Leanpub Header

Skip to main content

Advanced Windows Programming

Modern Systems Development for Windows 11

This book is 100% completeLast updated on 2026-07-17

Go beyond the surface of Windows development and explore the platform from the inside out. Covering everything from kernel internals and Win32 APIs to the Windows App SDK, cloud integration, virtualization, and AI, this comprehensive reference equips experienced developers with the knowledge to build high-performance, secure, and modern Windows applications with confidence.

Minimum price

$19.00

$29.00

You pay

Author earns

$

Also available for 1 book credit with a Reader Membership

PDF
EPUB
WEB
APP
166
Pages
About

About

About the Book

The modern Windows platform is a layered, evolving ecosystem where understanding both legacy APIs and contemporary frameworks is essential for building robust, performant, and secure applications. This book provides experienced software engineers and system programmers with comprehensive mastery of the Windows development stack: from kernel-mode internals and Win32/Native APIs through COM, WinRT, and the Windows App SDK, to modern deployment, virtualization, AI integration, and cloud connectivity. Every chapter is grounded in production-quality code examples written in modern C++ (with C# where idiomatic), detailed architectural analysis, real-world design patterns, and practical guidance drawn from current Microsoft documentation and industry best practices. This is not a tutorial; it is a definitive reference for developers who need to understand how Windows works at every layer and how to leverage that understanding in their own systems.

Bundle

Bundles that include this book

Author

About the Author

Steve Publications

Steve is a technology professional with more than 20 years of experience in software development, server infrastructure, cybersecurity, vulnerability research and reverse engineering. Throughout his career, he has designed, secured, analyzed and tested complex software and infrastructure, with a particular focus on understanding how systems fail and how they can be made more secure.

Outside of work, Steve enjoys sharing knowledge with the technology community. He collaborates with researchers, industry experts and technology professionals to write practical books covering software development, cybersecurity, cloud computing, networking, DevOps, artificial intelligence and enterprise technologies. His books focus on practical learning through clear explanations, real-world examples and hands-on exercises. With more than two decades of industry experience, his goal is to help IT professionals, students and technology enthusiasts build useful skills and stay current in a rapidly changing industry.

We believe readers deserve to know how our books are created. Most of our authors are not native English speakers, so we use AI to help translate, proofread manuscripts, fix grammar, improve sentence structure and make technical explanations easier to read. AI is used as an editing tool only. It does not replace the research, technical knowledge or hands-on experience behind our books. Some of our authors also prefer to remain anonymous for privacy or professional reasons. In those cases, we publish their work under a different name. The author's name may be different, but the quality of the content and our review process remain the same.

Every book is written, reviewed and maintained by experienced technology professionals, with contributions from our private technical community of more than 420 engineers and researchers from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. We spend far more time validating technical accuracy and keeping our content up to date than generating text. We are always interested in working with experienced professionals who have deep expertise in a particular technology or domain. If you would like to publish a book with us or help review an existing manuscript, we'd love to hear from you. Send us a message describing your area of expertise. We are especially interested in niche technologies, specialized skills and emerging topics that are underrepresented in existing technical literature.

If you look through the contents of our books, you'll see practical examples, detailed explanations and material that is regularly updated. Our goal is to publish books that professionals can actually rely on, not low-effort AI-generated content. If you ever feel that one of our books does not meet that standard, Leanpub offers a 60-day money-back guarantee. Feel free to request a refund if you are not satisfied with your purchase.

Contents

Table of Contents

Modern Systems Development for Windows 11

  1. From Kernel to Cloud: Mastering the Windows Platform Internals, APIs, and Architecture

Introduction: The Windows Platform at a Crossroads

  1. What This Book Covers
  2. Who Should Read This Book
  3. How to Use This Book
  4. The Windows Versions Covered
  5. A Note on Native vs Win32 APIs

Chapter 1: The Windows Architecture – A Modern Perspective

  1. The Layered Kernel Architecture
  2. User Mode versus Kernel Mode
  3. Executive Services and the Object Manager
  4. Hardware Abstraction and Driver Stack
  5. The Modern Windows Boot Process
  6. Platform Evolution: From NT to Windows 11

Chapter 2: Win32 API Fundamentals and Native APIs

  1. The Win32 Subsystem Architecture
  2. NTDLL and the Native API Surface
  3. Modern C++ Wrappers: WRL and Windows SDK Helpers
  4. Error Handling Patterns and HRESULT Semantics
  5. When to Use Win32 Versus Native APIs
  6. Legacy Compatibility and Deprecation Tracking

Chapter 3: Processes, Threads, and Execution Management

  1. Process Creation and Lifecycle Management
  2. Thread Internals and Scheduling
  3. Fibers and Lightweight Concurrency
  4. Job Objects and Resource Isolation
  5. Modern C++ Concurrency on Windows
  6. Performance Counters and Thread Profiling

Chapter 4: Memory Management and Virtual Address Spaces

  1. Virtual Memory Architecture
  2. Heap Implementation and Custom Allocators
  3. Large Pages and Memory-Mapped Files
  4. Commit Charge and Working Set Management
  5. Modern Memory APIs: VirtualAlloc2 and Beyond
  6. Memory Diagnostics and Leak Detection

Chapter 5: Synchronization, Locking, and Atomic Operations

  1. Critical Sections and Mutex Objects
  2. Semaphores, Events, and Wait Mechanisms
  3. Reader/Writer Locks and Slim Reader/Writer (SRW)
  4. Hardware Atomic Operations and Memory Barriers
  5. Condition Variables and Modern C++ Synchronization
  6. Deadlock Detection and Concurrency Debugging

Chapter 6: File Systems, Registry, and Storage Subsystems

  1. NTFS Architecture and Advanced Features
  2. ReFS and Modern Storage Requirements
  3. File System Filter Drivers and Minifilters
  4. Registry Internals and Configuration Management
  5. Volume Shadow Copy and Backup APIs
  6. Cloud Files and OneDrive Integration

Chapter 7: Security Model, Authentication, and Access Control

  1. Security Identifiers and Access Tokens
  2. ACLs, SACLs, and Access Check Mechanism
  3. Mandatory Integrity Control and UAC
  4. File System and Registry Virtualization
  5. Modern Authentication: OAuth, Kerberos, and Windows Hello
  6. Secure Boot, TPM, and Hardware Root of Trust

Chapter 8: Services, Device I/O, and the Driver Ecosystem

  1. Service Control Manager and Service Architecture
  2. Modern Service Patterns with C++ and C#
  3. Driver Development Model and WDF
  4. IRP Processing and I/O Stack
  5. Plug and Play and Power Management
  6. Device Installation and Driver Signing

Chapter 9: Networking, Sockets, and Cloud Integration

  1. The Windows Networking Stack Architecture
  2. Winsock Evolution and Modern Socket APIs
  3. WinHTTP and HTTP/2 Implementation
  4. TLS, SSL, and Certificate Management
  5. Network Isolation and Container Networking
  6. Cloud Integration Patterns and Azure SDK

Chapter 10: COM, WinRT, and Component Architecture

  1. COM Fundamentals and Object Lifetime
  2. Apartment Threading Model and Marshaling
  3. COM Registration and Activation
  4. WinRT: The Modern Component Platform
  5. Projections: C++, C#, and WinRT Interop
  6. ABI Contracts and Cross-Language Design

Chapter 11: Graphics, Multimedia, and UI Frameworks

  1. The Graphics Stack: From GDI to D3D12
  2. Direct3D 12 Architecture and Programming Model
  3. Direct2D, DirectWrite, and Text Rendering
  4. Multimedia: Media Foundation and Audio APIs
  5. WinUI 3 and the Windows App SDK
  6. XAML Architecture and Modern UI Patterns

Chapter 12: Shell Integration, IPC, and System Services

  1. Shell Extension Architecture
  2. Context Menus and File Handler Integration
  3. Named Pipes and Mailslot Communication
  4. Shared Memory and Memory-Mapped IPC
  5. Clipboard, Drag-and-Drop, and Data Exchange
  6. Modern IPC Patterns and Message Queues

Chapter 13: Debugging, Diagnostics, and Performance Optimization

  1. The Windows Debugger Ecosystem
  2. Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) Architecture
  3. Memory Analysis and Crash Dump Diagnostics
  4. Performance Profiling with VTune and PerfView
  5. Production Diagnostics and Telemetry
  6. Application Verifier and Concurrency Violation Detection

Chapter 14: Modern Deployment, Virtualization, and Future Directions

  1. MSIX Packaging and Modern Deployment
  2. Windows Containers and Kubernetes Integration
  3. WSL Architecture and Interop Patterns
  4. Virtualization-Based Security and HVCI
  5. DirectML, ONNX Runtime, and AI on Windows
  6. Platform Evolution and Future Directions

Conclusion: Mastery Through Understanding

  1. Key Takeaways
  2. The Evolving Landscape

References

Get the free sample chapters

Click the buttons to get the free sample in PDF or EPUB, or read the sample online here

The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee

Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.

See full terms...

Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase

We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.

(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)

In fact, authors have earned over $15 million writing, publishing and selling on Leanpub.

Learn more about writing on Leanpub

Free Updates. DRM Free.

If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).

Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.

Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.

Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them

Write and Publish on Leanpub

You can use Leanpub to easily write, publish and sell in-progress and completed ebooks and online courses!

Leanpub is a powerful platform for serious authors, combining a simple, elegant writing and publishing workflow with a store focused on selling in-progress ebooks.

Leanpub is a magical typewriter for authors: just write in plain text, and to publish your ebook, just click a button. (Or, if you are producing your ebook your own way, you can even upload your own PDF and/or EPUB files and then publish with one click!) It really is that easy.

Learn more about writing on Leanpub