VB:What is DirectX

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So what is this wonderful DirectX thing that game programmers are always going on about? Basically, it is Microsoft's answer to game programmer's complaints that Windows is a poor platform for game development. You see, in the old days, the only thing that game programmers had to create games with in Windows was the API. Anyone who's ever tried using the API BitBlt function to make an action game can tell you that it is far too slow! (Although it is suitable for slower paced gaming.)

Enter DirectX. DirectX is a collection of DLLs that contain functions useful to game programmers, and best of all, these functions shield the programmer from issues arising from the differences in hardware from system to system. In other words, DirectX allows programmers access to fast graphics, sound, and input functions while shielding them from having to test for the capabilities of the computer on which their program is running. DirectX will assay these capabilities for you, and even if they are not present, they may be emulated for you (in many cases). You barely even have to think!

Since the release of DirectX 7.0, Visual Basic programmers have had the power to access DirectX easily. You see, DirectX now comes with it's own Visual Basic Type Libraries. A type library describes the functions contained within a DLL or group of DLLs, thereby allowing a programmer to access the capabilities contained within the DLLs. Before DirectX 7.0, we had to rely on type libraries created by a man named Patrice Scribe. These type libraries certainly did the job (and well) but DirectX 7.0 has the added boon of coming with documentation and sample programs. Now there are many resources a budding VB DirectX game programmer can draw upon.