notes.txt

goal:
Create a C++ library that can be used for accessing an NTLM protected webpage.
The main purpose of this project is to be educational.

todo:
- reconsider the "\nname"... style 
- replace msgtype with msg_type
- consider moving security_buffer into separate header file
- consider using use "at" instead of "i" as loop variable
- replace pwdhash with password_hash
- usage of pal.hpp sucks, improve it somehow
- write a clean posix based democlient
- make calculate nt response look as good as calculate_lm_response()
- clean up on reinterpret_cast
- do proper size calculation of b64str in as_base64_encoded_string()
- rename NTLM_PWDHASH_LEN with NTLM_PWDHASH_SIZE
- get rid of #define of constants
- do not convert challenge into uint64 and back into std::vector<uint8_t>
- enable command-line options to democlient
- make democlient read both unprotected stuff (eg public.txt) and protected stuff
- fix unit test for Test3_message
- proper error checking in T3 marshalling

known issues:
- the code assumes that sizeof(uint8_t) == sizeof(char), should this be asserted or compensated for?
- Not sure if std::size_t should be used for indexing small arrays... maybe int is better
- uint8_t and stdint.h is not really a part of C++98, it came with C99

ISSUES in NDC talk:
 base classes should have virtual destructors
 header files should have header guards
 make sure you include the proper header files
 no need to include files included by the base class declaration
 no need to repeat the virtual specifier when overriding a method
 single argument constructors should be specified as explicit
 focus on usage of class; public section first, then private section
 always focus on readability, you spend more time reading code than writing it
 importing a namespace in implementation files is usually not a good idea
 "never" import a namespace in a header file
 initialize objects properly, use the initialization list
 prefer std::size_t when working with memory indexing and offsets
 for non-trivial objects, prefer pass by const over pass by copy
 query methods should be specified as const
 order the include files like this; own, project/platform, standard
 avoid magic numbers, use explaination variables
 avoid superfluous use of ()
 prefer forward declarations when you can
 do not use explicit on multi argument constructors
 consider explainability, don't do things that needs elaborate explainations
 avoid default arguments (they are often not used anyway)
 do not throw pointers to exceptions (eg, not "throw new ...")
 treat warnings like errors (-Werror) and compile with -Wall and -Wextra 
 consider using -Weffc++ and -pedantic as well
 do not mess with borrowed things
 always consider the sideeffects of what you do