Win32, Visual C++, C++, Coca, MFC, etc.

Are these all programming languages? Or do you use C++ to make the program and something like Win32 or Coca to make the GUI?

I've got "Sam's Teach Yourself C++ in 24 hours," but found that it doesn't (for obvious reasons) contain a lot of the info I'm looking for (like FTP to get files from the internet, playing audio files, etc.), and of course, it doesn't talk about making GUI's. I was thinking about getting "Sam's Teach Yourself C++ in 21 days," but I'm not sure. Any recommendations?

I learned C++ from that Sam's book too (the 24 hour one).

Well, Visual C++ is Microsoft's development environment for C++. It's not a language, but a compiler and liker for the language. Another major one is Borland C++, and there are others.

Win32 is an Application Programming Interface (API), which defines a bunch of function calls one can make in a language to interact with another application, in this case, the Windows operating system. Win32 has many uses, among them is designing a GUI.

The Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) are a set of object-oriented classes that can be used in C++ to build GUI elements, and interact with the Windows OS. At the base of the MFC lay many calls to the Win32 API. The MFC comes with Microsoft Visual C++.

I have no idea what Coca is.

Learning Win32 and/or MFC is pretty much necessary if you want to do any traditional Windows programming. Which to learn first is always debated, but you should at least pick one up if you plan on sticking with Windows programming.

Thanks for clearing that up. Coca is one of the APIs you can use to create GUI-based applications for Macintosh computers.