This section provides an overview of the Microsoft Win32 Application Programming Interface (API), how it is organized, and some of the features that you can use in your Win32-based applications.
The Win32 API allows applications to exploit the power of the 32 bit Windows family of operating systems. The functions, structures, messages, macros, and interfaces form a consistent and uniform API for all of Microsoft's 32-bit platforms. Using the Win32 API, you can develop applications that run successfully on all platforms while still being able to take advantage of unique features and capabilities of any given platform.
Differences in the implementation of the programming elements depend on the capabilities of the underlying features of the platform. The most notable difference is that some functions carry out their tasks only on the more powerful platforms. For example, security functions are only available on the Windows NT operating system. Most other differences are system limitations, such as restrictions on the range of values or the number of items a given function can manage.
For a summary of Win32 differences on different platforms, see Win32 Platform Differences. For more information about system limitations in Windows 95, see Windows 95 System Limitations. For more information about system limitations in Win32s, see the Win32s Programmer's Reference.
The Win32 API can be grouped into these functional categories: