very simple (possibly even stupid) question

[peterworth]

what does _stdcall mean?

 

[PerFnurt]

Well you usually see it when dealing with functions that are exported/imported, right?

Different languages generate different kind of code and concerning functions some push the prameters starting with the leftmost, others starts pushing from the rightmost parameter.

And that's what _stdcall handles. It ensures the parameters in the function signature are pushed in a well-defined behavior (from right to left).

Trivia: The _pascal directive is the exact opposite...

/Per
[sub]
"It was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure."[/sub]

 

[peterworth]

what do you mean pushed? onto a stack? what stack? thanks.

 

[PerFnurt]

Parameters passed to a functions are always pushed on the stack, the function access them by peeking into the stack.

The stack that for example also holds local variables.

What stack? The stack.


/Per
[sub]
"It was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure."[/sub]

 

[PerFnurt]

There's an easy way to see what's going on.

Write a function like

void foo(int a, int b, int c, int d)
{
	cout << a << b << c << d;;
}
....
  foo(0x11,0x22,0x33,0x44);

Set a breakpoint at the line calling foo.
Open the dissasebly window (In VC6 : View->Debug Windows->Dissasebly)
You'll see a whole lot of pushing there, like

0040148C   push        44h
0040148E   push        33h
00401490   push        22h
00401492   push        11h

just before the call is executed.

/Per
[sub]
"It was a work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure."[/sub]