[.ca] Getting Started with Microsoft Visual C++ 6 with an ... (ISBN 0130132497)

From Amazon.com:
As a hands-on tutorial to using Visual C++ 6, Getting Started with Microsoft Visual C++ 6 with an Introduction to MFC functions as a worthy reference to learning basic Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) programming. Written as a companion text to the authors' comprehensive C++ tutorial, C++ How to Program, this book will also be valuable to any beginning or intermediate C++ programmer tackling MFC for the first time. The signature style of this book can be found in high-level, detailed use of Visual C++ and MFC along with a series of simple exercises. Despite its short length, the book is filled with specifics, including key terms, dozens of problems, and generally good coverage of MFC basics in a concise format. Overall, the authors avoid using the various wizards in the Visual C++ environment and concentrate instead on do-it-yourself coding and discussions of key MFC classes and principles. The book includes a quickly moving tour of MFC, from basic window classes, event handling, and programming with basic control classes and graphics. After working through the examples, any C++ programmer will become familiar with the basics of MFC for client-side development (though database programming, ActiveX, and Internet development get no mention here). As a concise tour of traditional client-side application development using MFC, this book fills a useful niche as a handy source for getting acquainted with MFC programming quickly. Provided you have some previous C++ knowledge, this text can definitely introduce you to the fundamentals of MFC development. --Richard Dragan Topics covered: Visual C++ IDE basics, debugger, introduction to MFC, resources, menus, dialog boxes, mouse and keyboard message handling, MFC control classes, graphics, timers, bitmaps, and fonts.

Outstanding Introduction which delivers what it promises:
This book provides an excellent introduction toVisual C++ 6 and MFC for those new to the subject or still a little shaky. There seems to be a great abundance of bad-mediocre books on Visual C++ and/or MFC. This book, in contrast, achieves what it sets out to do in spades. It starts off explaining the Developer Studio envirnonment, so that even those who have never seen/used Microsoft Visual C++ before are taken by the hand.The first example is a console (ie non-windows...black screen with only a text interface similar in appaerance to a dos program) application. The rest of the book then deals with writing programs specifically for Microsoft Windows with buttons, combo boxes and other such graphical components. There's even a chapter on drawing and including bitmap files. The book presumes a good knowledge of standard C++ , and recommends the " C++ How to Program" book written by the same authors. It is, however, not essential to have read this book in particular though to fully understand "Getting Started...MFC". A good C++ basis obtained from any good book such as the excellent work by Lafore ("Object-Orientated Programming in C++") is more than sufficient. Its pedagogical merit is second to none and is ideally suited as a first read on the subject for reasons including the following: (1) Its short and sweet (about 140 pages), and could even be read in a single week or so by a motivated reader. (2) The " live-code " propounded on the cover as a characteristic of exapmles in the book is in fact simply an attitude adopted by the authors. They realise the value of illuminating the concepts they discuss by illustrating them in complete examples (and not just code snippets as is the case in many other books). These examples are then dissected and described step-by- step leaving the reader confident that he/she feels fully comfortable with every aspect of the example. This unfortunately, is a teaching practice that most other authors seem to undervalue. Needless to say, the examples are prudently chosen for their pedagogical content and are carefully kept short, while still containing all elements necessary to illuminate the ideas under consideration. (3) All examples used in the book are available for download from the authors web site. These downloads include not only the source code, but also the files (*.dsw etc.) necessary to set up the workspace with a simple double click. (This can be especially hepful for readers with little experience who dont have to worry about creating the workspaces, setting properties etc. themselves). (4) Each chapter finishes with an extensive (typically a page or more) summary and also a page or two long section titled 'Terminology'. This section lists the new terms, function/class names, etc. that have been introduced in the course of the chapter, giving the reader the opportunity to check that they have assimilated these new terms comfortably. In some chapters there are also some short helpful sections at the end such as those titled 'Good Programming Practice', 'Programming Tips' etc. Excercises are also abundant. Unfortunately, answers to the excercises are however, not provided. (5) The authors wisely refrain completely from using the Visual C++ wizards. Though helpful (among other things as time saving devices), these wizards and the cryptic (skeleton) code they produce, generally confuse new users more than help them. The aim in this book is on understanding the topics covered and the MFC classes used, fully, rather than getting the most sophisticated project up and running in the shortest possible time. All in all, its almost impossible to say anything bad about this book, except that ist a pity that solutions to the excercises are not also included. Unfortunately there is (as yet) no follow up book by these authors covering the same topic but at a deeper lever for those who have already read "Getting Started...MFC". If/When it appears I'll be the first to buy it.

Interesting, good examples, but not all that useful:
Positives: First I thought the book was very good in that it was very explicit in its examples. Most books have enough ambiguity so that running the examples is cumbersome. Not so in this book where instructions are explicit, examples have no typos and screenshots are useful. I also found the content interesting - it shows you the inner workings of MFC. Finally, I applaud the authors for trying to write a smaller book (only 140 pages compared to 1000 pages for most programming books). Negatives: The book does not use the Visual C++ wizards. The author states this up front. But who would actually use Visual C++ without the wizard tools? I think after showing the information about MFC the author could have then shown how to do the same things with the wizards.

Great Companion to "How to C++ Program" 2E:
I think it is a great companion to "C++ How to Program 2/E" I have purchased "Teach Yourself Visual C++6 in 21 Days", the professional reference edition, but it uses the wizards so much you can't quite catch everything that is going on. Deitel's book teaches you strait programing techniques without the wizard, that are easy to understand, and implament. Like it says. It is Getting started, so the basics are here. You will probably need another book to learn how to use some of the more integrated things.

Good Introduction to MFC:
...I am pleased with the organization of the material covered in this book. The Deitels start the book with a warm-up chapter on working in the Visual C++ IDE, moving on to creating basic GUIs using MFC; these GUIs include dialogs, frames, toolbars, menu bars, command buttons, etc.. The info on message mapping and handling was very helpful: That's the basis for MFC programming. Like the title implies, this book is an introduction to Visual C++ programming using MFC; do not expect to become an expert in Windows programming after reading this book. Becoming an efficient MFC programmer takes years of practice, but if you need to start from somewhere, then give this book a try! Nevertheless, this book won't do you much good if you are not already a C++ programmer. This book is short, yet detailed like any other book by the Deitels. I own three other books by them and they've become permanent references in my computer programming library. Their publications go way below the surface of programming languages to extract the essential concepts needed for their readers to become proficient programmers.

A good starting point:
I'm not a software type although I do have some background in programming. I wanted to learn C++ to build my own applications for my computer, but I wanted the learning curve to be reasonable so that I can do it on my spare time. I purchased this book and Liberty's book "SAMS Teach Yourself C++ in 24 hours" which gets into ANSI/ISO C++ programming. You can purchase both books from Amazon for under $45. The two books complemented each other perfectly, and in about 8 weeks spending about an hour each day, I can program applications using my compiler. These two books were perfect for a novice like myself. What was nice was that both books came with a working compiler and all the examples were available either as a download or was available on the CD-ROM. What I found somewhat lacking in this book was detailed explanations of all the commands that was used in the examples, and how to expand on the examples so more different types of programmings can be created, but the book is very short and that's what I was looking for - something that doesn't require 1000 pages of reading, so I guess I can't have it both ways. What these books doesn't do is that it won't teach you the more sophisticated operating system related things like how to access a disk or other I/Os. If you are trying to learn this level of programming, you need to move up to a higher level books such as the "Win32 System Programming: A Windows(R) 2000 Application Developer's Guide (2nd Edition)" by Johnson M. Hart. But to get started on C++ programming, after many false starts over the years, these two books did it for me.