ANN: Experienced Man’s Guide To wxBook [PDF]

Ryan Wilcox · Post by **Ryan Wilcox** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:29 am

Today I’m proud to announce a product launch:

Experienced Man’s Guide To Cross-Platform Programming with wxWidgets (Announcement Blog Entry)

I've been using the wxWidgets book pretty much day in and day out for the last 3 years. It's a good book, but over the course of working in wxWidgets I've discovered quite a bit of information that needs to be clarified, platform specific notes, code examples that could be rewritten for clarity, better ways to do things etc. So I'd write that note in my copy of the wxWidgets book for next time.

I've gathered up all these notes and put them in a PDF, which is available for sale on my website: Experienced Man’s Guide To Cross-Platform Programming with wxWidgets Product Page.

I'm selling it like software: this is the 1.0 release, but there will be updates and such down the line as feedback comes in from people, additional sections maybe in future versions etc.

So check out the product page, blog entry, and consider buying a copy to learn more about wxWidgets, support the product, encourage me to make new revisions etc. Or, if you just have a comment, feel free to comment here, PM me, or email me.

Thank you!

Post by **NinjaNL** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 4:31 am

Any chance of a couple of example pages so we can make a guess at what we're getting?

Ryan Wilcox · Post by **Ryan Wilcox** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 5:34 am

Brilliant!

I've just added a sample (the first 15 pages of the book) to the product page.

Thanks for the idea - I hope you like!

JenT · Post by **JenT** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 5:09 am

Ryan Wilcox wrote:Brilliant!

I've just added a sample (the first 15 pages of the book) to the product page.

Thanks for the idea - I hope you like!

Where is Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets 2th?

Post by **NinjaNL** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:17 am

JenT wrote:
Ryan Wilcox wrote:Brilliant!

I've just added a sample (the first 15 pages of the book) to the product page.

Thanks for the idea - I hope you like!
Where is Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets 2th?

http://www.informit.com/content/images/ ... 6_book.pdf

GeraldG · Post by **GeraldG** » Sun Feb 22, 2009 10:28 am

NinjaNL wrote:
JenT wrote:
Ryan Wilcox wrote:Brilliant!

I've just added a sample (the first 15 pages of the book) to the product page.

Thanks for the idea - I hope you like!
Where is Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets 2th?

http://www.informit.com/content/images/ ... 6_book.pdf

I think he means a updated version of wxWidgets-book.

Ryan Wilcox · Post by **Ryan Wilcox** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 3:09 pm

GeraldG wrote: I think he means a updated version of wxWidgets-book.

I'd love to add another (series of sections) to the Experienced Man's Guide to wxBook, covering Stuff That The wxBook Didn't Cover Or Didn't Cover Enough. (Instead of waiting for the 2nd Edition...)

I am _very_ interested in people's feedback, either here, via PM or via the contact form on my website...

jacmoe · Post by **jacmoe** » Mon Feb 23, 2009 11:29 pm

The wxWidgets Docs, tutorials and Wiki need a lot of help.
Share your knowledge freely.
It looks like you're cashing in on the fact that the wxWidgets documentation is a bit sparse.

I am not going to even consider buying that book.

Well, at least not until I am sufficiently desperate!

Ryan Wilcox · Post by **Ryan Wilcox** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 9:53 pm

jacmoe wrote:The wxWidgets Docs, tutorials and Wiki need a lot of help.
Share your knowledge freely.
It looks like you're cashing in on the fact that the wxWidgets documentation is a bit sparse.

I would agree with you if I was just some guy coming out of the blue (and do, actually... I'm kind of suspicious when I see a book or article by someone who hasn't made a little bit of a splash in the community).

But I've been here for a pretty long time (since 2004 I think), talking on the wx-users list, on this forum (which I spend more time on now), answering questions, submitting patches, and sometimes adding a wiki page or two (or polishing it up).

The wiki does have some really nice additions since the last time I looked, and the new documentation system for 2.9 will help people add new docs to wx, so that's good. And the book, for the most part, I find helps fill in the "how to I put these pieces together" gap, and the reference docs help with the "what pieces do I have to choose from" question. Except, of course, when the book is incomplete, which is what my ebook is trying to help with

Post by **tierra** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 10:42 pm

Ryan Wilcox wrote:But I've been here for a pretty long time (since 2004 I think), talking on the wx-users list, on this forum (which I spend more time on now), answering questions, submitting patches, and sometimes adding a wiki page or two (or polishing it up).

I can vouch for Ryan here, coming from one of the official developers that's been using wxWidgets since 2003. And maybe his PDF is indeed helpful for inexperienced developers looking to have their hand held through everything, at least, until a new edition of the wxBook comes out, which as far as I can tell, it's not planned anytime soon, maybe in two years at the earliest.

If you don't need the hand-holding, don't get it. I learned wxWidgets before there was a book out on it, and it was certainly a lot harder back then than it is now.

jacmoe · Post by **jacmoe** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:21 pm

Thanks Ryan and Tierra for being cool and answering my rather rude comment.

I appreciate that a lot.

I also appreciate that Ryan spent time extracting, arranging and publishing 3 years worth of wxWidgets experience, and therefore it's perfectly understandable that he ask a fee for using it.
My bad. I should've thought before posting.
I hope I get the chance to contribute to wxWidgets myself.

Post by **protocol** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:46 am

I checked out the sample. I think it may be best to market it as an extension to the original book, not as a standalone book. It may also be helpful to disclose the page count.