saracaurel / windows-via-c-cpp

Unofficial source code repo for Windows via C/C++ 5th edition.

Windows via C/C++ 5th edition source code

Introduction

This is an unofficial source code repo for Jeffrey Richter and Christophe Nasarre's Windows via C/C++ 5th edition. The source code is presented here for convenience (so you don't need to dig up the physical media of the book) and remains the copyright of the book authors.

Changes

The source code has been updated to use VS 2019 Community Edition, retargeted to the latest Windows SDK, and to fix a compilation error. The original untouched VS files that came with the book's CD can be found in earlier commits.

Considerations

All samples still function (as of the time of this writing), but some samples may generate deprecation and security warnings upon compilation, and I recommend you heed those warnings if you intend to use any code in production. Remember this is decades old Win32 code -- depending on what you're trying to do, more modern approaches such as C++/WinRT, wxWidgets, Boost, or POCO C++ may be more appropriate.

When using any Win32 code from this repo in production, always consult the Windows API Index for relevant and updated API usage notes. Remember that this book was written pre-Windows 10 (which changed a lot about Windows), so some parts of it may no longer reflect Windows' actual internal functionality.

Considerations for specific samples

• JobLab: On Windows 8 and above, the sample terminates early due to the initial IsProcessInJob() check detecting the process is in a job. This check can be disabled on Windows 8 and above, as the rules around processes and jobs were changed starting in Windows 8. See my comment and this issue for further information.

Additional resources

• Build desktop Windows apps using the Win32 API
• Get Started with Win32 and C++
• Windows API Index