What does the external keyword do?

[ghost]

I think we already have foreign? I found the external keyword being used on AdeptWin32Examples with WinMain like this:

external stdcall func WinMain(hInstance, _hPrevInstance HINSTANCE, _lpCmdLine LPSTR, nCmdShow int) int

[IsaacShelton]

They are kind of like opposites of each other. foreign means that we're importing a C symbol. external means we're exporting a C symbol.

[ghost]

Why do I have to export the WinMain function? I'm not writting a DLL. Please elaborate more. Thank you.

[IsaacShelton]

Since WinMain is the entry point, the Window's CRT has to be able to call it.

So WinMain has to exist as a C symbol.

In order to get WinMain to be a C symbol, we have to mark it as external.

Normally, main is the entry point and is automatically external, but if there's an external function named WinMain, it will be used instead of main (which is what we want in this case).

Otherwise, a non-external WinMain would be treated as just a normal function

[ghost]

Could I omit stdcall?

[IsaacShelton]

Yes, I believe you can omit stdcall since compiling for 64 bit