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Comment by bradrn | Hacker News Reader

Follow-up question: how do I learn systems programming on Windows? I know it’s pretty easy to just set up a Linux VM or use WSL2, and I’m prepared to do that if I must, but it would be even easier if I could work in the same Windows environment I normally use. However, from what I’ve seen, practically all guides to systems programming seem to start off by assuming you’re using Linux.

(And by the way, thanks OP for asking this question! I’ve also been wanting to learn systems programming, but I haven’t gotten around to asking yet. And all the suggested resources look fascinating… there goes my university vacation!)

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The best start would probably be both parts of Windows Internals:

https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Internals-Part-architecture-m...

https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Internals-Part-Developer-Refe...

These aren't about programming per se, but if you want to do systems programming it helps to have a detailed understanding of the system. :)

After that, specific reading probably depends on the exact task you want to perform, but MS has good documentation and tutorials in many areas. Writing drivers, for example:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/ge...

To add on, the windows internals books have exercises with the sysinternals tools. If sitting down and plowing through a doorstop of a book isn't your cup of tea, try picking a chapter or two which sound interesting, skimming them, and doing the exercises.

IMHO getting into the world of malware analysis and reverse engineering could be profitable for both your brain and your pocket. And they force you to go deep from day one.

I do not have the expertise to work on either field but this is something in the plan. The good part is that most malwares are targeting Windows so you get a lot of samples.

This is good advice.

Also, Windows is an excellent way to learn systems programming because the documentation and tooling is so good and things hardly ever change.

There is a wealth of documentation on MSDN for writing device drivers and such. And great tools for remote debugging so you can set up a VM in hyper-v and step through the code from the host system.

Do make sure if you're analyzing malware you do it in a VM on a machine you don't care about having to wipe, and isolate it from the rest of your network.

At the foundation of a Windows System are two layers, the Win32 calls, and the bedrock is the Native API - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_API

You can access them via assembler, C, etc.

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