Alexander
Fri Jul 20 16:18:25 CDT 2007
Or more precisely, the Win32 API is implemented by an array
of Windows OSes - from Windows NT 3.1 and Windows 95
to Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista.
--
=====================================
Alexander Nickolov
Microsoft MVP [VC], MCSD
email: agnickolov@mvps.org
MVP VC FAQ:
http://vcfaq.mvps.org
=====================================
"Ben Voigt [C++ MVP]" <rbv@nospam.nospam> wrote in message
news:O7HDiLlyHHA.1776@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> "Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]" <cpdaniel_remove_this_and_nospam@mvps.org.nospam>
> wrote in message news:edmCJRjyHHA.1100@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> "rodchar" <rodchar@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:95ED2F5E-CC28-4B45-9059-F0D802B49668@microsoft.com...
>>> hey all,
>>> what's the difference between an API and a library of functions such as
>>> MFC?
>>> Are these terms synonomous?
>>
>> The API, strictly speaking, is the specification of the public interface
>> to a block of functionality. That functionality is implemented
>> somehow - it might be DLLs or static link libraries or web services, etc.
>
> As an example, the ANSI C standard library is an API. So is the C++
> Standard Template Library. They are specifications, standards, APIs, not
> really libraries.
>
> Each compiler vendor provides a library that implements these APIs. That
> really is a library.
>
> So every API can have multiple implementing libraries. For example, the
> Win32 API is implemented by Microsoft Windows (tm) as well as
> (incompletely) Wine and ReactOS.
>