Programming anything worthwhile...I am learning the Win32 API really quickly, and I am wondering if I can learn Open GL at the same time(I already get the concept of device contexts). And how much different is Open GL from Direct 3d? And should I learn Direct X first? And how long will it take me to finish all these assuming I am chuggin at an average speed. "Ogun''s Laughter Is No Joke!!!" - Ogun Kills On The Right, A Nigerian Poem.

Learn DirectX first because its harder than openGL then move on to openGL. Try not to learn both at once, Its theoretically possible but its confusing and highly unreccomended. As for how long it takes, well it all deoends on how fast you can learn it might take anywhere from 3 months to 2 years to be able to program good 3d games but always remember that you can never stop learning and you will never know everything about programming.

Whiz

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Original post by EbonySeraph

I am learning the Win32 API really quickly, and I am wondering if I can learn Open GL at the same time(I already get the concept of device contexts).

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OpenGL is pretty easy to learn. I don''t think it makes a difference if you learn it at the same time as the Win32 API. OpenGL doesn''t rely too much on the Win32 API (it is platform independent, after all). WGL (the was Windows works with OpenGL) does, however, use some of the Win32 API.

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Original post by EbonySeraph

And how much different is Open GL from Direct 3d? And should I learn Direct X first?

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The concepts behind OpenGL and DirectX are pretty much the same now (DirectX has been evolving to become more OpenGL-like over the past years). The syntax and usage of them are different though. OpenGL is a finite state machine (if you research finite state machines, you''ll know why writing OpenGL drivers is so hard) which is, of course, procedural. DirectX uses OO through its interface with COM (COM is pretty annoying imo ). It doesn''t matter which you learn first (unless you plan on porting your game/engine). Just learn one, and use it. If you want or need the other later, it should be easy to pick up, as they both share the same concepts.

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Original post by EbonySeraph

And how long will it take me to finish all these assuming I am chuggin at an average speed.

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Well, average is hard to define. It really depends how indepth you go, and how much you practice the things you''re learning.

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