sales2099 said:
Oh. Learn something new all the time. Damn good job on MS cornering the market here. |
It not really cornering the market. Those engines also use OpenGL/AL for cross platform support, since those API's are platform agnostic (not made for one specific OS)
Here is a quick primer before I go further; you can view a computer as being made of many different layers or stories, and some of these stories are divided even further. In programming the major layers are: (These are the abstraction layers I learned there are various models that abstract things a little differently.)
Machine (Lvl 0 - Binary, this allows for direct control of the hardware so you can make it do what it wasn't orginally intended to do)
Hardware (Lvl 1- Mantel, Assembly, PhysX, etc - These are the manufactures propritary languages that are supplied to help programmers use their hardware the way its intended)
OS (Lvl 2 - Windows, UNIX, LINUX, MacOS (techinically its a form of LINUX), Android, iOS, etc - you can manipulate the OS into doing different things with the drivers it has)
API (Lvl 3 - DirectX, Open GL/AL, and a bunch of others - You use this as a go between so you don't have to program for a specific OS, with the exception of DirectX)
Software (Lvl 4 - Emulation, Webbased)
Optimization of code especially when dealing with Input and Graphics usually involve by-passing some of the uppper levels and using the lower level programming to make the software run faster and to squeaze most of the power out of a subset of hardware. Alot of control I/O it is recommended to program it at either the Hardware or Machine Levels to decrease lag.
OK, My main point... The higher the level you program in the less powerful things you can do with the program. DirectX has traditionally been only for Windows on PC and the Xbox, the windows phones has been using DirectGL/AL as their programming API because it is less bulky and comes in more flavors. Since they are listing mobile devices and historically DirectX isn't used, this is probally going to be 11.3 major revision that includes a subset of commands that are made especially for machines running a Windows kernel on a mobile device. And as for the power since AMD finally released a new standard set for their hardware they may be making DirectX 3D so it can be modified to scan and use PhyX or Mantel make some rudementary optimization possible with just DirectX.
