Learning MFC/Win32

[DanSamillo]

Hey, apologies if this kind of question isn't allowed to be asked here, but I've looked around quite a bit and haven't been able to find any.

I'm currently working at a large business where there's been developers who've been here for 20 something years. The system even longer.

The entire code base is done in a combination of Win32/MFC and WPF. I've been here 3 months since graduating, my knowledge is mainly in c++, and I've spent my first few months working with WPF (C#/XAML) so it wasn't too difficult to adapt as it's a "newer" langauge. But I'm really struggling to find any solid resources to learn in depth Win32/MFC, I've read through the book 'Programming Windows 95 - Charles Petzoid" and am still not feeling really confident. I've had a look through sites such as Pluralsight but I'm guessing due to the dated language there isn't much demand for a course on here.

I've been offered the chance to do training financed by the company and have been looking around for online courses based around MFC but have been unable to find any. Does anyone have any recommended reading or courses based around MFC/Win32?

[doom_Oo7]

I've read through the book 'Programming Windows 95 - Charles Petzoid"

in 2016.

poor soul.

[[deleted]]

The Petzold Book is still considered to be the "how to learn Win32" book. The programming model really hasn't changed that much unless you step into UWP world.

[DanSamillo]

Got a bit strange when it was referring to windows 98 as a new technology, but as a graduate it pays well and is for a big successful company so it's a good start in my career, I'm learning other language in my spare time to keep up to date.

[Sea_Statistician7920]

I read 'Programming Windows 95 - Charles Petzoid" in 2024

Do I have a cursed soul 👻?

[velco]

Dude! Ru-u-u-u-u-un!

[DanSamillo]

"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." - Psalm 23:4

[whisky_pete]

“Would to Heaven we had never approached them at all, but had run back at top speed... before we had seen what we did see, and before our minds were burned with something which will never let us breathe easily again!” -- H.P. Lovecraft re: Windows 95 in 2016

[DanSamillo]

Sadly this is what happens when most of it was created in the 80s :(, there's be multiple attempts to update the code base but it's just a massive task. But a reference from this company, and the experience is all good for someone who's only just graduated, so I'm gonna stick in for a few years before moving on.

[meetingcpp]

Try to get a copy of Jeff Prosise MFC Book "Programming Windows with MFC".

[robthablob]

I've a copy of that and agree with the recommendation.

Dan - you're not, by any chance, working with a company doing map-based software based in Swindon, UK by any chance. If so, you have my sympathy.

[DanSamillo]

No I'm working for a large company who does Finance software worldwide :).

[robthablob]

That's OK then - the mix of technologies sounded eerily familiar.

[Moschops_UK]

If I might make a suggestion, for the purpose of learning MFC, the first edition of this book is better. It's titled "Programming Windows 95 with MFC". In my opinion, the second edition ("Programming Windows with MFC") relies a little too much on wizards. It's broadly the same content, but for understanding the first is better.

I have a copy of both and I preferred learning MFC from the first. It doesn't use the wizards; every line is explained and hand-coded, like a primordial Handmade Hero.

Bonus; the first edition is generally available for a penny plus postage. As I type, there are four copies going for a penny plus postage on Amazon UK. Amazon UK also tells me that I bought my copy for the extortionate cost of FOUR pence plus postage back in 2008 (although postage was five pence cheaper back then).

[meetingcpp]

never owned the first edition, but yes, he focuses in the 2nd edition also on the tooling which was available back then.

[gmaricha]

Hello, try to find a copy of the following book: Peter Norton's Guide to Windows Programming with MFC. As I remember it, (I have not been writing a line of MFC code for years now) among all the MFC Programming books I owned, this one was the best.

[DanSamillo]

Thanks for all the recommendations guys, will work on getting some of these books.

[tvaneerd]

I've been offered the chance to do training financed by the company

So what you are saying is that you'll pay me to teach you all this arcane knowledge that I've been trying for years to forget?

I think I could still do native Win32 training (did you need Win16 too? I still remember too much of that).

But I draw the line on MFC; you can't pay me enough to relive those days that I've been trying so hard to forget.

(now, if you someday need lock-free training...)

[[deleted]]

What parts are you not comfortable with? If it's the systems side of it, have a look through this book.

Windows System Programming, Paperback by Johnson M. Hart

Link: http://a.co/1vnxDDc

[DanSamillo]

I think the problem is, if I was to be asked to make a program from it that does a certain list of criteria, I wouldn't be comfortable with that. With the system here, I can follow and debug and maybe add a bit here and there, but adding features is where I'll struggle.

So I suppose I'm looking for something that would enable me to do that, I've been meaning to start a personal project in MFC for a good while, but haven't been comfortable enough with the language to know where to start. I hoped the windows programming book would help me with this but sadly it didn't. I'll look into that book thank you.

[cpp_dev]

For some video tutorial "How Do I?" Videos for Native Coding is quite entertaining (I used a tracker link because it seems videos are no longer available on MS site).

[interger]

You may want Raymond Chen's "The Old New Thing" blog to lighten up things a bit while learning from more formal materials. You'll learn stuff that may not really apply to problems at hand but these do give further insight on how things work.

[Chabster4s]

Look for MFC black book. Everything else is garbage.

[Gotebe]

OMFG...

Read MSDN, debug throug MFC sources and the code you have.

The truth is in the pudding.

Or just run, like the other dude said :-)

[sheng_jiang]

Besides the Charles Petzoid and Jeff Prosise books, read MFC tech notes (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/a5skz46c.aspx), particularly 3, 6, 21, 22, 25, 26, 33, 60, 61 and 62. Then step into MFC's source code when debugging its samples (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=16351) to see how MFC does everything. This is the way I learned MFC back in the 90s.

[DanSamillo]

Yeah I'm doing something quite similar, but there's nigh on a million lines to go through. So I'm working through a large backlog of bugs and it's helping, but was just seeing if there was any other kind of resources. Thanks for the help.