dos to windows
February 19, 2000 08:55 PM
Could anyone tell me what the main differences between DOS and Windows programming are. I ask this because I''m getting visual c++ soon, having used borland C++ 3.0 for all my previous programming.
Can anyone reccommend any good books for starting programming in windows? Thanks!
- Daniel
http://sw.mtx.net/daniel/
- DanielMy homepage
122
February 19, 2000 10:37 PM
I''d say the best intro book to Windows _game programming_ (not windows itself) is Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus by Andre Lamothe.
He teaches you just enough Windows stuff that you can make games, and then he starts talking purely about the game aspect of it (graphics, AI, physics, etc...).
This is NOT the book to get if you want to make windows applications, with buttons, text boxes, and all that fancy stuff. This book barely touches upon that.
But, I came just from DOS, and knew nothing about Windows, and this book got me up and running with Windows DirectX stuff in no time.
gameguru4@yahoo.com
He teaches you just enough Windows stuff that you can make games, and then he starts talking purely about the game aspect of it (graphics, AI, physics, etc...).
This is NOT the book to get if you want to make windows applications, with buttons, text boxes, and all that fancy stuff. This book barely touches upon that.
But, I came just from DOS, and knew nothing about Windows, and this book got me up and running with Windows DirectX stuff in no time.
gameguru4@yahoo.com
February 19, 2000 11:02 PM
If you want to learn a great deal about Windows programming I suggest Programming Windows by Charles Petzold. It''s a monster of a book but is indespensible.
--- Official D Blog | Learning D | The One With D | D Bits
162
February 19, 2000 11:05 PM
The main differences are
1) Memory management. There are no real tricks to malloc or other limits to memory(640k/near/far). But for clean results you have to do the work of cleaning up your malloc_s and new_s
2) Each Windows program has it's own message pump that cycles through a checking for keys and other events. For a game programmer part of your mind has to be aware that your program can't stick around too long in one section of code because it has some messages it has to process or else response gets laggy and dumb. If you've done some game programming in DOS, you'll recognize the problem.
3) If you are going to do some ordinary Windows programs as tools, it be best to learn some MFC and the book I recommend is "Teach Yourself Visual C++ in 24 Hours" When it comes to games MFC can be by-passed though I use a linked-list of pointers class from it.
ZoomBoy
A 2D RPG with skills, weapons, and adventure.
See my character editor, Tile editor and diary at
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Atlantis/7739
Edited by - ZoomBoy on 2/19/00 11:07:29 PM
1) Memory management. There are no real tricks to malloc or other limits to memory(640k/near/far). But for clean results you have to do the work of cleaning up your malloc_s and new_s
2) Each Windows program has it's own message pump that cycles through a checking for keys and other events. For a game programmer part of your mind has to be aware that your program can't stick around too long in one section of code because it has some messages it has to process or else response gets laggy and dumb. If you've done some game programming in DOS, you'll recognize the problem.
3) If you are going to do some ordinary Windows programs as tools, it be best to learn some MFC and the book I recommend is "Teach Yourself Visual C++ in 24 Hours" When it comes to games MFC can be by-passed though I use a linked-list of pointers class from it.
ZoomBoy
A 2D RPG with skills, weapons, and adventure.
See my character editor, Tile editor and diary at
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Atlantis/7739
Edited by - ZoomBoy on 2/19/00 11:07:29 PM
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