Thread: Petzold's Book Good For Beginners?

  1. #1
    Student drdroid's Avatar
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    Petzold's Book Good For Beginners?

    Is petzolds book really that good for beginners... because I haven't understood anything that I've just read. If it isn't than what do you suggest for learning win32 api?

  2. #2
    Shadow12345
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    Umm if you are reading Windows Programming by Charles Petzold (of which I have a copy at http:/vc.flashstyle.org/carlos ) I definitely think a 'beginner' can read it!! If you have questions ask us, we shall help thee see the light!

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    yes it's absolutely is, just keep on reading and reading, eventually you'll get it,

    think almost everybody has undergone reading that,

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    The most important step to learning any Windows GUI programming including Windows GUI Win32 API is practice. The more you practice, the better Win32 API programming you will become.

    There is no magic. Software design and implementation requires practice.

    Kuphryn

  5. #5
    pronounced 'fib' FillYourBrain's Avatar
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    windows in its simplest form is HANDLEs and WndProcs. Handle's are kind of like indexes into windows objects and WndProcs are how the OS talks gives you messages. That's about it.

    As far as Petzold goes.... That's how I learned Windows. It's not bad at all. But you may have to reread each chapter a couple times and you certainly need to write the code out and play with it. It is as good for beginners as any windows book could be.
    "You are stupid! You are stupid! Oh, and don't forget, you are STUPID!" - Dexter

  6. #6
    Skunkmeister Stoned_Coder's Avatar
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    I have only two complaints about this book. Firstly and most importantly a key chapter on status bars and tooltips etc. was dropped from the 4th edition to the 5th edition. And secondly the code is rife with hungarian notation. I hate this with a vengeance. It takes perfectly good self-documenting code and turns it into babble.Other than that this book gives an excellent introduction to windows programming.
    Free the weed!! Class B to class C is not good enough!!
    And the FAQ is here :- http://faq.cprogramming.com/cgi-bin/smartfaq.cgi

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    windows programming and hungarian notation...is that supposed to be something odd to see together? When dealing with windows code you should know hungarian notation...even if it does spank.

  8. #8
    Student drdroid's Avatar
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    ....

    Ok... i'm starting to understand now... I reread some of it... and i'm experimenting... i'm thinking of getting visual c++ .net standard... thanks.
    Last edited by drdroid; 10-12-2002 at 02:23 PM.

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