4 ms·

Programming Windows 6th Edition

30 points by johndcook 15y ago

krambs 15y ago
5 and C# are currently propping up my monitors. Guess I can get a third monitor now. (Kidding - love Petzold.)
tomjen3 15y ago
Am I the only one who thinks it is sad that he is writing a book about programming with C# and XAML? I mean those are great technologies to work with, but his expertise is on C++ and native apps. And we need more native apps, not less.
- rsynnott 15y ago
  > I mean those are great technologies to work with, but his expertise is on C++ and native apps. Last time I read one of his books (admittedly, over a decade ago) it was mostly _C_.
- powertower 15y ago
  > Am I the only one who thinks it is sad ... I think it's fantastic. > And we need more native apps, not less. Do you mean "managed apps"? In that case, you're either talking about special case apps that require low level access or low level management (ex: for performance reasons), drivers, special libraries, or might just be holding on to the past. .NET, C#, and XAML are the highest legitimate programming abstraction layer in Windows and are the way most Windows apps are made these days. The unerlining management system (and OS) is written in C/C++ and exposes the win32 API. That's always there. Rarely does anyone make C or unmanaged C++ apps calling the win32 api when you can have .NET Framework and CLR do that for you.
- CurtHagenlocher 15y ago
  He's previously written books on Windows Phone programming and on XAML.
cylo 15y ago
Seems this is being published later this year. Can anyone point to any good resources for a mostly Unix-based programmer getting up to speed with all the new technology coming in Windows 8 that are available now?
- diego_moita 15y ago
  AFAIK there isn't a book on Metro, the new interface in Windows 8. Your best source is the documentation with the SDK. On WPF (the latest on .Net UI) I'd recommend Matthew MacDonald's "Pro WPF in C# 2010: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 4". On Win32 programming (the native code API to Windows) the best source is Petzold himself. It is the Windows equivalent of W. Richard Stevens books for Unix.
- brudgers 15y ago
  Based on your post, I am not sure how familiar you are with the Windows platform. The Metro interface is covered in materials on Windows Phone 7. XAML is also covered there and elsewhere as it relates to Silverlight as a programming environment (rather than a browser plugin). Books on .NET are legion - and are the place to start if you are not familiar with the Windows platform.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
truncate 15y ago
So that means no up to date book on Win32 API even now? I'm not into Windows programming, but from what I know Petzold is the only book that people usually follow for learning Win32 programming.
malkia 15y ago
Another good book for Windows is "Windows Internals" from Mark Russinovich and David A Solomon (SysInternals folks). It's not for writing applications, but rather understanding how Windows works (The Cache Manager section for example)

30 points by johndcook 15y ago

5 and C# are currently propping up my monitors. Guess I can get a third monitor now. (Kidding - love Petzold.)

Am I the only one who thinks it is sad that he is writing a book about programming with C# and XAML? I mean those are great technologies to work with, but his expertise is on C++ and native apps. And we need more native apps, not less.

rsynnott 15y ago
> I mean those are great technologies to work with, but his expertise is on C++ and native apps. Last time I read one of his books (admittedly, over a decade ago) it was mostly _C_.
powertower 15y ago
> Am I the only one who thinks it is sad ... I think it's fantastic. > And we need more native apps, not less. Do you mean "managed apps"? In that case, you're either talking about special case apps that require low level access or low level management (ex: for performance reasons), drivers, special libraries, or might just be holding on to the past. .NET, C#, and XAML are the highest legitimate programming abstraction layer in Windows and are the way most Windows apps are made these days. The unerlining management system (and OS) is written in C/C++ and exposes the win32 API. That's always there. Rarely does anyone make C or unmanaged C++ apps calling the win32 api when you can have .NET Framework and CLR do that for you.
CurtHagenlocher 15y ago
He's previously written books on Windows Phone programming and on XAML.

cylo 15y ago

Seems this is being published later this year. Can anyone point to any good resources for a mostly Unix-based programmer getting up to speed with all the new technology coming in Windows 8 that are available now?

diego_moita 15y ago
AFAIK there isn't a book on Metro, the new interface in Windows 8. Your best source is the documentation with the SDK. On WPF (the latest on .Net UI) I'd recommend Matthew MacDonald's "Pro WPF in C# 2010: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 4". On Win32 programming (the native code API to Windows) the best source is Petzold himself. It is the Windows equivalent of W. Richard Stevens books for Unix.
brudgers 15y ago
Based on your post, I am not sure how familiar you are with the Windows platform. The Metro interface is covered in materials on Windows Phone 7. XAML is also covered there and elsewhere as it relates to Silverlight as a programming environment (rather than a browser plugin). Books on .NET are legion - and are the place to start if you are not familiar with the Windows platform.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

truncate 15y ago

So that means no up to date book on Win32 API even now? I'm not into Windows programming, but from what I know Petzold is the only book that people usually follow for learning Win32 programming.

malkia 15y ago

Another good book for Windows is "Windows Internals" from Mark Russinovich and David A Solomon (SysInternals folks). It's not for writing applications, but rather understanding how Windows works (The Cache Manager section for example)