• A major pattern of API design in graphics libraries in which the graphics library, instead of the client, retains the scene (complete object model of the rendering primitives) to be rendered, and in which client calls into the graphics library do not directly cause actual rendering, but make use of extensive indirection to resources, managed by the graphics library (thus retained). Retained mode does not preclude the use of double-buffering. Immediate mode is an alternative approach. Historically, retained mode has been the dominant style in GUI libraries. However, both mode can coexist in the same library, and are not necessarily exclusionary in practice. ← Wikipedia

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