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hey all,

what's the difference between an API and a library of functions such as MFC?

Are these terms synonomous?



thanks,

rodchar


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"rodchar" <rodchar@discussions.microsoft.com>wrote in message

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.



-cd





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"Carl Daniel [VC++ MVP]" <cpdaniel_remove_this_and_nospam@mvps.org.nospam>

wrote in message news:edmCJRjyHHA.1100@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

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.





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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: vcfaq.mvps.org">vcfaq.mvps.org

=====================================



"Ben Voigt [C++ MVP]" <rbv@nospam.nospam>wrote in message



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thanks everyone for the help.



"rodchar" wrote: