gstreamer/docs/manual/intro-preface.xml

<chapter id="chapter-intro">
  <title>Preface</title>
  <para> 
    This chapter gives you an overview of the technologies described in this
    book.  
  </para>

  <!-- ############ sect1 ############# -->

  <sect1 id="section-intro-what"><!-- synchronize with PWG -->
    <title>What is &GStreamer;?</title>
    <para> 
      &GStreamer; is a framework for creating streaming media applications.
      The fundamental design comes from the video pipeline at Oregon Graduate
      Institute, as well as some ideas from DirectShow.  
    </para>
 
    <para>
      &GStreamer;'s development framework makes it possible to write any
      type of streaming multimedia application. The &GStreamer; framework
      is designed to make it easy to write applications that handle audio
      or video or both. It isn't restricted to audio and video, and can
      process any kind of data flow.
      The pipeline design is made to have little overhead above what the
      applied filters induce. This makes &GStreamer; a good framework for
      designing even high-end audio applications which put high demands on
      latency. 
    </para> 

    <para>
      One of the the most obvious uses of &GStreamer; is using it to build
      a media player. &GStreamer; already includes components for building a
      media player that can support a very wide variety of formats, including
      MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, MPEG-1/2, AVI, Quicktime, mod, and more. &GStreamer;,
      however, is much more than just another media player. Its main advantages
      are that the pluggable components can be mixed and matched into arbitrary
      pipelines so that it's possible to write a full-fledged video or audio
      editing application.
    </para> 

    <para>
      The framework is based on plugins that will provide the various codec 
      and other functionality. The plugins can be linked and arranged in
      a pipeline. This pipeline defines the flow of the data. Pipelines can 
      also be edited with a GUI editor and saved as XML so that pipeline
      libraries can be made with a minimum of effort.
    </para> 

    <para>
      The &GStreamer; core function is to provide a framework for plugins,
      data flow and media type handling/negotiation. It also provides an
      API to write applications using the various plugins.
    </para> 
  </sect1>

  <!-- ############ sect1 ############# -->

  <sect1 id="section-intro-who" xreflabel="Who Should Read This Manual?">
    <title>Who Should Read This Manual?</title>
    <para>
      This book is about &GStreamer; from a developer's point of view; it
      describes how to write a &GStreamer; application using the &GStreamer;
      libraries and tools. For an explanation about writing plugins, we
      suggest the <ulink type="http"
      url="http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/data/doc/gstreamer/head/pwg/html/index.html">Plugin
      Writers Guide</ulink>.
    </para>     
  </sect1>
  
  <!-- ############ sect1 ############# -->

  <sect1 id="section-intro-reading" xreflabel="Preliminary Reading">
    <title>Preliminary Reading</title>
    <para><!-- synchronize with PWG -->
      In order to understand this manual, you will need to have a basic
      understanding of the C language.
      Since &GStreamer; adheres to the GObject programming model, this guide
      also assumes that you understand the basics of <ulink type="http"
      url="http://developer.gnome.org/doc/API/2.0/gobject/index.html">GObject</ulink>
      programming.
      You may also want to have a look
      at Eric Harlow's book <emphasis>Developing Linux Applications with
      GTK+ and GDK</emphasis>.
    </para>
    <para>
      In addition you might want to read the &GstPWG; after this manual.
      Also check out the other documentation available on the <ulink type="http"
      url="http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/documentation/">&GStreamer; web site</ulink>.
    </para>
  </sect1>
  
  <!-- ############ sect1 ############# -->

  <sect1 id="section-intro-structure">
    <title>Structure of this Manual</title>
    <para>
      To help you navigate through this guide, it is divided into several large
      parts. Each part addresses a particular broad topic concerning &GStreamer;
      appliction development. The parts of this guide are laid out in the following
      order:
    </para>

    <para>
      <xref linkend="part-introduction"/> gives you an overview of &GStreamer;'s
      motivation design goals.
    </para>

    <para>
      <xref linkend="part-building"/> rapidly covers the basics of &GStreamer;
      application programming. At the end of that chapter, you should be
      able to build your own audio player using &GStreamer;
    </para>

    <para>
      In <xref linkend="part-advanced"/>, we will move on to complicated
      subjects which make &GStreamer; stand out of its competitors. We
      will discuss application-pipeline interaction using dynamic parameters
      and interfaces, we will discuss threading and threaded pipelines,
      scheduling and clocks (and synchronization). Most of those topics are
      not just there to introduce you to their API, but primarily to give
      a deeper insight in solving application programming problems with
      &GStreamer; and understanding their concepts.
    </para>

    <para>
      Next, in <xref linkend="part-highlevel"/>, we will go into higher-level
      programming APIs for &GStreamer;. You don't exactly need to know all
      the details from the previous parts to understand this, but you will
      need to understand basic &GStreamer; concepts nevertheless. We will,
      amongst others, discuss XML, playbin and autopluggers.
    </para>

    <para>
      In <xref linkend="part-appendices"/>, you will find some random
      information on integrating with GNOME, KDE, OS X or Windows, some
      debugging help and general tips to improve and simplify &GStreamer;
      programming.
    </para>
  </sect1>
</chapter>