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Programming Windows - Petzold
Windows Internals is a great book/reference for understanding how Windows work, but it won't teach you how to actually program Windows.
The Fifth Edition of Petzold's book will actually take you through the Win32 API, which is still usable even on modern Windows platforms.
Then depending on which area of Windows you want to focus on, there are plenty of Microsoft Press books.
Programming Windows - Petzold
Just a warning, that the very latest edition of this book is a complete rewrite for WinRT and Windows 8. It’s still a great book, but you’ll probably want the previous edition to learn how to code traditional Win32 programs.
Example, the new MIDI subsystem, https://github.com/microsoft/midi
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, but he or she is giving convincing sounding reasons that might be helpful for the op. Maybe it is actually better for OP to learn .net, maybe not. But the answer had quality, so I do not think the downvotes are appropriate.
While I think the intentions of the voting system are for marking low quality, as you've said, I think in practice most downvoters are using it to mark their disagreement. There's something interesting about that; it implies that grey text signifies a non-conformist view and approach to a technical issue. As is the case here. I like to skip to the grey text.
Programming Windows covers systems programming in C and in later editions, in C#.
Inside Windows goes over the Window OS architecture in-depth. There’s not much programming in the book but you will come away with a deep understanding of the OS.
Both books are published by Microsoft Press. You’ll of course want the latest editions but if you come across earlier editions, those are fine too.
I’m partial to the earlier Petzold editions of Programming Windows.
The technical docs at microsoft.com are also super helpful and up-to-date: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/docs/
The reason you're not getting a good answer is because the ultimate answer is to just use Microsoft's Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/get-started/s... https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/ It covers near everything, is extremely exhaustive, and constantly updated. That being said, if you're more interested in how the Windows…
I remember reading a funny story somewhere recently that back in the day, ms developers intentionally left gaps in the docs or straight up didn't document certain apis etc so they could put them in their books and sell those so if you were working on certain things you'd be forced to buy said books.
The reason you're not getting a good answer is because the ultimate answer is to just use Microsoft's Documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/get-started/s... https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/ It covers near everything, is extremely exhaustive, and constantly updated. That being said, if you're more interested in how the Windows…
I remember reading a funny story somewhere recently that back in the day, ms developers intentionally left gaps in the docs or straight up didn't document certain apis etc so they could put them in their books and sell those so if you were working on certain things you'd be forced to buy said books.