API application Interface Related knowledge

The network is a complex large platform, where you need to master a variety of technologies, a variety of programming, tools and so on. The more you know, the more you will be able to use your network. API as a noun, most people do not know exactly what the specific, non-technical to these nouns are very vague. API application interfaces are used in applications.

An API is a set of functions that call a function and service as an application. Program designers can write programs based on API functions, allowing the operating system or a program to activate a program to perform specific functions.

Basically, the API is the framework of the operating system, usually contained in a named. DLL's dynamic connection library file, you can control the various components, skins, and services of Windows. This set of predefined functions communicates with the core of the operating system below the API to call other programs or services, and allows programmers to architect various Windows applications based on the API.

Most of the development tools, such as VB, VC + +, Delphi, and so on, have provided a large number of library and control in advance, and these functions is the architecture in the WIN32 API, is tantamount to encapsulating all the functions of the collection, so that the program designers can focus on the software functional design, Rather than the technical details of communicating with the operating system or other programs, it helps to accelerate application development.

What is the Windows API

The Windows API is the application programming interface (application programming Interface) for the Microsoft 32-bit platform. These functions can be invoked by all applications running on the Win32 platform.

With the Windows API, applications can fully exploit the potential of Windows 32-bit operating systems. All 32-bit platforms in Mircrosoft support a unified API, including functions, structures, messages, macros, and interfaces. Using the Windows API, you can develop applications that run successfully on a variety of platforms, and take advantage of the features and attributes that are unique to each platform.

In the specific programming, the difference of program implementation depends on the underlying function of the corresponding platform. The most significant difference is that some functions can only implement their functions on a more powerful platform. For example, a security function can only be used under a Windows NT operating system. Other major differences are system constraints, such as range constraints on values, or the number of items a function can manage.

Why use the Windows API

The programming tools that Windows programmers can use are only API functions in the early stages of the development of the Windows programming world. These functions in the hands of technicians can build a variety of interfaces rich, flexible applications. However, because these functions are complex in structure, they are often difficult to understand and easy to misuse.

With the development of software technology, there are many excellent visual programming environments on Windows platform, and programmers can use "WYSIWYG" programming to develop an application with exquisite user interface and function. These visual programming environments are easy to operate and interface-friendly, such as visual c++,delphi,visual basic and so on. These tools provide a large number of class libraries and various controls that replace the arcane functionality of the API. In fact, these class libraries and controls are built on the Windows API, but they are easy to use and accelerate the development of Windows applications, so they are popular with programmers. With these class libraries and controls, programmers can focus on the design of the overall functionality without having to focus too much on specifics.

In fact, programmers want to develop more flexible, more practical, more efficient applications, inevitably involve the direct use of API functions. Although class libraries and controls make application development much easier, they provide only the general functionality of Microsoft Windows, and for some of the more complex and special features, the use of class libraries and controls is difficult to implement and must be written directly using API functions. API functions are the cornerstone of the entire Windows framework, only the full understanding and use of API functions, in order to drill down into the interior of Windows, to give full play to the various 32-bit platform's powerful capabilities and flexibility, to successfully expand and break the class library, control and visual development environment restrictions.