Oregonian Haruspex wrote in
:

screwing about with finding libraries

I hated that part too. I looked for MIDI library code for years, on and off,
then when I finally bit the bullet and learned the core Win32 API and C, and
callback functions, etc, I found I had full control. I ended up with ALL that
I needed, within about a month. Finding libraires is overrated. I like to
build mine. I started learning about pointer iteration and dereferencing and
buffer overflows by building my own fast and safe string concatenation
function based on Theo de Radt (of OpenBSD, known for high security coding).
In many cases like these, I found that all the 'learning' in the world will
never cut to the chase as effectively as deducing what is to be done, what is
closest to doing it that is within reach, and adapting it directly. If done
thoroughly, by good effort to explore the possibilities that arise instead of
copying chunks like a script kiddie, the learning is also thorough, and the
code will become your own. Real satisfaction comes from that, enough to
counterpoise the neat reach.