Chapter 23. ATOMS
The Win32 API allows applications to store strings in structures known as atom tables. Once a program stores a string in an atom table, the program may reference the string using an atom. An atom is a unique 16-bit value that is associated with a constant string value. Using an atom as a reference to a string is similar to using a memory handle to reference a block of shared global data. Just as an application can pass a memory handle to the Win32 API to obtain a pointer to the contents of a block of data (by using GlobalLock), an application can use the Win32 APIs to obtain the value of a string associated with an atom. The string value that an atom represents is known as its atom name.
Atoms can be used by applications to ...
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