Best books on Software ever. Please vote or add! [modified]
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Dear reader, I really got a lot out of codeproject. Codeproject is invaluable. For a long time now I want to contribute, but nothing really good came in my mind. So I want to present my top-favorite list of books here that influenced me most heavily as a software-professional. I hope this list is usfull also for others. If you have your top-favorite book, please reply and I will update this list. Also I kindly ask you to provide me some text which should be attached to the books. Attention: Sorry, I didn't expect such an overwhelming number of responses. Now I have a problem: How to manage this thread ! ! ! I'm not able to to it in a reasonable way via "tagging" some text. Any ideas? Can I upload some document here?
Architecture
Rank 1: J. Lakos: Large scale C++ design
By far the best book on SW I've ever read (even of much more value for me then the most prominent one, E. Gamma, see below) This book is on C++, yes, but the techniques provided here hold for any language. It covers design and architecture at any scale. Did you have the same experience as I did? I applied the rules of OO heavily, I applied patterns extensively, but my SW was hardly maintainable, testable, understandable. I did not understand why, until I read this book. Now I'm can write SW at any scale in less time which is testable from the beginning. What are the reasons? Let me say, there are two "secretes" which are addressed in this book: The first is "physical design" and the second is "decoupling methods". Detailed very thoroughly with lots of examples (in C++) Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Good: 0 Medium: 0
Rank 2: E. Gamma, et all: Design Patterns
Nothing more to say. Nobody can invent all. Whithout the knowledge presented in this book in your bag you cannot say you are a Software-Developer/-Architect. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Very Good: 0 Medium: 0
Programming Languages
Rank 1: S. Meyers, Effective C++, two Volumes
Once you mastered the basics of C++. Memorize the roughly 70 topics of these two books and you are prepared for almost any szenario. The techniques inside are a must for any serious C++ programmer. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 0 Very Good: 1 Medium: 0
Rank 2: S. Meyers, Effective STL
You want get
does the art of programming (knuth) cut it as book on software? i don't think i'll ever get to finish this book though. life's too short!
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modified on Thursday, October 8, 2009 4:56 AM
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Frygreen wrote:
Rank 1: S. Meyers, Effective C++, two Volumes
His stl book is also pretty good. I find the format of these perfect for 'bathroom reading'
I wish I was as fortunate as fortunate as me
I have the Effective C++ books for bathroom reading although I haven't programmed in C++ for a few years now.
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Maybe I'm getting old, but Code Complete just regurgitated all the concepts I grew up programming with, so the book was sort of a sleeper for me. Not trying to be arrogant or anything, just saying it seemed to be telling me stuff I already knew. On the other hand, it might be useful for programmers just getting into the flow.
- S 50 cups of coffee and you know it's on! Code, follow, or get out of the way.
Well, I never had any formal training, so for me, it kind of put a name to things I was kind of doing, but hadn't really thought about as clearly as the book forced me to.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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MFC Internals is invaluable for anyone working with MFC - IMHO.
Because you added MFC, I'd like to add my 2 cents as well on the same topic: MFC: "Programming Windows with MFC" and "MFC Internals". There are numerous other good books, but these two are very important. Windows programming: "Programming Windows" by Charles Petzold - I found it to explain the very fundamentals of windows programming. One must start with this, really. "Programming Visual C++" by David Kruglinski - A good book. "Windows via C/C++" by Jeffrey Richter and Chrisopher Nassare, and "Windows Internals" by Mark Russinovich. Both of these books explains the nuts and bolts of several aspects of Windows operating system in great detail. IMHO, these two are must have references if you really want to know how things work internally in Windows. [Added] Not related to MFC, but The Timeless way of building[^] is an excellent book.
It is a crappy thing, but it's life -^ Carlo Pallini
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Dear reader, I really got a lot out of codeproject. Codeproject is invaluable. For a long time now I want to contribute, but nothing really good came in my mind. So I want to present my top-favorite list of books here that influenced me most heavily as a software-professional. I hope this list is usfull also for others. If you have your top-favorite book, please reply and I will update this list. Also I kindly ask you to provide me some text which should be attached to the books. Attention: Sorry, I didn't expect such an overwhelming number of responses. Now I have a problem: How to manage this thread ! ! ! I'm not able to to it in a reasonable way via "tagging" some text. Any ideas? Can I upload some document here?
Architecture
Rank 1: J. Lakos: Large scale C++ design
By far the best book on SW I've ever read (even of much more value for me then the most prominent one, E. Gamma, see below) This book is on C++, yes, but the techniques provided here hold for any language. It covers design and architecture at any scale. Did you have the same experience as I did? I applied the rules of OO heavily, I applied patterns extensively, but my SW was hardly maintainable, testable, understandable. I did not understand why, until I read this book. Now I'm can write SW at any scale in less time which is testable from the beginning. What are the reasons? Let me say, there are two "secretes" which are addressed in this book: The first is "physical design" and the second is "decoupling methods". Detailed very thoroughly with lots of examples (in C++) Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Good: 0 Medium: 0
Rank 2: E. Gamma, et all: Design Patterns
Nothing more to say. Nobody can invent all. Whithout the knowledge presented in this book in your bag you cannot say you are a Software-Developer/-Architect. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Very Good: 0 Medium: 0
Programming Languages
Rank 1: S. Meyers, Effective C++, two Volumes
Once you mastered the basics of C++. Memorize the roughly 70 topics of these two books and you are prepared for almost any szenario. The techniques inside are a must for any serious C++ programmer. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 0 Very Good: 1 Medium: 0
Rank 2: S. Meyers, Effective STL
You want get
Steve McConnel, Code Complete. [head and shoulders above any other book I have read] An Introduction to OOP, Timothy Budd. Software Engineering - A practitioner's approach, Roger S. Pressman.
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Josh Gray wrote:
I find the format of these perfect for 'bathroom reading'
I guess someone does not like that trend ;P I do however!
xacc.ide
IronScheme - 1.0 beta 4 - out now!
((λ (x) `(,x ',x)) '(λ (x) `(,x ',x))) The Scheme Programming Language – Fourth EditionFor me the toilet is a place to get a job done and leave quickly before the paint melts. I have never understood bathroom reading except for my adolescent encounters with Scope Magazine.
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Maybe I'm getting old, but Code Complete just regurgitated all the concepts I grew up programming with, so the book was sort of a sleeper for me. Not trying to be arrogant or anything, just saying it seemed to be telling me stuff I already knew. On the other hand, it might be useful for programmers just getting into the flow.
- S 50 cups of coffee and you know it's on! Code, follow, or get out of the way.
It's a nice aggregation and focus of good practice. Nothing new for me, but the best laid out cheat-sheet of good practice I ever laid eyes on.
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Cool! Which leg goes in first? (Or is that copyright?)
I hope you realise that hamsters are very creative when it comes to revenge. - Elaine
Patent if it's a practice rather than a text. :laugh: Sorry, I'm studying patent law.
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Dear reader, I really got a lot out of codeproject. Codeproject is invaluable. For a long time now I want to contribute, but nothing really good came in my mind. So I want to present my top-favorite list of books here that influenced me most heavily as a software-professional. I hope this list is usfull also for others. If you have your top-favorite book, please reply and I will update this list. Also I kindly ask you to provide me some text which should be attached to the books. Attention: Sorry, I didn't expect such an overwhelming number of responses. Now I have a problem: How to manage this thread ! ! ! I'm not able to to it in a reasonable way via "tagging" some text. Any ideas? Can I upload some document here?
Architecture
Rank 1: J. Lakos: Large scale C++ design
By far the best book on SW I've ever read (even of much more value for me then the most prominent one, E. Gamma, see below) This book is on C++, yes, but the techniques provided here hold for any language. It covers design and architecture at any scale. Did you have the same experience as I did? I applied the rules of OO heavily, I applied patterns extensively, but my SW was hardly maintainable, testable, understandable. I did not understand why, until I read this book. Now I'm can write SW at any scale in less time which is testable from the beginning. What are the reasons? Let me say, there are two "secretes" which are addressed in this book: The first is "physical design" and the second is "decoupling methods". Detailed very thoroughly with lots of examples (in C++) Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Good: 0 Medium: 0
Rank 2: E. Gamma, et all: Design Patterns
Nothing more to say. Nobody can invent all. Whithout the knowledge presented in this book in your bag you cannot say you are a Software-Developer/-Architect. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Very Good: 0 Medium: 0
Programming Languages
Rank 1: S. Meyers, Effective C++, two Volumes
Once you mastered the basics of C++. Memorize the roughly 70 topics of these two books and you are prepared for almost any szenario. The techniques inside are a must for any serious C++ programmer. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 0 Very Good: 1 Medium: 0
Rank 2: S. Meyers, Effective STL
You want get
I love programming, and writing. Besides trying for another, ever-elusive article, maybe I should consider a book. I'm damn right old enough already.
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I guess you mean the best books on C++ ever...
xacc.ide
IronScheme - 1.0 beta 4 - out now!
((λ (x) `(,x ',x)) '(λ (x) `(,x ',x))) The Scheme Programming Language – Fourth EditionJa. :laugh: My best books have all been platform and language independent, and therefore timeless. PS, I have yet to have been recommended a good functional programming book.
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Because you added MFC, I'd like to add my 2 cents as well on the same topic: MFC: "Programming Windows with MFC" and "MFC Internals". There are numerous other good books, but these two are very important. Windows programming: "Programming Windows" by Charles Petzold - I found it to explain the very fundamentals of windows programming. One must start with this, really. "Programming Visual C++" by David Kruglinski - A good book. "Windows via C/C++" by Jeffrey Richter and Chrisopher Nassare, and "Windows Internals" by Mark Russinovich. Both of these books explains the nuts and bolts of several aspects of Windows operating system in great detail. IMHO, these two are must have references if you really want to know how things work internally in Windows. [Added] Not related to MFC, but The Timeless way of building[^] is an excellent book.
It is a crappy thing, but it's life -^ Carlo Pallini
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
Charles Petzold
Applications == Code + Markup was very heavy, thick, biblical reading, but I was today asked if I have WPF experience, and said no1, but I know a little about it and will be able to work with it, thanks to only the first quarter of that book and one morning in VS. 1 I mentioned to the recruiter the popular opinion on working with WPF, with JSOP heavily in mind. :laugh:
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does the art of programming (knuth) cut it as book on software? i don't think i'll ever get to finish this book though. life's too short!
---------------------------------------------------------- Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.
modified on Thursday, October 8, 2009 4:56 AM
Not sure if the 'art of programming' should be confined to software.
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I have to agree. I think it'd be good for people just starting out in programming, but I read it after a number of years in the industry and it just sounded like common sense and not anything mind-blowing.
I hope you realise that hamsters are very creative when it comes to revenge. - Elaine
Steve_Harris wrote:
it just sounded like common sense and not anything mind-blowing.
Indeed. But sometimes these things need to be stated - especially as most programmers program as though they've never heard of Code Complete. Most CPers are probably above the cut though, as the average programmer doesn't hang out in the likes of CP. :)
Kevin
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Dear reader, I really got a lot out of codeproject. Codeproject is invaluable. For a long time now I want to contribute, but nothing really good came in my mind. So I want to present my top-favorite list of books here that influenced me most heavily as a software-professional. I hope this list is usfull also for others. If you have your top-favorite book, please reply and I will update this list. Also I kindly ask you to provide me some text which should be attached to the books. Attention: Sorry, I didn't expect such an overwhelming number of responses. Now I have a problem: How to manage this thread ! ! ! I'm not able to to it in a reasonable way via "tagging" some text. Any ideas? Can I upload some document here?
Architecture
Rank 1: J. Lakos: Large scale C++ design
By far the best book on SW I've ever read (even of much more value for me then the most prominent one, E. Gamma, see below) This book is on C++, yes, but the techniques provided here hold for any language. It covers design and architecture at any scale. Did you have the same experience as I did? I applied the rules of OO heavily, I applied patterns extensively, but my SW was hardly maintainable, testable, understandable. I did not understand why, until I read this book. Now I'm can write SW at any scale in less time which is testable from the beginning. What are the reasons? Let me say, there are two "secretes" which are addressed in this book: The first is "physical design" and the second is "decoupling methods". Detailed very thoroughly with lots of examples (in C++) Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Good: 0 Medium: 0
Rank 2: E. Gamma, et all: Design Patterns
Nothing more to say. Nobody can invent all. Whithout the knowledge presented in this book in your bag you cannot say you are a Software-Developer/-Architect. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Very Good: 0 Medium: 0
Programming Languages
Rank 1: S. Meyers, Effective C++, two Volumes
Once you mastered the basics of C++. Memorize the roughly 70 topics of these two books and you are prepared for almost any szenario. The techniques inside are a must for any serious C++ programmer. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 0 Very Good: 1 Medium: 0
Rank 2: S. Meyers, Effective STL
You want get
When I was in College the Deitel and Deitel series of books were fantastic and I would highly recommend them to anyone who is just starting out. They show you the code and then go through it step by step. My all time favorite book is called Dynamic HTML by Shelly Powers pub. IDG Books. While many of you might think that technology has grown beyond this book, I would still recommend it to anyone just starting out building web pages. It is informative, gives examples and ALL the examples work right out of the book. However, it may not be in book stores or even in print anymore. Dealing with new ASP.Net technology I would say the ASP.Net 3.5 Unleashed is a very good book. My ...environment... is not exactlly up-to-date (I think they are still using .Net 1.0) but I can still make many of the examples work from this book and once you understand the vocabulary of ASP.Net C# this book becomes much clearer and it so far appears that all the examples work. So, for ratings, I would have to put them as follows: 1. ASP.Net 3.5 Unleashed, pub.SAMS 2. Dynamic HTML, auth., Shelly Powers, pub., IDG Books 3. Deitel and Deitel series (many different subjects, pick yours)
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Dear reader, I really got a lot out of codeproject. Codeproject is invaluable. For a long time now I want to contribute, but nothing really good came in my mind. So I want to present my top-favorite list of books here that influenced me most heavily as a software-professional. I hope this list is usfull also for others. If you have your top-favorite book, please reply and I will update this list. Also I kindly ask you to provide me some text which should be attached to the books. Attention: Sorry, I didn't expect such an overwhelming number of responses. Now I have a problem: How to manage this thread ! ! ! I'm not able to to it in a reasonable way via "tagging" some text. Any ideas? Can I upload some document here?
Architecture
Rank 1: J. Lakos: Large scale C++ design
By far the best book on SW I've ever read (even of much more value for me then the most prominent one, E. Gamma, see below) This book is on C++, yes, but the techniques provided here hold for any language. It covers design and architecture at any scale. Did you have the same experience as I did? I applied the rules of OO heavily, I applied patterns extensively, but my SW was hardly maintainable, testable, understandable. I did not understand why, until I read this book. Now I'm can write SW at any scale in less time which is testable from the beginning. What are the reasons? Let me say, there are two "secretes" which are addressed in this book: The first is "physical design" and the second is "decoupling methods". Detailed very thoroughly with lots of examples (in C++) Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Good: 0 Medium: 0
Rank 2: E. Gamma, et all: Design Patterns
Nothing more to say. Nobody can invent all. Whithout the knowledge presented in this book in your bag you cannot say you are a Software-Developer/-Architect. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Very Good: 0 Medium: 0
Programming Languages
Rank 1: S. Meyers, Effective C++, two Volumes
Once you mastered the basics of C++. Memorize the roughly 70 topics of these two books and you are prepared for almost any szenario. The techniques inside are a must for any serious C++ programmer. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 0 Very Good: 1 Medium: 0
Rank 2: S. Meyers, Effective STL
You want get
My vote will also go for "The Annotated C++ Reference Manual" and C++ Primer by Stanely Lippman.
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I do love Code Complete. I think the design pattern book is good, the trouble is, it's caused a mania for patterns as some sort of silver bullet, and a mania to invent patterns where none exist.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
I love Code Complete, too - especially since Steve doesn't just claim, but supports it with facts. I am not sure how to rate it in "importance", though. It not really a beginners book, as a beginner will have a hard time understanding the reach of the problems mentioned. An old timer will have learnt most of it the hard way. so there's certainly a window of opportunity where the book is excellent - but maybe that window is not very big.
Personally, I love the idea that Raymond spends his nights posting bad regexs to mailing lists under the pseudonym of Jane Smith. He'd be like a super hero, only more nerdy and less useful. [Trevel]
| FoldWithUs! | sighist -
Dear reader, I really got a lot out of codeproject. Codeproject is invaluable. For a long time now I want to contribute, but nothing really good came in my mind. So I want to present my top-favorite list of books here that influenced me most heavily as a software-professional. I hope this list is usfull also for others. If you have your top-favorite book, please reply and I will update this list. Also I kindly ask you to provide me some text which should be attached to the books. Attention: Sorry, I didn't expect such an overwhelming number of responses. Now I have a problem: How to manage this thread ! ! ! I'm not able to to it in a reasonable way via "tagging" some text. Any ideas? Can I upload some document here?
Architecture
Rank 1: J. Lakos: Large scale C++ design
By far the best book on SW I've ever read (even of much more value for me then the most prominent one, E. Gamma, see below) This book is on C++, yes, but the techniques provided here hold for any language. It covers design and architecture at any scale. Did you have the same experience as I did? I applied the rules of OO heavily, I applied patterns extensively, but my SW was hardly maintainable, testable, understandable. I did not understand why, until I read this book. Now I'm can write SW at any scale in less time which is testable from the beginning. What are the reasons? Let me say, there are two "secretes" which are addressed in this book: The first is "physical design" and the second is "decoupling methods". Detailed very thoroughly with lots of examples (in C++) Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Good: 0 Medium: 0
Rank 2: E. Gamma, et all: Design Patterns
Nothing more to say. Nobody can invent all. Whithout the knowledge presented in this book in your bag you cannot say you are a Software-Developer/-Architect. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Very Good: 0 Medium: 0
Programming Languages
Rank 1: S. Meyers, Effective C++, two Volumes
Once you mastered the basics of C++. Memorize the roughly 70 topics of these two books and you are prepared for almost any szenario. The techniques inside are a must for any serious C++ programmer. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 0 Very Good: 1 Medium: 0
Rank 2: S. Meyers, Effective STL
You want get
"The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering" and the paper "No Silver Bullet — Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering", both by Fred Brooks, is where I found the most valuable lessons on how to build software. (+1.5) GoF is for sure the second one. (+1.5) It showed me the full potential of OO concepts (Inheritance, Polymorphism, Encapsulation, etc.). "Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code" was a book that I've never read, but i know every concept there from people that read. Although I don't feel the need to read it now, I think it is a important book that brought important practices to light. (+1)
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Dear reader, I really got a lot out of codeproject. Codeproject is invaluable. For a long time now I want to contribute, but nothing really good came in my mind. So I want to present my top-favorite list of books here that influenced me most heavily as a software-professional. I hope this list is usfull also for others. If you have your top-favorite book, please reply and I will update this list. Also I kindly ask you to provide me some text which should be attached to the books. Attention: Sorry, I didn't expect such an overwhelming number of responses. Now I have a problem: How to manage this thread ! ! ! I'm not able to to it in a reasonable way via "tagging" some text. Any ideas? Can I upload some document here?
Architecture
Rank 1: J. Lakos: Large scale C++ design
By far the best book on SW I've ever read (even of much more value for me then the most prominent one, E. Gamma, see below) This book is on C++, yes, but the techniques provided here hold for any language. It covers design and architecture at any scale. Did you have the same experience as I did? I applied the rules of OO heavily, I applied patterns extensively, but my SW was hardly maintainable, testable, understandable. I did not understand why, until I read this book. Now I'm can write SW at any scale in less time which is testable from the beginning. What are the reasons? Let me say, there are two "secretes" which are addressed in this book: The first is "physical design" and the second is "decoupling methods". Detailed very thoroughly with lots of examples (in C++) Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Good: 0 Medium: 0
Rank 2: E. Gamma, et all: Design Patterns
Nothing more to say. Nobody can invent all. Whithout the knowledge presented in this book in your bag you cannot say you are a Software-Developer/-Architect. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 1 Very Good: 0 Medium: 0
Programming Languages
Rank 1: S. Meyers, Effective C++, two Volumes
Once you mastered the basics of C++. Memorize the roughly 70 topics of these two books and you are prepared for almost any szenario. The techniques inside are a must for any serious C++ programmer. Votes (Total: 1) Nothing comparable: 0 Very Good: 1 Medium: 0
Rank 2: S. Meyers, Effective STL
You want get
To comment on your choice first: Lakos, Meyers: good. Gamma at all: bad. I would add: Stroustrup: TC++PL, and (even better) "The Design and Evolution of C++" Sutter: pretty much everything he wrote. Steve Maguire: "Writing Solid Code". Stevens: "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment" K&R: "TCPL" (one of the best language books ever)
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Because you added MFC, I'd like to add my 2 cents as well on the same topic: MFC: "Programming Windows with MFC" and "MFC Internals". There are numerous other good books, but these two are very important. Windows programming: "Programming Windows" by Charles Petzold - I found it to explain the very fundamentals of windows programming. One must start with this, really. "Programming Visual C++" by David Kruglinski - A good book. "Windows via C/C++" by Jeffrey Richter and Chrisopher Nassare, and "Windows Internals" by Mark Russinovich. Both of these books explains the nuts and bolts of several aspects of Windows operating system in great detail. IMHO, these two are must have references if you really want to know how things work internally in Windows. [Added] Not related to MFC, but The Timeless way of building[^] is an excellent book.
It is a crappy thing, but it's life -^ Carlo Pallini
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
"Programming Windows with MFC"
Agree
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
"Programming Windows" by Charles Petzold
Maybe I heard too much good about that book before I actually read it so I set my expectations too high, but when I did read it I was pretty dissapointed.
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
Windows via C/C++" by Jeffrey Richter and Chrisopher Nassare, and "Windows Internals" by Mark Russinovich
Very good ones - especially the former.
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Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
"Programming Windows with MFC"
Agree
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
"Programming Windows" by Charles Petzold
Maybe I heard too much good about that book before I actually read it so I set my expectations too high, but when I did read it I was pretty dissapointed.
Rajesh R Subramanian wrote:
Windows via C/C++" by Jeffrey Richter and Chrisopher Nassare, and "Windows Internals" by Mark Russinovich
Very good ones - especially the former.
Nemanja Trifunovic wrote:
Maybe I heard too much good about that book before I actually read it so I set my expectations too high, but when I did read it I was pretty dissapointed.
It could be that you already knew most of the (or all of the) things that the book had to explain. That could be another possibility. In my case, I was a complete rookie as far as Windows programming was concerned. I just saw the book casually in the company library and started reading it. I felt that it was all that I needed to start with Windows programming. :)
It is a crappy thing, but it's life -^ Carlo Pallini
