PUBLISHED BY
Microsoft Press
A Division of Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, Washington 98052-6399
ISBN 0-7356-1127-0
"Microsoft is not retiring COM." -MS Press Release, August 28, 2000

If you were hoping the recent announcements about the Microsoft .NET Framework would prevent you from having to learn the COM+ programming development model, you will be disappointed.

COM+ has gone through many evolutions since the introduction of OLE technology in the early releases of Microsoft Windows. The alphabet soup of OLE, OLE2, ActiveX, COM, and COM+ has even inspired highly sought-after T-Shirts at most Microsoft-focused technical conferences. But underlying all of this change in marketing message is a core component development technology that every serious Windows developer should be intimately familiar with.

This book will help lay the foundation for a serious understanding of the programming model underlying the .NET Framework recently introduced by Microsoft. COM+ programming techniques will be essential for solutions built today as well as for architectural solutions of the future.

Microsoft has stated that it will continue to enhance COM+ with future versions of its operating systems. It has already announced the inclusion of Application Partitioning, Application Pooling and Recycling, Last Resource Manager for two phase commits, COM+ applications that can execute as Services, and Configurable Transaction Isolation Level for complex transacted environments in Windows .NET (code-named Whistler). Microsoft has also stated that few features of the .NET Framework behave differently from existing COM components. Two examples include the .NET Framework's automatic memory management vs. COM's reference counting and the .NET Framework's XCOPY deployment vs. COM's registration. Taking full advantage of some of these features will require modifying existing COM components, but core concepts embodied by these technologies will not be new to COM+ developers.

COM+ understanding is essential if you want to create XML-enabled applications as well as leverage the SOAP protocols to develop a new generation of Web Services. With .NET, Microsoft is making COM+ much easier and more productive, as well as enabling the kind of software that will be as revolutionary to software development as the introduction of the graphical user interface.

It is worth noting the credentials of the people who wrote this book.

Ray Brown created the majority of the material covered in this book, and he is without doubt the driving force behind it. Ray has over 10 years of industry experience and has used everything.

Wade Brown wrote Chapter 11 about the four-tier enterprise application architecture. Wade has over 12 years of industry experience. He has developed applications exclusively in Microsoft-centered technologies for the last 7 years and is currently a Principal Consultant at Magenic Technologies. He has developed everything from MRP systems to bond calculators for the insurance industry. He brings a strong business perspective to the technology in his chapter.

Chad Chadwick is the baby of the group with 9 years of development experience, most of it in Microsoft technology. His chapter about the newly introduced SOAP protocols (Chapter 12) will give you valuable insights into some of the key underpinnings of Microsoft's .NET strategy. Chad is currently a Practice Lead for e-commerce development at Magenic Technologies.

This book will give you a great foundation for levering the COM+ technologies presented and a great leg up on the emerging .NET Framework.

Greg Frankenfield
CEO & MSDN Regional Director
Magenic Technologies, Inc.

Download the free chm ebook: C++ Signing Solutions With Com+ Technologies

 
C++ for Programmers: Deitel® Developer Series
by Paul J. Deitel - Deitel & Associates, Inc.; Harvey M. Deitel - Deitel & Associates, Inc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Pub Date: January 23, 2009
Print ISBN-10: 0-13-700130-4
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-13-700130-9
Web ISBN-10: 0-13-701849-5
Web ISBN-13: 978-0-13-701849-9
 
Pages: 1056

Welcome to C++ for Programmers! At Deitel & Associates, we write programming language professional books and textbooks for publication by Prentice Hall, deliver programming languages corporate training courses at organizations worldwide and develop Internet businesses. This book is intended for programmers who do not yet know C++, and may or may not know object-oriented programming.

Features of C++ for Programmers
The Tour of the Book section of this Preface will give you a sense of C++ for Programmers' coverage of C++ and object-oriented programming. Here's some key features of the book:

Early Classes and Objects Approach. We present object-oriented programming, where appropriate, from the start and throughout the text.

Integrated Case Studies. We develop the GradeBook class in Chapters 3–7, the Time class in several sections of Chapters 9–10, the Employee class in Chapters 12–13, and the optional OOD/UML ATM case study in Chapters 1–7, 9, 13 and Appendix E.

Unified Modeling Language™ 2 (UML 2). The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has become the preferred graphical modeling language for designers of object-oriented systems. We use UML class diagrams to visually represent classes and their inheritance relationships, and we use UML activity diagrams to demonstrate the flow of control in each of C++'s control statements. We emphasize the UML in the optional OOD/UML ATM case study

Optional OOD/UML ATM Case Study. We introduce a concise subset of the UML 2, then guide you through a first design experience intended for the novice object-oriented designer/programmer. The case study was reviewed by a distinguished team of OOD/UML industry professionals and academics. The case study is not an exercise; rather, it's a fully developed end-to-end learning experience that concludes with a detailed walkthrough of the complete 877-line C++ code implementation. We take a detailed tour of the nine sections of this case study later in the Preface.

Function Call Stack Explanation. In Chapter 6, we provide a detailed discussion (with illustrations) of the function call stack and activation records to explain how C++ is able to keep track of which function is currently executing, how automatic variables of functions are maintained in memory and how a function knows where to return after it completes execution.

Class string. We use class string instead of C-like pointer-based char * strings for most string manipulations throughout the book. We include discussions of char * strings in Chapters 8, 10, 11 and 19 to give you practice with pointer manipulations, to illustrate dynamic memory allocation with new and delete, to build our own String class, and to prepare you for working with char * strings in C and C++ legacy code.

Class Template vector. We use class template vector instead of C-like pointer-based array manipulations throughout the book. However, we begin by discussing C-like pointer-based arrays in Chapter 7 to prepare you for working with C and C++ legacy code and to use as a basis for building our own customized Array class in Chapter 11.

Treatment of Inheritance and Polymorphism. Chapters 12–13 include an Employee class hierarchy that makes the treatment of inheritance and polymorphism clear and accessible for programmers who are new to OOP.

Discussion and Illustration of How Polymorphism Works "Under the Hood." Chapter 13 contains a detailed diagram and explanation of how C++ can implement polymorphism, virtual functions and dynamic binding internally. This gives you a solid understanding of how these capabilities really work. More importantly, it helps you appreciate the overhead of polymorphism—in terms of additional memory consumption and processor time. This helps you determine when to use polymorphism and when to avoid it.

Standard Template Library (STL). This might be one of the most important topics in the book in terms of software reuse. The STL defines powerful, template-based, reusable components that implement many common data structures and algorithms used to process those data structures. Chapter 20 introduces the STL and discusses its three key components—containers, iterators and algorithms. Using STL components provides tremendous expressive power, often reducing many lines of non-STL code to a single statement.

ISO/IEC C++ Standard Compliance. We have audited our presentation against the most recent ISO/IEC C++ standard document for completeness and accuracy. [Note: A PDF copy of the C++ standard (document number INCITS/ISO/IEC 14882-2003) can be purchased at webstore.ansi.org/ansidocstore/default.asp.]

Future of C++. In Chapter 21, which considers the future of C++, we introduce the Boost C++ Libraries, Technical Report 1 (TR1) and C++0x. The free Boost open source libraries are created by members of the C++ community. Technical Report 1 describes the proposed changes to the C++ Standard Library, many of which are based on current Boost libraries. The C++ Standards Committee is revising the C++ Standard. The main goals for the new standard are to make C++ easier to learn, improve library building capabilities, and increase compatibility with the C programming language. The last standard was published in 1998. Work on the new standard, currently referred to as C++0x, began in 2003. The new standard is likely to be released in 2009. It will include changes to the core language and, most likely, many of the libraries in TR1. We overview the TR1 libraries and provide code examples for the "regular expression" and "smart pointer" libraries.

Debugger Appendices. We include two Using the Debugger appendices—Appendix G, Using the Visual Studio Debugger, and Appendix H, Using the GNU C++ Debugger.

Code Testing on Multiple Platforms. We tested the code examples on various popular C++ platforms. For the most part, the book's examples port easily to standard-compliant compilers.

Errors and Warnings Shown for Multiple Platforms. For programs that intentionally contain errors to illustrate a key concept, we show the error messages that result on several popular platforms.

All of this was carefully reviewed by distinguished industry developers and academics. We believe that this book will provide you with an informative, interesting, challenging and entertaining C++ educational experience.

Download the free chm ebook:  C++ for Programmers: Deitel® Developer Series

By Philip Romanik, Amy Muntz
  
Publisher : Addison Wesley
Pub Date : April 21, 2003
ISBN : 0-321-10894-9
Pages : 352

"I really like the software engineering advice given here. As the chief engineer/architect for a large development group, I can say with certainty that the advice given in this book about how real-world projects must work is right on the mark."
-Steve Vinoski, coauthor of Advanced CORBA Programming with C++, columnist for C/C++ Users Journal and IEEE Internet Computing, and Chief Architect, IONA Technologies

Applied C++ is a practical, straightforward guide to developing high-quality, maintainable software. It reflects the power of C++, templates, and the Standard Template Library for industrial-strength programming. Whether you are a single developer or work in a large team, the tips and techniques presented in this book will help you improve your language and design skills and show you how to solve substantial problems more effectively.

The authors, drawing on their extensive professional experience, teach largely by example. To illustrate software techniques useful for any application, they develop a toolkit to solve the complex problem of digital image manipulation. By using a concrete, real-world problem and describing exact feature, performance, and extensibility requirements, the authors show you how to leverage existing software components and the tools inherent in C++ to speed development, promote reuse, and deliver successful software products.

Inside Applied C++, you will find:

• A C++ templates primer

• Workable coding guidelines and extensive coding examples

• Quick lists of need-to-know information about Exceptions, Assertions, and Standard Template Library components

• A technique for effectively using prototypes to move your design from an initial concept to a robust solution

• A technique for building debugging support into your software without a ton of overhead

• Thirteen specific techniques to improve the overall performance of your software

Download the free chm ebook: Applied C++: Practical Techniques for Building Better Software

Title: Creating Games in C++: A Step-by-Step Guide

By David Conger, Ron Little
...............................................
Publisher: New Riders
Pub Date: February 21, 2006
Print ISBN-10: 0-7357-1434-7
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-7357-1434-2
Pages: 464

Do you love video games? Ever wondered if you could create one of your own, with all the bells and whistles? It's not as complicated as you'd think, and you don't need to be a math whiz or a programming genius to do it. In fact, everything you need to create your first game, "Invasion of the Slugwroths," is included in this book and CD-ROM. Author David Conger starts at square one, introducing the tools of the trade and all the basic concepts for getting started programming with C++, the language that powers most current commercial games. Plus, he's put a wealth of top-notch (and free) tools on the CD-ROM, including the Dev-C++ compiler, linker, and debugger--and his own LlamaWorks2D game engine. Step-by-step instructions and ample illustrations take you through game program structure, integrating sound and music into games, floating-point math, C++ arrays, and much more. Using the sample programs and the source code to run them, you can follow along as you learn. Bio: David Conger has been programming professionally for over 23 years. Along with countless custom business applications, he has written several PC and online games. Conger also worked on graphics firmware for military aircraft, and taught computer science at the university level for four years. Conger has written numerous books on C, C++, and other computer-related topics. He lives in western Washington State and has also published a collection of Indian folk tales.

Click to download the free ebook: Creating Games in C++: A Step-by-Step Guide.chm

Title: C++ for Programmers: Deitel® Developer Series
       by Paul J. Deitel - Deitel & Associates, Inc.; Harvey M. Deitel - Deitel & Associates, Inc.
Format: CHM
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Pub Date: January 23, 2009
Print ISBN-10: 0-13-700130-4
Print ISBN-13: 978-0-13-700130-9
Web ISBN-10: 0-13-701849-5
Web ISBN-13: 978-0-13-701849-9
 
Pages: 1056

Welcome to C++ for Programmers! At Deitel & Associates, we write programming language professional books and textbooks for publication by Prentice Hall, deliver programming languages corporate training courses at organizations worldwide and develop Internet businesses. This book is intended for programmers who do not yet know C++, and may or may not know object-oriented programming.
Features of C++ for Programmers

The Tour of the Book section of this Preface will give you a sense of C++ for Programmers' coverage of C++ and object-oriented programming. Here's some key features of the book:

    * Early Classes and Objects Approach. We present object-oriented programming, where appropriate, from the start and throughout the text.
    * Integrated Case Studies. We develop the GradeBook class in Chapters 3–7, the Time class in several sections of Chapters 9–10, the Employee class in Chapters 12–13, and the optional OOD/UML ATM case study in Chapters 1–7, 9, 13 and Appendix E.
    *Unified Modeling Language? 2 (UML 2). The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has become the preferred graphical modeling language for designers of object-oriented systems. We use UML class diagrams to visually represent classes and their inheritance relationships, and we use UML activity diagrams to demonstrate the flow of control in each of C++'s control statements. We emphasize the UML in the optional OOD/UML ATM case study
    *Optional OOD/UML ATM Case Study. We introduce a concise subset of the UML 2, then guide you through a first design experience intended for the novice object-oriented designer/programmer. The case study was reviewed by a distinguished team of OOD/UML industry professionals and academics. The case study is not an exercise; rather, it's a fully developed end-to-end learning experience that concludes with a detailed walkthrough of the complete 877-line C++ code implementation. We take a detailed tour of the nine sections of this case study later in the Preface.
    * Function Call Stack Explanation. In Chapter 6, we provide a detailed discussion (with illustrations) of the function call stack and activation records to explain how C++ is able to keep track of which function is currently executing, how automatic variables of functions are maintained in memory and how a function knows where to return after it completes execution.
    *Class string. We use class string instead of C-like pointer-based char * strings for most string manipulations throughout the book. We include discussions of char * strings in Chapters 8, 10, 11 and 19 to give you practice with pointer manipulations, to illustrate dynamic memory allocation with new and delete, to build our own String class, and to prepare you for working with char * strings in C and C++ legacy code.
    * Class Template vector. We use class template vector instead of C-like pointer-based array manipulations throughout the book. However, we begin by discussing C-like pointer-based arrays in Chapter 7 to prepare you for working with C and C++ legacy code and to use as a basis for building our own customized Array class in Chapter 11.
    *Treatment of Inheritance and Polymorphism. Chapters 12–13 include an Employee class hierarchy that makes the treatment of inheritance and polymorphism clear and accessible for programmers who are new to OOP.
    * Discussion and Illustration of How Polymorphism Works "Under the Hood." Chapter 13 contains a detailed diagram and explanation of how C++ can implement polymorphism, virtual functions and dynamic binding internally. This gives you a solid understanding of how these capabilities really work. More importantly, it helps you appreciate the overhead of polymorphism—in terms of additional memory consumption and processor time. This helps you determine when to use polymorphism and when to avoid it.
    *Standard Template Library (STL). This might be one of the most important topics in the book in terms of software reuse. The STL defines powerful, template-based, reusable components that implement many common data structures and algorithms used to process those data structures. Chapter 20 introduces the STL and discusses its three key components—containers, iterators and algorithms. Using STL components provides tremendous expressive power, often reducing many lines of non-STL code to a single statement.
    *ISO/IEC C++ Standard Compliance. We have audited our presentation against the most recent ISO/IEC C++ standard document for completeness and accuracy. [Note: A PDF copy of the C++ standard (document number INCITS/ISO/IEC 14882-2003) can be purchased at webstore.ansi.org/ansidocstore/default.asp.]
    *Future of C++. In Chapter 21, which considers the future of C++, we introduce the Boost C++ Libraries, Technical Report 1 (TR1) and C++0x. The free Boost open source libraries are created by members of the C++ community. Technical Report 1 describes the proposed changes to the C++ Standard Library, many of which are based on current Boost libraries. The C++ Standards Committee is revising the C++ Standard. The main goals for the new standard are to make C++ easier to learn, improve library building capabilities, and increase compatibility with the C programming language. The last standard was published in 1998. Work on the new standard, currently referred to as C++0x, began in 2003. The new standard is likely to be released in 2009. It will include changes to the core language and, most likely, many of the libraries in TR1. We overview the TR1 libraries and provide code examples for the "regular expression" and "smart pointer" libraries.
    *Debugger Appendices. We include two Using the Debugger appendices—Appendix G, Using the Visual Studio Debugger, and Appendix H, Using the GNU C++ Debugger.
    *Code Testing on Multiple Platforms. We tested the code examples on various popular C++ platforms. For the most part, the book's examples port easily to standard-compliant compilers.
    * Errors and Warnings Shown for Multiple Platforms. For programs that intentionally contain errors to illustrate a key concept, we show the error messages that result on several popular platforms.

All of this was carefully reviewed by distinguished industry developers and academics. We believe that this book will provide you with an informative, interesting, challenging and entertaining C++ educational experience.

As you read this book, if you have questions, send an e-mail to deitel@deitel.com; we'll respond promptly. For updates on this book and the status of all supporting C++ software, and for the latest news on all Deitel publications and services, visit www.deitel.com. Sign up at www.deitel.com/newsletter/subscribe.html for the free Deitel? Buzz Online e-mail newsletter and check out our growing list of C++ and related Resource Centers at www.deitel.com/ResourceCenters.html. Each week we announce our latest Resource Centers in the newsletter.

Click to download the book: C++ for Programmers: Deitel® Developer Series.chm