View source for Allegro (software library)

{{Short description|Software library for video game development}}
{{infobox software
| name                   = Allegro
| screenshot             = [[File:Allegro-logo.png|Allegro-logo]]
| screenshot size        = frameless
| caption                = Logo
| author                 = {{ill|Shawn Hargreaves|pl}}
| developer              = Allegro developers
| released               = early {{Start date and age|1990}}
| latest release version = 5.2.10.0<ref>{{cite web |title=5.2.10.0 Release |url=https://github.com/liballeg/allegro5/releases/5.2.10.0/ |website=5.2.10.0 Github Release Page |access-date=27 November 2024}}</ref>
| latest release date    = {{Start date and age|2024|11|27}}
| programming language   = [[C (programming language)|C]]
| operating system       = [[Windows]], [[Linux as gaming platform#APIs|Linux]], [[macOS]], [[Android (operating system)|Android]], [[iOS]], web browser et al.
| genre                  = [[Multimedia]] and [[Video game|Games]] [[Software development kit|SDK]]
| license                = Allegro 5: [[Zlib license|zlib]]<ref>{{cite web | url = http://liballeg.org/license.html | title = The giftware license | access-date = 2013-11-16 | author = Allegro Development Team}}</ref>
| website                = {{URL|http://liballeg.org}}
}}

'''Allegro''' is a [[software library]] for [[video game]] development.<ref>{{cite book | last =  Harbour | first = Jonathan | title =  Game Programming All in One, Second Edition | publisher = Course Technology PTR | year = 2004 | isbn = 1-59200-383-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last =  Steinke | first = Lennart | title = Spielprogrammierung | publisher = BHV Verlag | year = 2003 | isbn =  3-8266-8075-8 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Deitel | first = P. J. | title = C How to Program | publisher = [[Prentice Hall]] | year = 2006 | isbn = 0-13-240416-8 }}</ref> The functionality of the library includes support for basic 2D graphics, image manipulation, text output, audio output, [[MIDI]] music, input and timers, as well as additional routines for fixed-point and floating-point [[matrix (mathematics)|matrix]] arithmetic, [[Unicode]] strings, file system access, file manipulation, data files, and 3D graphics. The library is written in the [[C (programming language)|C programming language]] and designed to be used with C, [[C++]], or [[Objective-C]], with [[Language binding|bindings]] available for [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[Lua (programming language)|Lua]], [[Scheme (programming language)|Scheme]], [[D (programming language)|D]], [[Go (programming language)|Go]], and other languages.<ref>[http://liballeg.org/bindings.html List of Allegro language bindings]</ref> Allegro comes with extensive documentation and many examples.

Allegro supports [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], [[macOS]], [[Unix-like|Unix-like systems]], [[Android (operating system)|Android]], and [[iOS]], abstracting their [[application programming interface]]s (APIs) into one portable interface. It can run also on top of [[Simple DirectMedia Layer]] which is used to run Allegro programs in web browser using [[Emscripten]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://github.com/liballeg/allegro5/blob/master/README_sdl.txt | title=Welcome to Allegro! | website=[[GitHub]] | date=23 September 2022 }}</ref>

Released under the terms of the [[zlib license]], Allegro is [[free and open source software]].

== History ==

Initially standing for ''Atari Low-Level Game Routines'',<ref>[http://www.allegro.cc/forums/thread/573313/574083#target Forum posting by Shawn Hargreaves]</ref> Allegro was originally created by {{ill|Shawn Hargreaves|pl}} for the [[Atari ST]] in the early 1990s. When Hargreaves realized the platform was dying, he abandoned the Atari version, and reimplemented his work for the [[Borland C++]] and [[DJGPP]] [[compiler]]s in 1995. Support for Borland C++ was dropped in version 2.0, and DJGPP was the only supported compiler. As DJGPP was an [[MS-DOS]] compiler, all games which used Allegro therefore used DOS, attracting the enthusiast scene for that legacy system.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/04/building-a-retro-linux-gaming-computer-part-41-the-worm-turns/|title=Building a Retro Linux Gaming Computer Part 41: The Worm Turns|website=GamingOnLinux|first=Hamish|last=Wilson|date=2024-04-09|access-date=2024-04-13|quote=''Although the project does see continued support to this day with the Allegro 5 branch, for much of its history Allegro was very much associated with the MS-DOS freeware scene that was still going strong well into the early 2000s.''}}</ref> Around 1998, Allegro branched out into several versions. A port to [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]], WinAllegro, was created, and also during this time, a [[Unix]] port of Allegro, XwinAllegro, was created. These various ports were brought together during the Allegro 3.9 WIP versions, with Allegro 4.0 being the first stable version of Allegro to support multiple platforms.

=== Allegro 5 ===

Current development is focused on the Allegro 5 branch, a complete redesign of both the API and much of the library's internal operation. Effort was made to make the API more consistent and [[Thread_(computing)#Single-threaded_vs_multithreaded_programs|multi-thread]] safe. By default, the library is now [[hardware acceleration|hardware-accelerated]] using [[OpenGL]] or [[DirectX]] rendering backends where appropriate. Many of the addons that existed as separate projects for Allegro 4 now interface seamlessly with Allegro proper and are bundled with the default installation. Allegro 5 is [[event-driven programming|event driven]].

== See also ==

* [[Borland Graphics Interface]] (BGI)
* [[ClanLib]]
* [[DirectX]]
* [[List of game engines]]
* [[Microsoft XNA]]
* [[OpenAL]]
* [[OpenGL]]
* OpenML
* [[Raylib]]
* [[SciTech SNAP]]
* [[Simple DirectMedia Layer|SDL]]
* [[Simple and Fast Multimedia Library|SFML]]
* [[UniVBE]]

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website}}
* [https://github.com/liballeg/allegro_wiki/wiki Allegro Wiki]
* [http://www.allegro.cc/depot/action/ Games Using Allegro] {{

    anchor
      | HargreavesHome
}}
* [http://www.shawnhargreaves.com Shawn Hargreaves's Homepage]

{{Video game engines}}

[[Category:AmigaOS 4 software]]
[[Category:Application programming interfaces]]
[[Category:C (programming language) libraries]]
[[Category:Cross-platform software]]
[[Category:Free software programmed in C]]
[[Category:Graphics libraries]]
[[Category:Linux APIs]]
[[Category:MacOS APIs]]
[[Category:MorphOS software]]
[[Category:Software using the zlib license]]
[[Category:Video game development software]]
[[Category:Widget toolkits]]
[[Category:Windows APIs]]
[[Category:Video game development software for Linux]]