Coding Knowledge Omniscience

[nesmith]

I want to hear from experienced C++ Windows programmers about how they deal with not knowing what every bit of code in the Windows environment does. What I mean is that creating a simple window using Visual C++ generates a ton of code. As a windows programmer, you are primarily concerned with the code that affects what you are trying to do. For example, if you are creating a menu item, you are concerned with the code for your handler. But I am always worried that I don't know enough about the other code that I don't have to deal with. Is that just paranoia?

[kbw]

how they deal with not knowing what every bit of code in the Windows environment does.

You don't need to know. Windows has a lot of entropy. It's a waste of time to try to learn/understand it all. Just try to understand the parts you use.

What I mean is that creating a simple window using Visual C++ generates a ton of code. ... But I am always worried that I don't know enough about the other code that I don't have to deal with. Is that just paranoia?

Well, you should understand what's in such a program and why. But you don't start by understanding everything before starting. You start by knowing what you need to know, then you learn about the other things you encounter ont he way.

Is there anything in particular that you'd like to about?

[nesmith]

No, I'm a long time C++ programmer but a newbie Windows programmer. Thanks for your reply. That was very helpful. :)