Windows API
Windows API is a set of APIs, (application programming interfaces) available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. A Windows SDK is available, and provides documentation and tools to better enable developers to create software using the Windows API and associated Windows technologies.
Win16 was the first, 16-bit version of these APIs.
Win32 is the 32-bit API for modern versions of Microsoft Windows. The API consists of C functions implemented in dynamically linked libraries (DLLs), mainly in core DLLs: kernel32.dll, user32.dll and gdi32.dll. Although Microsoft's implementation of the Windows API is copyright, it is generally accepted that other vendors can emulate Windows by providing an identical API, without breaching copyright.
The Windows API was originally designed to be object oriented, but computers at the time were limited in power and many new APIs and enhancements have been introduced, leading to the loss of some object-oriented aspects. In some ways it is a low-level interface, so many programmers prefer to use the MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes) and other class libraries such as Borland's OWL (Object Windows Library) for a more high-level approach. The recently introduced .NET libraries, commonly described as a replacement for calling the Windows API, are a wrapper around the Win32 API to provide object-oriented functionality and operating system abstraction.
Among other things, the Windows API contains the graphical widget toolkit used in different Windows versions.
The WINE project is an attempt to provide this API set for UNIX-like platforms.
Among common API functions are:
See also: DirectX, component object model, .NET
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Referenced By
Borland Delphi | Delphi programming language | Hello, world! | Hello World | Hello world program | History of Microsoft Windows | List of features of Windows which users regard as bugs | Longhorn | MICROSOFT | MS-Windows | MS Windows | Micro-soft | Microsoft.com | Microsoft Corporation | Microsoft Foundation Class | Microsoft Foundation Classes | Microsoft Inc | Microsoft Windows | Microsoft Windows/History | Pocket Windows | Reverse engineer | Reverse engineered | Reverse engineering | Rewind | SmallBASIC programming language | Smart pointer | TextOut | TextOut (Windows API) | The hello world program | WINE | WINE project | Widget toolkit | Win32s | Windows (operating system) | Windows 9x | Windows Longhorn | Windows operating system | Wine Is Not an Emulator
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