Glossary¶

Frame Buffer¶

An array of pixel values, where each pixel holds information such as color (red, green, blue, alpha), depth (how far a fragment is from the camera), and sometimes stencil values (for masking operations).

Normalized Device Coordinates¶

Normalized Device Coordinates are the range of values from -1.0 to 1.0 in the X, Y, and Z directions, the last space before drawing geometry in screen space. Anything vertex outside of the NDC range will not be mapped to a pixel.

World Space¶

World space

Modelspace¶

Modelspace

Screen Space¶

Screen space is an index (x,y) that is mapped to a pixel on a monitor.

Event Loop¶

An event loop is a programming construct that continuously waits for and dispatches events or messages in a program. At its core, it works like this:

1. The program has a queue of tasks, events, or messages that need to be processed (like user input, network responses, timers, etc.).

2. The event loop repeatedly checks this queue. If there’s an event waiting, it pulls it from the queue and runs the associated code (often a callback or handler).

3. If the queue is empty, it waits until something new arrives.

This pattern is common in systems where tasks happen asynchronously—such as GUIs or command lines because it lets programs handle many things (like clicks, network requests, or timers) without blocking on just one operation.