Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.programmer
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!maytag!watstat.waterloo.edu!dmurdoch
From: dmurdoch@watstat.waterloo.edu (Duncan Murdoch)
Subject: Re: Mice and men (er, programmers).
Message-ID: <1990Nov8.181102.10573@maytag.waterloo.edu>
Sender: daemon@maytag.waterloo.edu (Admin)
Organization: University of Waterloo
References: <1990Nov6.202400.41964@cc.usu.edu>
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 90 18:11:02 GMT
Lines: 21

In article <1990Nov6.202400.41964@cc.usu.edu> jrd@cc.usu.edu writes:
>
>	The easy way to approach a mouse is with a large book in hand, such
>as "Microsoft Mouse Programmer's Reference", MS Press, 1989. This tome
>describes the calls one can make upon the standard MS mouse driver Int 33h
>interface. An advantage of seeing things from the book handler's side is
>not being bitten by the sundry ways physical mice talk to computers.

When I bought that book, I was extremely disappointed with it.  It is not
anywhere near the standard of the DOS tech ref manuals (and those aren't so
great, either).  

For example:  All calls are described in Basic, with parameters being called
things like M1, M2, etc.; you have to wade through lots of conditional
branches in the source code for the mouse interface routine to find which
registers the Mx arguments end up in.

The copy I have must be 3 or 4 years old now (I bought it 2 years ago, but it
looked old then); does MS sell something useful now?

Duncan Murdoch