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MFC Books

Submitted by Kane on

hi all,

i am looking ino learning MFC and i was wondering if it is safe to buy an MFC book published in 1999...or would a newer book be more appropriate?

Submitted by Blitz on Thu, 30/10/03 - 7:47 AMPermalink

Should be reasonably safe. The windows api hasn't changed that much over the years, lots have been added, but reasonably little has been taken away. Once you are comfortable with programming, the best place to look is probably MSDN help anyway.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Daemin on Thu, 30/10/03 - 8:11 PMPermalink

Of course the new Microsoft Standard is .Net, so I wouldn't get too into MFC.

Submitted by Kane on Thu, 30/10/03 - 9:53 PMPermalink

alrighty then...so if I wanted to learn to program Windows programs, what should I learn? .NET or what?

Submitted by Kane on Fri, 31/10/03 - 8:41 AMPermalink

does .NET support C++? or do you have to use C#?

Submitted by tachyon on Fri, 31/10/03 - 9:34 AMPermalink

.NET supports most languages, including C++ and C#. It compiles all code into an intermediate language which is then interpreted by the .NET framework. (its like Java, without the restriction on what language you use).

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 31/10/03 - 10:06 AMPermalink

If you want to build heavy-duty windows applications then you should either use .NET or MFC, for games however just the Win32 API is sufficient.

Submitted by tachyon on Fri, 31/10/03 - 10:28 AMPermalink

yeah i second that, managed code (.NET compiled code) is too slow for games.

Submitted by redwyre on Tue, 04/11/03 - 12:07 AMPermalink

I'm pretty sure you can use .NET in C++ without having to use managed code, but for games you wouldn't need anything from MFC or .NET as Daemin has said.

All you need is enough WinAPI to create a window and a message loop.

Posted by Kane on

hi all,

i am looking ino learning MFC and i was wondering if it is safe to buy an MFC book published in 1999...or would a newer book be more appropriate?


Submitted by Blitz on Thu, 30/10/03 - 7:47 AMPermalink

Should be reasonably safe. The windows api hasn't changed that much over the years, lots have been added, but reasonably little has been taken away. Once you are comfortable with programming, the best place to look is probably MSDN help anyway.
CYer, Blitz

Submitted by Daemin on Thu, 30/10/03 - 8:11 PMPermalink

Of course the new Microsoft Standard is .Net, so I wouldn't get too into MFC.

Submitted by Kane on Thu, 30/10/03 - 9:53 PMPermalink

alrighty then...so if I wanted to learn to program Windows programs, what should I learn? .NET or what?

Submitted by Kane on Fri, 31/10/03 - 8:41 AMPermalink

does .NET support C++? or do you have to use C#?

Submitted by tachyon on Fri, 31/10/03 - 9:34 AMPermalink

.NET supports most languages, including C++ and C#. It compiles all code into an intermediate language which is then interpreted by the .NET framework. (its like Java, without the restriction on what language you use).

Submitted by Daemin on Fri, 31/10/03 - 10:06 AMPermalink

If you want to build heavy-duty windows applications then you should either use .NET or MFC, for games however just the Win32 API is sufficient.

Submitted by tachyon on Fri, 31/10/03 - 10:28 AMPermalink

yeah i second that, managed code (.NET compiled code) is too slow for games.

Submitted by redwyre on Tue, 04/11/03 - 12:07 AMPermalink

I'm pretty sure you can use .NET in C++ without having to use managed code, but for games you wouldn't need anything from MFC or .NET as Daemin has said.

All you need is enough WinAPI to create a window and a message loop.