Book description
"Raymond Chen is the original raconteur of Windows."
--Scott Hanselman, ComputerZen.com
"Raymond has been at Microsoft for many years and has seen many nuances of Windows that others could only ever hope to get a glimpse of. With this book, Raymond shares his knowledge, experience, and anecdotal stories, allowing all of us to get a better understanding of the operating system that affects millions of people every day. This book has something for everyone, is a casual read, and I highly recommend it!"
--Jeffrey Richter, Author/Consultant, Cofounder of Wintellect
"Very interesting read. Raymond tells the inside story of why Windows is the way it is."
--Eric Gunnerson, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation
"Absolutely essential reading for understanding the history of Windows, its intricacies and quirks, and why they came about."
--Matt Pietrek, MSDN Magazine's Under the Hood Columnist
"Raymond Chen has become something of a legend in the software industry, and in this book you'll discover why. From his high-level reminiscences on the design of the Windows Start button to his low-level discussions of GlobalAlloc that only your inner-geek could love, The Old New Thing is a captivating collection of anecdotes that will help you to truly appreciate the difficulty inherent in designing and writing quality software."
--Stephen Toub, Technical Editor, MSDN Magazine
Why does Windows work the way it does? Why is Shut Down on the Start menu? (And why is there a Start button, anyway?) How can I tap into the dialog loop? Why does the GetWindowText function behave so strangely? Why are registry files called "hives"?
Many of Windows' quirks have perfectly logical explanations, rooted in history. Understand them, and you'll be more productive and a lot less frustrated. Raymond Chen--who's spent more than a decade on Microsoft's Windows development team--reveals the "hidden Windows" you need to know.
Chen's engaging style, deep insight, and thoughtful humor have made him one of the world's premier technology bloggers. Here he brings together behind-the-scenes explanations, invaluable technical advice, and illuminating anecdotes that bring Windows to life--and help you make the most of it.
A few of the things you'll find inside:
What vending machines can teach you about effective user interfaces
A deeper understanding of window and dialog management
Why performance optimization can be so counterintuitive
A peek at the underbelly of COM objects and the Visual C++ compiler
Key details about backwards compatibility--what Windows does and why
Windows program security holes most developers don't know about
How to make your program a better Windows citizen
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Praise for The Old New Thing
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Chapter One. Initial Forays into User Interface Design
- Chapter Two. Selected Reminiscences on Windows 95
- Chapter Three. The Secret Life of GetWindowText
- Chapter Four. The Taskbar and Notification Area
- Chapter Five. Puzzling Interface Issues
- Chapter Six. A History of the GlobalAlloc Function
- Chapter Seven. Short Topics in Windows Programming
- Chapter Eight. Window Management
- Chapter Nine. Reminiscences on Hardware
- Chapter Ten. The Inner workings of the Dialog Manager
- Chapter Eleven. General Software Issues
- Chapter Twelve. Digging into the Visual C++ Compiler
- Chapter Thirteen. Backward Compatibility
- Chapter Fourteen. Etymology and History
- Chapter Fifteen. How Window Messages are Delivered and Retrieved
- Chapter Sixteen. International Programming
- Chapter Seventeen. Security
- Chapter Eighteen. Windows 2000 and Windows XP
- Chapter Nineteen. Win32 Design Issues
- Chapter Twenty. Taxes
- Chapter Twenty-One. Silliness
- Tales of Application Compatibility
- How to Ensure that Your Program Does Not Run Under windows 95
- Code Snippets
Product information
- Title: The Old New Thing: Practical Development Throughout the Evolution of Windows
- Author(s):
- Release date: December 2006
- Publisher(s): Addison-Wesley Professional
- ISBN: 9780321440303
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