Mastering Visual C++ 6

Although this capable text has little to say about Internet and database programming, it can serve as a worthy guide to introducing beginning programmers to the most important features of programming for today's Windows platforms.

The book uses plenty of screen shots to teach you how to install and get up and running with Visual C++ 6. After introducing the basic features of this powerful tool, Mastering Visual C++ describes the basics of C++. Importantly, the author integrates new Visual C++ features (such as the new and improved ClassView tool) when talking about C++ classes, making this text an ideal choice for those who appreciate a hands-on approach.

The heart of this book is a sort of case study on how to build a basic drawing program (similar to the Microsoft Paint utility). The author uses this example to illustrate how to do basic to advanced programming with Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC). The program starts out simply (as an application based on skeleton code generated by the AppWizard) and then the author adds features (using additional MFC classes) for document/view architecture, file input/output (I/O) (for saving and loading files), mouse and keyboard processing, and dialog-box programming.

Additional chapters add graphics capabilities for drawing with the "mini-draw" application. The final chapters introduce some of the basics of using ActiveX/object linking and embedding (OLE) technology, with examples for creating OLE servers and containers, and--a much more common task nowadays--creating and programming with ActiveX controls. Other advanced, and very useful, material includes a bit of the synchronization objects available to MFC programmers for coordinating among multiple threads. --Rich Dragan