A good Windows book to use with C++?

[Theo Paphitis]

Could anyone recommmend a good C++ book?

Everyone mentions Petzold but I believe his books are slightly old now.

I was looking at this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Windows-via-PRO-Developer-Jeffrey-Richter/dp/0735624240/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314169133&sr=1-2

I don't want a book that revolves around MSVC++ since I don't use that abomination of a compiler.

[webJose]

Petzold continues to be the most comprehensive book on Windows Programming in C (not C++). This is because the Windows API is C, not necessarily because the book is old. The one thing that the book needs updating on is in the use of GDI+ instead of GDI. Still, to learn GDI is no waste of time and eases up the transition to GDI+.

If you want books on Windows Programming in C++, then it would mean you may want to use an already-made C++ framework. In that case you would first need to decide for a framework. Microsoft's framework is MFC but is not available in the express edition of Visual Studio.

Why don't you like Visual Studio? I (and many, many more) use it without issues, and Visual Studio is the absolute best IDE out there, no contest. This is one of the THE things that Microsoft does best, IMHO, in par with Active Directory and Microsoft Excel.

[1vRz3TCk]

+1 for Petzold

and then follow it up with Richter.

[freddie1]

Here's another take on the issue with some info that might be helpful to you...

http://www.jose.it-berater.org/smfforum/index.php?topic=3389.msg11145#msg11145

[Disch]

Why don't you like Visual Studio?

Because it's Microsoft. All the cool kids hate Microsoft.

[webJose]

hehe, are you a cool kid, Disch?

[Lamblion]

webjose wrote:

Why don't you like Visual Studio? I (and many, many more) use it without issues, and Visual Studio is the absolute best IDE out there, no contest. This is one of the THE things that Microsoft does best, IMHO, in par with Active Directory and Microsoft Excel.

Amen, brother! -:)

I do like VS myself, and I used to be a Borland fan, so that's saying something.

A book on pure C++ that you should check into is "C++ Primer Plus" by Stephen Prata. Until you master at least the basics of of this book (or another like it) you won't get very far in Windows programming either.

[Theo Paphitis]

MSVC++ Is ugly and when I first started I was getting errors and such that I didn't understand so I jumped over to Dev - C++, if need be I can move to MSVC++

Because it's Microsoft. All the cool kids hate Microsoft.

Being a nerd really puts me up at the top with the cool kids ;)

[Disch]

webJose wrote:

hehe, are you a cool kid, Disch?

=P No. I was just mocking the mentality that a lot of people seem to have. There's a lot of anti-MS extremism. I [possibly prematurely] assumed the OP was part of that bunch.

Theo Paphitis wrote:

when I first started I was getting errors and such that I didn't understand

I don't find the error messages to be any more or less cryptic than GCC's

so I jumped over to Dev - C++

Talk about an abomination. The compiler it comes bundled with is like 8 years out of date. You really should ditch it and upgrade to something more recent. If you don't like MSVS, there are alternatives, like wxDev-C++.