Ok,... I want to buy this book...: Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus by Andre Lamothe Does anyone know of it? If you do, is a good book, can it teach allot of useful things? In the discription it says that it teaches amazing c code "or somthing like that" does that include c++? If not... is c better to program in or c++? what is the differance? A lot of questions, I know... im just curiose all the time. Thanks for your help and opinions there appreciated. ~SilverShalkin

I believe it is recommended in some of the articles here, so based off of that it is a good one to pick up. Besides, you will end up investing in a lot of books before it is over with.

quote: Original post by Xier
If not... is c better to program in or c++? what is the differance?

If you''re asking this question, maybe an introduction to programming would be a more appropriate place to start?

Take a look here:
http://peter.eluks.com/books/C/
http://peter.eluks.com/books/C++/

Yes, Tricks is a VERY good book. It''s worth all of your money. As for your second question, it depends on what you''re doing. But most games are written in C++ if you wish to know. C++ is a superset of C and if you know one, it won''t be too hard learning the other. I recommend you learn C++.

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->Take it to the Xtreme!<-
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I''m learning C++ at the moment, i was just wondering if the book tought how to program DirectX in c || c++ || bolth.

Thanks for your time

~Xier

The book is in C++, but LaMothe''s style is still very C, but unless you have been using the two for years, you probably wouldn''t notice.

It has a C++ section in the back that is adequate for a beginner.


University is a fountain of knowledge, and students go there to drink.

IMO that book is a prime culprit in inducing shit coding style in the masses. Sure, it''s fine for demonstrating game-related techniques, but don''t take it to be a C++ (or C) style guide.

The book is quite good. No probs with that. But, C++ should be a better option for programming. If u know about things like code reusability, abstraction , ... and the things... u will understand why C++ is better.

This is IndianaJones.

I don''t know, I''d reccommend taking an actual classroom class. Then I''d reccommend NOT getting LaMothe''s book. When, after a while, and you''re comfortable with C and C++ (I''d really reccommend C++) get the Zen of Direct3D Game Programming book. I think it''s more beginner friendly. (I should know, I''m not exactly an expert.) I don''t know, I just don''t like LaMothe''s book. Not necessarily because of bad coding style, or anything like that, but just because I feel the purpose of the book is to teach well, and I don''t think he does that.

-=Lohrno

I asked the following in another (note: the WRONG) forum:

quote: Okay, here''s the thing. I want to make a (2-D) game. It''s an incredible idea, and if I do it right, everyone in the universe will love it and give me money and other stuff. Anyway ... I''d appreciate getting off the ground, and the help I need MIGHT be found in that book with the really long and annoying-to-say title by Andre LaMothe. Thing is, the book teaches DirectX 7.0 programming, unless I''m mistaken, but NOT Direct3D. Mmm... Now, the plot thickens because DirectX 8.0 totally ditches, again, if I''m not mistaken, Direct Draw or whatever is covered in his book for Direct3D what is not. Wrong? Anybody? Am I mistaken? Okay. Now, I''ve read around the forums and whatnot and discovered that 2-D games now are done primarily (could be wrong!) with Direct3D, and there are a whole bunch of crazy-cool reasons why this is good and stuff, etc., so on and so forth, yadayadayada. NOW! THE POINT! Should I bother to read the book when I''m probably just going to wind up learning Direct3D???? I need to know, because I am extremely confused and one of those people who can never make up his mind unless someone does for him. So do away.

Oh, and if you have recommendations for a replacement book, please, those would be nice.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, this post appeared! Whoa! Anyway, I''d just like to add to this my question about D3D and why should I bother learning whatever it is he teaches in this book if it''s not even endorsed anymore by DirectX?


I''ll think of a signature later...