[GLLUG] Semi-OT: Another BIG WinVista misstep

[Thomas Hruska]

Chick Tower wrote:
> Are the principles discussed in the book applicable to C++ programming 
> on any OS, Thomas, or are they too specific to Microsoft or Windows 
> compilers for broad application?
> 
>                                Chick

Currently any OS.  Although I'm debating some POSIX stuff for inclusion 
in Second Edition that is used basically everywhere (socket 
programming).  So the POSIX sections will eliminate some embedded 
aspects, but I'm not exactly focusing on embedded platforms.  Embedded 
introduces some interesting elements of discussion.

I encourage maximum portability when developing software.  Take 
VerifyMyPC for instance - it is fairly Windows-oriented and the audience 
for other platforms (if it were ported) would be somewhat limited.  Even 
then I still wrote the core engine as if I wanted to port it to another 
platform.  The GUI, on the other hand, isn't so portable (MFC-based). 
But most of the logic is stuck in the engine so I could probably drop in 
wxWidgets pretty easily (about 2 weeks of time) with just a few minor 
tweaks.

The book arrives as a Windows installer EXE.  I did it that way so I 
could add entries to the Start menu to make it easy to read the book and 
view the sample source code.  Extraction tools should be able to pluck 
out the PDF and source code files though from the EXE (no binaries 
inside - just source and the main PDF).  It seemed like a good idea at 
the time.  Second Edition is going to fix a number of problems First 
Edition had - some people found it odd to have an installer.  It IS the 
first book I've ever written.  I'm a pretty good writer, though.  Some 
of my e-mails read like short stories.  However, my e-mail style and my 
book style are very different - the book style is more polished and 
professional.


I'm finding it entertaining how many people I run into talk about how 
they would love to be a book author and what they plan on writing but 
never get around to actually writing it.  Authoring books is hard work. 
  Seems like it would be easy to do, but it isn't.  If anyone here is 
actually serious about book authoring, feel free to pick up the phone 
and give me a call or ask at the GLLUG meetings.  I've learned a LOT 
about what to do, what not to do, etc.

-- 
Thomas Hruska
CubicleSoft President
Ph: 517-803-4197

*NEW* VerifyMyPC 2.5
Change tracking and management tool.
Reduce tech. support times from 2 hours to 5 minutes.

http://www.CubicleSoft.com/VerifyMyPC/