system software programming

[sajan]

Hi all, i am sajan gupta engineering student, i want to know the structure(How to start programming for operating system or system software programming) of system programming through C or C++.I do not know much about it so i post this topic to learn in depth about system programming and operating system programming....please help me....any kind of help will be appreciated for me...

[HenriK]

OK, basicly I think you are looking after GUI programming. There are plenty of good tutorials around there on the Internet & because this is Windows Programming -section, I'd guide you to Win32 programming.

The first thing to do is to familiarize oneself with the structure of Windows API. Because this API is compatible with both the C programming language & the C++ programming language, it may be bit clunky for object-oriented design in C++, due to it's unfortunate, but necessary callback functions at times.

To get started, follow this link:
http://www.functionx.com/win32/

It should help you to get started. Please ask me if you'd like to get more cross-platform solution(s) fro system software programming.

[sajan]

i want to know about how functions to be created like printf and cout which directly interact with hardware.

[HenriK]

Hmm, interesting aspect.

I'm sorry to say this, but I can't help you with that. I haven't worked that low-level with anything yet.

All I know about printf is that it is a C function taking ellipse parameters & that cout in C++ is an instance of template class basic_ostream<char>.

Because you are going pretty low-level in programming, you might face the Assembly language.

[HenriK]

Perhaps these help:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4138338/how-printf-works-internally
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2442966/c-c-function-definitions-without-assembly

[andywestken]

This previous thread might be of interest:

Operating System Programming
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/beginner/34265/

Andy

P.S. In the Windows world (and for Linux, etc), if you want to talk to hardware, you're going to have to learn how to write device drivers. This kind of thing is done with the Windows Driver Kit (WDK).
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg487428

But note that printf, cout, etc do not talk directly to the hardware. The code for these can be seen in the CRT source which come with the paid for versions of Visual C++, or in the equvalent Linux sources.

P.P.S. Before worrying about C or C++, have you read a book about the principles of O/S design?

If not, this thread might be of use: "Which operating system book do you recommend?"
http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/7340/which-operating-system-book-do-you-recommend

For an overview of the way Windows is put together, the standard book is "Windows Internals". Your university/college library might just have a copy of this book??

[sajan]

I want to make project of my engineering on robot and it will have its camera, microprocessor and other electronic systems so i need to program them, that programming skills and techniques is i want to learn.

I am also interested in windows programming so i want you to suggest me from where to start.

[andywestken]

Microsoft Robotics
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/robotics/aa731517

Tier One: Windows Development
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/bb308891.aspx

[RSR102782]

i suggest wrote some win16 application first, avoid using qt or Designer ide ex. c++builder its much helpfull when you code rather than designing right away the desktop...

[RSR102782]

i suggest you must dissambled the win.com for clear approch.

[sajan]

thanks to all, for helping me to learn what i want.