Acknowledgments

I first met David Kruglinski at a software development conference. I had just quit my job and started a new company, and I approached David at an author signing for an earlier edition of this book. Our new company was going to focus on Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC)/Microsoft Visual C++ class libraries. I hoped that David would listen to our ideas and maybe provide some feedback on our products and their usefulness to the Visual C++ development community—a community that he had both helped to build and understood like the back of his own hand.

Much to my surprise, David was very excited about the product ideas and asked if I could send him evaluation copies of our products. I did, and we started a long e-mail conversation about our products and ideas for improvements. David gave his time, expertise, and great opinions freely, without ever asking for any compensation—he genuinely wanted to help us make products for the Visual C++ developer that would make MFC/Visual C++ better.

I first heard about David's fatal paragliding accident via a posting on a newsgroup and initially thought it was some kind of cruel hoax. I called David's agent, who checked into the story, and much to my shock it was true. With David's passing, the Visual C++ community has lost one of its brightest and most giving stars. Talk to any Visual C++ developers about how they first learned Visual C++ and invariably they will say, "the Kruglinski book!" The Visual C++ community owes David greatly for what he gave us and taught us about Visual C++ over the years. It goes without saying that he should receive special acknowledgment for this book, and our thoughts go out to his family and friends for their loss.

It is a great honor to carry on the Kruglinski tradition with this fifth edition of Inside Visual C++ (now called Programming Microsoft Visual C++, Fifth Edition). We have done our best to stay true to David's vision of this book, following his format and style as closely as possible.

Thanks to my wife Kris and to my son, Sean, for putting up with all of the late nights and weekends of writing. Many thanks also go to my coauthor, George Shepherd, who always helps me get motivated for a late night of book writing with his upbeat, wacky, and great personality. Thanks to Claire Horne, our agent, for helping us get on board with the project.

Visual C++, and therefore this book, wouldn't exist if not for the many members of the Visual C++ team. Special thanks to Mike Blaszczak, Walter Sullivan, Dean McCrory, Rick Laplante, Marie Huwe, Christian Gross, and Jim Springfield for all of the help they have provided over the years.

Finally, but not least, thanks to the folks at Microsoft Press who worked on this project—especially Kathleen Atkins, Jim Fuchs, Becka McKay, John Pierce, Jean Ross, Eric Stroo, and the entire production team who worked extremely hard to get this large book out and into your hands with the highest quality possible.

—Scot Wingo

Much work goes into writing books—even revisions of existing work. I'd like to acknowledge the following people for helping me get this work out the door: First I'd like to thank my wife Sandy for sticking with me while I worked to get the pages and chapters out. Sandy has been an invaluable source of encouragement throughout my software endeavors. Thanks to my son, Teddy, for being patient with me as I bowed out on various activities every once in a while. I wish to thank my mother Betsy for engendering in me a desire to write and my twin brother Patrick for being a great Java foil for me—and for arguing cogently with me about various hardware and software platform issues.

Thanks to Claire Horne of the Moore Literary Agency for helping to get this project rolling with Microsoft Press.

To Scot Wingo, thanks for taking on another writing project with me. And thanks to the folks at Stingray—you all are a great bunch to work with. Thanks to all the folks at DevelopMentor for providing a great training and learning environment. And thanks to Don Box for continuing to explain COM in a way that makes sense.

Getting a book out involves more than just authors. I wish to thank everyone at Microsoft Press who helped kick Programming Microsoft Visual C++, Fifth Edition out the door, especially Eric Stroo for his kindness and patience, Kathleen Atkins and Becka McKay for sifting through our text and making it ever more readable, Jean Ross for balancing out the technical review to catch even the most minute error, and John Pierce for keeping everything on track.

Finally, thanks to David Kruglinski for starting this project. While I never had the opportunity to meet David, his writing had a measuable impact on me when first learning MFC. I hope Scot and I did justice to the work you began.

—George Shepherd