do you use a win32 API refrence?

I thought that I ask this question...

Do you use any win32 API refrence whenever you need need to find about a certain messege or a function like this exmaple:

Code:

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WM_SETICON 
wParam = (WPARAM) fType;          // icon type
lParam = (LPARAM) (HICON) hicon;  // handle of icon

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In the above message, I did not know what to put on wparam and lparam so I got these informations from a win32 programmers' refrence. Do you remember all this stuff or you just look that up on the refrence file?

MSDN

There are many messages (that are either simple ones, or commonly used ones) that people can seem to remember easily.

what about the people who have studied the programming in colleges or universities. And they are now like doing their jobs.
Do they also look at the refrence for windows API (or for any other os)

Well the things that are uncommon are always looked up in the MSDN. For example i don't have to look the MSDN for info about the Sleep API, but i have to look at it if i want to use the SHBrowseForFolder API. It is a fact that no human can remember 1.5GB of data.

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what about the people who have studied the programming in colleges or universities. And they are now like doing their jobs.
Do they also look at the refrence for windows API (or for any other os)

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They all use references, like Vlatko said, nobody can remember all that information, it doesn't matter how much you've studied it.

Thanks a lot guys!

Now, programming windows is not so hard.

OK I'm going to cause trouble now *smirks evilly*

Vlatko, it is very possible to memorise 1.5GB of data. If you digitised someone's sensual memory (as in, knowledge of faces they've seen, music they've heard, etc.) I expect you'd be hard pressed to find that sort of storage capacity on the planet, just for ONE person :eek:

But if you're referring to memorising MSDN, then probably not, although someone did learn that Buddhist thing...

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Originally posted by parksie
OK I'm going to cause trouble now *smirks evilly*

Vlatko, it is very possible to memorise 1.5GB of data. If you digitised someone's sensual memory (as in, knowledge of faces they've seen, music they've heard, etc.) I expect you'd be hard pressed to find that sort of storage capacity on the planet, just for ONE person :eek:

But if you're referring to memorising MSDN, then probably not, although someone did learn that Buddhist thing...

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But faces, music, etc. are different from a bunch of crap some guy wrote in a help file :eek:

Yes, but it's all information (considering knowledge to be information + rules, where rules are also a type of information ;))

But it's a lot easier for me to remember what a face looked like, than even one page of text.... I'm sure I speak for many other people too....

Very true dennis :)

If someone memorized the MSDN I wouldn't know whether to salute them or call then crazy.

parksie, it is easier to remember every pixel of Pam Andersson's body, and you need at least 1GB of brain memory just to have an image of her tits (LOL :D ), than the parameters to the FindFirstChangeNotification API (where did that come from). Right ;) .

Sadly, the brain only consists of roughly 9 MB according to some scientists.

Probably. Although I expect some form of "compression" is in effect, because with only a few details you can synthesise most visions or sounds. For example, you hear someone say a few words and you can imagine them saying lots of other words you haven't heard, and most of the time you get it right.

I think my brain deleted every memory that i've got before yesterday to make room for all of this programming crap =).

Z.