What is an SDK?

Unity Engine
1

I know it stands for Software Development Kit but I’ve not idea the difference between that and Unity. I’ve downloaded Triton for Unity and found some documentation for some of the features I’d like but they’re in the SDK. Can someone explain to me what is the difference in terms a non-programmer can understand? I have a basic understanding (write do while loops and add variables but not much more) of programming but need to learn more.

2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_development_kit

3

An SDK is basically a set of tools (or an asset) that allows you to develop applications using a certain software.

EDIT : Someone beat me to it :slight_smile:

4

No offense, (tone can’t really be implied in text) but I’ve read the wikipedia. What confuses me is how does an SDK differ from unity. From what I read about SDKs it seems to describe what Unity does. However they seem to also be some seperate entity that can be utilized with different gaming engines. Is Unity an SDK? Do I need seperate compilers to run an SDK or is it a stand alone program?

Could you explain a rough example of where/why/how I would use an SDK rather than Unity or some other gaming engine?

I apologize if these seem rudimentary questions but my exposure to programming lies very little outside of writing VBA macros for excel.

5

Think of it like this… Unity is like the breaker box on your house, and its easier to use an outlet (SDK) to plug things in rather than hard wire them up with splices.

There’s still more to the pipeline, the PC hardware would be like the transformer at the street and technically they’re all sort of the same thing - just proxies somewhere in the pipeline that provide a different interface.

6

@Intense_Gamer94 Do you mean that an SDK is a type of universal Asset? Like if I had an iges, step, or FBX file? So that I could create a unity package, unreal package, etc. from one piece of software.

7

Triton BTW has an SDK package for sale and a Unity package for sale.

So in the case of Triton, if we buy the unity package vs. the SDK there’d be virtually no difference given that we only use Unity. Ie. we’ve only got one 15A circuit so there’s no need for a box of assorted outlets. I only need a box of 15A. Do I have that right?

8

Not really, it’s just a set of tools made to work with a software (like Unity) to develop applications. Take for example Ad Networks, they usually have a Unity SDK that developers use to integrate ads in their Unity games - the SDK allows you integrate the Ads using Unity.

9

Thanks, I think I understand. The nuiances I’ll just have to learn later.