C++ No main() function?

c++ visual-c++ visual-studio-6
John Tilley picture John Tilley · Jul 12, 2011 · Viewed 9k times · Source

I'm a graduate programmer and when it comes to C++ I expect there to be a main() function everytime.

However I've been given a project written in C++ with Visual Studio 6.0 and it doesn't have a main() function. I really can't figure out how this program executes or where it begins.

I have seen examples of the Macro that can be used to change the name of the main() function, however this code shows no sign of that practice.

Can anyone suggest what I should be looking for?

Answer

bert-jan picture bert-jan · Jul 12, 2011

Maybe the main function is in a library, and the program startes with a virtual function call on a static object. That's what happens in MFC-applications.

The program derives a class from CWinApp and instanciates it once as a static variable. MFC then knows a pointer (that was set up by the constructor of CWinApp, and calls the virtual function InitInstance() on that pointer.

See, here's where the software from the program takes over...

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