Getting Started

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published 2026-06-05 10:02:16 updated 2026-06-09 15:54:54

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@reading #Windows

This post extracts some knowledge from Programming Windows Chapter 1 – Getting Started.

Dynamic Linking

The complete process from code to execution when creating a Windows program that dynamic link library file:

plaintext[ .c/.cpp ]
     │
     ▼
[ Compile ]
     │
     ▼
[ .obj ]
   │
   ▼
[ Link ]
   │ │
   │ └── using import library (.lib)
   │                ↓
   │      providing DLL name + function symbol
   ▼
[ .exe ]
   │
   ▼
[ running time Load ]
        │
        ▼
[ loading DLL (.dll) ]
        │
        ▼
[ provoke real function ]

Dynamic link vs Static link:

Type	copy code to exe
`.lib`（import）	❌ not copy
`.lib`（static）	✅ copy
`.dll`	loading when running time

Windows Dynamic Linking:

Compilation Stage
- The compiler checks function declarations from header files.
Linking Stage
- The linker resolves external symbols using import libraries (.lib).
- DLL dependencies are recorded in the executable.
Runtime Stage
- The Windows loader loads the required DLLs.
- Imported functions are bound to their actual addresses.
- Function calls are dispatched to implementations inside the DLLs.

Hello, World

c#include <windows.h>

int WINAPI WinMain (HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                    PSTR szCmdLine, int iCmdShow)
{
     MessageBox (NULL, TEXT ("Hello, Windows 98!"), TEXT ("HelloMsg"), 0) ;
     return 0 ;
}

WinMain declaration as follows:

cint WINAPI WinMain(
    HINSTANCE hInstance,      // current instance
    HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,  // previous instance
    LPSTR lpCmdLine,          // point to command line 
    INT nCmdShow              // the status of show window
);