Welcome

Welcome to the MicrosoftÒ Developer Network CD! This compact disc introduces one-stop shopping for developers who are looking for all kinds of information on how to develop applications for the Microsoft WindowsÔ operating system.

You can now point and click to read dozens of technical articles on programming for Windows written by Microsoft developers. You can look at abstracts and source code for sample applications that illustrate programming techniques or peruse the documentation for Microsoft Windows and C/C++ development tools. You also have easy, on-screen access to articles from the Microsoft Systems Journal and to Microsoft PressÒ books such as Charles Petzold’s Programming Windows.

You can navigate through the disc using a Windows-based application with three main windows. The Index window lists the contents of the CD, organized by source, by subject, or by keyword. You can use the Index window to browse the index and select articles or books you would like to view. The Search window lets you look for specific information on the CD using a search engine developed by Verity, Inc. The Viewer window lets you view and annotate topics, copy text and code, and print information.

Exploring information

You can browse through the entire contents of the Microsoft Developer Network CD easily by clicking your way from one spot to another. For example, suppose you want to learn about printing in Windows. You can start by using the Index to open a technical article called “Printing,” then jump to the definition of the SetAbortProc function in the Windows SDK, and finally link to a definition of the abort function in Microsoft C/C++ version 7.0. You can then retrace your steps or simply jump back to the article on printing. You can also use the Index to list sample printing programs and display the source code for a sample program called DIBVIEW, which manipulates device-independent bitmaps to illustrate printing in Windows.

New on this CD

The Microsoft Developer Network CD contains a plethora of original articles on programming written specifically for this CD by our carefully chosen crew of highly trained software engineers—people like Bob Gunderson (Dr. GUI), Randy Kath (Windows NTÔ and Win32Ô), David Long (Windows Kernel, drivers, and VxD), Ron Gery (GDI), Kyle Marsh (window manager and user interface), Dale Rogerson (C and C++), Nigel Thompson (multimedia), and Martha White (sample application library). These are people who cut their choppers on algorithms rather than teething rings, and who (as adults) would rather stay up all night eating cold pizza and debugging code than hang around on a beach in Tahiti playing volleyball and guzzling root beer. Probably. Maybe.

In addition, you'll find product documentation and technical articles from various development groups at Microsoft, covering almost every aspect of programming, from C/C++, QuickCÒ, and Basic to LAN Manager, SQL Server, multimedia, and a host of additional issues related to programming for Windows version 3.x, Windows NT, and Windows for Pen Computing.