WiFi connection. Access point or IP address. What is the point?

Question

Electronics

What is the fundamental difference in the operation of the device. In one case with an access point. In the second case with the IP address in the home network.
For what purposes are these methods of connecting the same device used. For example ESP8266 module

Answer 1

You are asking something awkward. The access point and the ip address of the home network are incomparable concepts, they work at different levels of the networking model

Answer 2

It seems that this clumsy question has something to do with the clumsy translation of the manual into some kind of wi-fi modules. It is better to look for a well-translated or written instruction, then the questions will be more specific, and the answers will be thicker