Len Holgate's blog offers insights into software development, particularly focusing on Windows programming, C++, and networking. Readers can explore articles on topics such as concurrency, asynchronous programming, and high-performance networking techniques. Additionally, they can learn about practical tips, tricks, and debugging strategies for solving complex software problems.

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A developer debugs intermittent test failures caused by POSIX condition variable timeouts returning too early. The root cause was twofold: using CLOCK_REALTIME for absolute timeouts while NTP was adjusting system time backwards, and not handling spurious wakeups from pthread_cond_timedwait(). Switching to CLOCK_MONOTONIC and adding spurious wakeup handling resolved the issue. The investigation highlights why CLOCK_REALTIME shouldn't be used for measuring delays and why POSIX timed operations require explicit timeout management.

Time is an illusion, CLOCK_REALTIME, doubly so...