Microsoft Visual C++ (Microsoft Professional Edition) [Paperback]

Microsoft Press (Author), Microsoft Corporation (Author), McS (Author)

Book Description

Series: Microsoft Professional Edition | Publication Date: January 1, 1998

"Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Reference Library" is the print equivalent of the voluminous online Help reference information that accompanies Visual C++. It's a comprehensive, accurate resource from the Microsoft product development team for programming with this powerful, highly productive object-oriented development environment. The five-volume set offers in-depth coverage of Visual C++, including:

Terminology and concepts for C and C++ language definitions

A-Z listings of preprocessor directives

An alphabetical reference of the Microsoft Foundation Class library

A section on macros and globals

A reference for the Active Template Library (ATL) and for OLE DB

A-Z listings for the run-time and iostream libraries, including helpful source code examples.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Volumes 1 and 2 of this package comprise the voluminous reference to the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) library. These two books, totaling more than 3,000 pages, provide detailed information on the MFC classes, functions, macros, and variables. Volume 1 opens with an outline of the MFC by category, while the second installment offers a detailed reference to each class.

The third volume in this set covers the template libraries in Visual C++ 6.0. This book opens with a technical discussion of the Active Template Library (ATL) and a brief ATL tutorial. The remainder of the volume is devoted to the detailed reference of the ATL.

The first part of the Run-Time Library Reference, the next volume in the series, details the C++ iostream library--with a quick discussion of streams and iostream programming--and alphabetically lists Microsoft's iostream classes. The second portion of this book lists the run-time routines by category. Each routine is followed up by global variables, types, and constants.

The last volume in this group is actually three books in one. The first is a detailed Visual C 6.0 reference that covers all the basic constructs, such as statements, functions, identifiers, and syntax. Next, an equally detailed reference to C++ discusses all of the object-oriented additions to C++. A reference guide to the preprocessor directives and macros follows these two language summaries. --Stephen Plain

Product Details

• Paperback: 5072 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 5th edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572318651
• ISBN-13: 978-1572318656
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,210,135 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Source Material, June 19, 1999

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D. Crandall "bippi" (Aurora, CO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Microsoft Visual C++ (Microsoft Professional Edition) (Paperback)

It's basically the same stuff you get with Visual Studio's MSDN product library...whether that MSDN CD set comes with the plain Visual C or not is beyond me. If you don't like reading stuff off the CD-Rom, this is excellent. It's great to be able to glance through and be able to find MFC wrapper-code. However, it lacks very much what it needs for vanilla win32 applications, concentrating almost exclusively on ATL and MFC, as well as ActiveX and a little on COM. In which case, look to Charles Petzold's book on <i>Programming Windows</i>.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A necessity, March 28, 2001

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Harry Pandolfino (York, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Microsoft Visual C++ (Microsoft Professional Edition) (Paperback)

Online help is fine but there are effective limits to its usefullness. It can quickly become a maze in which you get lost and of course you have to be at the computer to use it. After dithering around I decided to buy the Visual C++ 6.0 Reference Library and it's a treasure. Yes, it is essentially what is in the MSDN library but the books are so much easier to use. You can quickly target and access just what you need to know and the Language Reference organizes that specific type of information you need to refer to often, such as variable specs and accuracy ranges. This is a worthwhile buy if you're serious about programming Visual C++, almost a necessity.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Try Visual C++ Without It!, May 3, 2001

By 

Software Solutions (Twinsburg, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Visual C++ (Microsoft Professional Edition) (Paperback)

As stated in other reviews, the information in this 5 volume set is the same as what is found on the MSDN CDs, but it is at least 10 times easier finding information in the book(s). I am new to c++, and was getting discouraged because it was so difficult to find what I needed. Since I got this set, I can do in a week what used to take 4-6 weeks without it. If you want to code with Visual C++, its a no brainer, you need it.