Programmable graphics pipeline

Patent Granted Computers began undergoing a significant change in recent years with the introduction of a separate video card and the rise of hardware accelerated graphics.[4] This has led to the need for a programmable graphics pipeline which can be manipulated by Shaders.[5] Since the introduction of the programmable graphics pipeline most fixed-function pipeline implementations have become obsolete, such as OpenGL's immediate mode, or Direct3D's built in hardware Transform, clipping, and lighting.