FACT SHEET  The Windows API Programming Workshop

By Descriptor Systems

Welcome to the Online Workshop!

Thank you for reading about the best computer-based learning environment available! This online course features plenty of graphics, audio, quizzes and hands-on lab exercises. But the real focus in this workshop is in solid technical information and time-proven instructional techniques. After completing this course, you will be a productive Windows programmer!

System Requirements

• The workshop requires a computer running Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 (or later) with 10MB free disk space.
• You will need a Windows C++ compiler and development environment to do the lab exercises. The lab documentation is written for Microsoft Visual C++, but you should be able to adapt the labs to other Windows C++ compilers.
• You need a Windows-compatible CD-ROM player.
• For the voice-over feature to work, you need a Windows-supported sound card.
• For best viewing, we recommend a display resolution of 1024x768 with 256 colors. That will let you position several of the online course windows next to each other. Higher display resolution is better!

Prerequisites

The workshop assumes that you are an experienced C or C++ programmer, but no Windows programming background is required. A familiarity with the Microsoft Developer's Studio is helpful.

How Long Will it Take?

It's very difficult to predict how long it will take you to complete the course, since it depends on your background and your diligence (and how many coffee breaks you take!). But as a guideline, most chapters should take about 30 minutes to an hour and a half if you study them carefully. And as a rule, the lab exercises take about two hours. With 19 chapters and 13 labs, that works out to about 45 hours of instruction. But of course, since the workshop is self-paced, you can take as much or as little time as you want.

Getting the Most Out of the Course

To maximize your learning, we recommend that you go through each chapter in the course at least twice. The first time, listen to the voice-over and write notes in this workbook. The second time, study the text and any sample programs in the chapter, then work on the chapter's lab exercise (not all chapters have exercises). Before you go onto the next chapter, be sure to take the quiz! We recommend that you don't leave the chapter until you can get at least 90% of the quiz questions correct.

One other note: it's been our experience in almost 20 years of teaching technical topics that many people learn more and faster, if they take a class with a partner. (Now they call this Extreme Programming.) So we encourage you to find someone else with whom you can take the class with and compare notes as you go (our legal people say to remind you that its against the law to copy the course materials). That will also help you as you go through the lab exercises. Also remember that each lab exercise has a solution.

Technical Support

If you have any problems with the course, or have technical questions, or if you just want to chat, send email to support@descriptor.com. (That's how to tell us about typos and bugs, too.) Or you can call toll-free (888) 849-5350 or (319) 362-3906. Be sure to check the FAQ/Errata first, though!

Copyright © Descriptor Systems, 2000, 2001. All rights reserved.

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