# DirectX Documentation

### The DirectX documentation in these directories contain the same information as the WinHelp documentation in the Help directory of this SDK

| Chapter 1 | Introducing DirectX 3: The Microsoft® DirectX™ Software Development Kit (SDK) provides a finely tuned set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that give you the resources you need to design high-performance, real-time applications. The next generation of computer games and multimedia applications will be built using DirectX technology.
| Chapter 2 | About DirectDraw: DirectDraw™ is a DirectX™ 3 SDK component that allows direct manipulation of display memory, hardware blitters, hardware overlays, and flipping. DirectDraw provides this functionality while maintaining compatibility with existing Microsoft® Windows® applications and device drivers.
| Chapter 3 | About DirectSound: The Microsoft® DirectSound™ application programming interface (API) is the audio component of the DirectX™ 3 Software Development Kit (SDK) that provides low-latency mixing, hardware acceleration, and direct access to the sound device. DirectSound provides this functionality while maintaining compatibility with existing Windows®-based applications and device drivers.
| Chapter 4 | About DirectPlay: The Microsoft® DirectPlay™ application programming interface (API) for Windows® is a software interface that simplifies your application's access to communication services. DirectPlay has become a technology family that not only provides a way for applications to communicate with each other that is independent of the underlying transport, protocol, or online service, but also provides this independence for matchmaking (lobby) servers.
| Chapter 5 | About Direct3D: The Microsoft family of advanced 3D-graphics solutions includes the Direct3D™ and OpenGL® application programming interfaces (APIs).
| Chapter 5, Section 1 | Retained-Mode Reference
| Chapter 5, Section 2 | Immediate-Mode Reference
| Chapter 6 | Introduction to Joysticks: The Microsoft® DirectInput™ application programming interface (API) provides fast and consistent access to analog and digital joysticks. The DirectInput API maintains consistency with the joystick APIs of the Microsoft Win32® Software Development Kit (SDK), but has improved responsiveness and reliability by changing the device driver model. DirectInput device drivers use the registry to store settings for standard joysticks, calibration information for previously configured joysticks, and settings for OEM-supplied joysticks.
| DirectInput Keyboard and Mouse | Introduction to using DirectInput keyboard and mouse support: One of the most frequently received requests for enhancements to the DirectX SDK has been to allow faster access to mouse and keyboard data than Windows currently provides. DirectInput 3 provides fast low-latency access to mouse and keyboard data. This late-breaking info is only available from this doc file, it is not in the help files yet!
| Chapter 7 | About DirectSetup: DirectSetup is a simple application programming interface (API) that provides you with a one-call installation for the DirectX™ 3 \ components. This is more than a convenience; DirectX 3 is a complex product and its installation is an involved task. You should not attempt a manual installation of DirectX 3.