions I'm asking?

Thanks!