Programming Windows: Amazon.ca: Charles Petzold: Books

Product Description

Book Description

“Look it up in Petzold” remains the decisive last word in answering questions about Windows development. And in PROGRAMMING WINDOWS, FIFTH EDITION, the esteemed Windows Pioneer Award winner revises his classic text with authoritative coverage of the latest versions of the Windows operating system—once again drilling down to the essential API heart of Win32 programming. Topics include:

The basics—input, output, dialog boxes
An introduction to Unicode
Graphics—drawing, text and fonts, bitmaps and metafiles
The kernel and the printer
Sound and music
Dynamic-link libraries
Multitasking and multithreading
The Multiple-Document Interface
Programming for the Internet and intranets

Packed as always with definitive examples, this newest Petzold delivers the ultimate sourcebook and tutorial for Windows programmers at all levels working with Microsoft® Windows 95, Windows 98, or Microsoft Windows NT®. No aspiring or experienced developer can afford to be without it.

An electronic version of this book is available on the companion CD.

A Note Regarding the CD or DVD

The print version of this book ships with a CD or DVD. For those customers purchasing one of the digital formats in which this book is available, we are pleased to offer the CD/DVD content as a free download via O'Reilly Media's Digital Distribution services. To download this content, please visit O'Reilly's web site, search for the title of this book to find its catalog page, and click on the link below the cover image (Examples, Companion Content, or Practice Files). Note that while we provide as much of the media content as we are able via free download, we are sometimes limited by licensing restrictions. Please direct any questions or concerns to booktech@oreilly.com.

Book Info

Presents what you need to know to write programs that run under Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, & Windows NT 5.0. These programs are written in the C programming language & use the native Windows application programming interfaces (APIs). CD-ROM included. DLC: Microsoft Windows (Computer file).

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
This book shows you how to write programs that run under Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, and Windows NT 5.0. Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

70 Reviews

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (70 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best way to learn the Win32 API from scratch, Mar 24 2002

By

koalaroo "koalaroo1964" (Chandler, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Programming Windows (Hardcover)

I own 'Programming Windows 95' which is a previous version of this book...this newer version adds additional information, while retaining the best of the older versions.

I'm a self-taught software engineer and have relied on books for most of my training. When I needed to learn the Win32 API to write Windows application programs, I initially turned to the Microsoft website and their tutorials, but found this approach frustrating because there was no overall picture presented...a lot of knowledge was assumed.

Petzold's book was the answer to my frustrations...it assumed no Windows specific knowledge, although general C/C++ background is assumed. The book starts with simple examples that are thoroughly explained. Once enough topics are covered, an excellent overview of Windows as an event-driven operating system is presented, and the remainder of the book is devoted to covering real-world, useful examples in enough detail that they provide starting points for the reader's own development projects.

In the companies for which I've worked, most of the programmers refer to Petzold's book as the 'bible' for Windows programming...for good reason. This is the best book for learning Windows programming if you are starting with no previous knowledge of the Windows operating system.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Works for me, Dec 12 2001

By

BugBuster "BugBuster" (Eugene, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Programming Windows (Hardcover)

This book works very well for me. It presents the topic clearly and readably. It tells me what I want to know, and I mostly understand it on the first reading. It has lots of tutorial examples, very good. I am skipping around, finding what I want when I want it, modifying many of the example programs to try things out, and having a very good time.

These reviews vary a lot, I think, because of the reviewers' varying expectations and experience levels, so it might be useful to characterize this reviewer:

I'm a total newbie to Windows programming. My 17 years of programming includes essentially no GUI PC software, mostly embedded microcontroller firmware and MS-DOS hardware drivers, and Apple_II way back when. I already knew how multitasking works, and I had a smattering of Macintosh Toolbox exposure eons ago. This book fills the gap perfectly for me.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Be Ready for theory -, Nov 28 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Programming Windows (Hardcover)

This is truly the definitive guide! - But be ready for wordy sentences in parts, and greater detail than you are expecting. This is not a Beginners Choice book, nor is it for the inexperienced programmer. DON'T BUY IT IF YOU DON'T PROGRAM HEAVILY. Though, it is a great reference. Very Helpful for those who are detail oriented programmers and readers who don't mind alot of theory. Worth the $ -

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 70 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Want to see more reviews on this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 93 reviews 4.3 out of 5 stars

Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent reference for learning Windows 32 API
This book is very well written and the author does a great job explaining every topic that he covers thoroughly. Read more

Published on April 18 2008 by Mark Burrell

5.0 out of 5 stars This is my best Win32 reference book
This book is considered as the windows programming bible by many. Sure, you can build applications without all this knowledge with frameworks such as MFC but if you are looking to... Read more

Published on Nov 1 2006 by Olivier Langlois