The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5)

C++.Net Book Recomendations

I'm having a blast trying to wrap some old C code as a web service. I've got a base C++ wrapper around it that takes care of all the business logic for the app. Around that, I was hoping to create a managed C++.Net wrapper library that I could use in a web service.

Initially when compiling my library, I got all sorts of linking errors, which largely boiled down to problems with mixing managed/unmanaged code in a library. Or rather, I guess it really boils down to, "I don't know what in the hell I'm doing".

On that note, can anyone recommend a good C++.Net book that discusses the topics of buliding class libraries, calling unmanaged code directly (it's not a dll so I don't want anything regarding P/Invoke), and marshaling between old STL and new .Net libraries. I've found a good number of books on these topics, but not when talking about integrating legacy code into new managed apps.

I figure that a ton of people must do this, and I see all sorts of articles indicating that tons of people do this, but I can't find anyone that really has much to say on the topic.

Any help in selecting a book, or in redesigning my solution would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Elephant
Friday, December 5, 2003

Richard Grimes

1. Programming with Managed Extensions for Microsoft Visual C++ .NET by Richard Grimes
2. Developing Applications with Visual Studio .NET by Richard Grimes
3. Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming by Jeffrey Richter

Michael Popov
Friday, December 5, 2003

Challa and Laksberg, "Essential Guide to Managed Extensions for C++".

These two were on the MC++ development team at Microsoft. You need to pick up a general .NET reference as well, though, such as Richter's.

Chris Nahr
Saturday, December 6, 2003