'Back in the day' there was DOS and this new-fangled thing called Windows. Windows didn't multi-task, but it had a cool UI, so I was attracted. 3.1 finally came out and amazingly enough, Borland was delivering a compiler that would allow me to compile 'Win-Apps', as opposed to 'DOS-Apps'. If I bought the compiler by a certain date, I'd get a copy of "Programming Windows" by Charles Petzold.
I did, and tried to enlist friends and coworkers to join my quest, to no avail. I read that book cover to cover, typed in every line of code, highlighted, and sticky-noted it to death. I still have it, but over the years it's become less useful to me although I did use it for the beginning of my graphics work while developing the skinning code for a previous employer.
Over the years I've acquired the Version 3, 4, and 5 copies of "Programming Windows" and "Programming Windows with C#", but that original copy of "Programming Windows" was like a sentinel for what has happened since in the world of desktops and software development (for me).
Yesterday I received a late Christmas gift delivered from Amazon and one of the items was Charles Petzold's "Applications=Code+Markup" A Guide to the Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation. Once again I'm trying to enlist folks in my quest. (If you're interested, send me an email).
A good friend started calling Charles Petzold 'Chuck'. I've never exchanged email with Mr. Petzold, so have no idea if that would be offensive to him, but it became an endearing term. 'Chuck' and I labored through learning Windows development (remember this was pre-www, forums, newsroups, blogs, and email) and with the foundation of what I learned from 'Chuck', my career path was changed.
I'm very much looking forward to refreshing my old friendship with 'Chuck' and learning something totally new from him again.
Thanks, Charles!