API
API (Application Programming Interface) is what allows one piece of software to communicate with another piece of software. In video games this is seen when Video games which run a higher level of software like C or Java which are used for coding games have to communicate with the lower level software called machine code which is the code that is understood by the hardware components like CPU's and GPU's the API is what allows these to different systems to communicate with each other like a bridge to put an image on the screen. DirectX DirectX is a collection of technologies first developed by Microsoft in the mid 1990s and was released with windows 95. It has also been included in every version of Windows since. This set of technologies included several APIs designed for use in game development as well as other multimedia applications. Open GL OpenGL, which stands for Open Graphics Library, is an alternative to DirectX and generally offers the same functions to game developers as it also offers access to the low level functions of graphics hardware. |