I just posted a good size topic and well it didnt go through so here it is again in a shorter version. I have been doing C in school for about 1 1/2 months and all I am doing is dos apps, and they havent even talked about windows. So I have a few questions. Can I use C for windows apps, like buttons, controls, text boxes? Can C be used for interactive menus in games? Would it be easy to do? Thnx Edited by - Dalik on February 9, 2002 2:30:58 AM

quote: Original post by Dalik
Can I use C for windows apps, like buttons, controls, text boxes?

Yes, it most certainly can.

quote:
Can C be used for interactive menus in games?

It can indeed.

quote:
Would it be easy to do?

Both of these things require a reasonable understanding of the C language itself, as well as sufficient knowledge of the API you will be using. It''s not very easy to write Win32 applications (with buttons, controls, text boxes, etc) in C, but it can be done. It just requires a bit of work.

The reason you are doing DOS apps (Console apps would probably be a more accurate description) is that DOS apps are all that you need in order to understand the fundamentals of the language. Windows apps generally come later.

Well that helps, so I should be able to load ms vc++ start a mfc exe app then add buttons and code, I know it cant be that easy but could you point me to some help in this area?

thnx again

Get a book on the Win32 API. You can learn MFC if you want, but it might help to know the Win32 API first (also, you need to use C++ for MFC). A few books I would recommend would be "Programming Windows" by Charles Petzold and "Windows 98 Programming From The Ground Up".

There is also an online tutorial here:

http://www.winprog.org/tutorial/

Before you go getting into Windows though, you should have a good understanding of C (or C++).

I don''t know, but if you only have 1.5 months of C experience, it''s a very bad idea to jump on Win32 yet, IMO. You should first familiarize yourself with the language. Win32 isn''t easy, it''s somewhat chaotic (that''s why MS created MFC, which is even more chaotic, but in another way ) so that even pro C/C++ programmers (coming eg. from Unix) are kind of lost the first time they encounter Win32. You need a rather good understanding of structs, and especially complex pointer handling, or Win32 will just kill you.

I should have gave your more information, I was only going to program something very small like just a text box and a scroll bar, to sim a dos app, nothing huge. I do have vb experience for a few years, was just interested. I know I wont be able to do something huge in windows and I dont want to, if I did I would use vb or learn C++ while I am doing C. But thnx for the info.

Cheers.

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
I don''t know, but if you only have 1.5 months of C experience, it''s a very bad idea to jump on Win32 yet, IMO. You should first familiarize yourself with the language. Win32 isn''t easy, it''s somewhat chaotic (that''s why MS created MFC, which is even more chaotic, but in another way ) so that even pro C/C++ programmers (coming eg. from Unix) are kind of lost the first time they encounter Win32. You need a rather good understanding of structs, and especially complex pointer handling, or Win32 will just kill you.

You also need a good handle on non-sensical naming conventions, ambiguous data types, and a poorly documented API.