quote:Original post by wild_pointer
I'm so glad people base decisions about which api to use based on your misguided ill-informed hatred of microsoft.

It really makes you look stupid to people who know better.


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quote:Original post by xg0blin
Ok, I love some microsoft products and disdain others just to get that out of the way. Visual studio, visual source safe and such really rock. I also love linux. To base your programming language on your hatred of a company is really asinine though. If they make a good product use it, if they don't then throw it out. I say the people that bash microsoft products as inferior haven't tried other operating systems development environments and are basing their decision on slashdot. While linux is fine to use and all, gcc sucks. As well as do their ide's and debuggers (ankjstra, visual slick edit ddd, xgdb and such). Use the right tools for the right job. Microsoft's DirectX is a wonderful API. WHile I really and truly do adore it, I myself believe opengl to be better for a beginner. Many windowing api's (qt, glut, sdl <-also can be used for your games) make opengl useable without having to hastle with the windows or xwindows api or whatever. Once you have a grasp of opengl, learn the windows api, and then pick which you like better, because you will have a better knowledge of the material, you will better be able to choose, and you will get to that point faster using opengl in my opinion. Also, Optimus, directx isn't proven to be any faster, or opengl for that matter. And just because it belongs to microsoft doesn't make it any better (ever used windows 95 or outlook? (shudder)). You are right (partially) about more possibilies but at the same time still wrong. The directx api makes some of the more tedious things (model loading, writing huge matrix and vector functions) much more simple. That does not mean it has more possibilities though. Almost all of the functionality is comes with can also be done using opengl, it may just be a bit more time consuming. Opengl also makes some things much easier. For a beginner, try drawing polygons. With opengl, say you want to draw a 360 sided polygon. Make a parametric equation and go. Directx, make it either out of lines or triangles, which maybe a beginner should learn later. I made pretty neat 2d polygon stuff when I was a total beginner, which I would have had a lot harder time with using directx. Reason being, imagine a newbie trying to make a game of breakout (one of my firsts). The ball can be incredibly simple to draw using opengl, but with direct graphics, it's a little harder. Once you are proficient at the basics, both api's have basically the same principle, it's just a matter of choosing which you like more. I like both equally. But do yourself a favor and start with opengl, and save yourself a lot of headache. Directx has a lot of functions, and they are all things you can do with opengl, but save yourself the headache and learn it the easy way first, then go on to directx and learn all of the great power all of the added functions give you. Then decide.