{"slug": "wtl", "name": "WTL", "category": "dev-libs", "category_name": "Libraries and frameworks", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 2.866, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2026-03-22", "latest": "2026-03-22", "why": "It took out the unpleasantness of working directly on Win32 API", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "It took out the unpleasantness of working directly on Win32 API", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/win32-wtl/wtl", "official_url": "https://sourceforge.net/projects/wtl/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["WTL"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 759750944, "item_id": 47484434, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47484434", "by": "hernandipietro", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use WTL with modern C++", "excerpt": "I use WTL with modern C++ (smart pointers, Microsoft WIL for scoped handles is a good point) for suitable Windows native apps. Yes, this seems to be old but it\u2019s the only thing that fits my mental model as a 30 year old Windows programmer as you.", "context": "30 year old Windows programmer", "use_case": "Windows native apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows native app development is a mess"}, {"id": 759705792, "item_id": 47481612, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481612", "by": "cachius", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WTL delivers very small and efficient code, very close in size and speed to SDK programs", "excerpt": "GitHub mirror of the sourceforge repo: https://github.com/Win32-WTL/WTL WTL delivers very small and efficient code, very close in size and speed to SDK programs, while presenting a more logical, object oriented model to a programmer.", "context": "", "use_case": "Lightweight native Windows apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows native app development is a mess"}, {"id": 759703200, "item_id": 47481450, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481450", "by": "ww520", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It took out the unpleasantness of working directly on Win32 API", "excerpt": "The last time I built a native Windows app years ago, I used WTL 3.0. It\u2019s a light weight wrapper on the native Win32 API, lighter than MFC. It took out the unpleasantness of working directly on Win32 API and wrapped it in a simple OO framework. It had access to all features of Win32. It could produce runtime binary in dozens of K, instead of MB or GB. Microsoft released it open source later on. Looking at the reposi", "context": "", "use_case": "native Windows GUI apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows native app development is a mess"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "hernandipietro", "context": "30 year old Windows programmer", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47484434", "date": "2026-03-22"}, {"by": "jasonjei", "context": "Windows developer 15 years ago", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47479348", "date": "2026-03-22"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["windows native apps", "lightweight native windows apps", "native windows gui apps", "win32 app ui"], "compared": [{"slug": "mfc", "name": "MFC", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47475938", "title": "Windows native app development is a mess", "mentions": 4}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 3}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 759750944, "item_id": 47484434, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47484434", "by": "hernandipietro", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use WTL with modern C++", "excerpt": "I use WTL with modern C++ (smart pointers, Microsoft WIL for scoped handles is a good point) for suitable Windows native apps. Yes, this seems to be old but it\u2019s the only thing that fits my mental model as a 30 year old Windows programmer as you.", "context": "30 year old Windows programmer", "use_case": "Windows native apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows native app development is a mess"}, {"id": 759705792, "item_id": 47481612, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481612", "by": "cachius", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WTL delivers very small and efficient code, very close in size and speed to SDK programs", "excerpt": "GitHub mirror of the sourceforge repo: https://github.com/Win32-WTL/WTL WTL delivers very small and efficient code, very close in size and speed to SDK programs, while presenting a more logical, object oriented model to a programmer.", "context": "", "use_case": "Lightweight native Windows apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows native app development is a mess"}, {"id": 759703200, "item_id": 47481450, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481450", "by": "ww520", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It took out the unpleasantness of working directly on Win32 API", "excerpt": "The last time I built a native Windows app years ago, I used WTL 3.0. It\u2019s a light weight wrapper on the native Win32 API, lighter than MFC. It took out the unpleasantness of working directly on Win32 API and wrapped it in a simple OO framework. It had access to all features of Win32. It could produce runtime binary in dozens of K, instead of MB or GB. Microsoft released it open source later on. Looking at the reposi", "context": "", "use_case": "native Windows GUI apps", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows native app development is a mess"}, {"id": 759669569, "item_id": 47479348, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47479348", "by": "jasonjei", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It seemed way less bloated than MFC, but not as annoying to use as ATL or rawdogging Win32 APIs.", "excerpt": "It\u2019s been a long time since I had to touch Windows development. If I had to do it over again, I would use React Native for Windows UI where possible and low-level Win32-React Native module bridges for user space code. The last time I had to do Windows development was about 15 years ago. I used a library called WTL (I think a couple comments here mention it). I couldn\u2019t use any of the newer stuff that Windows 8-10 wer", "context": "Windows developer 15 years ago", "use_case": "Win32 app UI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Windows native app development is a mess"}]}