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// 05. MFC Adventures                                                    //
//     By: Aaron Edmonds                                                 //
//         AKA CyrixBoy @EFnet's #c                                      //
//     Email: wizrdee@ix.netcom.com                                      //
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Greetings one and all, and welcome to my little corner of the Cscene magazine.
My name is CyrixBoy and I have been asked to bring you along as I venture
through Microsoft Windows and gaze into the wonders and mysteries that unfold
as we uncover the treasures (and terds) of MFC programming.  I guess they saw
me hanging around #c too much lately and had all of this free time to spare.
Naturally, I will be uncovering these mysteries using Microsoft's Visual C 5.0.
Armed with a plethora of online documentation and 400 trees worth of books, I
hope to take you all on a wonderful journey of discovery and magic.  Did I
mention that I wasn't an expert at this?  Great!  That means that my
discussions shall not be overly technical, and my ego fairly manageable!  So,
if you're ready, let's begin our adventure.

What Should I Know Already?

In order to become acquainted with MFC, I feel that you should be familiar with
C++, especially the ++ part.  Understanding classes is very important in
deciphering the subtle twists that MFC sometimes brings to classes and other
things.  You should be remotely familiar with the Visual C GUI.  Although you
can program in the command line mode, I have decided to do conduct my MFC
adventures with the GUI. You should also consider a book library of your
favourite windows programming topics.  Although the online documentation is
nice, I always like the ability to consult a nice book when necessary.

Where to Begin

In order to prepare myself for anything, I prefer to gather the proper tools.
Tools can be anything as trivial as books or online documentation, or as
complex as the compilers we use.  Regardless, I prefer to gather as much of
these tools together so that I may have a firm block from which to build.
Since the goal in my life seems to revolve around windows programming, I chose
to use Microsoft's Visual C compiler.  Heck, Microsoft uses it, don't they?
Next, I needed to invest in some books to help me get on my way. Since I would
need a grasp of C++ concepts, I made sure that I had my Waite Group's C++
PRIMER book.  There are a number of books out there that you may choose, but I
picked this book because it explained a lot of powerful C++ concepts in PLAIN
ENGLISH.  I am not a complex person, and I don't need expert testimony on
simple C++ concepts.

The online documentation is very good, and has powerful search routines in it
for providing you fast, accurate information, but I wouldn't use the online
documentation to teach you how to use the compiler. The particular part of MFC
that you wish to study will also have a great influence on what book you will
want to buy next.  I suggest that you sit down and decide just what type of
windows programming you wish to cover.  Do you want to do direct X programming?
Perhaps you just want to write applications. Is it Internet programming?
Regardless of what you choose to program, most books that focus on such items
will include a short tutorial on using the Visual C compiler.  I suggest you
find books that offer this kind of help.  Books that do not include this in
their first chapters usually become very technical and indigestible by a
typical novice programmer.

Where will we go now?

It's very exciting and sometimes confusing when trying to decide on just where
to begin. Many options are available to you.  My course on MFC will be in the
writing of Internet applications. In fact, I have chosen a book very aptly
named "BUILDING INTERNET APPLICATIONS WITH VISUAL C++". It was written by Kate
Gregory and is sold by QUE press.  I find this book to be a wonderful piece of
work. My focus will be based loosely with my adventures writing MFC Internet
applications.

Make it So...

I hope you will all join me as I explore (from a fairly novice point of view)
the wonders of MFC programming using Visual C++ in a fun, informal way.  If you
would like to know what reference materials I use, or have any comments or
questions regarding my corner, please let me know.  Until then, read up on
your ANSI C++ and get to learning the GUI!