Will there be a Win64 API?

Question

If I'm correct, Win32 is adapting or has been adapted to cope with 64 bit windows, for example, GetWindowLongPtr on 64 bit as opposed to GetWindowLong on 32 bit. Will there be a Win64 Api, and if so, is there any indication on when the transition will happen?

I'm not very knowledgeable on this subject so I apologize if I have anything obvious wrong. Thanks in advance, ell.

Solution 1

This transition happened around the turn of the century. 64 bit versions of Windows using the 64 bit version of Win32 have been in use for a long time now.

However, the 64 bit version of Win32 is still known as Win32 since it is essentially an identical interface with the only major difference being different sized pointers.

Solution 2

The new Windows API, just announced, is called WinRT. For more information, I recommend watching the keynotes from BUILD.

Solution 3

The Windows API has suffered terribly from the habit of assuming a known value of sizeof(void *) and sticking it in a field of some integral type believed to be the same size. Even in the Windows MSG structure, wParam is so named because it was originally a WORD, or unsigned 16 bit value, and lParam a LONG, or signed 32 bit value. Perhaps this is another symptom of C Programmers' Disease.

Comments

[David Heffernan]

I don't see that this answers the question. 64 bit Windows API has been extant for years and years.

[Reed Copsey]

@David: It addresses the future API for Windows, and shows how Microsoft is thinking about the Windows API in general. The OP already showed how the current API is adapted for Windows to support 64bit platforms. This shows what the newest, future API for Windows, in general, is heading...

[David Heffernan]

WinRT is certainly interesting, but it feels like a different question from the one that was asked. Perhaps I misread but it felt to me like Ell feels that the transition to 64 bit Windows API is only partially complete.

[Steve Onorato]

I'm wondering if there's an official source/citation for "the 64 bit version of Win32 is still known as Win32". It seems like Microsoft actually wants us to refer to the 64 bit version of the Windows API as "Win64", according to this reference: technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb496995.aspx

[AminM]

@David why not say win64?