Windows System Programming, Third Edition gives a solid grounding on using the core Windows APIs, includingWin64; is updated for Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Framework, and has extensive examples illustrate all topics and show performance impact and tradeoffs

A practical guide to the central features and functions of the Windows API, Windows System Programming, Third Edition, will get you up and running with Windows XP and 2003, as well as other Windows systems. Unlike most Windows programming resources, this book focuses exclusively on the core system services—file system, memory, processes and threads, synchronization, communication, and security—rather than on the more commonly featured graphical user interface functions. Especially geared for those already familiar with UNIX or other high-end operating systems, Windows System Programming, Third Edition, helps you to build on your knowledge base to learn the most important features quickly and easily.

This new edition has been updated and enhanced with coverage of new API functions, network programming, Windows Services, process and thread management, synchronization, and application performance on single and multiprocessor systems. It also describes techniques for porting applications to Win64, the new Windows 64-bit API.

Beginning with an examination of the features required in a single-process application, the text gradually progresses to increasingly sophisticated functions relating to a multithreaded environment. Each chapter contains realistic examples to illustrate the topics. You will find extensive coverage of such critical Windows topics as:

* File and directory management
* Character I/O and Unicode
* The registry
* Structured exception handling
* Security services
* Memory management and DLLs
* Threads, process management, and scheduling
* Thread synchronization, including the condition variable model for event and mutex usage
* Interprocess communication, featuring pipes and mailslots
* Network programming with sockets
* Developing Windows Services
* Timers,Asynchronous I/O, and I/O completion ports
* Guidelines and trade-offs to improve application performance and reliability
* Win64, covering architecture, data types, and legacy code migration

Short, practical examples illustrate each topic and are included on the companion Web site (www.awprofessional/com/titles/0321256190). The appendixes provide performance measurements and compare Windows, UNIX, and the C library.