(Part 2) Best windows operating system books according to redditors

oh come on now you need to step up your troll game

My first thought was "shopped" but I was surprisingly wrong

The author is Gordon Letwin, basically the guy behind Microsoft's original OS/2 implementation, before they jumped ship from IBM and went with Windows.

So this is a little ironic:

> Your work won't be canceled due to some political/financial upheaval, nor just used in-house; your work will be used by millions of people.

His Inside OS/2 is well worth reading, not least of which for the gory details of how to shoehorn a "modern" OS into an 80286. From the front cover, he looks like a guy who could have written the whole OS himself in a weekend.

The back cover has a great quote from Gates calling OS/2 "the OS for the next 1000 great applications".

Awesome find, BioGeek.

Advanced topics. We're flooded with entry level stuff, don't need more of the same. Advanced isn't just digging deeper into things that re-define the language, we have tons of protocol programming and overriding operators.

There was a "pushing the limits" book years ago... make one like that.
https://www.amazon.com/iOS-Programming-Pushing-Limits-Applications/dp/1118818342

Stopped at iOS 7, make a new version that covers modern things.

If you simply must learn MFC, the best books remain the two editions of Jeff Prosise's book on the subject.

The first edition is better, in my opinion. It's available for less than a dollar on Amazon US ( https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Windows-MFC-Microsoft-Foundation/dp/1556159021 ).

It's not "up to date" in that it wasn't written recently and doesn't cover the last two decades' worth of additions to the MFC libraries. It is "up to date" in that it explains slowly and carefully the thinking behind MFC, and how to actually write for it yourself (i.e. not just pushing buttons on a wizard). If you learn form this book, you'll know what you're doing and you can then just browse through the current MFC API to see what additions have been made available to you. Also, by learning from Jeff Prosise, you'll actually have a better understand of MFC than the vast majority of people writing code in it, and you'll be horrified at how ugly and wasteful the wizard generated code is compared to what you can bang out yourself. People with many years' of MFC wizard experience will stand in slack-jawed awe as you craft tight MFC code with the power of your own mind.

Think carefully about why you want to learn it, though. The good reason for learning it would be that you've got to maintain a set of code that use it. If you're looking to get started with GUI programming, it's a bad choice.

It’s gonna be hard to give you much without picking a specific OS—details can vary widely even within a single OS family line—but an OS book is probably a good place to start. Tanenbaum’s book is the go-to.

Alternatively, there are books on specific techniques like garbage collection, or books more generally on programming for UNIX/POSIX/Linux or Windows (via Win16/32/64 API, not the six-mile-high shitheap piled atop), which would tell you some about how memory management works in down at least to whatever abstract hardware interface the kernel uses.

I have a web-dev background, so my influences often come from that rather than game-specific stuff.

About Face: https://www.amazon.ca/About-Face-Essentials-Interface-Design/dp/1568843224

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information: https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi

Don't Make Me Think: https://www.amazon.ca/Dont-Make-Think-Revisited-Usability/dp/0321965515/

You should watch 'Song of the South"

https://www.amazon.com/Windows-10-Bible-Rob-Tidrow/dp/1119050057

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.

My mom is 80 and just made the switch. She took a free class at the library and she bought this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Seniors-Dummies-Peter-Weverka/dp/1119038596/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502646709&sr=1-3&keywords=windows+10+for+seniors+for+dummies

She loves Windows 10 and finds it easier to use than Vista. But she was also fairly decent at getting around on a computer. I just made sure the stuff she used the most was on the start menu or task bar.

ok

I took an online course through a local college 3 years ago. I hadn't been in school for over a decade, but the structured learning of the environment, plus the desire to get a good grade in the class, absolutely attributed to my success.

The labs and online class environment ensured I actually learned the material and underlying reasons why things were they way they were. It was not just a "paper cert."

I was able to immediately put what I learned to work at my place of business. The return on my investment was immediate and has helped me make more money while doing a better job for my clients. To this day I credit the class as the best money I've ever spent.

We used this book and it was very helpful while being pretty fun, since you are making (simple) video games the whole time: https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-PowerShell-Programming-Absolute-Beginner/dp/1598633546

I will say, looking back now, the book really is what it says on the cover; for the absolute beginner. If you have any other scripting or programming knowledge, I would probably do "month of lunches" instead.

Microsoft Excel 2019 Data Analysis and Business Modeling (6th Edition) (Business Skills) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1509305882/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_zdj1Db39QVNX8

Or whatever version of excel you’re running. Very solid stuff. Not just functionality, but real problem solving.

I’m sure you could find a used version of a older excel too if you want

Oh, really ? Well, when NTFS first came, it held so many promises. However, I remember reading [the book] (http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Windows-NT-File-System/dp/155615660X) and finding many things that were not in the implementation running on my NT3.1/3.5

So, well, when the first version of your file system promises stuff in its accompaning "inside" documentation, that are not delivered, it is hard to believe that it is due to compatibility.

And the impact on every company's security? Well, this is 1994 we are talking about. Very different times...

Get yourself a copy of Code Complete or something similar. I own the first edition, which is super old, but still very applicable and super cheap if you buy it used (cheapest i saw: $0.21 + 3.99$ shipping). Read it and try to figure out that way how you could improve your code.

Don't use the Flash IDE. Use FlexBuilder or the open source and (partially) super awesome FlashDevelop instead, because a good programmer will always try to use the best tools available. The FlashIDE simply isn't made for complex programming work.

Try to always create classes with a single field of responsibility. Read about some patterns like ModelViewController and try to grasp what it tries to achieve; then try to achieve the same thing. Even it doesn't fit or seems confusing; if you get something done that looks different but behaves similar you're on a good path.

Use only strict static typing and try to set the compiler to treat warnings as errors.

have fun.

Yes, there is.

New Windows Interface (Microsoft Corporation)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1556156790/ref=rdr_ext_sb_pi_sims_1

One caveat: My copy of this book is at work, so I am relying on my memory. I think this is the one that contains a numbered list of terms in English. The following pages contain the terms that MS uses when they translate to other languages. These lists are not in later editions.

So the English list might have 85. Help If you look at the Spanish page: 85 Ayuda. Look at the German page: 85 Hilfe

Is this what you're looking for?

edit: I'm at work: This is the correct book. The International Word Lists is in Appendix E

As everyone has said, PowerShell, but also take advantage of your remote management tools. Grab the Remote Server Administration Tools for your version of Windows from MS and do everything you can remotely. Even better, if you're running Windows 8+ (I know, we all miss the start menu) you can use the new 2012 version of Server Manager (also in the RSAT for Windows 8) to manage them remotely including installing and configuring most roles and features using GUIs.

For PowerShell resources, most of that you can find via Google. I learned my basic knowledge from this book. I also follow this blog to learn some random tips and tricks that I wouldn't learn otherwise.

If you're interested in this, try and get a copy of the MS DOS Encyclopedia: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1556150490/ - it contains a big chunk of the whys and the hows. It's about 5 inches thick.

I've got a copy of this signed by Mr Gates himself when he attended the IBM PC User Group in 1988. Now I feel old.

I haven't seen anything tutorial wise but I did something similar with a HTC Titan with my folks. Just walk them through basic functions nice and slow and make them repeat it. It helped to initially setup the phone and make all the important buttons the largest ones.

edit:
http://www.amazon.com/Newbies-Guide-Windows-Phone/dp/1482077701
Found this. This might be useful, especially if they are used to books and not online guides.

The ONLY reason I'm making the money I am today is because of Brian Livingston's "Windows 3.1 Secrets". I read that book all 1000 pages cover to cover and then started fixing every computer I could get my hands on. Through a friend of friend I got hired at a tech support job and it's all history from there.