Title/Description

Changes from previous edition

Available Jan 99

Dan Appleman's Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to the Win32 API - SAMS

Despite the new cover, title, ISBN and imprint name, this is a reprint of the VB5 book. VB6 did not make significant changes to the way API functions are called. Click here for an explanation of why the changes were made. Do not buy this edition if you have the previous edition (of course, you can always buy this one and give your previous copy as a gift).

Dan Appleman's Visual Basic 5.0 Programmer's Guide to the Win32 API - ZD Press.

This book included moderate changes to the previous edition. It includes two new chapters (only on the CD) including one on networking APIs and use of type libraries to access API functions. It includes separate source trees for VB4 and VB5. An upgrade CD (containing the full book text) is available from Desaware for those who do not feel the changes justify the purchase of a new book.

PC Magazine Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to the Win32 API - ZD Press.

The first 32 bit edition of the Win32 API book. This book only covers VB4.

PC Magazine Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to the Windows API

The original 16 bit book for programming the Windows API from VB3 and 16 bit VB4. Now available in a CD-ROM only edition directly from Desaware.

FYI: Why does the new edition of the book have a new title, ISBN number, and publisher, yet substantially the same contents as the previous edition?

No, it's not an underhanded scheme to trick programmers into buying the new edition - if it was you wouldn't be reading this here. This is the story:

The original Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to the Win32 API was published by Ziff-Davis Press, a small publisher (though owned by the giant Ziff-Davis). When the second edition came out, I updated it for VB5 and the publisher retitled it to include VB5 in the title. This turned out to be a mistake, as the book ended up being almost fully compatible with VB6 when it arrived. But what do bookstores doe when they see VB5 on the title? They ship all the leftover books back to the publisher! Since the book is compatible with VB4 through VB6, it made sense in the current edition to pull the version number from the title.

Meanwhile....

About two years ago the Ziff family sold Ziff-Davis Press, and after several misadventures it ended up owned by Macmillan Computer Publishing (which also owns Que, SAMS, and who knows what other companies, and is in turned owned by Viacom). After about a year they shut down the remnents of ZD-Press, and have been gradually switching over their titles to the other imprints. Thus the latest printing of the book appears with a new title under the SAMS imprint.

In other words, the changes are an unavoidable outgrowth of merger-mania.