LS> After the great help you've been it sounds like the only thing I could
 LS> possibly pester you one last time for would be a request for book
 LS> titles.  Can you suggest books for: 1) General programming in C++ (so
 LS> I can get a feel for the syntax and structure of the language itself).
 LS> 2) Complete OS/2 API docs.  3) OS/2 Warp Presentation Manager and GUI
 LS> C++ programming.

I'll give you the entire booklist of my bookshelf.  If any sound useful,
just ask - I'll give you the ISBN.

OS/2 Warp Unleashed (SAMS publishing)
        - great for ways to enhance your Warp experience.  :-)

Teach Yourself REXX in 21 Days (SAMS publishing)
        - it took me 7 days to do this as I had the programming experience
down.  However, you'll find that much that you want to do can be done
easier in REXX than C/C++ (or other languages).  My advice here: Know thy
tools.  If your project is best done in VX-REXX, use it.  If it is best
done in C++, use it.  REXX is *very* good at string manipulation and
disk-based applications, IMO.  And getting used to using REXX will help you
better REXX-enable your OS/2 apps.

Code Complete (Microsoft Press)
        - _the_ bible of coding (IMO).  Many practical 'rules' for
programming in any language, with most of its advice applicable to all
languages, but it seems to focus on C and Pascal.

Writing Solid Code (Microsoft Press)
        - More learning from Microsoft's mistakes.  :-)

OS/2 Warp Presentation Manager API (John Wiley & Sons, Inc)
OS/2 Warp Workplace Shell API (John Wiley & Sons, Inc)
        - _references_ to the above API.  Very complete, but not something
to learn from.  Once you know the API, these references have them laid out
to look up what you want to do.  If you know what you want to do, but can't
recall which API it is, these books will definately help.

VX-REXX: Programmer's Guide and Reference (Watcom)
        - comes with VX-REXX from Watcom.

C++ IOStreams Handbook (Addison Wesley)
        - most definitive work on the I/O streams in C++.  IIRC, the
standard is still moving, so it isn't perfect, but it is still the best
book out on the subject.  Requires some knowledge of C++ before reading it,
IMO.

The entire Borland 1.5 for OS/2 set of manuals
        - great as a reference to an outdated compiler... :-)

Object-Oriented Programming with Turbo C++ (John Wiley & Sons, Inc)
        - this is where I learned C++ from.  I had a knowledge of C at the
time, but I can't recall if that was really needed.

Actually, looking at this list, I'm kinda surprised I learned C++... :-) 
For learning C++, I would recommend a lot of effort, and a few well-placed
questions in C_PLUSPLUS.  For learning the OS/2 API, the same effort, but
questions here.  BTW, the API is C-based, not C++.  This just means that
you don't need to know the Object-Oriented parts of C++ to be able to use
the API, and so don't fret if someone says, "I don't know C++, but the
OS/2 API call I use in C is..."  Just use that anyway.  :-)

As for GUI C++ programming: AFAIK, there are a couple of freeware object
class libraries available (I believe at least one has come through the
PDNOS2 filebone echo), but from commercial sources (i.e., integrated and
with online help), you have few choices.  The only ones I know offhand
(which means it is likely an incomplete list ) are Borland's OWL
port to OS/2 (latest was in Borland 2.0, AFAIK, and rumours say that
Borland has dropped OS/2 support, so I wouldn't recommend any 'investment'
in Borland products) and IBM's C++ classes (can't recall their names
offhand) available in their Visual Age C++ (VAC++) compiler (latest version
is 3.0, as far as I've heard).  Watcom currently doesn't have any such
beast.
        Since there is no standard on object classes, there may not be any
books on them for OS/2.  Or at least, not many.  :-)  Others may better be
able to answer this, though.

Good luck!



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