Windows Programming

Windows supports two types of applications: those with a console user interface (CUI) and those with graphical user interface (GUI). The PE32/PE32+ file format header indicates which type of file it is : GUI/CUI for applications or DLL for library.

Handles, Threads,... Limits in windows

http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2009/09/29/3283844.aspx

Process Explorer Tool:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

DLL in windows

Good article on dll in windows :
http://www.akadia.com/services/dotnet_assemblies.html#Private%20Assemblies%20are%20Referencing%20DLLs
On windows there are two way to load dll:

1. run-time dynamic linking

Run-time dynamic linking enables the process to continue running even if a DLL is not available. The process can then use an alternate method to accomplish its objective. For example, if a process is unable to locate one DLL, it can try to use another, or it can notify the user of an error. If the user can provide the full path of the missing DLL, the process can use this information to load the DLL even though it is not in the normal search path. This situation contrasts with load-time linking, in which the system simply terminates the process if it cannot find the DLL.

2. load-time dynamic linking

In this case application is linked with "import library" (*.lib files) at link time. This library supplies the system with the information needed to load the dll and locate the exported dll functions when the application is loaded.

See this msdn article for complete information:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms681914(v=VS.85).aspx


This a good free tool to detect memory leaks dynamically:

Visual Leak Detector:
http://vld.codeplex.com/

Windows limitation of 2000 threads

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2005/07/29/444912.aspx

C99 types for Windows:

http://code.google.com/p/msinttypes/