windows book
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i recently bought programming windows by charles petzold. While it seems like a great book, it also seems largely limited to gui programming (the clue, i guess, is in the name :eek:), but i would also like to learn other stuff such as the registry, adding programs to the start menu et cetera. I want to become a guru to the point where i could have a decent stab at creating something like the google search program. So any books recommended? Or is the sort of thing that you naturally progress onto after creating guis n stuff? Thanks.
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i recently bought programming windows by charles petzold. While it seems like a great book, it also seems largely limited to gui programming (the clue, i guess, is in the name :eek:), but i would also like to learn other stuff such as the registry, adding programs to the start menu et cetera. I want to become a guru to the point where i could have a decent stab at creating something like the google search program. So any books recommended? Or is the sort of thing that you naturally progress onto after creating guis n stuff? Thanks.
I have about 20' of bookshelf (and many feet of piles on the floor) devoted to Windows and programming; it hasn't made me a guru yet. Some have been extraordinarily helpful - the Internals series, for instance - but most are just so-so. As with so many skills, reading is helpful, but doing is better. One thing that will help you a lot is to hang around the CP Forums, and try hard to be useful. Research questions thoroughly, try out solutions, then post what you've learned as answers to those questions. I've found that I work harder to find an answer for a colleague than I do for my own curiosity, and I've increased my knowledge far beyond what I would otherwise have mastered by doing so. "...putting all your eggs in one basket along with your bowling ball and gym clothes only gets you scrambled eggs and an extra laundry day... " - Jeffry J. Brickley
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i recently bought programming windows by charles petzold. While it seems like a great book, it also seems largely limited to gui programming (the clue, i guess, is in the name :eek:), but i would also like to learn other stuff such as the registry, adding programs to the start menu et cetera. I want to become a guru to the point where i could have a decent stab at creating something like the google search program. So any books recommended? Or is the sort of thing that you naturally progress onto after creating guis n stuff? Thanks.
When you get a book or two, don't just read them. Do the same things that are in the book. Practice makes perfect! -- An eye for an eye will only make the world blind.
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i recently bought programming windows by charles petzold. While it seems like a great book, it also seems largely limited to gui programming (the clue, i guess, is in the name :eek:), but i would also like to learn other stuff such as the registry, adding programs to the start menu et cetera. I want to become a guru to the point where i could have a decent stab at creating something like the google search program. So any books recommended? Or is the sort of thing that you naturally progress onto after creating guis n stuff? Thanks.
My favorite have been Jeffery Richter's books. Programming Applications for Windows is a good one. It covers lower level things like memory management and thread synchronization. Also, like Roger said the Inside Windows XXX books are good as well.
I can imagine the sinking feeling one would have after ordering my book, only to find a laughably ridiculous theory with demented logic once the book arrives - Mark McCutcheon
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i recently bought programming windows by charles petzold. While it seems like a great book, it also seems largely limited to gui programming (the clue, i guess, is in the name :eek:), but i would also like to learn other stuff such as the registry, adding programs to the start menu et cetera. I want to become a guru to the point where i could have a decent stab at creating something like the google search program. So any books recommended? Or is the sort of thing that you naturally progress onto after creating guis n stuff? Thanks.
I believe experience is the best teacher, rather than a book. Find applications you like, or behave the way you think a good application should behave. Figure out how to make your applications work like that. Most programming books in the stores today are ka-ka; nothing but screen shots and verbatim dumps of the help file. I have about a dozen programming books I use as references. At least one is over twenty years old (the Foley / Van Dam computer graphics textbook).
Software Zen:
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i recently bought programming windows by charles petzold. While it seems like a great book, it also seems largely limited to gui programming (the clue, i guess, is in the name :eek:), but i would also like to learn other stuff such as the registry, adding programs to the start menu et cetera. I want to become a guru to the point where i could have a decent stab at creating something like the google search program. So any books recommended? Or is the sort of thing that you naturally progress onto after creating guis n stuff? Thanks.
Both the C# book and ( even more so ) the C++ book, show you how to do things the hard way. Lots of interesting info, but you'll end up doing stuff differently if you want to be productive. What language are you using ? If C#, inside C# by Tom Archer is the best book out there for language stuff. If C++, the Stroustrup book is best. Either way, all the stuff you're talking about is to do with interacting with the OS, and this site and MSDN are your best sources of info there. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++