>As far as being 'shielded', it might seem so, but there is a good reason. Cross platform. Core Fox source code runs on DOS, Mac, UNIX, and Windows. We had to come up with a common code base to target these platforms. Hence no Windows windows, the offsreen bitmap, etc. The reason why VFP is nativelty unaware of the event loop, Windows handles, and standard Windows interfaces, is because FoxPro has been around longer than the Windows we know today.

Absolutely facinating. How quickly we forget about the early 90's mantra of "cross platform".