Using ReactOS to learn Windows System programming -is it viable?

All development related issues welcome

Moderator: Moderator Team

Post Reply
rliegh
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2018 11:19 am

Using ReactOS to learn Windows System programming -is it viable?

Post by rliegh »

The recent source code leak has brought to mind an old question I've had for some time.

Namely, would it be possible or practical to use ReactOS as a way of studying windows internals -or has windows diverged too much since 2003 to get much of an idea of how things work today?

How would one go about doing that? Are there any books available online that address how to program Windows/how Windows works on a low level that would also apply to ReactOS too?
User avatar
gonzoMD
Posts: 1077
Joined: Fri Oct 20, 2006 7:49 am
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: Using ReactOS to learn Windows System programming -is it viable?

Post by gonzoMD »

Hello and welcome.

Imo it's one of the most valuable use cases of reactos to study how windows works.
Many news sites state that the leak is so critical because many windows components still rely on this old code, so I suspect that the differences are not as much as it seems. Surely many stuff was added but when you build a house and need an extra room, you won't break it down and build a new one, but extend it. In general, all modern windows versions are NT so the things you can learn from reactos, at least partially, still are valid for modern windows versions.
One book, namely "Windows Internals" can be suggested. A former ReactOS developer, Alex Ionecu, was co author.
rliegh
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2018 11:19 am

Re: Using ReactOS to learn Windows System programming -is it viable?

Post by rliegh »

Thank you for your reply!
I did a search for the book you mentioned and found this link which leads to a Microsoft article on it. I mention this because that article points to this github repository of supplemental material (MIT licensed) that might be of interest (but not obvious).
learn_more
Developer
Posts: 246
Joined: Fri Dec 19, 2014 10:00 pm

Re: Using ReactOS to learn Windows System programming -is it viable?

Post by learn_more »

rliegh wrote: Mon Oct 12, 2020 11:26 pm Thank you for your reply!
I did a search for the book you mentioned and found this link which leads to a Microsoft article on it. I mention this because that article points to this github repository of supplemental material (MIT licensed) that might be of interest (but not obvious).
yeah that is one of the authors of the last version of windows internals.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests