Tag Archives: C++

Desktop Application Development, Software Engineering Curriculum

Topic 6 – Introduction to Windows Programming

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Why do I need to learn about Windows programming?

Because Windows is the most popular OS and most companies use it for their daily work. So your software must run on Windows in order to help users do their work.

What can I do after finishing learning Windows programming?

You will know how to create Windows applications that are similar to Notepad, or Paint, or Calculator.

You could also create a dictionary application or an application for storing and searching for books.

It sounds interesting! What should I do now?

Windows  programming is a very big topic. You need to master at least 3 specific technologies: Windows API, Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation.

Please read
– this Charles Petzold (1998). Programming Windows. Microsoft Press book, and
– this Jeffrey Richter (1999). Programming Applications for Microsoft Windows. Microsoft Press book to learn about Windows APIs.

Please read this Chris Sells and Michael Weinhardt (2006). Windows Forms 2.0 programming. Addison-Wesley book to learn about Windows Forms.

Please read this Chris Sells and Ian Griffiths (2007). Programming WPF: Building Windows UI with Windows Presentation Foundation. O’Reilly Media book to learn about Windows Presentation Foundation.

Can I learn Java stuff instead of Microsoft stuff for Windows programming?

Yes, you can. However please remember that Microsoft is the one who created and has been developing Windows. Therefore we believe that the good approach for learning programming for Windows is to learn Microsoft technologies.

Can I create a desktop application that can run in Windows, macOS and Linux using one code base?

Yes, you can.  Please consider Electron framework and Tauri toolkit.

Terminology Review:

  • Windows, Menus, Panels, Tabs.
  • Buttons, Text Boxes, Combo Boxes, Images, Trees.
  • Windows API.
  • Windows Forms.
  • Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).
  • Graphics Device Interface (GDI).
  • Dynamic-Link Library (DLL).
  • Processes.
  • Threads.
  • Shared Memory.
  • Windows Sockets 2 (Winsock).
  • Windows Services.
  • Office Add-ins.

After finishing the books please click Topic 7 – Introduction to Database Management Systems to continue.

 

Object-Oriented Programming, Programming Languages, Software Engineering Curriculum

Topic 5 – Object-Oriented Programming

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Why do I need to learn about object-oriented programming?

Because most of modern software are written using object-oriented programming languages. Using object-oriented programming as a tool and more importantly as a problem solving approach will save you a lot of time and cost when you create modern software systems.

What can I do after finishing learning object-oriented programming?

You will be able to write a program to allow a user
– to draw a picture, save it, then load it, or
– to play ping-pong game, or
– to store and search for an employee’s CV.

Alright! What should I do now?

Please read this Jim Keogh and Mario Giannini (2004). OOP Demystified. McGraw-Hill book.

Is that all?

Unfortunately, the book is not sufficient for writing real world object-oriented software. Although the book already gives you the fundamental concepts of object-oriented programming the examples are only to illustrate the concepts, not to demonstrate real world situations.

We recommend that you read it first because it introduces basic concepts of object-oriented programming very well. It helps you to distinguish object-oriented concepts from procedural programing concepts very clearly so that you could read other books to dig into real world object-oriented programming in a proper way.

Please read this RB Whitaker (2017). The C# Player’s Guide. Starbound Software book to learn how to apply object-oriented concepts to creating real world software using a specific object-oriented programming language (i.e. C# language).

After that please take a quick look at
– this Joseph Albahari (2023). C# 12 in a Nutshell – The Definitive Reference. O’Reilly Media book or
– this Herbert Schildt (2010). C# 4.0 The Complete Reference. McGraw Hill book so that you can refer to a specific topic that needs more study when developing real world software.

I hear that there are many object-oriented programming languages such as C++, C#, Java, PHP, Objective-C, Swift, Python, Ruby.
How many object-oriented programming languages do I need to know?

You should learn as many as possible. However, in this stage, we recommend that you learn only C++ or C# or Java.

C++ is the most used language for creating software systems that need high performance, including games, operating systems, compilers, database management systems, web browsers, graphics editors, medical and engineering applications.

Java and C# are the most used languages for creating enterprise systems.

If you are required or prefer to learn C++, please read this Bjarne Stroustrup (2013). The C++ Programming Language. Pearson Education book.

If you are required or prefer to learn Java, please read this Herbert Schildt (2019). Java: The Complete Reference. McGraw-Hill Education book.

After that please read
– this Matt Weisfeld (2019). The Object-Oriented Thought Process. Pearson Education book and
– this Bertrand Meyer (1997). Object-Oriented Software Construction. Prentice Hall book to get deeper understanding about object-oriented concepts and learn how to design software using object-oriented approach more efficiently.

Terminology Review:

  • Abstraction.
  • Encapsulation.
  • Class-based Inheritance.
  • Prototype-based Inheritance.
  • Polymorphism.
  • Types.
  • Method Variables (C++ Function Pointers, C# Delegates).
  • Concurrency.
  • Collections.
  • Object-Oriented Analysis.
  • Object-Oriented Design.
  • Object-Oriented Programming.

After finishing learning about object-oriented programming please click Topic 6 – Introduction to Windows Programming to continue.

Programming Languages, Software Engineering Curriculum

Topic 3 – Introduction to Programming

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Why do I need to know a programming language?

Because you will develop your software using a programming language.
A programming language is a language that both you and a computer will understand.
It’s a tool for you to express what you want a computer to do.
It’s a tool for you to write instructions of your computer programs.
Without knowledge of a programming language, you cannot develop any software.

I hear that there are many programming languages such as C, C++, C#, Objective-C, Java, Swift, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, PHP, F#, Kotlin,  Clojure, Go, or Lisp.
How many programming languages should I know?

As many as possible. However, at this stage, you should learn about structure of a computer program and a procedure language (e.g. C or C++) first.

What can I do after finishing learning programming language?

You will be able to write a program to tell a computer
– to do a calculation, or
– to count for occurrence of a string, or
– to store and search for a string, or
– to sort a list of numbers, or
– to display an image.

What should I do now?

Please read this Stephen Prata (2011). C Primer Plus. Pearson book.

Alternatively, you can read

– this Stephen Prata (2012). C++ Primer Plus. Pearson book (from Chapter 1 to Chapter 9), or

– this John M. Zelle (2017). Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science. Franklin, Beedle & Associates book (from Chapter 1 to Chapter 9), or

– this Charles Severance (2013). Python for Informatics: Exploring Information book (from Chapter 1 to Chapter 11), or

– this Chris Pine (2013). Learn to Program: The Facets of Ruby Series. The Pragmatic Bookshelf book (from Chapter 1 to Chapter 11), or

– this Alan A. A. Donovan and Brian W. Kernighan (2015). The Go Programming Language. Addison-Wesley Professional book, and this Nathan Youngman and Roger Peppe (2018). Get Programming with Go. Manning Publications book.

After that if you would like to study system programming in depth then please read

– this Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie (2016). The C Programming Language. Prentice Hall book, or

– this Michael Kerrisk (2018). The Linux Programming Interface. No Starch Press book.

After that if you would like to get vocabularies and in-depth knowledge about programming, especially the relationship between mathematics and programming, and ideas of functional programming and logic programming then please read

– this Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman (1996). Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. The MIT Press book, or

– these Course Notes.

Terminology Review:

  • Computer Programs.
  • Compilers.
  • Just-In-Time Compilers.
  • Interpreters.
  • Structured Programming.
  • Procedural Programming.
  • Object-Oriented Programming.
  • Functional Programming.
  • Declarative Programming.
  • Logic Programming.
  • Primitive Types: int, float, double, string, date/time, null.
  • Basic Constructs: variables & assignments, pointers, declarations, functions, macro.
  • Control Flow: if/else, while, switch, for, break, continue, recursion, exception, parallelism, signal, jump.
  • User-defined Types: struct, class, type.
  • Data Structures: Arrays, Lists, Linked Lists.
  • Object-Oriented Programming: abstraction, encapsulation, class-based inheritance, prototype-based inheritance, polymorphism.
  • Functional Programming: first-class and higher-order functions, no side effects, recursion.
  • Modularity: files, packages, namespaces, libraries, modules.
  • Concurrency: processes, threads, locks, channels, timers, callbacks, events, promises, event loop.
  • Type system: static type, dynamic type.
  • Error handling: try/catch.
  • Metaprogramming: reflection, template programming, DSL.
    • Clojure.

    After finishing learning about programming languages please click Topic 4 – Introduction to Algorithms and Data Structures to continue.