You'll need the SDK once you start doing any kind of development which is not limited to purely simplistic console work, like creating a window, using D3D or OGL, etc.

Quote:Original post by Cybergrape
When you are just beginning in C++ is this a useful add on or is it just likely to be overwhelming and a waste of diskspace at the beginning? When would a SDK become useful rather than confusing? Is there a SDK other than Microsoft's that is more useful in game development? Thanks :)

Wich one do you refer to (i.e. PlatformSDK, DirectXSDK )?

An SDK (Software Development Kit) is a collection of tools, libraries, documentation, etc, for working with a specific technology.

The only tech that you have "built in" to C++ is the Standard Template Library (and in theory the C Runtime Library). That's enough to let you do things like open and close files and read and write to them.

If you want to use other tech - like, for example, you want to interact with the Windows operating system to have it create a window for you - then you do so using the headers and libraries in the SDK. (You can do it without them, but it's extremely difficult).

In short, you need the SDK for something when you want to begin using that something from within your application. This includes Microsoft SDKs for Windows, DirectX, Office, speech synthesis, .NET embedding, etc... and also SDKs from other firms, like the SDK that Aegia provide for their PhysX physics engine, or the SDK that Firelight Multimedia provide for their FMOD sound engine.

If you're still learning the language, then restricting yourself to the Standard Template Library (cin, cout, and so on) is a reasonable thing to do. You'll only ever see text-based output in a console window, but you won't have to be learning a whole load of concepts about the way something like Windows works at the same time.