RE: [Dev-C++] How can I become a great windows programmer?

[Ken B. <ke...@al...>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: dev...@li...
> [mailto:dev...@li...]On Behalf Of Zodiaq
> Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 11:21 AM
> To: Dev...@li...
> Subject: Re: [Dev-C++] How can I become a great windows programmer?
>
>
> Hello Daniel and all Dev-C++ users,
>
> Wednesday, November 27, 2002, 4:41:29 PM, Daniel wrote as follows:
>
> DG> crazy thing to ask as I know you don't become one overnight,
> but how can I
> DG> get on and become good at windows programming? I'm
> specifically asking for
> DG> tutorials on websites, general tips (don't use/do use wizards
> in VC++),
> DG> things like that.
>
> Question is really strange... but let me say few things:
> -to be good at programming windows app you have to decide how you'll
> made them - using MFC, VCL, wxWindows, .NET or in pure WinAPI...
> well, I use
> the last option because I like to see small size of my apps, and the
> speed is fastest of mentioned... Yeah, I have write some more code
> that I'd have to in i.e. MFC, but these don't matter - I'm master of
> my code and I don't have to rely on oversized MFC libs... but choose
> one as you shouldn't devide your time into different areas - it's just
> waste of it...
> -I've chosen WinAPI and there are thousand of examples in C++ in MSDN
> and in Platform SDK (which you can download for free from M$ site, it
> is also updated fequantly - something like 4 times a year)
> -at last, but not least - to be good at something you have to
> understand it deeply - I mean every aspect of C++ (templates, exceptions,
> OOP) and WinAPI (HANDLEs, msgs, errors, limitations etc.)
> - lots of own code...
>
> DG> Daniel
>
> heh, my two grosze...
> --
> regards, Zodiaq
>

Not such a strange question, and I think you answered it very well.

I would just like to add that if you're thinking at all about crossplatform
compatabilty then wxWindows is the route to go and works nicely with
Dev-Cpp. If you think you'll end up using MS products, better learn MFC and
Visual C++ in addition to the WinAPI (but of course this is the wrong list
for Visual C++ ;-)).

If you're going to stick to the MS Windows platforms and don't care about
using MS tools, go for the WinAPI and use Dev-Cpp.

Ken Bradford
Alpha II Service, Inc.
(614)868-5033