MFC stands for Microsoft Foundation Class Library, which is a C++ object-oriented library for developing desktop applications for Windows. It was introduced by Microsoft in 1992 and quickly gained widespread use. MFC provides a set of functions, constants, data types, and classes to manage Windows, menus, dialog boxes, basic input/output, and storing collections of data objects, among other things. MFC is a library that wraps portions of the Windows API in C++ classes, including functionality that enables them to use a default application framework. In an MFC program, direct Windows API calls are rarely needed. Instead, programs create objects from Microsoft Foundation Class classes and call member functions belonging to those objects. MFC provides classes for many basic objects, such as strings, files, and collections that are used in everyday programming. It also provides classes for common Windows APIs and data structures, such as windows, controls, and device contexts. MFC can be used by linking a static library or by adding the MFC DLL.