From: Weiqi Gao <weiqigao AT a DOT crl DOT com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: Win32:beginner needs net-docs...
Date: Mon, 06 Oct 1997 21:03:36 -0500
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Thunder Child wrote:
> 
> >>> Bite the bullet and shell out the dough for a copy of MSDN!  There ain't
> >>> no other way, man.
> 
> I've had a look at MSDN...  I could see it being useful once I have a
> foundation of knowledge to build on, but obviously it hasn't occured to
> them that someone could have NO Windows programming experience.
> 
> I HAVE found some useful (but dated) documentation out there for the beginner
> though... It is called the Windows Developers Journal.  There are eight
> issues...  I believe the second issue has a fully documented C "hello world"
> program, and there is a "beginners corner" in every issue.  For those who
> are interested I found it on a ftp.coast.net mirror site in the msdos/wdj
> directory (I think).  (I only found this after a friend had a fuzzy
> recollection about ftping something from garbo... (I only found a single issue
> there though).

There are also other Tutorials available on the Web.  One good one is at
http://www.iftech.com/oltc/.

But Windows program is such a vast subject, I don't feel a simple Web
tutorial could teach you what you need to know.  Also since the Windows
API keeps evolving, most of the materials out there go out of date
within a couple of years.  If not the essense, certainly the style. 
I've been programming Windows since the Windows/386 days, I still feel
that I can never catch up with the big guys who's whipping out volume
after volume of Windows programming information.

Here's an example of a piece of information that I found in the MSDN, I
challenge everyone to find a non-Microsoft source that referenced this
call:

=======================================================================
Entry:
    AH = 46h
    AL = 0h, reserved
    DL = Drive number
Exit:
    carry clear
        AH = 0
    carry set
        AH = error code

  
This function logically ejects a media from the specified drive. 
This function must be supported for all removable drives numbered 80h
and above. If a fixed disk supports the Removeable Drive Control API
subset, then this function is always returned with carry set and AH =
B2h, Volume not removable. An attempt to eject media locked in a drive
must return with carry set and AH = B1h, Volume locked in drive. 
This function represents a request to remove the volume in the specified
drive. Whether the drive is actually ejected is implementation
dependent, but system software that issues or observes this call should
flush any buffers it is holding for that volume. 
If this call is issued for a drive without media, the request is
returned with carry set and AH = 31h, No media in drive. 
If this call is issued to an unlocked, removeable media drive with media
present, the INT 13h code must invoke INT 15h (AH)=52h to determine if
it may proceed with the ejection request. If the ejection request is
rejected, then the error code returned in (AH) is the same as the INT
15h error code. If the ejection request is accepted and issued and
subsequently fails, the request is returned with carry set and AH = B5h. 
=======================================================================

--
Weiqi Gao
weiqigao AT a DOT crl DOT com