Software Engineering Stack Exchange
Software Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [windows]

Questions involving programming on Microsoft Windows technology, including its API.

321 questions
394
votes
14 answers

Why do game developers prefer Windows?

Is it that DirectX is easier or better than OpenGL, even if OpenGL is cross-platform? Why do we not see real powerful games for Linux like there are for Windows?
M.Sameer
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131
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8 answers

Difference between '\n' and '\r\n'

Yes yes, I am aware that '\n' writes a newline in UNIX while for Windows there is the two character sequence: '\r\n'. All this is very nice in theory, but my question is why? Why the carriage return character is extra in Windows? If UNIX can do it…
sukhbir
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61
votes
24 answers

Why do programmers use or recommend Mac OS X?

I've worked on both Mac and Windows for awhile. However, I'm still having a hard time understanding why programmers enthusiastically choose Mac OS X over Windows and Linux? I know that there are programmers who prefer Windows and Linux, but I'm…
codingbear
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47
votes
4 answers

What is LPCTSTR?

what is LPCTSTR and LPCTSTR-like (for instance HDC) and what it does stand for?
user61273
43
votes
8 answers

Legitimate use of the Windows "Documents" folder in programs

Anyone who likes their Documents folder to contain only things they place there knows that the standard Documents folder is completely unsuitable for this task. Every program seems to want to put its settings, data, or something equally irrelevant…
Roman Starkov
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35
votes
6 answers

Why don't developers make installation automatic on windows?

This is the inverse to "Why don't developers make installation wizards on linux?", which is interesting, but made me think "Automatic installation is the natural way. Why do they use wizards?". So here is the inverse question: I'm sure it's not…
Volker Siegel
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35
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8 answers

Why don't developers make installation wizards on linux?

I'm sure it's not about laziness or anything like that but I fail to understand why developers of even mainly consumer facing apps don't make any sort of installation wizard where you go next-next-finish. The same apps usually have installers for…
Arsalan Ahmad
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34
votes
5 answers

Why don't Windows/Linux use relational Databases (RDBMS)?

Why don't Windows/Linux use relational databases (RDBMS)? I know they use file systems to store all data but don't you think it is more efficient to use databases like we use in web sites/web apps? Please elaborate on the use of a file system over a…
Pratik Joshi
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34
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4 answers

Does Microsoft have a free version of Visual Studio?

Not a trial, but a truly free version that they offer users to download.... I was wondering in case I somehow missed the option on their website. Any version of Visual Studio will do. If not, are there any open-source alternatives (that have similar…
Dark Templar
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33
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7 answers

Is there a Windows philosophy of programming?

I've been programming both in Unix and Windows environments. Mostly I've worked in Unix, where I've learned Unix Philosophy, which can be summarized as Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work together. Write…
Maglob
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32
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3 answers

Is address 0000000C a special address?

When programming sometimes things break. You made a mistake and your program tries to read from a wrong address. One thing that stands out to me that often those exceptions are like : Access violation at address 012D37BC in module 'myprog.exe'. Read…
Pieter B
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31
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6 answers

Do we need to test 32-bit software in 64-bit Windows?

I'm working in a software development team as software developer. I've been working on the same project for three years now. The software is a 32-bit desktop based C# application in .NET 4. Our target platform in Windows 7 (we had to support Windows…
Donotalo
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26
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5 answers

Moving from Winforms to WPF

I am a long time experienced Windows Forms developer, but now it's time to move to WPF because a new WPF project is comming soon to me and I have only a short lead time to prepare myself to learn WPF. What is the best way for a experienced Winforms…
Elmex
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24
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5 answers

Why can't Windows services have a GUI?

I was using this feature in earlier Windows release like XP and NT. I was able to run a GUI from a Windows service. But it is not possible in the later versions. What is the reason behind the removal of this feature? Why can't Windows services have…
Arun
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19
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6 answers

INI files or Registry or personal files?

I want to save the configuration of my project which includes Screen size Screen position Folder paths Users settings and so on. The standard places where you can save these are configuration values are: Registry INI files Personal files (like…
Shirish11
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