Rating: 
Summary: A Great Starting Point.
Review: I think this book provides good coverage of the basics of windows programming. Some may quibble with the fact that it teaches you how to create resources "manually" as opposed to using a Wizard but personally I would rather teach my students that, and let them learn Wizards on their own time (You shouldn't need a book to explain how to use a Wizard!). My only complaint here is that it occasionally spends a little too much time explaining how to do tasks that are altogether similar.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book !!!
Review: I'm fairly new in Windows programming. I have tried using Win32 approach, but it's just too much for me. MFC interests me, and this book is just awesome. Within 2 days I have created a fully functional Windows program !!!! Worth every penny !!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Buy Programming windows with mfc
Review: I've used this book and the prosise book "Programming windows with mfc" second edition. The "from the ground up" book seems to be a summary of the prosise book, missing some information. Most of the samples in the "from the ground up book" are exactly the same, only not as good of documentation for them, like the prosise book. The prosise book also has some difficult to find stuff that you just won't find in the "from the ground up". I wish I hadn't bought the "from the ground up", because anytime I have a question, I go to the prosise book.
Rating:
Summary: Different from ANY other Windows Progamming Book
Review: If you have had the chance to read any of the programming books that are out there you will know this one stands out on a MAJOR point:This is the only Windows programming book that I know of that shows you how to build Windows or MFC programs without using Wizards! All the other books build from the AppWizards - why buy a book for that when those examples come with Microsoft Visual Studio anyway?! This book shows you how to write a straight Win32 application without MFC. Then it shows you how and why to write a Win32 application using MFC. After you read this book you have a chance of understanding the underlying code generated by an AppWizard - otherwise there IS ABSOLUTELY no way to comprehend what's going on. No other book does that for some surprising reason. From the Ground Up is intelligently written with the goal of really making you a competent programmer. I read C++ from the Ground Up and then followed it with this book - the examples are deceptively simple and on the mark so you can get started on your own ideas. Once you finish this book you can really understand any Windows code you might find and be able to build expert skills very quickly. Does this book have some elaborate example with database integration, MP3 player and a skinnable interface? No. None of the books give you that. But with this book I actually had the basis for figuring out how to make one after finding code here and there on the Internet! I've checked every major book and they seem to focus on making Windows programming seem like Visual Basic! You will never know how to really program that way. The reason I am emphatic is because Schildt gives you the fastest way to go from zero to hero. Get the book and really follow it and you WILL NOT be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Overall a great way to get your feet wet with MFC
Review: If you know C++ and some Windows basics (what a list box is, for example) and you want to learn about how to program with MFC, then this is the book for you. It with a very easy to read style and has examples that actually compile the first time! Don't expect the book to cover everything that you ever wanted to know about every MFC class, it would take volumes to cover it all. It DOES, however, cover the major controls and how to use them and it gives you a good base to go exploring the rest of the MFC world yourself. I highly recommend this book if you know little or nothing about MFC programming and want an easy to read introduction
Rating:
Summary: Good for beginner
Review: It's pretty hard to learn MFC, especially people that know only C/C++. I had some experience with Windows Programming, such as console application, Borland Delphi, but still I had a difficulty understanding the MFC. I tried to read some MFC books such as Visual C++ unleashed, and MCSE, but they don't help me much.
This book will not tell HOW TO USE THE WIZARD. But instead, it tells you what all those "hidden" stuffs actually do without using wizard. Now I understand how the MFC works, thanks for Schildt.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Starting Book
Review: Looking for a good start to programming Windows 95/98/NT/XP? I can recommend Schildt. It uses "hand programming" which is the best way to learn and it teaches the Wizards later on. If you have never programmed Windows before this is s great place to start. What's my background? I have been doing applications in FORTRAN, Pascal, Clipper, FoxBase and C++ for 20 years; all numerical apps using only the console and text files for input and output. I have been using Visual C++ continuously since 1998 and it is now my only programming language. You need to be very strong on C++ before beginning MFC. I recommend "Teach Yourself C++" by Al Stevens and "The C++ Programming Language" by Dr. Stroustrup. I have practically memorized these and regularly use STL objects and code in my console based MFC applications. But now I need to use the Windows interface and hence my positive experience with Schildt. I spent a week studying direct programming of the Win32 API using another book and tutorial I found on the web. My conclusion: You would be crazy not to use MFC. If you are doing anything close to a standard application you would be crazy not to use the Visual C++ 6.0 Wizards. Schildt starts with the absolute basics, just as do the university courses on MFC. This may in fact be the only book on MFC that I need ... but I right now do expect acquire a more advanced book once I understand all of the MFC basics. No CD-ROM is supplied with the book. Not a problem. I down loaded the code (complete with how to compile instructions for VC6) from www.osborne.com in October 2003, so even through the book is 5 years old, the code is still accessible and VC has not changed only slightly so the instrustions in teh book still applie. The code download uses the single file approach and is not split into separate header and body files. Ok for learning.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Starting Book
Review: Looking for a good start to programming Windows 95/98/NT/XP? I can recommend Schildt. It uses "hand programming" which is the best way to learn and it teaches the Wizards later on. If you have never programmed Windows before this is s great place to start. What's my background? I have been doing applications in FORTRAN, Pascal, Clipper, FoxBase and C++ for 20 years; all numerical apps using only the console and text files for input and output. I have been using Visual C++ continuously since 1998 and it is now my only programming language. You need to be very strong on C++ before beginning MFC. I recommend "Teach Yourself C++" by Al Stevens and "The C++ Programming Language" by Dr. Stroustrup. I have practically memorized these and regularly use STL objects and code in my console based MFC applications. But now I need to use the Windows interface and hence my positive experience with Schildt. I spent a week studying direct programming of the Win32 API using another book and tutorial I found on the web. My conclusion: You would be crazy not to use MFC. If you are doing anything close to a standard application you would be crazy not to use the Visual C++ 6.0 Wizards. Schildt starts with the absolute basics, just as do the university courses on MFC. This may in fact be the only book on MFC that I need ... but I right now do expect acquire a more advanced book once I understand all of the MFC basics. No CD-ROM is supplied with the book. Not a problem. I down loaded the code (complete with how to compile instructions for VC6) from www.osborne.com in October 2003, so even through the book is 5 years old, the code is still accessible and VC has not changed only slightly so the instrustions in teh book still applie. The code download uses the single file approach and is not split into separate header and body files. Ok for learning.
Rating:
Summary: Probably the best book to start with MFC programming
Review: One can get a lot of books on how to use Visual C++ using wizards but this book stands out in that it teaches you how actually MFC works and that too in an extremely easy manner which i think is extremely difficult considering the complexity of MFC for a newcomer.But developing programs using the procedure described in this book is not used anywhere(especially writing lengthy resource files,which makes it boring at times)All in all the perfect book to start learning MFC.
Rating:
Summary: Unquestionably the best book on MFC
Review: People either love MFC or hate it. The one's who hate it usually do so because of their futile attempts to learn it. I myself have tried learning MFC for about 2 years now. Every time I would start with some book that would teach me how to use the App Wizard and then go back into the code and make changes. I would end up confused and give up, only to try again a few months later....This is the way NOT to learn MFC....this book starts from GROUND ZERO in the true sense of the word. Read it and half way through the book, you will be cursing yourself for not having learned MFC earlier in your career...:-) Only if I had known about this book then!
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