When to start Win32 API/OpenGL/D3D Programming? (C++)
Author
I'm currently just programming with the console at the moment. Would it be a good idea to continue, or should I start to program with any of the above three? I have by no means conquered everything I can do with the console, but I'd really like to start some sort of graphic programming.
I think it depends on your comfort level.
I want to say WIN32 programming is more complicated but that's not necessarily true. It's more "wordy" and you'll have to deal with message loops.
Personally, I'd recommend reading through Windows Programming by Petzold for a good overview. There's probably newer books that cover the same material, but this one is *the* original WIN32 bible, I think.
You don't need to know all the stuff in that book, but it'll definitely make your life easier in the long run.
On the other hand. If you know that you never want to code WIN32, but instead want to simply get into graphics, you could jump right into DirectX using the DXUT libraries included with the DirectX SDK, or you could look at GLUT for OpenGL. They hide a lot of the WIN32 stuff.
I want to say WIN32 programming is more complicated but that's not necessarily true. It's more "wordy" and you'll have to deal with message loops.
Personally, I'd recommend reading through Windows Programming by Petzold for a good overview. There's probably newer books that cover the same material, but this one is *the* original WIN32 bible, I think.
You don't need to know all the stuff in that book, but it'll definitely make your life easier in the long run.
On the other hand. If you know that you never want to code WIN32, but instead want to simply get into graphics, you could jump right into DirectX using the DXUT libraries included with the DirectX SDK, or you could look at GLUT for OpenGL. They hide a lot of the WIN32 stuff.
Personally, I recommend avoiding them for some time. Many, many, many beginners have problems moving to them. Even if they get things working, they then can't do anything non-trivial with them since they don't have the general programming and application design experience. You'll benefit greatly by sticking to the console and focusing at learning your syntax and programming in general.
If you do though decide against it, Petzold's book is highly recommended for beginners.
If you do though decide against it, Petzold's book is highly recommended for beginners.
Author
Right OK, thanks for the replies. I think I'll buy the Petzold book but stick with the console for the time being.
Not to add any confusion to things, but you could look at a library layer such as SDL ( http://www.libsdl.org ) which is a mature library that hides away the win32 specific implementation.
It's also doubly-easy to integrate it with OpenGL so that you could always take advantage of the Nehe tutorials as suggested..
But if you *need* to focus on strict Win32 coding, then Petzold is a great choice..
hth,
It's also doubly-easy to integrate it with OpenGL so that you could always take advantage of the Nehe tutorials as suggested..
But if you *need* to focus on strict Win32 coding, then Petzold is a great choice..
hth,
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