Glossary

Programming the Nintendo DS, and other embedded hardware systems in general, requires knowledge of many different concepts the terms used to describe them. Throughout this manual, we've introduced many terms that you probably have never encountered, excepting that you might have had other embedded hardware or video game programming practice.

Affine transformation matrix

Application programming interface (API)

Application programming interface

Affine

Interrupt

Interrupt Request Handler (IRQ Handler)

An interrupt handler is a function that is called after an interrupt is triggered. It is code designed to do something useful as a result of the interrupt. A common example of an interrupt handler is the VBlank interrupt handler. Upon entering VBlank, the Nintendo DS will cause the VBlank handler to run which will often update the graphics engines and/or VRAM to draw new images onto the display. The updating of the display is tied to the VBlank interrupt to avoid screen artifacts and to keep screen updating from the software side in sync with screen updating on the hardware side.

Vertical blanking period (VBlank)

Vertical blanking period

Introduction to Nintendo DS Programming