reference book

[stu96art]

I was trying to get some opinions on books I could get to help me learn Visual C++. What I am really looking for is a book that will tell me code words for C++, such as ShellExecute and what parameters it needs and how to use it. Just a book with discriptions of most, if not all, of the keywords and how they are used. Thanks

[Roddy]

There are a number of sites where you can download and look at some pretty reasonable VC6 books online.

http://www.maxcode.com has a few links to download free ebooks on C++, VC++, win32API and all the likes.

Alternatively there is:

http://www.crackinguniversity2000.it/mfcatl/index.htm

And last but not least, there is a good book I reference all the time when I was learning the basics, timers, databases executing processes at a basic level, Visual Studio and its "SAms teach yourself Visual C++ 6 in 21 days". Okay, its one of those 21 days books, but it is one of the good ones.

Its available all over the web in html format and its downloadable as a zip file from a lot of web sites.

Everyone learns differently and I found the forums to be most helpful when problem solving, (collaboration and all that jazz..)

A good forum when you have simpler problems, like learning about the ridiculous and frustrating amount of data types is www.codeproject.com which has some very highly informative articles ranging from light and easy to deep and well explained data structures and how particular data types organise their data down to the byte level

Good luck.

++R

[Paul McKenzie]

Originally posted by stu96art
I was trying to get some opinions on books I could get to help me learn Visual C++. What I am really looking for is a book that will tell me code words for C++, such as ShellExecute and what parameters it needs and how to use it. Just a book with discriptions of most, if not all, of the keywords and how they are used. Thanks

There is no such function or code word as "ShellExecute" for C++. That is a Windows API function.

I think you're getting confused with learning the C++ language, and learning Windows programming. If you want to learn the C++ language, you need to learn about variables, loops, functions, classes, the usage of the standard library, etc. None of this has anything to do with Windows programming.

Once you know the rules of the language, then you apply the language to whatever environment you are programming for. In your case, it is the Windows environment. In the Windows environment, there are special functions that you call that control the environment. Functions such as ShellExecute(), OpenFile, etc are examples.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that C++ can be learned by having some keywords listed. C++ is a difficult language to learn, and it can't be learned properly by these methods. You need to actually get books, work through the example programs, and understand the language. This isn't like some other language where you can get by with learning some keywords.

As far as books, there are many listed in the C++ FAQ here on CodeGuru. Note that few, if any, of the books listed talk about ShellExecute() or Windows -- just the language and how to use it properly.

Regards,

Paul McKenzie

[Andreas Masur]

Originally posted by Paul McKenzie
As far as books, there are many listed in the C++ FAQ here on CodeGuru.

Which can be found here...

[kuphryn]

I recommend Programming Applications for Microsoft Windows by Jeffrey Richter.

Kuphryn

[Roddy]

Programming Microsoft Visual C++ : 5th edition.
by Kruglinski, Wingo, Shepherd

4.5 stars out of 5.0 for this one.