MSDN has a solid tutorial that can get you started. It will teach the basics of window creation and the messaging system used in Win32. After that, you just read the documentation on what you need and go from there.
Speaking of Beginning Visual C++... If that book is anything like the 2010 book then it's more a C++ book than a Windows programming book. It only gleams over Windows programming and win32 gets the least coverage. If you already know C++ then Programming Windows 5th edition is probably the book you want.
Obviously MSDN is the best reference for documentation but you can find tutorials and sample code there too. Try searching "windows application" for starters.
@AHCFan20:
No half the book is windows programming. Also a good chunk at the end for Windows Metro app programming. IMO, I don't think one single book is enough though, I have 5 books for C# and 4 for C++ and I still notice new books I could benefit from. But you got to start somewhere.
@AHCFan20:
No half the book is windows programming. Also a good chunk at the end for Windows Metro app programming. IMO, I don't think one single book is enough though, I have 5 books for C# and 4 for C++ and I still notice new books I could benefit from. But you got to start somewhere.
- Actually, most of the book focusses on MFC and not WinAPI/Win32 as far as i know. Thus, i wouldn't recommend it if you're trying to learn Win32.