Re: What to learn?

<aaronfude@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1121986453.145616.231010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Thanks!
>
> And how does COM fit in to the framework? Is it something independent
> of .NET?
>
> Also, I think that my frame of mind is similar to yours. Can you
> recommend a book on the Windows API. Is "Programming Windows" still
> relevant? And does it talk about COM?

Since 2001, my desktop apps have been largely VB, and for the past 2-3
years, I've been concentrating mostly on web-apps. So any C++ / Windows API
book I recommend would be outdated. Check Amazon.

COM is part of MS's component based technologies. The evolution went
something like this :
OLE to OLE2 to ActiveX to COM to COM+

..NET is something completely different. It's very similar to Java (from my
understanding of Java). It's a brand new technology. You can still access
..NET via COM, and I believe you can access non-.NET COM objects via .NET.

If you do decide to go the C++/Win32 route, you may want to learn how to
write Win32 Windows apps from scratch, just so you understand what is going
on under the surface.

BTW-I'm not "recommending" or "not recommending" you go the C++/Win32 route.
I'm just trying to answer your questions directly as you asked them.
Personally, as I stated before, unless the app is tightly bound to the OS or
needs to be super fast, I prefer .NET.

Again I hope this helps.

Regards,
John




.