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I really do agree to your claim, MSDN has a function description for everything in their APIs but they don't show an example for everything.. and mostly they're just paragraphic notes for everything (and they are just too technical).
But that doesn't provide any base to hate them, learn the language you're going to use. Once that has been done, you will find MSDN the best resource for a developer. You can count on me on this one. 
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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Quote: because the information is technically accurate but practically useless,
Doesn't this describe just about any "Help" you get from Microsoft on their products?
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I don't like to admit it, much, but...I like MSDN.
It's not perfect (and some of it reads like the new-kid was given the job and pressed COMMIT without anyone reviewing it) - but I started with paper manuals, and MSDN is far, far better than those:
It's more up-to-date than a paper bookIt's searchableIt's portable - I can read it anywhere, the documentation for the first version of MFC was two foot thick!It's (mostly) got examplesIt's in there somewhere - even if it's not trivial to find, it's at worst a few minutes awayIt's freeNo, it's not perfect; yes, some of the examples are a waste of space.
But given the sheer volume of information, it does pretty well.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Try the java world for a while... It'll really make you appreciate MSDN.
I've always had a love/hate relationship with Microsoft, but there are a few things they do REALLY well...
* .NET / MSDN
* Office
Ok, a couple things... And yes, we all hate Excel/VBA, but that's usually because SOME people treat it as a bad development environment instead of a good spreadsheet with macros.
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Ian Shlasko wrote: because SOME people treat it as a bad development environment instead of a good spreadsheet with macros.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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I started dabbling with a ribbon app about a month ago, and ended up adding controls to the ribbon by coding them in XAML. It goes quite quickly once you get the hang of it.
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I was doing some toolbar work a couple of weeks ago. I don't remember the actual function I looked up, but it was something like this:
This topic is included for completeness. For more detail see the source code located in the VC\atlmfc\src\mfc folder of your Visual Studio installation. 
Soren Madsen
"When you don't know what you're doing it's best to do it quickly" - Jase #DuckDynasty
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About twenty years ago, I had the (dis)pleasure of using Novell's NetWare API documentation. Compared to that pile of stinking manure, today's MSDN is a model of organization and clarity.
Note also that Novell's API was much smaller than MSDN is today.
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
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Gawd! I'd forgotten Netware - the setup guide was enough of a PITA, without the API... 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Kinda like comparing VB2 to VS2013...
How did the 20 year old Netware API docs compare to the 20 year old MSDN?
Contrary to popular belief, nobody owes you anything.
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Mike Mullikin wrote: How did the 20 year old Netware API docs compare to the 20 year old MSDN?
MSDN was much better!
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
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Agree, some of the documentation is rather blunt. It just means you have to go hunting again! I'm old enough to remember receiving the MSDN library quarterly on CDs.  Back then, it kinda sucked to have to give up a couple of Gigs of precious disk space, but it was better than finding/swapping the CDs. 
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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I totally agree. I'm that old too, so I also remember.
I've found that MSDN is nice for looking at object models, property, method, event lists, etc. But for h0ow things actually work, Google is your friend. In MSDN their "example" aare pretty useless.
I find that a lot of the time, whatever I'm trying to do someone else has already done, so a few minutes of Googling usually gives me a concrete answer.
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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http://www.fin24.com/Economy/INFOGRAPHIC-Zuma-earns-more-than-most-world-leaders-20150311[^]
At the bottom of this article are two interesting charts, showing the GDP and GDP per capita for some countries.
Points that I found interesting:
1. The high GDP per capita of the UK: Higher than that of Germany as well as Japan! Well done Brits!
2. The weak performance of Russia.
3. Despite the phenomenal growth in the GDP of China its GDP per capita is still pathetic.
By the way: The salaries of world leaders are shown in South African Rands. One SA Rand is worth about 9 US cents, due to that country's economic mismanagement over the past 50 years.
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Cornelius Henning wrote: One SA Rand is worth about 9 US cents, due to that country's economic mismanagement over the past 50 years.
Woudl that be SA mismanagement, US mismanagement, or both?
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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In the mid-1970s one SA Rand was worth 145 US cents. Today it is 9 cents. I do believe that says it all! 
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Ah.
So both then - but the US was slightly less incompetent? 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Quote: but the US was slightly less incompetent
The implication that SA mismanagement is only "slightly" worse, is incorrect. I lived in that country up to 18 years ago and can tell you it was a helluva lot worse than the US! 
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#3 Yeah, given the denominator is 1.3 billion+, the GDP per capita is obviously small. India's is smaller still, largely due to the untold millions of poor.
If China/India had a GDP per capita matching Western levels (40,000 USD) with their current populations, no other economy would really matter - that's how big their populations are.
Cheers,
विक्रम
"We have already been through this, I am not going to repeat myself." - fat_boy, in a global warming thread 
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Don't talk to me about financial shenanigans fupping the exchange rates. A large part of our income is in Euros and in the last two months the steady slide of the EUR-GBP rate has taken hunnerds of spondoobies out of our pockets. In January I got 82 pence to the Euro, yesterday it was 64, and that bloody hurts.
veni bibi saltavi
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Sliding from 82 to 64 in a couple of months is harsh! What's going on with your exchange rate? 
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One word, Greece.
veni bibi saltavi
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It's strange that a relatively small economy, like Greece, can have such significant impact on the Euro. Sumthin's wrong with this picture, I just dunno what it is!
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That's only part of the problem and in this particular case, Greece might be a perverted sort of blessing. Draghi and the ECB want to weaken the Euro to give a boost to inflation. Hence the QE exercise underway.
Cheers,
विक्रम
"We have already been through this, I am not going to repeat myself." - fat_boy, in a global warming thread
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Vikram A Punathambekar wrote: Draghi and the ECB want to weaken the Euro to give a boost to inflation.
Yes, because inflation is Good!
And high oil prices are Good!
You have to remember that things that good for just about everyone in the world are bad for the banks and the super-rich, and only the banks and the super-rich matter!
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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