Difference Between MFC and Win32

MFC vs Win32

The Windows API (Application Programming Interface) has come to be commonly known or refered to as Win32. If you want to create a program that would work in a Windows environment, you would need to have something that is compatible with Win32. MFC or the Microsoft Foundation Class is a class library in C++ that encapsulates certain portions of the Windows API in order to make it easier for programmers to build lightweight code.

Building an application for Win32 means that you would have to use its SDK in order to maintain compatibility and avoid glitches or any other problem. The problem with using the Win32 SDK is that you would need to manually write code for everything. This can lead to errors in code which can either be minor and quick to fix or major and be a headache to trace. The MFC is composed of functions that are most commonly used by programmers like creating windows or opening dialog boxes. Using the MFC reduces into a single line of code what would otherwise be composed of 10 or 20 lines making it simple and much quicker to build. Troubleshooting would also be a lot easier with the MFC since you would not need to delve into the actual coding of each function and you would only need to concern yourself about how you called the function.

The MFC also deals with the Windows environment directly, meaning that you would not need to concern yourself with the specific settings that each user has on his computer. This ensures that your program would appear correctly in most cases when using the MFC.

The MFC has been a very successful library that other programming languages have developed their own or adapted the use of the MFC for their own. Regardless of which framework you utilize, you would still be using Win32 if you intend to create programs for the Windows operating system. MFC just makes it easier and quicker for C++ programmers.

Summary:
1.Win32 is also known as the Windows API while the MFC is a C++ class library that wraps parts of the Windows API
2.The MFC consists of the most common operations used in building a Win32 application
3.Using the MFC makes the coding lighter and a lot simpler than using the Windows API directly
4.The MFC allows C++ programmers to use the current Windows environment

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