Chapter 1. Introducing DirectX

DirectX is a set of APIs for developing game-or graphics-related applications on Microsoft platforms, including Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox 360, and the new Xbox One. DirectX has been evolving since the mid-1990s and is at the leading edge of modern graphics development. Direct3D is the 3D graphics API within DirectX, and this book focuses its attention there. DirectX also includes systems for 2D graphics, input, audio, text rendering, and general-purpose GPU programming. This chapter provides an overview of DirectX and the DirectX 11 graphics pipeline.

A Bit of History

DirectX version 1.0 was released in September 1995, just after the launch of Windows 95. Previously, games were primarily developed on MS-DOS. ...

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