- Mar 27, 2007
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My first post here, I hope this is the right board to post this. 
There are many different API's, like DirectX and OpenGL for graphics and PhysX API for physics accelerators for example. Because of these API's, developers have to write relatively little card specific code.
I was wondering why this does not apply to CPU's at all. If there was an API for CPU's, it wouldn't matter much if the CPU was an x86 or PPC based for example. Mostly only operating system kernel would need to be compiled for specific CPU architecture and the API would take care of rest.
There probably is a performance hit in using an API, but since DirectX and OpenGL is so heavily used for graphics, it can't be that bad, can it?
Probably a stupid question but it has been nagging me quite some time.
There are many different API's, like DirectX and OpenGL for graphics and PhysX API for physics accelerators for example. Because of these API's, developers have to write relatively little card specific code.
I was wondering why this does not apply to CPU's at all. If there was an API for CPU's, it wouldn't matter much if the CPU was an x86 or PPC based for example. Mostly only operating system kernel would need to be compiled for specific CPU architecture and the API would take care of rest.
There probably is a performance hit in using an API, but since DirectX and OpenGL is so heavily used for graphics, it can't be that bad, can it?
Probably a stupid question but it has been nagging me quite some time.