< programming , hardware > A Microsoft programming interface standard , first included with Windows 95 . DirectX gives (games) programmers a standard way to gain direct access to enhanced hardware features under Windows 95 instead of going via the Windows 95 GDI . Some DirectX code runs faster than the equivalent under MS DOS .
DirectX promises performance improvements for graphics, sound, video, 3D, and network capabilites of games, but only where both hardware and software support DirectX.
DirectX 2 introduced the Direct3D interface. Version 5 was current at 1998-02-01. Version 8.1 is included in Windows XP .
Current version: 8.1 (as of 2001-12-31).
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(2001-12-31)