Developers wishing to create applications using C++ have traditionally had three choices. Developers could go with the basic Win32 API, the Microsoft Foundation Classes, or the minimal windowing support within the Active Template Library.

Developing applications using Win32 at the native level is akin to using assembly language. While you get complete control over all aspects of an application, you also have complete responsibility for getting everything right—including managing the window creation, the switch statements, device contexts, GDI objects, and other myriad other issues involved in Win32-based development. MFC removes much of that drudgery, letting you concentrate on the application itself. However, MFC is both fairly substantial and coupled to itself. ATL provides a minimal amount of windowing support, but is missing some of the features like the Document View Architecture, User Interface Updating, and Multiple Document Interface support.

SFL answers this need by providing a set of template-based classes and an AppWizard. SFL makes creating applications easier than using either Win32 alone or ATL. Moreover, SFL isn’t tightly coupled to itself like MFC is, making it easier to mix application features independently of each other. In addition, SFL is substantially smaller than MFC, meaning your clients won’t need a huge DLL providing run-time support.