Multithreading Applications in Win32: The Complete Guide to Threads [Paperback]

Jim Beveridge (Author), Robert Wiener (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0201442345 | ISBN-13: 978-0201442342

Using multiple threads, you can create high-performance servers, build extensions for Internet servers, take advantage of multiprocessor systems, build sophisticated objects in OLE and COM, and improve application responsiveness. Writing such software requires more than theory and a reference manual; it requires a comprehensive understanding of how everything fits together and a guide to what works and what doesn't. Multithreading is supported under Windows NT and Windows 95 and later through the Win32 API, but coverage of this important topic has been sporadic and incomplete until now. In Multithreading Applications in Win32, with just enough theory and lots of sample code, Jim Beveridge and Bob Wiener show developers when, where, and how to use multithreading. Included in the book are: *Internet development examples, including ISAPI and WinSock. *Hands-on coverage of how to use threads and overlapped I/O for server development. *How to use the C run-time library and MFC in a multithreaded environment. *Examples in C and C++. *Comparisons to UNIX for developers transitioning from UNIX to Win32.The associated web site includes the code and sample applications from the book, including code that works with Internet WinSock. 0201442345B04062001

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Multithreading--dividing an application into multiple independent streams of execution--is a powerful but potentially intimidating programming technique. Multithreading Applications in Win32: The Complete Guide to Threads teaches you how to build multithreaded applications step by step, starting with simple examples and gradually introducing complicating factors and the Win32 APIs you'll need to deal with them. After you've mastered the basic concepts, you'll learn exactly how to implement multithreading applications using C, C++, and MFC, plus specific applications of multithreading on the Win32 platform. The entire book maintains a conversational tone that helps make potentially complex topics understandable.

From the Back Cover

Using multiple threads, you can create high-performance servers, build extensions for Internet servers, take advantage of multiprocessor systems, build sophisticated objects in OLE and COM, and improve application responsiveness. Writing such software requires more than theory and a reference manual; it requires a comprehensive understanding of how everything fits together and a guide to what works and what doesn't.

Multithreading is supported under Windows NT and Windows 95 and later through the Win32 API, but coverage of this important topic has been sporadic and incomplete until now. In Multithreading Applications in Win32, with just enough theory and lots of sample code, Jim Beveridge and Bob Wiener show developers when, where, and how to use multithreading. Included in the book are:

• Internet development examples, including ISAPI and WinSock.
• Hands-on coverage of how to use threads and overlapped I/O for server development.
• How to use the C run-time library and MFC in a multithreaded environment.
• Examples in C and C++.
• Comparisons to UNIX for developers transitioning from UNIX to Win32.

The associated web site includes the code and sample applications from the book, including code that works with Internet WinSock.

0201442345B04062001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (December 29, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201442345
• ISBN-13: 978-0201442342
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #862,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading, August 29, 2000

By 

Mark Jones (Bournemouth, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Multithreading Applications in Win32: The Complete Guide to Threads (Paperback)

This book has been essential for writing our multi-threading, commercial apps. The material begins by providing an explanation for why threads are useful, and follows with a thorough explanation of how to synchronise the activities of many threads. Synchronisation is perhaps the biggest obstacle to producing a working multi-threaded app. I found the most useful chapter to be 10: Threads in MFC. This shows how to create worker threads, derived from CWinThread, instead of calling AfxBeginThread(). This allows you to design classes that represent your threads in a more object-oriented way. The book is clearly typeset, with good explanations of both good technique and the common mistakes that can easily be made when starting out. The FAQ section also helped with common problems that turned up.

I recommend a good understanding of C++ to get the most out of this book, though this isn't essential.

In my opinion, this is *the* book for understanding the theory and practice involved in Multithreaded apps for Win 32. Fortunately, I found this book before writing any multi-threaded apps and I cannot recommend it enough!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book but as always be weary..., January 16, 2000

By 

Andrew (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Multithreading Applications in Win32: The Complete Guide to Threads (Paperback)

I just started reading the book and the content is presented in a nice, progressive manner building up from the simple to the more complex. I just hope the author's discussions of threading is better than his coding. e.g. The sample code at the end of the second chapter doesn't do a good job of cleaning up - the font created is never destroyed and the bitmap created should be destroyed if printing to the printer. Also, most authors/publishers have an errata page for their books but none can be found for this one so you're left on your own to discover any bugs/typos.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This material is still relevent, even when using .NET, September 14, 2005

By 

G. Vignes "G" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Multithreading Applications in Win32: The Complete Guide to Threads (Paperback)

This material is still relevent, even when using .NET. The discussion of Win32 multithreading transcends any particular development environment used with a Windows 32 bit environment.

The key idea behind this book is getting correct, reproducible results with windows multithreaded applications. Multithreaded applications are very hard to get right and even harder to properly test. The author explains the many sources of problems and how to avoid them.

In order to understand this book's code samples, you will have to understand the Win32 API and code written in Visual C++ for Windows NT. It is important to see examples of these concepts in code.