Windows ++: Writing Reusable Windows Code in C++ (The Andrew Schulman Programming Series)

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books i ever read
Review: DiLascia's writing style is very readable, but you better know something about C++ and object-oriented programming. Personally, I had to learn about more before approaching the subject. Now I would place it next to Petzold's Programming Windows books for insight and value to my library. Published in 1992, the companion disk IS STILL available from the author: Paul DiLascia, 30 Duck Rd, Reading, MA 01867-1729 or email: [e-mail]. I wish there were a revised edition for Windows 95/NT.

Rating:
Summary: Windows gets OOPed.
Review: DiLascia's writing style is very readable, but youbetter know something about C++ and object-oriented programming. Personally, I had tolearn about more before approaching the subject. Now I would place it next to Petzold's Programming Windows books for insight and value to my library. Published in 1992, the companion disk IS STILL available from the author: Paul DiLascia, 30 Duck Rd, Reading, MA 01867-1729 or email: [e-mail]. I wish there were a revised edition for Windows 95/NT.

Rating:
Summary: Old but good
Review: I have been looking for a book to cover OOP in combination with Windows for a long time. I wanted something that gave more than short examples meant to demonstate the power of a certain API call. My desire was to create my own mini-library to complement the tools I use now. Windows++ seems to do all that by actually taking the reader through the process of writing a class library for Windows 3.1. Not only that but there was a Win95 code update available on the authors website.

If you are looking for something similar this may or may not be the book for you. On the good side the author does a terrific job of explaining his thought process on how and why a class library can and should be built. Many of the problems (i.e. call backs, messaging) are still relevent today but at the same time Windows has changed alot. For instance chapter four is on memory managment which is absolutely Windows 3.1 specific (Win95 and above does not have these problems). When I emailed the author he didn't even know what chapter four was about and suggested I learn MFC. In chapter two he begins by describing a better POINT structure and tries to employ inlining to keep it small. It is one of the basic lessons of the book. But the constructor calls a member function before the member function is declared inline making it non-inline. He also declares a copy constructor for a base type. Later in the book he makes extensive use of circular referencing and forward referencing which really creates a tangled web of code. Difficult to update and debug.

This book will give a definate roadmap to writing or developing your own API specific software library but use extreme caution and prejudice in using the authors code. Most of the time the class library that comes with my compiler is fine but there are many time when having a lightweight class library would be invaluable. Given the choice of transfering a large Exe or a small one across the Web most people would choose a small one. There really is a need for this kind of book. If the author ever decided to write an update to this I would be thrilled

Rating:
Summary: Old but good
Review: I have been looking for a book to cover OOP in combination with Windows for a long time. I wanted something that gave more than short examples meant to demonstate the power of a certain API call. My desire was to create my own mini-library to complement the tools I use now. Windows++ seems to do all that by actually taking the reader through the process of writing a class library for Windows 3.1. Not only that but there was a Win95 code update available on the authors website.

If you are looking for something similar this may or may not be the book for you. On the good side the author does a terrific job of explaining his thought process on how and why a class library can and should be built. Many of the problems (i.e. call backs, messaging) are still relevent today but at the same time Windows has changed alot. For instance chapter four is on memory managment which is absolutely Windows 3.1 specific (Win95 and above does not have these problems). When I emailed the author he didn't even know what chapter four was about and suggested I learn MFC. In chapter two he begins by describing a better POINT structure and tries to employ inlining to keep it small. It is one of the basic lessons of the book. But the constructor calls a member function before the member function is declared inline making it non-inline. He also declares a copy constructor for a base type. Later in the book he makes extensive use of circular referencing and forward referencing which really creates a tangled web of code. Difficult to update and debug.

This book will give a definate roadmap to writing or developing your own API specific software library but use extreme caution and prejudice in using the authors code. Most of the time the class library that comes with my compiler is fine but there are many time when having a lightweight class library would be invaluable. Given the choice of transfering a large Exe or a small one across the Web most people would choose a small one. There really is a need for this kind of book. If the author ever decided to write an update to this I would be thrilled

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books i ever read
Review: Windows++ gave me the best a book can give, the courage to begin to write a library myself. It works! Hoever i hate to separate C++-code and dialog boxes code. So i hope that the author would show us how to avoid it and write easy dialog boxes in C++. P.S. I know that he has mentioned it in his book but i think its not enough