"Raymond Chen is the original raconteur of Windows." --Scott Hanselman, ComputerZen.com "Raymond has been at Microsoft for many years and has seen many nuances of Windows that others could only ever hope to get a glimpse of. With this book, Raymond shares his knowledge, experience, and anecdotal stories, allowing all of us to get a better understanding of the operating system that affects millions of people every day. This book has something for everyone, is a casual read, and I highly recommend it!" --Jeffrey Richter, Author/Consultant, Cofounder of Wintellect "Very interesting read. Raymond tells the inside story of why Windows is the way it is." --Eric Gunnerson, Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation "Absolutely essential reading for understanding the history of Windows, its intricacies and quirks, and why they came about." --Matt Pietrek, MSDN Magazine's Under the Hood Columnist "Raymond Chen has become something of a legend in the software industry, and in this book you'll discover why. From his high-level reminiscences on the design of the Windows Start button to his low-level discussions of GlobalAlloc that only your inner-geek could love, The Old New Thing is a captivating collection of anecdotes that will help you to truly appreciate the difficulty inherent in designing and writing quality software." --Stephen Toub, Technical Editor, MSDN Magazine Why does Windows work the way it does? Why is Shut Down on the Start menu? (And why is there a Start button, anyway?) How can I tap into the dialog loop? Why does the GetWindowText function behave so strangely? Why are registry files called "hives"? Many of Windows' quirks have perfectly logical explanations, rooted in history. Understand them, and you'll be more productive and a lot less frustrated. Raymond Chen--who's spent more than a decade on Microsoft's Windows development team--reveals the "hidden Windows" you need to know. Chen's engaging style, deep insight, and thoughtful humor have made him one of the world's premier technology bloggers. Here he brings together behind-the-scenes explanations, invaluable technical advice, and illuminating anecdotes that bring Windows to life--and help you make the most of it. A few of the things you'll find inside: What vending machines can teach you about effective user interfaces A deeper understanding of window and dialog management Why performance optimization can be so counterintuitive A peek at the underbelly of COM objects and the Visual C++ compiler Key details about backwards compatibility--what Windows does and why Windows program security holes most developers don't know about How to make your program a better Windows citizen

This is the perfect book for anyone who's ever even thought about a computer let alone used one. Inside, readers will get hilarious, yet often twisted, anecdotes of industry wizards as well as the inside scoop on product packaging, computer lingo, favorite foods, first cars, the mouse's background, the best nerd jokes and much, much more!

For the past 20 years, UNIX insiders have cherished and zealously guarded pirated photocopies of this manuscript, a "hacker trophy" of sorts. Now legal (and legible) copies are available. An international "who's who" of UNIX wizards, including Dennis Ritchie, have contributed essays extolling the merits and importance of this underground classic.

Hashtag Magic is an Urban Fantasy about Colby Stevens, an introverted and bullied boy who wants to find his missing father. He discovers he has magic that he can only control with the use of a mobile APP he creates, except when emotionally stressed until he learns to face his bully and emotional baggage. Colby Stevens was only six when his magic was hobbled, though he had no idea he always pretended he was a magical being. The imagination of a child can never be contained. When he turned sixteen however, all the memories he had from his early childhood began to make sense. He got his magic back and in a way he never imagined magic could be real. He couldn't control magic, he couldn't understand magic, but he could create a special mobile APP to help him perform magic. While Colby explores his new abilities with the strange little blue man who assigns himself teacher and guide, an old war begins anew. Magic came to this Earth before man recorded his history, and the bringers of that magic want nothing more than to regain access to it, by whatever means necessary. Together Colby and his friends are beginning the exploration of a lifetime. They are rediscovering a magic that has been waiting for eons to be released. But the magic is not the only thing that has been waiting. Colby begins to learn about his family line and the twisted history that has thrust him into the center of a battle born of hatred and ignorance, something he knows all too well. He will fight the power, fight the bullies, and most of all...fight himself.

Your past, your present, and your perceptions of the future are a powerful part of your life. What do you do with your past? How do you view your personal future? What impact does that view of the future have on you right this moment? Do you have any control over where your life goes from here, or are you simply a pawn in a great chess game?Avoiding the temptation to provide a simple self-help recipe or to ignore the dark and serious issues of life, Forward Story leads readers to a challenging reflection on meaning, purpose, and the future. This book equips you to take action and to be purposeful in the way you live. Rather than telling you how to live, Forward Story requires that you actually be the author of your own story. If you want to live a life in harmony with your values, purpose, and ambition, this book provides what you need in order to write the future you desire.Endorsements:"e;Forward Story is a compilation, with interesting storytelling, of everything I have learned about life, success, and failure in my eighty-three years. Casey has done a marvelous job of writing down in an orderly manner what I wished I could have heard when I was twenty years of age-and thereby could have avoided most of the pitfalls I experienced."e; Bill Martin, VP, Texas Instruments"e;Forward Story includes abundant anecdotal and historical narrative to illustrate and clarify the concepts of writing one's personal Forward Story. Casey relies on his ability to guide, persuade, and motivate others to a higher level of achievement, to successful accomplishment, and to the satisfaction of a job well-done. Read the book! Take the advice! Follow the steps in writing your own Forward Story. You will be glad you did!"e; Jimmy Creel, Ed.D., Assistant Professor, Lamar University"e;For every dramatic performance, every achievement, every success, there's a story behind the story. It's called the backstory. Mark Casey writes the more important chapter, the Forward Story. This is a guide to help you achieve that success, to realize your performance, and to live your dream. Pulling from his own goal-oriented successes, and inspired by the achieved dreams from science, literature, public service, and sports, Mark provides a practical handbook to help you write your future and live the life you have yet to imagine."e; Thomas Graham, President and CEO, Crosswind Communications, LLC"e;I enjoyed three consecutive careers as a preacher, lawyer, and corporate senior executive, so I have had my share of transitional moments. As I was preparing to retire several years ago, Mark shared the concept of this book with me. My wife and I wrote our Forward Story for the first two years of retirement, and what a positive difference that made! Mark's book is a refreshing reminder of what it takes to successfully maneuver through the ambiguities of life's constant flux. Whatever your age and whatever changes you are facing, take the time to read and ponder this book."e; James W. Poppell, former Executive VP (Retired), NextEra Energy, Inc.

The Battle of Chickamauga was the third bloodiest of the American Civil War and the only major Confederate victory in the conflict's western theater. It pitted Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee against William S. Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland and resulted in more than 34,500 casualties. In this first volume of an authoritative two-volume history of the Chickamauga Campaign, William Glenn Robertson provides a richly detailed narrative of military operations in southeastern and eastern Tennessee as two armies prepared to meet along the "River of Death." Robertson tracks the two opposing armies from July 1863 through Bragg's strategic decision to abandon Chattanooga on September 9. Drawing on all relevant primary and secondary sources, Robertson devotes special attention to the personalities and thinking of the opposing generals and their staffs. He also sheds new light on the role of railroads on operations in these landlocked battlegrounds, as well as the intelligence gathered and used by both sides. Delving deep into the strategic machinations, maneuvers, and smaller clashes that led to the bloody events of September 19@–20, 1863, Robertson reveals that the road to Chickamauga was as consequential as the unfolding of the battle itself.

Celebrate the 20th anniversary of the greatest technological achievement known to mankind: Windows 95. (With all due respect, the telephone and nuclear fission can suck it.) This is the untold, unbelievable, largely untrue story of the creation of Windows 95. Go behind the system and meet those who made it all possible: the beleaguered programmers who became addicted to snorting Pixy Stix, the marketers who employed mass hypnosis tactics to trick the press, the violent battle to squash a literal giant bug in the code, the focus group idiots who only cared about getting pizza for lunch, and "mighty god" Bill Gates, who engaged in a money suitcase stand-off with Mick Jagger over the rights to "Start Me Up." It's the story of how a tiny operating system patch became a multinational, mundane media phenomenon.