i think the best skill you can hone when trying to learn DirectX or any API really is the ability to look things up in the documentation or elsewhere.

1) I don't remember all the functions. I have a general idea of what the interfaces are and what they are capable of but I have to go look up the exact functions and parameters almost each time I use them.

2) Books can be good when you are starting off to give you a foundation to fall back on when everything else fails. However, you will be able to learn more in a much faster manner by using this site here as well as other internet resources.

3) It is really tempting to just copy code. I find that when I do this I don't fully understand what is going on. I guess it varies from person to person though.

Here is a good start: Start Here

1. I don't remember all the DirectX functions, etc, nor all the functions of anything else for that matter. As long as you remember the basics, and know where to look to quickly find out what you need to know, you don't have a problem. You'll find that gradually over time you'll be able to do more and more without having to check your references, but by that stage you'll probably be using some new techniques, and will have to look up references for those. [wink]

2. I originally learnt DirectX (8.0) in Visual Basic, mostly using the tutorials from this page (only good for VB unless you feel like translating them to your own language of choice, which I wouldn't recommend for a beginner), along with experimenting. This gave me a good head start when I moved over to C++, although I did work through some beginners books as well.

3. Copying code is fine, as long as you know how it works (this is important!), but keep in mind that you'll probably remember things better if you type them out yourself. Definately make sure you understand how the code works though, and why you're using certain techniques. Also try experimenting, changing a few things and seeing what happens.