Well, I suppose I need to learn C++ first (which this book''ll do), but does anybody know if this book has anything that''ll help with games after I get pretty good at programming? Sorry if I''m vague....blame it on a character flaw. The Light shine on you

I wouldn''t use that Ivor Horton book to start, but you might want to look it over later.

I started with "Teach yourself C++ in 21 days" by Jesse Liberty. It''s a good book for a beginner. The syntax he uses in that book is the new C++ standard. I don''t like to use the new standard though. Most of the programs in that book you can write either way, and he''ll go more into detail about them.

The next book I used was "C++: The complete reference" by Herb Schildt. This book is reviewed on the For Beginners section of gamedev.net. This book covers just about everything you''d care to know about C and C++. It reads a lot like a reference manual (since it sort of is) and assumes you know a little bit of C or C++. That''s why you would need a previos beginning book.

Lastly, for learning the basics about games and DirectX, like Michael said, get "Tricks of the Windows game programming gurus" by André LaMothe. It''s a pretty cool book. Whatever you do when reading this book, PLEASE try out the examples and look at the code on the disk it comes with. There are countless times the code he gives you in the examples is not the code on the disk, and I''ve seen several errors (mainly in the beginning of the book). I''m already reading the book again to cover everything I missed before.