Chapter 1. Basic Techniques and Knowledge

We are about to begin our adventure into the Windows graphics system, from the surface of the Win32 API to the rock bottom of display/printer drivers. There are lots of important areas in the Windows graphics system. We will focus on the most important parts: the Win32 GDI (Graphics Device Interface) and the DirectDraw portion of DirectX.

Win32 GDI APIs are implemented on multiple platforms like Win32s, Win95/98, Win NT 3.5/4.0, Windows 2000, and WinCE, with significant differences among them. For example, Win32s and Win95/98 are based on the old 16-bit GDI implementation that has lots of restrictions, while the true 32-bit implementations on Windows NT 3.5/4.0 and Windows 2000 are much more powerful. The ...

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