Rolling your own application framework may seem
crazy, but with the advent of the web and the need for self-contained applets with a tiny
footprint, it makes more sense. MFC has got too huge and unwieldy; moreover, you can't easily change it when it doesn't do what you
want. On the other hand, writing a framework from scratch is a lot of work.
Windows++ is a lightweight C++ application framework that
lets you program Windows in
C++. You can use it as the starting point for
your own framework. It contains all the usual goodies to hide WinMain and wrap the Windows
API, and you can write the hello, world program in just
20 lines of code!
Windows++ supports both Borland and Microsoft compilers (as well as
Zortech :->) and runs on Win 3.1, Windows 95/98/NT/XP. The full
DLL is only 84K, and Windows++ doesn't use message maps! Several
companies have used Windows++ to build commercial apps—including the energizer bunny
screen saver! I used it to build a medical application for
orthopedists.
Windows++ comes with the entire class library, make files,
and several sample programs, including a Mandelbrot generator
(hint: drag a rectangle) and a program that learns to play tic-tac-toe, eventually drawing any opponent.
Download Windows++ for Win32 now!
Download original 16-bit version
If you want to learn how
Windows++ (and any application framework like MFC) works, get my book Windows++:
Writing Reusable Windows Code in C++ from your
favorite computer bookstore or Amazon.com.
Here's what famed Undocumented Windows
author Andrew Schulman wrote about Windows++:
"The nitty-gritty details of how Windows applications frameworks
are implemented, and of how Windows programs can hide the Windows API, get rid of WinMain,
get rid of switch statements, and generally make Windows code more readable, modular and
reusable. This is a brilliant book!"
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