Comment by blibble
5 days ago
I stopped writing Windows applications back in the early 00s
my Windows API knowledge (essentially: just Win32) is still exactly as useful as it was then, having missed the 7 or 8 different UI frameworks in the interim
5 days ago
I stopped writing Windows applications back in the early 00s
my Windows API knowledge (essentially: just Win32) is still exactly as useful as it was then, having missed the 7 or 8 different UI frameworks in the interim
Win32 is basically frozen on Windows XP.
Since Vista most newer APIs are done in COM, or WinRT nowadays.
I remember a thin book describing changes to the API in Vista and 7 compared to XP and it was really thin. Just a few extra APIs to be able to show controls in the taskbar preview and things like that. Win32 is a stable API and I hope they don't let anyone from the Windows 11 modernization team touch it.
>Win32 is a stable API and I hope they don't let anyone from the Windows 11 modernization team touch it.
I've heard a Microsoft executive talk about win32 as legacy that they want to replace. I don't think that's realistic though, it's probably the last piece of technology keeping people on the platform.
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Except for anything that came after XP, you need to at least make use of COM.
WinRT can be avoided if you don't do any modern stuff like the new context menu, WinUI, or Windows ML.
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Me too, back then I wrote applications either using the raw Win32 API (GetMessage, TranslateMessage, DispatchMessage, etc), or using MFC.
I think MFC is now long-time dead and buried, but at the time I liked it despite the ugly macros.
MFC is actually still supported by MS, works in the most recent MSVS, and even occasionally receives updates.