In this tutorial we’re going to learn a little bit of Windows programming and how to get a window up and running on your desktop. Then we’ll learn how to handle messages that your operating system sends to your application.
Definitions
Windows with a ‘W’: Windows is not the same as windows. By windows we mean application windows, by Windows we mean the operating system – it will always have a capital letter.
Platform SDK: This is a bunch of libraries and header files that are used to create Windows applications. You can get the latest version from MSDN.
MSDN: The Microsoft Developer Network – http://msdn.microsoft.com. This is extremely important to know about. MSDN contains everything related to software developed with/on Microsoft technologies. You should always have this open for when you need to better understand how a function works, and what each parameter of a function represents and does. A lot of people are scared of very technical documentation like this, but the best advice I can give you is to use the docs. Throughout the tutorials, always try to look up functions for their more technical oriented descriptions – you’ll understand much better that way.
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