Book Review: CodeWarrior's Reach Gets Bigger

Tom Thompson

Mastering CodeWarrior for Windows 95/NT by Jim Trudeau, Sybex, ISBN 0-7821-2057-1, $39.99

Long ago, in 1994, only Mac programmers knew about CodeWarrior. It is Metrowerks' integrated development environment (IDE), which consists of a tightly coupled editor, project manager, compiler, linker, and source code debugger. It cranked out PowerPC code for the Power Mac like mad. This book exemplifies CodeWarrior's platform diversity today. The CodeWarri or IDE cranks out code for a wide variety of systems, including the Mac OS (680x0 and PowerPC), Windows 95/NT (x86), Java, the BeOS, the PalmPilot, and a slew of embedded systems.

Jim Trudeau does a good job of explaining the CodeWarrior arch itecture and basic programming concepts. Note and tips text boxes provide valuable information -- the description of an object-oriented programming (OOP) class is elegant -- and they offer rest stops in the middle of a complex subject.

The CD-ROM that is included with Mastering CodeWarrior for Windows 95/NT contains a demonstration copy of the Windows version of the CodeWarrior IDE. Thus, you can experiment with some of the book's sample programs. Furthermore, one sample program lets you generate Java code, while another lets you compile and generate a Mac application. (That's right, with the proper settings, you can write and compile Mac programs on a Windows machine.)

Of course, the emphasis is on Windows development, and here the book covers essential details in using the development tools, such as how to operate the source code debugger. It also provides code examples for making a DLL and a Windows application. If you're interested in trying a set of Windows development tools that can potentially extend your reach to other platforms, check it out.