Question

I was asked about this in an c++ developer position interview, what is the answer to this?

Answer 1

I would have said:

If I wanted to create a portable cross-platform
C++ binary, I’d use pthreads and use
the pthread implementation for
windows. If I wanted to create a
windows-specific C++ binary, I’d use
beginthread and avoid the 3rd party
dependency on the pthread library.

If they really wanted to know the intricate internal details describing the differences between the two, you should think twice about working there. Unless it was for a reverse engineering job.