Customer Reviews

Inside DirectX (Microsoft Programming Series)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Clear, concise, and detailed enough to get you well on your way. Unless you're looking for Direct3D, this book is nearly flawless. I've been programming in DirectX for years and I still reference this book. It's a perfect mix of a reference and tutorials. To beginners: don't expect to master DirectX from one book. It takes time, experimentation, and a lot of wading through code. (This book will really help you get started, though)

Although the code samples are not the best, it is still a complete and thorough resource. I prefer to write my own code, including all DirectX calls, and this book has shown me what steps have to be taken to initialize them. As I said, the sample code IN THE BOOK is poor (the explanations of each object are great), but the sample code provided on the CD is very good. These samples are straight from the source--Microsoft programmers themselves. The old samples were archaic and impossible to comprehend at best. These samples are clear and concise and have allowed me to write my own DirectDraw object to manage everything. It is written with enough character to be interesting, yet still express its point. I highly reccomend it for anybody that wants to program multimedia apps/games. Some of the DirectDraw commands are also useful in other apps.

This book doesn't deserve high ratings. There are NO complete samples -- just code excerpts -- and the ones on CD are confusing. There is 1 sample for every subject, so if you don't understand that, you just don't learn. For example, the joystick sample uses complex dialogs to set attributes, making it impossible to understand. Maybe it's a good reference for _beginners_, or introduction to the concepts, but definately not a learning book. It is hard to quickly find things. Throughout chapters, concepts are unorganized and not step by step -- basically, all incomplete explainations and no solid code. This is obviously thrown together. Try Andre Lamonthe's books.

PS: Remember, #define INITGUI at the top of code or Sys_ device constants will be unresolved -- the book does not mention this.

This book is really helpfull if you want to master the basic DirectX components (it does not include Direct3d and DirectMusic). The book reads like a reference book: it explains every function of every component and provides sample code on the way. However, it also includes tips for the deeper insight. Knowledge of Win32 API and C/C++ is required, though. If you are new to windows programming, I highly recommend Windows Programming for Dummies. Together with this book they make up a perfect introduction to DirectX.

First and foremost this book was written when directX 5 was the standard. Now we are up to 7/8 and I assume there have been many changes, at least there are some examples in the DirectX 7 SDK which use functions not covered in this book. The lack of complete code examples or exercies means this is definately not a tutorial and there are no tables to indicate it is a reference book. In fact, the book seems to be a collection of ramblings about directX and computer graphics in general. Maybe this was never intended to be a reference or a tutorial, but either would have probably been more useful.

What I expected: A paper copy of the docs that ship with the DirectX SDK.

What I got: A great understanding of how DirectX works with out someone else's idea of how you should wrap up the DirectX COM. I now have four books on DirectX, this is the only one I even bother looking at anymore.

It's true there are not a lot of "try this" exercises. But on the up side, the whole book has usefull information, unlike others where half the book is just code you can find on the CD anyway.

If you want to learn DirectX with out all the clutter that other books contain, get this book!

Bargen and company have put together a very much no-nonsense beginners guide to DirectX that doesn't complicate matters by building a game engine, as so many other books do, but show you the building blocks so you can make whatever you want of it yourself. The book has a very simple and accurate way of exposing the information (and so it should be), but still maintains a great focus on what's important to know about the inner workings of DirectX. There are a couple of things though that detract one star from my rating. Firstly, the book asumes that the reader has some knowledge of fundamental game and graphic issues, such as how animation takes place, and hardware issues, such as a bit of memory managment, and pixel/bit workings of display devices. Secondly, it's a bit short and snubby. I would have enjoyed a lot more of the same. Nevertheless a great read. Icelandic programmer

When I got this book I was new to DirectX and windows programming pretty much, and this book made it real easy for me to learn what I was doing. Basically all you need to understand is how classes work :) If you know what you're doing in DirectX, I advise you just use MSDN, thats all I use anymore.

The DirectSound, DirectDraw, DirectInput and DirectPlay APIs are all described in a one-two-three fashion. The functions you need are presented more or less in the order you need to call them. If you get stuck, there's usually a sample you can pick apart to get you un-stuck.

Direct3D coverage would be nice, but as 3D graphics is rather more complicated than the other stuff, it's probably a subject for a book all of its own...

When it comes to a useful description of how to use DirectX (sans Direct3D) I couldn't have asked for more. Between the excellent examples on the source CD and the straightforward explanations in the book, I have gone from zero knowledge to a reasonable grasp of DirectX fairly quickly. As a testament to how much I refer to this book in my home projects, the binding is starting to wear out. I can't remember the last time I've used a reference book this much, with the exception of K&R's "The C Programming Language." Excellent work.