The (highly unofficial) FIDONET OS2PROG C++ programmers' booklist
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

                               part 1 of 7
                               DDDDDDDDDDD

                A fair number of OS/2 books are available
                    from the Indelible Blue catalogue.


    The OS/2 2.0 Technical Library
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

    Part #     Form #       Title
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    10G3356                 IBM OS/2 2.0 Technical Library
    10G6260   S10G-6260     IBM OS/2 2.0 Application Design Guide
    10G6261   S10G-6261     IBM OS/2 2.0 Programming Guide Vol I
    10G6494   S10G-6494     IBM OS/2 2.0 Programming Guide Vol II
    10G6495   S10G-6495     IBM OS/2 2.0 Programming Guide Vol III
    10G6262   S10G-6262     IBM OS/2 2.0 IPF Guide and Reference
    10G6309   S10G-6309     IBM OS/2 2.0 SOM Guide and Reference
    10G6263   S10G-6263     IBM OS/2 2.0 Control Program Prog Ref
    10G6264   S10G-6264     IBM OS/2 2.0 PM Prog Ref Vol I
    10G6265   S10G-6265     IBM OS/2 2.0 PM Prog Ref Vol II
    10G6272   S10G-6272     IBM OS/2 2.0 PM Prog Ref Vol III
    10G6266   S10G-6266     IBM OS/2 2.0 Physical Device Driver Ref
    10G6310   S10G-6310     IBM OS/2 2.0 Virtual Device Driver Ref
    10G6267   S10G-6267     IBM OS/2 2.0 Presentation Driver Ref
    10G6268   S10G-6268     IBM OS/2 2.0 Prog Lang 2/REXX Reference
    10G6269   S10G-6269     IBM OS/2 2.0 Prog Lang 2/REXX User's Guide
    10G6270   SC34-4289     IBM SAA CUA Interface Design Reference
    10G6271   SC34-4290     IBM SAA CUA Guide to User Interface Design

    ISBN            Title
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    1-56529-154-9   OS/2 2.0 Control Program Programming Guide
    1-56529-155-7   OS/2 2.0 Presentation Manager Programming Guide
    1-56529-156-5   OS/2 2.0 Presentation Manager Graphics Program Guide
    1-56529-157-3   OS/2 2.0 Application Design Guide

    This information is slightly out of date.  Call +1 1 800 IBM PCTB, PC
    Technical Books, for up to date information.  The library can either
    be purchased as a whole, or individual books can be ordered.

    They are also available in electronic form, in BookManager/2 format.
    They used to be available on the OS/2 Online Book Collection CD-ROM,
    IBM part number 53G2166, which included all of IBM's OS/2 publications
    (from the LAN Server Administrator's Guide to the "redbooks").  As far
    as I am aware, you now have to purchase the Developer Connection
    CD-ROM to obtain these books on CD-ROM.

    This is the "official" programmers' technical reference for OS/2 2.x.
    Just about anything that you would ever want to know about OS/2 is
    covered here, from how to REXX-enable your application to the way that
    the Virtual DPMI device driver works.

    These books are *references*, not tutorials.


    The "Redbooks"
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    IBM Publication No. GBOF-2254

    Publication  Title
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    GG24-3730-00 OS/2 Version 2.0, Volume 1: Control Program
    GG24-3731-00 OS/2 Version 2.0, Volume 2: DOS and Windows Environment
    GG24-3732-00 OS/2 Version 2.0, Volume 3: Presentation Manager
                                             and Workplace Shell
    GG24-3774-00 OS/2 Version 2.0, Volume 4: Application Development
    GG24-3775-00 OS/2 Version 2.0, Volume 5: Print Subsystem

    These are listed here to prevent confusion.  The "redbooks" are not
    programming technical references, but more like user guides for power
    users.


    Magazines
    DDDDDDDDD
    OS/2 Monthly
    72550.2440{at}compuserve.com
    Telephone +1 800 365 2642

    Inside OS/2
    Telephone +1 502 491 1900

    OS/2 Professional
    Telephone +1 301-770-7302

    OS/2 Magazine (includes OS/2 Developer Magazine)
    Miller-Freeman; 600 Harrison St., San Francisco, CA 94104, U.S.A.
    In the U.K., try telephoning Parkway Gordon, +44 1491 875386

    OS/2 Newsletter
    Telephone +1 714 495 3757


    OS/2 Presentation Manager Programming
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    Charles Petzold
    Ziff-Davis Press
    1994
    ISBN 1-56276-123-4

    Charles Petzold's first book on Presentation Manager (for OS/2 1.x)
    was as definitive in the field as was his equivalent book for Windows.

    Sadly, however, OS/2 has progressed to 2.x and 3.x and Mr Petzold has
    not.  The second edition of this book was little more than a rehashing
    of the first, with information on AVIO removed, and very little added
    to take its place.  There is no discussion of the features that were
    introduced into OS/2 2.0, such as Workplace Shell, Drag and Drop, or
    any of the CUA'91 controls, such as notebooks.

    Mr Petzold's only redeeming feature is that he is a "brand name",
    which Windows programmers will recognise.  There are other, far
    better, books that introduce Presentation Manager programming, and
    that provide far more adequate coverage of the subject.


    OS/2 2.0 Presentation Manager GPI: A Programming Guide to Text,
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    Graphics, And Printing
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    Graham C.E. Winn, IBM Corporation
    Van Nostrand Reinhold
    1991
    318 pages
    ISBN 0-442-00468-0 (1st edition ?)
    IBM order number G362-0005 (1st edition ?)
    ISBN 0-442-00739-6 (2nd edition ?)

    The "official" guide to GPI programming.  Slightly turgid, and better
    books exist.
                                -- Review by Mike Bilow 1:323/107.0


    Programming the OS/2 WARP Version 3 GPI
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    Stephen A. Knight and Jeffrey M. Ryan
    Wiley
    1995
    405 pages
    ISBN 0-471-10718-2

    And this is one of the better books.  This book contains a thorough
    introduction to the way that graphics work in Presentation Manager,
    covering everything from the view pipeline (work space -> model space
    -> page space -> device space) to attribute bundles, and including a
    detailed discussion of a real world graphical application (source
    provided).


    Learning to Program OS/2 Presentation Manager by Example
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    Stephen A. Knight, IBM Rochester
    Van Nostrand Reinhold
    1992
    200 pages
    IBM order number G362-0011 (this may be wrong).
    ISBN 0-442-01292-6

    Going by the dates, I suspect that this is the predecessor to the GPI
    book by Knight, and that it only covers OS/2 1.x.


    Real World Programming for OS/2 2.1/2.11
    DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
    Blain, Delimon and English
    Sams
    ISBN 0-673-30300-0 (OS/2 2.1)
    ISBN 0-672-30563-1 (OS/2 2.11)

    This is most people's favourite recommendation for programming OS/2.
    It covers most of the common areas of OS/2 programming.  Presentation
    Manager programming is clearly and concisely explained, and takes up a
    large proportion of the book.  However, the authors find the space to
    cover other topics, such as writing DLLs, communicating via the serial
    port, multithreading, using profile (*.INI) files, printing, and
    thunking.

    The book is evenly paced, well laid out, and care has been taken over
    the details.  The source for all of the programming examples is
    supplied on an accompanying disc.  A worthwhile addition to the
    library of any OS/2 programmer.


   / JdeBP .          / (c) Copyright 1993-1996 All Rights Reserved. .
   / FIDONET 2:440/4.0                      JdeBP{at}donor2.demon.co.uk .

... Another excellent OS/2 day goes by.
--- Blue Wave/OS2 v2.20 [NR]