Quick note. Still on the bookshelf-clearing frenzy, I've put a set of three good programming books out on eBay here. If you're just starting out with C++, this is honestly a good way to start out cheaply. I also put out an old copy of How to Copyright Software out here. It's a bit long in the tooth, but if you're taking advice from newsgroups as to how to protect yourself legally, you need it.

If you don't want this copy, look for a copy of Legal Care for Your Software or The Software Developer's Legal Companion out there. Unfortunately, Amazon shows all three of these books to be out of print.

Does anyone know of a comparable book that's on the shelves today? I've seen too many programmers taking advice from inappropriate sources as to how to copyright their stuff, and I need to find a book to recommend that's actually in print.



I am now officially a fan of Windows 2K. Looks like Microsoft really got it right with this one. They didn't go wild making improvements --they just took the best of all their stuff and got it working together.



As a gift to my humble readers for putting up with my ridiculous eBay spam, I have decided to give you all a classic freeware game. And when I say "classic", I ain't just whistlin' dixie here!

I found that somebody on a classic computers website had done a line-by-line conversion of "Hunt the Wumpus" from BASIC to C. Since it compiled just fine under Win32, here it is. I was tempted to make improvements, but there's really not much to do. It's a sort of a strategy game, but pruned down to its basest elements. Your best bet is to make a map of the caves as you go, although it's probably just as easy to win by blind luck. It was originally done in the late 60's, so treat it with respect. It's a regular Methuselah as far as games go.