Hello all, Must a good programmer know the standard win32 c++ program (with event handler) by heart? Is someone a bad prgrammer if he doesn''t know the standard program by heart? I know this is a stupid question, but anyway i want to get an answer please! Thank you!

Aehm...well I know just as much as it is necessary.

I would say that your programming prowess has nothing to do with what API''s you know how to use. Just like architecture or plumbing, programming is a set of skills and abilities. Sure knowledge of various API''s and specific programming languages come into play, but a good programmer should be able to learn any language and use any API.
That said, I think understanding the windows API is crucial to developing with directX. You don''t need a great understanding, and you certainly don''t need to know it by heart, that''s what books and help files are for.

Knowing the Win32Api by heart would be a wasted effort -- especially since it changes fairly rapidly.

Heck, I still have to look up the parameters to CreateFile () when I use it. I have better things to store in my long term memory than the six or seven parms and their needed values that a typical win32api requires..



Notwen

With the power of an F1 button and misc on-line resources etc, no. Over time you will get to know alot of API''s, frameworks, OS, etc. rather extensively, but don''t make it a point too for the sake of doing it.

Do you have to know an automobile inside and out to be a good driver? Of course not. Does it hurt to have that knowledge? You see where I''m going? Learn what you need when you need it, out of necessity. The reason being technology will change so fast, you''ll always have something you need to learn. What''s hot today will be tomorrows old news. There''s too much out there for any carbon based life form I know of to learn it all by heart in a typical 75 year lifespan...

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster

With the power of an F1 button and misc on-line resources etc, no. Over time you will get to know alot of API''s, frameworks, OS, etc. rather extensively, but don''t make it a point too for the sake of doing it.

This anonymous poster is no longer anonymous

I''m with everyone else - keep the rough details in your brain, the details in on-line help, and let your brain''s L2 cache figure out what you need to remember.



Mason McCuskey
Spin Studios - home of Quaternion, 2000 GDC Indie Games Fest Finalist!
www.spin-studios.com

I''m a firm believer in cut-and-paste programming. The standard win32 C++ program is something you should have lying around for that time when you need to use the ctrl-c/ctrl-v key combo.

Why is it necessary to use something like CreateFile as opposed to standard C/C++ classes/functions such as fopen, fwrite, fstream, etc?

quote: Original post by Notwen

Knowing the Win32Api by heart would be a wasted effort -- especially since it changes fairly rapidly.

Heck, I still have to look up the parameters to CreateFile () when I use it. I have better things to store in my long term memory than the six or seven parms and their needed values that a typical win32api requires..



Notwen

It isn''t necessary, of course, unless you are using some of the special features of those APIs. However, I''m more used to the Win32 API side. Also, CreateFile and CloseHandle are used often to open/close various other types of objects besides simple files.



Notwen