Hello everyone, novice programmer here
I'm learning C++ with a book(C++ How to Program, Fifth Edition) and already can write simple programs(not much, of course). The thing is; since the only programs that the book has as examples are console aplications(the black background), I did a little search on how to program for Windows and found out that it could be done using the "windows.h" header that include the API funtions declarations.
My question is if there is any other way of programming for Windows with C++, because I keep hearing from programmers I know about the restricting APIs can be and the power of the C++ language and how you can do anything you want with it(including functions like Windows APIs).
I know I'm getting ahead of myself with this, but I just want to know.This has been for far too long in my mind!
Any comments, ideas or just the advice of getting other programming friends that don't talk nonsense are all very welcome.
Thanks in advance

Please google MFA and JFC(Java).

I hope this help/