This book shows you how to write programs that run under Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, and Windows NT 5.0. These programs are written in the C programming language and use the native Windows application programming interfaces (APIs). As I'll discuss later in this chapter, this is not the only way to write programs that run under Windows. However, it is important to understand the Windows APIs regardless of what you eventually use to write your code.
As you probably know, Windows 98 is the latest incarnation of the graphical operating system that has become the de facto standard for IBM-compatible personal computers built around 32-bit Intel microprocessors such as the 486 and Pentium. Windows NT is the industrial-strength version of Windows that runs on PC compatibles as well as some RISC (reduced instruction set computing) workstations.
