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I know I can use a router/switch to connect both the AP and the PC, but I am working on a project and I need the least number of devices consuming energy as little as possible.
So I was thinking if I can use an access point connected to the ethernet port in a Windows PC (or Linux if needed) to create a LAN to connect a Raspberry Pi wirelessly and use SSH to control it.
If so, how can I make it?
Without a switch, nothing changes at all. You only have fewer Ethernet ports (one) but the behavior is identical. You can use the same regular cables (twenty years ago you would have needed a crossover cable but not anymore).
Without a router, not much changes either, as devices in the same subnet don't really use a router anyway. (When home routers are involved, LAN traffic only goes through their built-in switch, but not through the router itself.)
The only difference is that without a router, you won't immediately have a DHCP server that provides automatic IP assignment to the Wi-Fi AP's clients. However, there are DHCP servers available for Windows, but you also don't really need DHCP if you statically configure the Pi's IP address.
Other than that, though, an AP connected directly to the PC will behave the same as it did before.
(For a simple 1 client setup, you could remove even the access point and use the "hotspot" mode in Windows, which turns the computer's internal Wi-Fi adapter into an access point. For desktops, a PCIe Wi-Fi card could be used. Personally though, I'd avoid Wi-Fi entirely and run Ethernet to the device.)
