I’ve made simple programs in C and C++ with simple compilers (learned it in university; I’m Statistics student). Also I’m amateur PHP programer.
Now I want to start programming for Windows.
- apps with user interface
- apps without user interface
My aim is just to see how it is done. And I might make a basic app that interacts with a database which is in a web server.
Where should I start? Windows Visual Studio? .NET? What should I know?
If you actually want to learn the underlying API then you should start off without one of the frameworks.
Learn it the way we did it all those years ago with Charles Petzold’s book, Programming Windows. A really good foundation of knowledge of how windows and messages work will serve you well.
In the longer term, a good framework, e.g. WinForms, Qt, VCL etc. will increase productivity. But if you start with one of them, then you are in danger of not knowing the difference between sent and queued messages, not knowing the difference between an
HWND, anHDCand aHANDLE, and so on.A good framework, is great, but you’ll get more out of it if you understand what’s underneath it.