Advanced Windows (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Software developers at times view proper error handling as a distraction and treat it as an afterthought..." (more)
Key Phrases: object services layer, marshaling buffer, raw interface pointer, Visual Basic, Resource Dispenser, End Sub (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jeffrey Richter's Advanced Windows, 3rd ed., is a useful guide to system programming in Win32 in C. The book starts out with advanced topics such as working with Win32 processes and threads, and then moves on to other Win32 kernel objects like heaps and memory-mapped files. The book then explores thread synchronization (and how threads can be made to work effectively in parallel) and explores how to create responsive programs that process messages asynchronously. Chapters on file I/O and device I/O are especially useful for those who need access to the advanced functionality available in Win32. This book presents hard-to-find material clearly, including the structured exception handling model used in Win32 operating systems, and completion ports (which also allow I/O operations to run in the background). An appendix on Win32 fibers will be useful to UNIX system programmers who want to bring their code quickly to Windows. Though the source code is written in C here for widest available audience, the programming strategies and technical information is applicable to C++ programming as well. All in all, this new edition of Advanced Windows is a very useful, readable book that presents in-depth information on several valuable Win32 programming topics. It's worth noting that many of these advanced API calls and features are not easily available to MFC programmers.

Product Description

Written by an acknowledged expert, this is the preeminent source advanced information on programming for the 32-bit version of Windows. The new edition of this popular title covers recent enhancements to Win32, including support for Windows NT 4.0. New or significantly revised topics include kernel objects, the NT 4.0 thread scheduler, fibers, waitable timers, interlocked functions, synchronous I/O, alertable I/O, and the I/O Completion port. A solid revision to a core programming title in a still-expanding area.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1048 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 3rd edition (February 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572315482
• ISBN-13: 978-1572315488
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #100,500 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #62 in

  Books > Computers & Internet > Microsoft > Operating Systems > Windows NT

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Try "Programming Applications for Microsoft Windows", January 8, 2000

By A Customer

I believe "Programming Applications for Microsoft Windows" is the fourth edition to this book. The Microsoft Press summary for the new book says "This fully updated expansion of the bestselling ADVANCED WINDOWS digs even deeper into the advanced features..."

Also compare the table of contents between the two books for yourself. I am buying "Programming Applications" instead of this book.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on the Win32 API., March 24, 1999

By A Customer

Before reading this book I had a good grasp of C++ but didn't know much of the Win32 API except some of the function names I was really interested in.

After sitting down for 2 - 3 weeks with the MSDN Library, Visual C++ and Advanced Windows I now have a firm grasp of most concepts.

This book does not go into GUI development at all. I would recommend Programming Windows Fifth Edition for this. Since most of the code I write is for the backend (DLLs, Databases) my prefered GUI is always a web application so this was very desirable for me.

If you want MFC you should probably get the Microsoft Mastering series title.

If you want GUI get Programming Windows Fifth Edition.

If you want hard core, Win32... GET THIS BOOK!

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two essential books: Petzold's and this book., September 24, 1999

By	M. Gleason (Omaha, NE USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For UNIX, you buy W. Richard Stevens' Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment and UNIX Network Programming -- for Win32 you buy Programming Windows by Charles Petzold and this book. Petzold gets you started, Richter lets you pursue the good stuff.

Although this is easily a 5 star book, it is not without room for improvement. For the 4th edition, Mr. Richter, I'd like to see Anonymous and Named Pipes covered, as well as Mailslots, and some introductory coverage of Winsock (Winsock could be covered in a separate book.)

It's a bit surprising that those topics aren't covered, since just about every advanced topic I was looking for was covered in excellent detail.

To be in the same class as Stevens' books, I'd like to see some performance considerations included. For example, how much more expensive is a Mutex over Critical Sections and Events? Ralph Davis' book, Win32 Network Programming, covers this a little better, and includes quite a bit of discussion on advanced Win32 topics besides the networking APIs.

And lastly, a hard-bound edition would be nice.