All application resources must be identified by numeric values. But, for humans, numeric identifiers are awkward and difficult to remember. Therefore, just as Windows 98 supplies mnemonic constants (see the Windows.H and included header files), programmers can also define .H header definition files to provide mnemonics for application resources (or use predefined mnemonics).
When creating resources using the Microsoft C++ integrated development compiler, the resource identifiers are created automatically and are found in the Resource.H header. The bulk of the resources appear as scripts in the .RC resource file. All image resources—bitmaps, cursors, and icons—appear as separate .BMP, .CUR, and .ICO files, which are referenced within the .RC script.