 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Applications programming Tony Stevenson |
Visual Basic 4 Nuts & Bolts: For Experienced Programmers
A book for experienced programmers who want to learn quickly how to write VB applications for Windows
95. It will ease transition from VB v3 to v4. The book's conveys core knowledge needed to understand and use VB 4.
The size has been kept to a readable limit. The authors restricted the inclusion of code because they believe "the megabytes of code supplied as samples with Visual Basic are a good complement to the material presented here."
Chapters cover:
- The VB environment
- Event driven programming (forms, controls, menus)
- Programming structures and techniques
- VB objects
- Error handling and debugging
- File processing
- Communication between Windows applications
- Graphics
- Interface considerations
- Database features.
There are tips (flagged with marginal icons) that make life easier for VB 4 programmers, as well as some relevant to VB 3. Where extra emphasis or explanation is required in the text the authors use highlighted notes, and potential problems or pitfalls are flagged with a Caution icon.
The design is good, and the text is clear, concise and readable. Screen shots and tables have been used where appropriate, and have not been overdone, as sometimes happens with programming books.
| Gary Cornell & Troy Strain: Visual Basic 4 Nuts &
Bolts For Experienced Programmers ISBN 0 07 882141 X Published by Osborne McGraw-Hill 338 pages RRP $49.95 |
The WinG Bible For Visual Basic 4 Programmers
One reason for the popularity of computer games is clever use of graphics. Games have been written for DOS,
as it enables programmers to access memory areas that correspond to the monitor, resulting in fast,
flicker-free and colourful games.
Windows denies programmers direct access to those memory areas because, unlike DOS, it is a protected mode
operating environment; the screen cannot be refreshed quickly enough to avoid flicker. Thus, games written
for Windows have not been as good as those for DOS.
That has changed with the release of Microsoft's WinG library set that enables a virtual window in
memory to be used in the same way as a real window, such as drawing in it and resizing it. Because the
virtual window is in memory it cannot be seen, but once programmatically designed and manipulated to
the desired appearance, it can be displayed by slamming it (WinG terminology) to a real window
in the application.
A sample application in the book demonstrates, in spectacular fashion, the power of WinG. It runs with
or without WinG technology, so you can see for yourself the difference it makes.
Visual Basic programmers can access the power of WinG through custom controls (OCXs in 16-bit and
32-bit formats) contained in the companion CD-ROM. The CD-ROM also has the sample code and related images
used throughout the book, as well as many useful executable files, and AVI, WAV, and MIDI files.
This well-written book aims to explore the theory and use of WinG technology. It has sample applications yout
could adapt to your own programs. The sample code is annotated in detail with extensive screen shots. The
book is relevant to both Windows 3.x and Win95.
Programmers already familiar with VB will learn how to extend their VB knowledge to write games, multimedia,
and 3D virtual-reality applications.
| Nathan & Ori Gurewich: The WinG Bible For Visual Basic
4 Programmers ISBN 0 7821 1727 9 Published by Sybex 797 pages plus CD RRP $84.00 |
Cross-Platform Software Development
How do you run an application in a variety of environments: DOS, Windows (3.x, NT or 95), OS/2, Mac System 7,
or UNIX (Motif, X-Windows, or OPEN LOOK)?
Cross-platform development is an involved process of writing a single set of code,.so an application can
execute on more than one platform. There are clear advantages in writing and maintaining just one set of
code. It may be desirable for an application to have the same look and feel on all platforms; for
example, it is easier to train operators.
This comprehensive guide and reference to cross-platform development deals with the problem and offers advice
on the best approaches.
Chapter 1 explores the philosophy underlying cross-platform development and discusses the benefits. It looks
in detail at what is involved in that sort of development and different approaches.
Subsequent chapters are devoted to:
- Software and hardware platform
- Platform software compatibility issues
- Development of a graphical user interface
- Making source code compatible
- Emulation considerations (methods for making routines unique to one platform work on other platforms
- Cross-platform incompatibilities; some features are not portable to all platforms
- Development tools available.
An appendix lists cross-platform development tools and the platforms they support. Another appendix has the source code for a sample application that runs on DOS and Windows platforms, developed using Zinc Applications Framework.
The book is valuable because it alerts developers to what can go wrong. If you are contemplating developing a cross-platform application then you should seriously consider reading this book.
| Anthony S. Glad: Cross-Platform Software
Development ISBN 0 04 420182 6 Published by Van Nostrand Reinhold 335 pages RRP $73.95 |
Reprinted from the May 1996 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
