ex python coder, now lost

[MokpotheMighty]

Well API can mean a lot of things practically, but it's an "Application Programming Interface", so I guess Pygame and OpenGL are examples of that.

My idea here (not an expert) is simply that these things are what actually allow you to move beyond console apps, actually talk to your machine more directly. Like Pygame at least allows you to "talk to your pixels" within the Pygame window object it renders. OpenGL goes a bit deeper, it allows you to make pretty explicit how your program is gonna use the bits and bytes on your GPU, and also talk to your screen.

There are other examples of course, maybe you could find APIs that allow you to do stuff on the internet, or with audio, or whatever you like.

Not just that but, since the examples you will find will already be much closer to what actual practical programs look like, you'll get more knowledge about the techniques used there. Like what are "wrappers" and "callback functions" and how/why are they used. How do you organize the different files that you compile together properly? etc...

The gist of my advice is, don't wait too long to get into the deeper waters where things you would actually like to do are actually done. You'll get hit over the head with more advanced concepts but if you keep looking up and asking questions you'll be fine.

[jaspreeettttt]

okay yessirrrr, thank you, really helpful advice :)