retierney wrote:
Thanks for the responses so far. Am I correct in saying that MFC stands for 'Microsoft Foundation Classes'? And what does WTL stand for? I told you that I was a Windows Programmer Newbie...
WTL is Windows Template Library.
There's a few concepts you'll want to come to understand.
one of the main thing is Unmanaged and Managed. Some of this relates to what level of Windows Programming you are wanting to do.
Unmanaged concepts:
COM - Component Object Model
MFC or other class libraries (ATL, WTL, etc)
Managed concepts:
GAC (Global assembly cache)
BCL (Base Class Library)
Many other concepts about the .Net Framework
If you're looking at just making programs in Windows, going with managed languages like VB.Net (VB 7, 8, or 9), C++.Net, and C# would be a good way to get into programming on windows.
Since you're coming from C and Java, C# will seem natural to you. You'll see the similarities to C and Java in it pretty quickly.
If you're looking at doing Windows programming (system utilities, drivers, etc) then you'll want to look into sticking with unmanaged code, particularly C/C++ and MFC for when you need it.
