functionaility of macros

[aania]

#define LOWORD(l) ((WORD)(l))
#define HIWORD(l) ((WORD)(((DWORD )(l) >> 16) & 0xFFFF))

Explain functionality of both of these macros

[weaknessforcats]

I can't do any better than a Google of HIWORD and LOWORD.

Keep in mind that these are very old Windows macros back when 16-bit machines were the latest thing.

I personally have never used this thing.

[Banfa]

Hmmm actually I think you will find that these macros are actually part of the WIN32 API for 32 bit machines. Quite useful for decoding such things and the wParam of WM_COMMAND and other message parameters where often 2 16bit parameters were carried in a single 32bit value.

[donbock]

Personally, I would have defined LOWORD differently:

#define LOWORD(I) ((WORD)((I) & 0xFFFF))

I prefer explicit masking to relying on overflow to work the way you expect.