Best windows operating system books according to redditors
We found 162 Reddit comments discussing the best windows operating system books. We ranked the 53 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 162 Reddit comments discussing the best windows operating system books. We ranked the 53 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Of course certain Microsoft applications did deliberate use APIs that weren't publicly documented to achieve things there were otherwise impossible.
Any and every bad developer was able to use the same publicly undocumented APIs. The furver started after they were publicly undocumented in Windows Undocumented.
Just because a bad developer is working at Microsoft when he wrongly uses an undocumented API doesn't make it Microsoft's fault.
Here below is my copy pasta of C#/Unity stuff which I post pretty often here.
Free C# ebook
• http://www.csharpcourse.com/ <- The download link is under 'here' at the end of the first paragraph.
If you want youtube tutorials:
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGLfVvz_LVvRX6xK1oi0reKci6ignjdSa <- apart from C# this dude has also A LOT OF other tutorials on many other languages.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSiIHe2uZ2w <- has also pretty good Unity tutorials.
• https://scottlilly.com/build-a-cwpf-rpg/ <- learn WPF (desktop application with GUI) by making simple RPG game.
Book reference guide:
• https://www.amazon.com/C-7-0-Nutshell-Definitive-Reference/dp/1491987650/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1547990420&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=C%23+in+a+nutshell <- But treat is as a language reference guide, not a programming learning guide.
Text-based tutorials
• https://www.tutorialspoint.com/csharp/index.htm <- C#
• https://www.tutorialspoint.com//wpf/index.htm <- WPF (GUI programming)
Udemy - wait for $10 sale which occurs at least once in a month:
• https://www.udemy.com/csharp-tutorial-for-beginners/ <- for C#, dude has also more advanced tutorials to choose from.
• https://www.udemy.com/user/bentristem/ <- for Unity
Do not move to Unity or WPF before you get good grasp on C# syntax and OOP concepts.
Books
Frameworks
Tools
Communities
C# in Depth - Jon Skeet
C# 7.0 https://www.amazon.com/C-7-0-Nutshell-Definitive-Reference/dp/1491987650
Coming from a C++ background I find [C# in a Nutshell] (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1491987650) to be great. Concise, to the point, but nothing is (or seems to be) left out.
> Are the books any good?
It's been years since I looked at them but they used to be mediocre.
Bonus Data! Microsoft Visual C# Step by Step (9th Edition) (Developer Reference) 9th Edition from Microsoft Press has 11 reviews averaging to 3.7 out of 5.
This search for C# on Amazon shows C# books ranked by average customer review. Some of them are too old. I don't know what to recommend.
I find it amusing, though, that C# 6.0 in a Nutshell is 1136 pages long. That's a BIG friggin' nutshell. :)
C# in a nutshell is a good reference to learn the ins and outs of the language without muddying up the concepts with opinionated frameworks and patterns.
https://www.amazon.com/C-6-0-Nutshell-Definitive-Reference/dp/1491927062
Learning the languages capabilities is only half the battle, and once you have the syntax down you really want to supplement that with a book that teaches you how to write C# as the language designers intended. The following is a little old but written by some of the original members of the .net team and fairly timeless
https://www.amazon.com/Framework-Design-Guidelines-Conventions-Development-ebook/dp/B0017SWPNO
I've worked with several great C++ developers who thought they knew C# but we're really still just writing C++ without ever really learning to embrace the language. Don't be like that
Fungus Cave
Github repository, screenshot.
I'd like to share two things this week. First, I want to expand my C# toolkit, so I searched and purchased two books:
I haven't read WPF yet. As for Nutshell, both the price and content is amazing.
Second, I designed and implemented a field of view algorithm. It has following features:
FOV is processed by three classes:
distanceBoard:
> 3 3 3 3 | 3 4 4 4
> 2 2 2 3 | 2 2 # 4
> 1 1 2 3 | 1 1 2 4
> x 1 2 3 | x 1 2 3
FOVRhombus creates another 2D array called distanceBoard. The algorithm changes FOV status in three steps:
Multiple walls cannot make the same grid even darker. If there are multiple obstacles that cast shadow, only the darkest shadow takes effect. If there are light sources, just reduce the distance.
John Sharp's Microsoft Visual C# Step by Step is a great book. It teaches beginner, intermediate, and advanced concepts.
Just to add, if you want a good book to read after. This is very informative.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735675112?aaxitk=.sjYWQ4iWEoQs178fs504w
Somebody else recently asked the same question,
might find some tips there...
tl;dr learn Python.
Edit: I'm also teaching myself and after messing around with a few languages and books and reading a lot of proggit, programming blogs and looking around the job market for where I will be living in a few years, I've gone with C#.
Why?
Because it seems that to get a foot in the door as a junior developer these days, not being a university graduate and not coming from an IT background, I would need some sort of certification. That leaves Java and C# and from what I've read here and elsewhere, the state of Java is deplorable these days, so...
Also, I was struggling with the object oriented model. So I reasoned that if I can become certified in a language that is based on that model, I will absolutely have to know it, a sink or swim sort of thing. Then I can move on to one of the more "open" languages more easily should I desire to.
I'm learning from this book, which has been fantastic, as the Head First series are presented in a different way to most others, for totally visual learners like myself who have trouble conceptualising abstract ideas from screeds of text.
Copyright law harms you no matter what you do.
Why did Microsoft get a monopoly on desktop computers? Because "DOS ain't done till Lotus won't run". By being able to have a copyright on binary code, Microsoft was able to hide secret functions in its operating systems that allowed them to create much more efficient office software.
I think that, different from patents, copyrights should exist for software, but only on the source code. Compiled executable code should be protected only as works derived from the source code. The only way a binary file should be protected is if the author could prove it was obtained from compiling published source code.
Head First C# is a great book. That, and C# in a Nutshell taught me everything I needed to know.
Back when I was developing low level applications on Windows, I purchased: https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Applications-Microsoft-Windows-General/dp/1572319968 (newer version: https://www.amazon.com/Windows-via-Jeffrey-M-Richter/dp/0735624240/ref=dp_ob_image_bk)
It is a very well written book. When I wanted to learn more, the author (Jeffery Richter) pointed me to:
Windows Internals by Mark Russinovich (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/learn/windows-internals).
Between the 2 (now 3 since Windows Internals has part 1 & 2), you should get a solid foothold programming in Windows.
not nearly as cool, but this was the textbook for my OS class in college: http://www.amazon.com/Operating-System-Concepts-Windows-Update/dp/0471250600
Well.. this is a bit more complex than that. Turns out that Windows 95 depends on DOS in almost the same way that Windows 3.11 did. Windows 3.11 didn't depended on DOS as much as everybody thinks. There is a great book that explains this called Unauthorized Windows 95.
And, by the way, DOS was inaccessible in Windows 2000 because it was a Windows NT, Like Windows NT 4 before. In fact the first Windows who didn't have DOS on it was the fist version of Windows NT, Windows NT 3.1. Windows 8 isn't an evolution of Windows/DOS but an evolution of Windows NT.
This should be a great start. Also can recommend this.
;; This buffer is for notes you don't want to save, and for Lisp evaluation.
;; If you want to create a file, visit that file with C-x C-f,
;; then enter the text in that file's own buffer.
> Windows 95 was fantastic. I loved it so much (except that it wasn't DOS)
You might be interested to know that Windows 95 had about as much DOS in it as did the latest versions of the Windows 3.x series. Microsoft tried to sell it as a 'complete 32-bit rewrite', but in reality Windows 95 is mainly just a significant development of ideas that originated in Windows/386 2.11. Here's the rundown:
HIMEM.SYS) that let it control the A20 gate and open up a bit more memory. (Windows/286 was mostly a dead-end, and despite the name, could run on 8086 class machines.)At this point, much of the architectural groundwork for Windows95 has been laid. There's a 32-bit kernel, the ability to load and run 32-bit Windows programs, and a 32-bit file system implementation. Viewed in this light, Windows 95 made the following improvements:
AUTOEXEC.BAT.)If you're interested in knowing more (and I can't imagine why), this book goes into gory detail:
http://www.amazon.com/Unauthorized-Windows-Developers-Exploring-Foundations/dp/1568841698
IIRC, Schulman demonstrates how to get Windows95 running in DOS only mode, in addition to a mode where DOS is directly running on top of VMM, without the Windows GUI. Microsoft never liked to admit to it, but DOS was a huge part of Windows 95. They only got rid of it in OS/2, Windows CE, and Windows NT. (And Xenix, if you go back far enough.)
Depends on what you mean by being "paid to code." IMO it would be very difficult to get to a level expected of a professional software engineer in that amount of time. I do honestly believe you'll learn to code, it's just that there is so much more to it. You'll also need to learn algorithms and data strucutres at a bare minimum, as well as things like version control and design patterns.
I do think you can get to a level where you could potentially be some sort of administrator, potentially writing scripts or SQL queries, and work your way up from there.
Things you can do:
apply, and be up front about about your java background. honestly, java and c# share a ton of similarities. Brush up on a book (this may not be a bad idea anyway as c# and .net jobs are available about anywhere).
Worst case scenario, you learn something new (and can now compare and contrast c# and java) and get some interview experience.
edit: I really enjoyed C# 6.0 in a nutshell. There are a ton of more economic resources out there. Most employers outside of the really big tech companies care more about your passion for learning and your soft skills than if you can deliver a perfect solution on a whiteboard.
“Why is C# better than Python” is a tough question to answer, but the short answer is that all the features of C# were put there for a reason. And there are MANY features; C# has evolved over the years to support virtually all of the programming paradigms you can imagine, from procedural code to object-oriented to functional to low-level memory/hardware interaction to whatever. It’s dauntingly complex to dig into all of it, but you really only need a relatively shallow subset of those features to be productive, and you’ll only get better as you absorb more of the profile. What you find as you watch other languages like Python evolve is that they’re really playing catch-up, trying to patch in features that C# has had from its inception. Of course, trying to stick static type safety in after the fact is extremely difficult, but you’re seeing a lot of that in both Python and JavaScript. The lifecycle typically goes something like this: new developers get a whiff of the complexity of C# and are put off, then are pleasantly surprised by how easy and “flexible” JavaScript seems, spend years working with it, and then after hitting a wall with the limitations of those languages, they start down the rabbit hole of trying to monkey around with them to try to fix them up to be more like C#.
Just from the outset, static typing is a huge necessity for large software projects. You can’t afford to exist in an environment where every change of a property throws the stability of your codebase into question, with a host of problems that you can’t identify until runtime. Code clarity is, I would argue, the DEFINING feature of a stable, healthy project, and what you find with dynamically-typed languages is that people get to be afraid to refactor for clarity, because the code is brittle and can’t be changed with any reasonable
level of confidence.
Som people try to make assertions like “a good linter is just as powerful as a strongly-typed language”, but that just strikes me as nonsense. It’s only true if you can commit to using the language in a very basic, highly-conventional way, and once you’ve done that, what you’ve REALLY done is abandoned the flexibility that was the hallmark of the loosely-typed language in the first place, AND what you end up with is a very limited subset of the features a true statically-typed language gives you. It’s really tantamount to believing that most static-typing support is superfluous, which it is most definitely is not.
The thing about JavaScript in particular is that it received an enormous boost by being the only game in town. It’s still a pretty crappy language, but it used to be considerably worse; people tolerated it because it was the only game in town. Even then, it had its cadre of language evangelists who assured everybody that the overwhelmingly primitive nature of the language was really a great feature, and maybe in some abstract sense they were correct insofar as it was sufficient to become a building block for better transpiled iterations of it. But largely, as new features were introduced, developers embraced them wholeheartedly, which likely wouldn’t have been the case if there really was a ton of value in the extremely raw nature of early JavaScript.
These are a couple of really excellent resources for C#, which really dig into the design motivations of the language:
https://www.amazon.com/C-Depth-3rd-Jon-Skeet/dp/161729134X
https://www.amazon.com/C-7-0-Nutshell-Definitive-Reference/dp/1491987650
It’s worth noting that they’re both enormous books, and ironically the “Nutshell” book is over a thousand pages! That’s the kind of scope that you’re dealing with to really get into what C# has to offer. But once you do, it can feel awkward to switch between that and less-powerful languages. For that reason, I think every developer in any language could stand to learn about C#, since it’s just a great case study in language design.
All of that said, I always think it’s important to remember that programming in most dynamically-typed languages is pretty much like writing every C# program using Dictionary(string, object) as your only data type.
O'Reilly always does a solid job. Any of the recently published Microsoft books on C# / .NET / .NET Core are going to be good too. Though they may be dry, you'll be impressed with what you know how to build once you're through it. Also, going through the online tutorials Microsoft maintains is a good way to start. It'll help you hone in on what you want to focus on learning.
Nothing is every really outdated, as you never know what you are going to encounter in a target / assigned environment and even have to continue to deal with legacy OS, PS versions and now cross platform. That cross platfomr bit, as far as in depth stuff, no refrence really exists, yet.
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Why are not all the built-in help files and ps1/psm1, etc., not a good reference point and well as all the docs on the MS PowerShell GtiHub and docs site as well as these handy resources and one of the other top PS books that been around: for years now:
Windows PowerShell in Action, Second Edition Second Edition
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And coding in general -just becasue the more your script , eventually understand real coding practices is paramount. Look to this reference. It's not PowerShell specific, but for wrapping you head and goals around coding practices.
Code Complete (Developer Best Practices)
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PowerShell Documentation
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/?view=powershell-6
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Other free eBook references
https://leanpub.com/u/devopscollective
http://www.powertheshell.com/cookbooks
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Windows PowerShell Survival Guide
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/183.windows-powershell-survival-guide.aspx
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DevOps Collective Videos
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfeA8kIs7CocGXuezOoYtLRdnK9S_Mq3e
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Cheet Sheets
https://github.com/PrateekKumarSingh/CheatSheets/tree/master/Powershell
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PowerShell Best Practices
• https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/heyscriptingguy/tag/best-practices
• https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/heyscriptingguy/2014/05/28/powershell-best-practices-simple-scripting
• https://www.digitalshadows.com/blog-and-research/powershell-security-best-practices
• https://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780735666498/samplepages/9780735666498.pdf
• https://www.digitalshadows.com/blog-and-research/powershell-security-best-practices
• https://github.com/PoshCode/PowerShellPracticeAndStyle
• https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/PowerShell-40-Best-d9e16039
• https://www.microsoftpressstore.com/store/windows-powershell-best-practices-9780735666498
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I'd suggest checking out Brackeys/Sebastion Lague/Sykoo On youtube as well as this website for tons of more in-depth written tutorials, for getting started, there's a ton of resources amongst those references. As far as generic C# stuff, for me the only way to tackle a new language is a good OReilly (or similar) book, I have this book which I believe covers a much newer version of C# than unity uses, but still is incredibly helpful.
Also, this is definitely not such a complex language that anyone should be suggesting taking another path first, yes here are are complex parts to C#, a lot of which I myself have yet to master. But you can do a lot of really cool stuff with simple concepts. I just finished building a physics simulator for my procedural engine and that was using only basic C# skills and built in Unity commands, nothing fancy at all. Don't let complexity scare you away, pick what you want to do, learn how to do that specifically to your satisfaction, rinse wash repeat. Do that for 6 months to a year and you'll be amazed by how much you've learned.
Good luck!
What helped me, way back in the day was the O'Reilly book.
https://www.amazon.com/C-7-0-Nutshell-Definitive-Reference/dp/1491987650/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1539150580&sr=8-4
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Had to learn C# for work so of course I took tutorials, downloaded some stuff and tinkered around, but I had no idea what I was doing. Started reading the O'Reilly book on my lunch breaks and making up exercise for myself. Took me months, but I learned a ton. Within those few months I already figured out tons of way to save myself time and frustration.
Another good idea is taking the C# Role Track at Pluralsight.
https://www.pluralsight.com/paths/csharp
I'm about halfway through it now, and I've learned quite a bit. I've been a C# dev for years. Really gets into all the nook and crannies of the language.
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I've also been learning C# for work, and I don't do well in classes: I learn better from books. So if books are your thing, here's a couple recommendations (all of these are on Safari Books Online, see if your work will shell out for a subscription)
Here is how I go about trying to become an "expert":
In short, if you have ever read Alan Perlis's "Epigrams on Programming", most of the things there are pithy explanations of what I'm about to say. Probably my favorite epigram as it relates to being a "language lawyer" is:
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>10. Get into a rut early: Do the same process the same way. Accumulate idioms. Standardize. The only difference(!) between Shakespeare and you was the size of his idiom list - not the size of his vocabulary.
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This is critical, because, as most here will tell you, it's nearly impossible to keep every aspect of C# - both how and why - in your head at all times.
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That said, at one point I was an awful engineer. Let's get into how I became a significantly better engineer.
Ukratko, WPF aplikaciju praviš deklarativnim UI-jem u XML-u i kodom iza koji reaguje na ivente, radi pos'o, itd.. Windows Form aplikacija je sasvim drugi frejmvork sa sopstvenim apstrakcijama i programskim modelom, sve se dešava u kodu. Dve različite .NET UI tehnologije sa istim ciljem, otpr. kao Swing i AWT u Java svetu (ko se seća ovog drugog, nemam pojma da li se to još igde koristi).
Ne postoji jako dobar razlog da danas koristiš Windows Forms, osim ako to nisi koristio do sada i znaš mu sve fore i fazone, a rokovi su pretanki da bi osvajao u procesu novu tehnologiju.
Edit: Ovo je po verovatno najbolja WPF knjiga - WPF Unleashed, tj. bar je bila do pre nekoliko godina, a ovo pamtim kao najbolju Windows Forms knjigu - Windows Forms Programming.
I learned by finding something that I needed. A tool, a small program that automated something that I do all the time. For me, it was a program that would go to and crawl an HTML page that had a summary of earnings for my telecommuting job, at the time.
The UI would then display the amount I had made in the current month/week/day with some other useful stats. I ended up adding a graphing feature to it so I could visualize my earnings.
The point is, find something that you need and/or are interested in and just start. Half the problem is trying to overthink a project and not starting. Try to divide up the various processes into smaller processes and build upon that.
A great book I read that helped me with some basics was Head First: C#.
I would recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/C-7-0-Nutshell-Definitive-Reference/dp/1491987650
Fantastic book for pros.
It is standard practice to build the reference image in a VM. Installing applications in the base image it not a good idea. Only do this if you HAVE to. It is better to add all your applications as packages and install via task sequence or as selectable application list during deployment. I would suggest you check out this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Deployment-Fundamentals-Vol-Deploying-Windows-ebook/dp/B00B9IB286/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1520347968&amp;sr=8-5&amp;keywords=johan+arwidmark
Upvotes to the mentions of Powershell - it is really powerful and excellent to use.
However - good'ol DOS and batch files fuel some of my top functions at work. Here are some links that might help:
And my general go-to books are:
A lot of this is/was used for Windows XP - but a good amount of it will translate to Windows 7. Batch / DOS is still fun to use in Windows 7 but definitely also play a bit in the Powershell pool.
Another vote for MDT. It can be fairly straightforward to set up, but if you want to start messing with multiple makes/models and thick/thin/hybrid images, it can take a while. I've worked with MDT for 3+ years, and it's very flexible and powerful. It's got me my last two jobs, as both places were looking for Imaging/MDT specialists. It's a great tool to have under your belt. And it's free, so you'll get kudos for that.
I recommend reading anything and everything Johan Arwidmark has ever written. He's really the grandaddy of MDT/SCCM and deployment.
If you're looking to start messing with MDT, check out this book by Johan Arwidmark:
Deployment Fundamentals, Vol. 1: Migrating to Windows 7 using MDT 2010 Lite Touch and WDS
It literally will guide you through setting up MDT and WDS from scratch and get you deploying images. Well worth the investment.
Here are my two recommendations based on what you're starting with:
https://amzn.com/1430249358 - Beginning C# Object Oriented Programming by Dan Clark
It's circa 2013, but that shouldn't matter too much. The point of this book is to get you understanding the fundamentals which haven't changed a bit in a while. I can't speak to the effectiveness of this book, personally (I came from C++, so for me it was more about learning how inheritance patterns in C# differed and this book wouldn't have worked for me), but I've recommended it to other people looking to get a start in programming and it has been well received. The goal with this book is to get to the point where you can read a serious book on C# and this provides that pretty well.
After that, head right over to:
https://amzn.com/1491927062 C# 6.0 in a Nutshell - by Joseph Albahari and Ben Albahari (O'Reilly Press).
I own every edition of the C# in a Nutshell series and have read each (speed reader - lots of skimming/scanning since each edition has a lot of repeat content). I'm a huge fan of the "in a Nutshell" books - the "signal to noise" ratio of these books is very high - they're excellent books for people who prefer/are best at learning via books - think of it as an "AP Course". It'll take you a while to get through (the last guy who successfully completed both took 9 months front to back at about 20 hours a week using a strategy that involved reading the book about 4 times [topic for another post] -- it was for a job, so he had no choice but to learn). When you're done, though, you'll understand a large percentage of C# code and be able to write many different kinds of applications.
From there, it's time to head toward the particular discipline you'll be developing most frequently with (ASP.Net MVC, etc) or target certain areas (multithreading/thread safety is usually a good place to go next if you have no particular target).
this is what i read through and it helped me out
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Windows-PowerShell-Month-Lunches/dp/1617291080/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1462150872&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=learn+powershell+3+in+a+month+of+lunches
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-PowerShell-Action-Second-Payette/dp/1935182137/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1462150962&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=powershell+in+action
I didn't know this. I figured some portion would be applicable but probably not a ton or even most. I grabbed head first C# for a different reason and ended up not needing it and am now hopeful that it wasn't money wasted even if it doesn't directly have to do with Unity.
I always recommend sysadmins read The Practice of System and Network Administration.
For PowerShell, I'm fond of Windows PowerShell In Action. It's written by the language designer, so it's not for the faint of heart. It'll give you a thorough foundation in the language but you'll find no cookbook here.
https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Visual-Step-Developer-Reference/dp/1509301046
http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-C-Andrew-Stellman/dp/0596514824
The head first books tend to be pretty good for people who haven't done development before. Unfortunately I don't know of anything unity specific.
There are plenty of resource that haven't been mentioned yet.
Here's a modern one: App design guidelines
and here's the classic book (specifically for Win32 apps -- I've been told that there's a PDF version of this out there, but I didn't look for it): Microsoft Windows User Experience
The UX book has a great deal of information in it that is still relevant to win32 application design.
This sounds like a good option for you:
http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-C-Andrew-Stellman/dp/0596514824
I'm not /u/MinecraftHardon, but you could try the Microsoft Virtual Academy. If you want text, Head First C# is recommended by quite a few people.
http://www.dotnetperls.com/ is a great website for reference. Reading through that will give you a lot of the basics on how things are done in .Net land. That's more a reference than tutorial, though. I'd take a look at Head First C#. Its reasonably comprehensive, and very accessible (to the point where some complain about its style not being serious enough) -- imo its the best all-around intro to C# you'll find.
The latest edition of this book will be released on August 25, 2017.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1491987650/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=IFRETBPWLFYRO&amp;colid=11QVEMNY6RZ6
Head first c#, and then Pro C#
Hey norelevantcomments, my husband is a computer programmer and he shares the dream. He always recommends the "Head Start" books for those interested in that field, and here is a link for the C# one:http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-C-Andrew-Stellman/dp/0596514824.
In distributed algorithms (locking is a distributed algorithm that selects among processes to execute) bounded-waiting and fairness are closely related.
Bounded-waiting means that there is a finite limit on the number of times a process may be skipped (not-chosen).
Peterson's Algorithm, Dekker's Algorithm, and Lamport's Bakery Algorithm (link) are three well-known mutual exclusion algorithms.
The Dinosaur Book covers Dekker's and Peterson's algorithms in addition to broken (unfair, unsafe, require turn-taking) variants on these.
There's tutorials and getting started links on the side bar. Start there. Then check out pluralsight. The following books are good. Consider getting Microsoft Certified at some point if you really want to.
http://smile.amazon.com/C-6-0-Nutshell-Definitive-Reference/dp/1491927062/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1451614908&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=C%23
http://smile.amazon.com/Pro-NET-Framework-Experts-Voice/dp/1430242337/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1451614991&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=pro+C%23
http://smile.amazon.com/Pro-ASP-NET-Experts-Voice-ASP-Net/dp/1430265299/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1451614991&amp;sr=8-4&amp;keywords=pro+C%23
http://smile.amazon.com/C-6-0-NET-4-6-Framework/dp/1484213335/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1451615074&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=pro+C%23+6
If you enjoy projects and quizze method of learning then the best series I can suggest is Head First Series. they have books in all manner of coding and their C# & [Design Pattern]() books are great for beginners to intermediates. I extremly recommend the Design Pattern one.
The biggest difference with this book series is they focus on a Conversational Tone instead of text book talk. And yes while these are more programming related, everything is easily translated to Unity.
Towards the original question. What else would you spend the $10 on? If you really want to learn Unity through video tutorials like theirs then quit fast food for a week, or coffee, or something to make up for the $10.
This one
Originally MS published a great beginner series called "Learn {thing} Visually" and there was a book for each subject. Instead of teaching boring fundamentals of coding, it started by making simple Windows forms which were drag and drop and slowly taught the programming. I use to buy a stack of these books (they were like $13 on Amazon) and anytime somebody had a series interest I would get one from my trunk and give them the book.
Apparently this series was replaced with the "step by step" series:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1509301046/
I found a book that deals MUCH more with the exam questions than the official Exam Reference for the exam. It's [Microsoft Azure Development Cookbook] (https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Azure-Development-Cookbook-Second-ebook/dp/B00NXWI0PE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1473166935&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Microsoft+Azure+Development+Cookbook#nav-subnav).
I would suggest Microsoft Visual C# Step by Step. I haven't read this version of the book but the 2013 edition was very well written so I would bet this one is just the same. Although it isn't directed to game development, having a solid grasp on C# will allow you to learn unity much quicker. If you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM and I will try to help!
Depending on your exposure to exploitation in general, it may be best to briefly introduce yourself to exploitation on Linux first to learn the basics, as there are some additional complexities with Windows exploitation not present in Linux exploitation.
That said, here is a great course that specifically focuses entirely on windows exploit development. Here is an equally amazing series that is probably best used as a supplement during and after that course
If you find that you're struggling with understanding the material (specifically for the OpenSecurityTraining videos), it might be best to follow along the prerequisite knowledge "chain", on the pages for each class (Ex: Confused by exploitation concepts that he doesn't explain in depth in Exploits 2 --> Try out Exploits 1 -- as he probably expects you to know a few things from it already. However, if you find that you may be rusty in assembly --> Sharpen up through their Intro to x86 course, and reviewing/learning C on the side. If you want to understand key differences between Windows and Linux binaries, their Life of Binaries course is pretty good too, but that course itself is not fully necessary for just getting started imo.
If it's a matter of you not being a fan of the teaching style for any reason, an alternative course is Sams Class (which I should let you know ahead of time, covers both linux and windows). Both courses include labs for you to work with as you learn (Sam's class even offering extra mile labs).
As for digging into WinAPI, Windows Internals is probably best used as a reference for when you need it (whether you come across something that specifically requires that information, or reach the point where you need new rabbit holes to dive into). If you can manage to get a course with any of the authors of the book, that may be best for thorough learning of that content. Here is a free alternative, by the co-founder of 'Trail of Bits'.
I personally learned a lot through Windows System Programming and Windows via C-C++, but nothing in this paragraph is necessary to initially jump into windows exploitation. If anything they may be helpful after you start to move beyond the basics.
As other suggested disk2vhd is a great idea.
Personally, I also use USMT and i never had an issue with it so far!
I have a shared folder accessible from the network, i log with an admin account on the laptop that i need to re-image, click an HTML page in that shared folder that fires up a basic MDT sequence just to run USMT, it saves automatically all users settings and folders (even folders outside My Documents, bookmarks, outlook profile, PST files, it even saves the group membership of the user so if he is local admin he will be local admin on the refreshed PC...) and save it to a network share. There is even an option to do a full backup but that's too much space for me.
It really makes things so much easier. All user files and settings are saved in one location, then i start a normal MDT task to image the computer and give the location of the USMT file, the laptop is re-imaged and at the end of the deployment all user settings and files are restored.
Abit more info there: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/jj127984.aspx
Also, this book http://www.amazon.com/Deployment-Fundamentals-Vol-Migrating-Windows/dp/1451570031 is where i found the HTML trick to fire up USMT. I advise this book a lot (i don't know the guys, i am not advertising them) but the
If I had known about the existence of these two books (or rather, their earlier editions) a decade ago, I would have been well on my way to being a better Windows programmer. These two are MUST READS for win32 programming (if you don't want to use .NET framework or other abstraction layers.)
Windows Internals, by Russinovich and Solomon
Windows via C/C++, by Richter and Nasarre
Again, if you want to do non-.NET Windows programming, these books are pure gold. (The older books by Charles Petzold are kind of getting out of date, but were good too.) Also, check out Raymond Chen's blog The Old New Thing for tons of cool bits of Windows dev history
EDIT: Also a must read: Advanced Windows Debugging this is a must if you want to learn how to properly debug "unmanaged" (i.e. non-.NET) applications. Also a pretty good intro to reverse engineering or cracking apps on Windows.
I learned with the 7th edition of the Microsoft Step by Step book and found it an excellent introduction to the language. I also went into C# with prior programming experience, so I wanted something more wholesome than a introductory programming book. I would recommend it if you're already familiar with programming.
As far as Unity goes, there are a ton of tutorials out there for both 2D and 3D, just do a quick google search. Their tutorials page also has a couple of 2D-specific tutorials that should help you along. I wouldn't recommend using a book to study Unity, as in my experience tinkering around with the game engine is far more useful for learning. Set up your own projects and learn by discovery.
edit: I'm just going to toss this in here, but Monogame was a big help for me in learning how to program both C# and games. If you're more interested in 2D game development, this might be a good way to go. Monogame is going to be substantially more programming-heavy than Unity, however.
I have actually been using this book to learn C# and it has been helping immensely. It even tells you where in the book to begin based on your programming experience. Big book, but it really breaks everything down and lets you know how everything works.
For those in the Windows world I recommend reading:
http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Windows-Debugging-Mario-Hewardt/dp/0321374460/
Haven't read it, however you could probably look at this https://www.amazon.co.uk/C-7-0-Nutshell-Joseph-Albahari/dp/1491987650/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=C%23&qid=1563967181&s=gateway&sr=8-5 however if you just want to learn the basics you could just watch youtube tutorials and go from there
I would suggest C# In A Nutshell. I consider it the definitive reference for people who already know a bit of programming.
https://www.amazon.com/C-7-0-Nutshell-Definitive-Reference/dp/1491987650
Try ctrl+enter in any other browser in windows and it will append http://www. before and .com after. Just because your imagination prevents you from seeing that it's not a commonly used shortcut doesn't mean it isn't, and even if it's not apple is still breaking common UI that people expect should they want to use it.
As for Microsoft UI guidelines, I admit I'm not sure if it's cites specifically, there is a LOT of documentation to go through. I do know that the user experience guidelines suggest to follow Windows guidelines and common practices whenever possible. The User Experience guidelines specifically mentions that Ctrl+Pgdn/PgUp are the common means of navigating tabs.
Here's a book on the guidelines,
http://www.amazon.ca/Microsoft-Windows-User-Experience-Guidelines/dp/toc/0735605661
Don't know, but this looks to be similar and it's only 6 USD used. https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Windows-Experience-Professional-Editions/dp/0735605661
It's old, but I enjoyed Powershell in Action Second Edition when I was learning. It explained in depth the how/why/mechanics of PS which was important in helping me remember as opposed to "this is what you do for this" instruction.
Windows PowerShell Step by Step (3rd Edition)
I picked up this book recently and once you have the basics down, this has been useful for me to see some of the more complex things I haven't yet thought of doing. It glosses over the basics quickly and gets to some of the more advanced features right out.
https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Windows-Debugging-Mario-Hewardt/dp/0321374460
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/windowsdesktop/en-us/home?forum=windbg
First I took a few of our VBScripts and translated them to POSH. Then I read a book. Then I started automating some of our AD processes and generating reports. Then I started developing custom tools for PDQ Inventory (things like getting the creator of a computer account, getting warranty information, deleting a computer account from AD).
It all just sort of snowballed for me because once you get an understanding of what Powershell can do, you start to realize how much more efficient you can be. It was easy for me to pick up because I went to school for CS and spent plenty of time writing code, but it can be just as easy for a traditional Windows admin to pick up as each GUI operation is essentially a POSH cmdlet.
For a quick overlook, this. And for a little bit more detail, this one.
> I do NOT know C#
C# in a Nutshell
IMHO, the best book for learning C# from absolute beginner to advanced topics. Not all stuff will be usable in Unity however. But most stuff in that book will be applicable.
From what I've read on /r/PowerShell, Windows Powershell in Action is the next one to read after Learn PS Toolmaking IAMOL.
https://www.amazon.com/C-7-0-Nutshell-Definitive-Reference/dp/1491987650
I have the perfect book for you.
By beginner I'm guessing you mean to programming in general. Head Firsts C# book was absolutely fantastic for teaching the beginnings and getting me started.
http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-C-Andrew-Stellman/dp/0596514824
Just get the book "Programming Windows with MFC Second Edition", in case you don't have it.
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Windows-MFC-Second-Edition/dp/1572316950/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1334214788&amp;sr=8-1
For me it was one of the best MFC references back in the day when I was doing MFC development.
I started at 23, and I can tell you that people who start out younger are usually considerably sloppier and much more clueless about what their code is doing than people who start older.
This started me:
http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-C-Andrew-Stellman/dp/0596514824
http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Python-Paul-Barry/dp/1449382673
I just got c# 6.0 in a nutshell for Christmas, as I'm trying to get my .NET game up. I'm only about 200 pages in but I find it pretty effective. My first introduction to C# was through this video tutorial, which is good but not even a fraction of what you learn with the book.
Ok then yeah Github isn't bad then. It works nicely in Visual Studio or Visual Code. I personally use the command prompt for it(it's how I was taught, but generally I prefer GUIs).
Not sure what book you are gonna need but I learned C# with Head First C#. It is easy to follow and has great examples.
Head First C# https://www.amazon.com/dp/0596514824/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_CEMRzbPTBG8BG
I found Visual Studio C# Step by step to be a good book for people who are just starting or are even on intermediate level.
or... this book https://www.amazon.com/dp/1935182137/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=xk1-20
this book?
https://www.amazon.com/Perspectives-Computer-Concepts-2018-Comprehensive-ebook/dp/B07515PD9N
I mostly buy physical editions, there are a lot on PC, also collectors editions, but as you said, there is most of the time a Steam key in it besides the Disks.
You can collect on PC quite well, but reselling is history.
As example I bought these three in march (all of them came with a Steam key):
Generation Zero CE
Frostpunk
Pathfinder: Kingmaker
My dad was working his way through this to learn PowerShell"
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-PowerShell-Action-Second-Edition/dp/1935182137/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1374727827&amp;sr=8-3-fkmr1&amp;keywords=O%27riley+powershell
Honestly though, I don't see why you need to learn PowerShell at your level of programming. Command lines are great, but I would think someone of your experience should get something a little more pure and basic. What do I mean by this? You should be learning about programming as a way of thinking, not about specific tools.
I'm reading through "Think Python" right now, which is unique in that it's more about programming and less about Python. I think it's a great way to learn how to think like a programmer without being bogged down in specific technologies. You won't need anything but a basic Python interpreter. It's also free. Check it out here:
http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/
If you're talking about Windows, Windows Via C/C++ is what you want.
2 come to mind -
MFC:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Programming-Windows-MFC-Jeff-Prosise/dp/1572316950
I've read this one when I used to do C++, it's pretty good, lots of detail.
&nbsp;
Win 32, I believe the kind of book you're looking for is:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HTK548M/ref=s9_acsd_top_hd_bw_b10O_c_x_4_w?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=FGDVR6HEBN0Y5D76JC48&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=73707293-6e4a-5a72-aa83-153803115f9f&pf_rd_i=3868
I've not read this one but heard good things about it.
I just found the following book, and I think it actually looks a bit better than the C# 6.0 in a nutshell book. I'd appreciate if someone could give his/her personal opinions on it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1509301046?psc=1&amp;redirect=true&amp;ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&amp;smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
I have not read that book, so I can't really comment on it. Amazon reviews seem ok, but based on reviews, Head First C# may be a more appropriate beginner book.
Even if you aren't going to use C++ I would suggest getting Windows Via C++ by MS press (http://www.amazon.com/Windows-via-Pro-Jeffrey-Richter/dp/0735624240). It is by far the best way to learn the internals on how windows works and helps a lot with those head scratching moments even with higher level languages. COM is also used a LOT in widows programming. Being able to understand how it works can be a big help as well.. There is the "Don Box Book", Essential COM which I'd buy. You'll probably only need the first couple of chapters but It is a really well written book as to not only what COM is but WHY it is and how it came to be.
Also for C++. If you have VS Express installed get the Windows SDK (it's free) and look up how to integrate it with VS. It is a LOT more powerful and you get a lot of useful tools with it as well as decent samples.
Most of the value will be for companies trying to make software that will compete against Microsoft products.
Remember the sentence "DOS Ain't Done til Lotus Won't Run"? It has always been a Microsoft speciality, make a public API for the OS that's less efficient than the secret API they use in their own products.
That's why books like this have to be published.