I never use anything other than raw Win32 API when programming for Windows. and I cannot agree with you.
you have to differentiate between Windows 9x/ME, which is a toy, and Windows NT/2000/XP, which is the real OS. and which MS has wanted to move everyone, including the home user, over to for a long time now.
under the toy version of the Win32 API, there is virtually no Unicode support, and most of the advanced functions of Win32 are either just stubs or even 'physically' missing. this may indeed pose a problem when developing advanced applications. but no one does that, anyway.
with the advent of Windows 2000, and even more so with XP, there is no longer any reason to support the toy version with this class of applications.
as for the API differences encountered during normal application development, they are most often only remarks, or nuances. usually all you have to do is read the documentation for the specific API ( you do have MSDN, I hope? ) and follow it's recommendations.
I agree that driver development is harder, since Win32 has three different driver models. or rather three and a half, if I remember my history. but from what I read on Kernel Traffic, this is hardly a problem limited to Windows.
mostly, I find it quite easy to develop applications using raw API calls, and the only #ifdef I have is for INAVLID_SET_FILE_POINTER, that someone forgot to define in an ancient version of the Patform SDK.
but unless you use version specific API calls, your program should work sufficiently on any Windows version. I've even been able to run Windows 2.0 Notepad under Windows 2000, plus practically any Windows 3.x application I've been able to test.
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"milda makaroner vad det ryker ur farmors ödla"
"I saw episode IV-VI when I was a kid, and they were great! and now I went to see episode I, and I was shocked to find that it was made for kids!"
well... have you ever considered the fact that the first three were, too? and that you like them now because you saw them when you were kids?
I saw episode one on the premier night here in Sweden. never in my life have I witnessed such excitement. the one boo! I heard was when we saw that they had translated (!) the magical three paragraphs to Swedish!
then it was all cheers, every time a reference to the old movies were made, or a familiar character was presented.
most of my male friends thought it was great, with the exception of Jar-Jar. and I see the same consensus here. I have yet to find a single gyu that likes him, or even stands to watch him. and I would like to offer another view of that.
me and some of my female friends have discussed this phenomena. we all think he's cute. the one bone we have with him is that he's the only one in all the movies that succeeds not by doing his best, but by being chronically clumsy and equally lucky.
but he is a caricature of a lot of negative male characteristics. and maybe you guys don't like to be reminded of those.
it's the only way we could explain the extreme, one-sided hate we have witnessed. and maybe there is some truth in it...
now, flame all you like... I have mail filters, and I know how to use them.
Slashdot Mirror
I never use anything other than raw Win32 API when programming for Windows. and I cannot agree with you.
you have to differentiate between Windows 9x/ME, which is a toy, and Windows NT/2000/XP, which is the real OS. and which MS has wanted to move everyone, including the home user, over to for a long time now.
under the toy version of the Win32 API, there is virtually no Unicode support, and most of the advanced functions of Win32 are either just stubs or even 'physically' missing. this may indeed pose a problem when developing advanced applications. but no one does that, anyway.
with the advent of Windows 2000, and even more so with XP, there is no longer any reason to support the toy version with this class of applications.
as for the API differences encountered during normal application development, they are most often only remarks, or nuances. usually all you have to do is read the documentation for the specific API ( you do have MSDN, I hope? ) and follow it's recommendations.
I agree that driver development is harder, since Win32 has three different driver models. or rather three and a half, if I remember my history. but from what I read on Kernel Traffic, this is hardly a problem limited to Windows.
mostly, I find it quite easy to develop applications using raw API calls, and the only #ifdef I have is for INAVLID_SET_FILE_POINTER, that someone forgot to define in an ancient version of the Patform SDK.
but unless you use version specific API calls, your program should work sufficiently on any Windows version. I've even been able to run Windows 2.0 Notepad under Windows 2000, plus practically any Windows 3.x application I've been able to test.
---
"milda makaroner vad det ryker ur farmors ödla"
all the arguments I hear go along the lines of:
"I saw episode IV-VI when I was a kid, and they were great! and now I went to see episode I, and I was shocked to find that it was made for kids!"
well... have you ever considered the fact that the first three were, too? and that you like them now because you saw them when you were kids?
I saw episode one on the premier night here in Sweden. never in my life have I witnessed such excitement. the one boo! I heard was when we saw that they had translated (!) the magical three paragraphs to Swedish!
then it was all cheers, every time a reference to the old movies were made, or a familiar character was presented.
most of my male friends thought it was great, with the exception of Jar-Jar. and I see the same consensus here. I have yet to find a single gyu that likes him, or even stands to watch him. and I would like to offer another view of that.
me and some of my female friends have discussed this phenomena. we all think he's cute. the one bone we have with him is that he's the only one in all the movies that succeeds not by doing his best, but by being chronically clumsy and equally lucky.
but he is a caricature of a lot of negative male characteristics. and maybe you guys don't like to be reminded of those.
it's the only way we could explain the extreme, one-sided hate we have witnessed. and maybe there is some truth in it...
now, flame all you like... I have mail filters, and I know how to use them.
nah, but my .cshrc produces this fancy prompt:
>
and I've never had reason to change it. pwd, id, date and all the others are there when I need them.
now that would be something to find... a Tree of Life in this time of the Wheel's turning.
elmindreda
"milda makaroner vad det ryker ur farmors ödla"