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I am interested in learning the windows API in c++, ultimatly I want to learn openGL but I figured since most books and tutorials will probably require prior windows API programming knowledge, I might as well learn it.
What is the easiest way to learn how to create windows using c++, not c?
What are effective books that could teach me the basics to programming windows?
Thanks,
Josh
well the windows api works in C or C++ so it doesn't use any C++ specific stuff such as classes etc. However, you can write C++ programs with classes etc. and still use the Windows API inside them.
Also, windows can be encapsulated inside classes (the most famous example being MFC). however, MFC only works with Visual C++, which costs an obscene amount of $$$.
>>I am interested in learning the windows API in c++...
The Win32 API is implemented within DLL's that expose "C style" API's. In C++ code, this equates to C functions.
>>...ultimatly I want to learn openGL but I figured since most books and tutorials will probably require prior windows API programming knowledge
The few OpenGl books I own are 99% platform agnostic.
If you want to learn OpenGl, you don't necessarily need to learn Windows first. As far as tutorials and books for Win32 programming go, "we" usually give out:
http://www.winprog.org/tutorial/ and
Programming Windows, 5th Ed.
If you have your heart set on learning GUI programming using pure C++, then there a few C++ "wrapper" libries that you can choose from.
If you've purchased a MS Visual Studio product, then you should have MFC, which is a C++ wrapper and framework for the Windows API. Borland has a similiar product called OWL. Most other downloadable libraries are designed to be platform agnostic (which is a good thing). Here are a few that I know of (some of which are built on top of OpenGl and GLUT):
wxWidgets
FOX Toolkit
FLTK
GLUI
For OpenGl tutorial and books, I'll defer to the OpenGl nerds ;
gg
thanks for the clarification and help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ubergeek
not really:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
That doesn't come with MFC. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by misplaced