Readers beware: some of those tutorials contain "tricks" involving undocumented API features. Using those are a good way to ensure that your application isn't forwards or backwards compatible, and is also a sure way to get on Raymond Chen's bad side.

Quote:Original post by Justin Rebuilt

Specifics would help readers understand what you're talking about. What about it is bad?

For the issue I mentioned, the author usually mentions it right there that he's using undocumented features. Unfortunately, he makes no attempt to explain the consequences of using these features. Instead he usually says something along the lines of "ZOMG this function is so cool, MS hid it just to keep it for themselves!". In reality, these functions and features and reserved parameters aren't documented because MS may need to change or remove these at any point in the future. This could during the next OS version, or even during a service pack upgrade. For the same reason, you're also not guaranteed that your hacks will work on previous versions of Windows (or even the one you're using). In my experience there's very little that you can't accomplish with the documented API calls, and certainly nothing that would be useful for games development.