I know this is probably a stupid question, and I really don''t know any better, but what exactly is DirectX? Is it a programming language? Is it an add on for something? What does it do? Where can I find it? How do I learn it? Did I miss anything? Am I asking too many questions? Just, please, tell me all you can about DX. Howdy! B^)

DirectX is a collection of libraries from microsoft that let you do cool drawing, animating, sound and 3d stuff for windows. It also has a good input section for keyboard, mouse and joystick. The point is that just about every video card and input device has a DirectX driver, so software written with it will work on just about any computer.

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You are not a real programmer until you end all your sentences with semicolons;
www.trak.to/rdp

Yanroy@usa.com

Well to be more specific, Direct X is an API (Application Programming Interface). This API allows you to communicate with hardware such as video cards, sound cards, joysticks, mice and keyboards with out having to actualy program code for each type of keyboard, joystick, sound card, video card that all the manufacturers make. The manufacturers make Direct X drivers for their products, and we only have to deal with Direct X rather than writing hardware specific code. In short it saves us from having to write code to support 4000 video cards, 2000 sound cards, 1000 joysticks, etc...

There are 2 diffrent versions of direct X. The Platform SDK, which supports networking, video, sound, music, input. And then there is the Media SDK which supports streaming video, streaming audio, and some other stuff.

You can get the direct X sdk from http://www.microsoft.com/directx (you may have to order the CD for $12 though). And a good book for learning direct X is called "Tricks of the windows game programming gurus". I think you''ll find this book alot better than trying to find good direct x tutorials on the internet.

I have Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus, and it is indeed a good book to have. However, it''s only useful once you get beyond the basics of DirectX. I''ve found plenty of tutorials on the net (many of them on Gamedev.net) that cover the basics just as well as LaMothe''s book. However, his book touches on some of the finer points of DirectX that are hard to find in internet tutorials. Of course, there is still a good deal that even LaMothe''s book doesn''t cover, stuff which you''ll simply have to look to the SDK docs to find information on. After all, the DirectX SDK doc for DirectDraw alone is well over 300 pages long.

Thanks. Sort of what I thought. So is it like something you include in your source code like a header file, or what?

Howdy!
B^)

It is a good libary(a API) of grapich functions(Direct Draw,Direct 3d),sound functions(Direct Sound,Direct Music) and input functions(Direct Input) that allows you to communicate to the hardware very fast and use the harware as fast as possible without useing lowlevel code.
And it is kind of easy too.
You can download Dx from microsoft homepage and the SDK(Software development kit) from the same page.
I think the best way of learning is by buying a book.
WGPFD is a good book.


James Bond

DirectX is an API that contains functions/structures/ect. that allow you to access video/sound hardware directly hence the name directX. It''s basically a huge library that Microsoft made to make software development easier.

"Remember, I'm the monkey, and you're the cheese grater. So no fooling around."
-Grand Theft Auto, London

to get a better understanding of the ideas behind DirectX, try reading some of the general DirectX articles here on GameDev, especially Direct X-tasy (written coincidentally by LaMothe)
I too have Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus, and have found it extremely useful. Articles and tutorials on the web supplement it nicely, as well as of course the DirectX SDK Docs. The CDs it comes with includes the Introductory Edition of MSVC++6.0, source code, and the DirectX 6.1 SDK. You should know that it only covers Win32/DirectX programming in C++, though. You can also use DirectX with VB, though I know nothing about how because I''ve never used VB.
If you want to download DirectX, plan on waiting a while.. it''s quite large.