HostAP help

[capacity77 at tin.it]

Hi !
I'm working at a project concerning wireless applications and I have to
use HostAP to create a LAN. But I have to find an answer to some question,
for example, once I've installed HostAP on 2 laptops, they will see each
other just like
in a LAN network but how can each one recognize the other? What kind of
identification is used?
And more, where I can find information like these and detailed informations
about the know-how on what HostAP does or doesn't do without trying to read
the code?
Thanx a lot!
capacity