You can't code in a high-level language like C without working with abstractions. Whether you look at the main() level or the WinMain() level, there will still be library initialization hooks running before your end-user code gets to run.
The rest of the people here talking as if C is some sort of ultra-portable magic language need to learn about the low level details that differ between OSes.
My primary point remains however, the easiest and most straightforward way to interface with Windows libraries is through C++ and C#. Even C itself is a high-level language built on top of abstractions built by compilers and linkers.
And while we're on implementation details, please note that most UNIX platforms do not start at main either. Most platforms include some soft of crt0 that must be linked which contains the real entry point. The dynamic linker will also run code prior to main.
But the C standard only defines what the environment looks like when execution begins and makes no statement on what might run before or how the program got into memory in the first place.
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/qa/qa1118/_index.htm...
Actually I do know that, but you simply said "int main() blah blah blah" doesn't "work" (to quote you there). If you're going to require me to be precise, maybe you should look in the mirror first.
No win main or other similar concepts here and built using vs2012.
Microsoft (R) COFF/PE Dumper Version 11.00.61030.0 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Dump of file consoleapplication6.exe
File Type: EXECUTABLE IMAGE
_main: 00401000: 68 48 20 40 00 push offset ??_C@_0M@KIBDPGDE@Hello?5world?$AA@ 00401005: FF 15 00 20 40 00 call dword ptr [__imp__puts] 0040100B: 83 C4 04 add esp,4 0040100E: 33 C0 xor eax,eax 00401010: C3 ret
Summary
1000 .rdata
1000 .reloc
1000 .rsrc
1000 .textAnyway, you have to turn off c++, c++ exceptions, security checks in compiler options. In linker set the entry point to main and turn off error reporting. From there it's finding the right lib which is dependent on arch, etc.
To be honest it's not worth doing. I only knew of it because I had to patch a vs2010 exe to run on windows 2000.
You claim to be a low-level programmer who understands C. The truth is right in front of you. Decompile those programs, look at their symbol tables. Notice, every Win32 program starts at WinMain, called with the arguments that I listed above.
Come back when you've done this simple exercise. Realize, WinMain is the _true_ starting point of "C Programs" in Windows. The rest are compiler abstractions.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ff38... >>> How does the compiler know to invoke wWinMain instead of the standard main function? What actually happens is that the Microsoft C runtime library (CRT) provides an implementation of main that calls either WinMain or wWinMain.