Nitty Gritty Windows Programming with C++

Rating:
Summary: That's right, we know how to Program Already
Review: Finally, a book which treats programmers as programmers - this book walks through the win32 api for people who already know how to program. Unlike the Charles Petzold book, this book does not go into depth about history of the api and possible uses for it, it lets you, the creative, brilliant, smart, etc. programmer do thinking for yourself. It goes quickly but not so fast that it will lose you. One of the few books on win32 programming that is less than 700 pages long too. I really found this book nice, and I use it as a reference for how to do things now, because the source code provided is VERY clear, clean, and easy to follow. I do not, however, recommend this book to people trying to learn how to program for the first time - this book is not for you. This book is for people who are already programmers who want to write win32 code.

Rating:
Summary: Not a very good book for beginner OR advanced user
Review: I am very surprised at the positive reviews given to this book by others here. This is a very skimpy book which barely scratches the surface of the 32-bit Windows API. The writing style is also not very good, in my opinion. When I was first investigating the Win32 API, I bought this book, (possibly ironically attracted by its skimpiness), but that was a big mistake. Unless you intend to write a very simple, run-of-the mill text editor, or something along those lines, this book is not going to be a very good help. I GREATLY recommend Charles Petzold's book, which is better for the beginner (lots of background on how and why), AND the expert (Petzold's book contains ALL the gory details between its covers). If you love programming, you will have fun with Petzold's book, but you will become bored with this one, wondering why they left the meat out.


Rating:
Summary: Forget Microsoft
Review: I worked at microsoft for 2 years and the win32 api was some big secret. Well now that I got ahold of this book it's no longer secret. Hansen did an awesome job of explaining how windows really works. Windows is no longer a secret. I would have given it stars but I just started so it will be a while before I can give 5 stars