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Michael Dawson
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Beginning C++ Game Programming (Game Development Series) PAP/CDR Edition

by Michael Dawson (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 51 ratings
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This book approaches C++ from a game programming perspective unlike any other on the market. Offering a thorough and modern introduction to C++, this book is everything that an aspiring game programmer needs in order to learn the fundamentals of C++ and game programming basics. There is no programming experience necessary-the book starts at the beginning of C++ and game programming. Therefore, even readers without any previous programming experience can get as much out of the book as anyone else. Beginning C++ Game Programming presents a small but complete program for each new concept and a complete game program at the end of each chapter. It then presents readers with a final game project at the end of the book that combines most of the major topics covered. Skillfully written in an easy-to-understand manner, this book is a great place to get started with game programming.
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  1. ISBN-10
    1592002056
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1592002054
  3. Edition
    PAP/CDR
  4. Publisher
    Course Technology PTR
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 2004
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    7.48 x 1.26 x 9.45 inches
  8. Print length
    352 pages
  9. See all details
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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
51 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book fantastic and useful for teaching interactivity. They also say it provides good ideas on simple games and is an easy read. Readers mention it's a reasonable introduction to C++ and lays a lot of groundwork for moving into it.

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Information qualityEase of understanding
6 customers mention "Information quality"6 positive0 negative

Customers find the information in the book fantastic and useful. They say it shares good ideas on simple games and is great for teaching interactivity. Readers also appreciate the game-oriented presentation.

"...guru after reading this one book, but you will have enough information to be extremely useful, and to go ahead and learn APIs such as DirectX and..." Read more

"This is a reasonable introduction to C++ and lays a lot of ground work for moving into more complicated aspects of game programming...." Read more

"...He says it is a very useful book." Read more

"...Once you know some C++ programming, this book is great for teaching interactivity and programming for many of the basic games like Tic-Tac-Toe and..." Read more

3 customers mention "Ease of understanding"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to understand. They say it makes various functions easier to understand when they are presented in a familiar way. Readers also mention that it's a reasonable introduction to C++ and lays a lot of groundwork for moving into it.

"This has to be the best book I have so far. Very easily to understand...." Read more

"...It makes the various functions a lot easier to understand when they are presented in a familiar context (gaming), with practical uses...." Read more

"...It's an easy read, give it a shot." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

A. Eassa
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Helpful!
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2006
Verified Purchase
Beginning C++ Game Programming is, as it's title states, an introduction to C++ with examples in gaming context. This book assumes no previous programming experience, but requires one to read carefully, understand the samples, and to really prove that you've learned a concept, do the exercises! You'll learn all the basic capabilites of C++, then you'll learn about classes, inheritance and polymorphism, and you'll even get a taste of the STL (vector and string objects).

Granted you won't be a C++ guru after reading this one book, but you will have enough information to be extremely useful, and to go ahead and learn APIs such as DirectX and OpenGL (in fact, game programmers typically don't use the more advanced features of C++ as they cause their programs to incur a performance hit), or even study software rasterization!

So if you're a complete programming novice and you're driven to learn, then this is a great place to begin your C++ odyssey.
7 people found this helpful
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Rick S.
4.0 out of 5 stars Good start for C/C++ newbies
Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2005
Verified Purchase
As I went through this book, I thought that it was very similar to the "[programming language X] for Absolute Beginners" series. It turns out that the author did, in fact, also write "Python for Absolute Beginners", so there you go.

The code snippet that is supposed to prevent the console from automatically closing upon program completion doesn't always work as intended. I wrote a method that handled this better, so no biggie.

Other than that, I think this is a good introduction for someone new to C/C++ and to programming in general.

It might be disappointing for people who want to program graphics, DirectX, OpenGL, and the like --- the programs here are strictly console. You have to start somewhere, though, and if you want to program games in C/C++, you first have to understand C/C++. This book teaches the basics of C/C++ well.

If you want to make pretty pictures and don't care what language you're doing it in, though, then Michael Dawson's "Python for Absolute Beginners" will give you more satisfaction because Python is both a serious language (several commercially successful games like "Freedom Force" have been written in Python), and easier to learn and deal with than C/C++.

It's your choice: if you want to start learning C/C++, this is a good introduction; if you want to learn game programming with graphics, start with "Python for Absolute Beginners" and then go on to a book like "Game Programming with Python".
35 people found this helpful
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AP
5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to learn C++ , especially games.......
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2005
Verified Purchase
This has to be the best book I have so far. Very easily to understand. He is in-depth about every line of code (you will never say "what does that code do?" All of the code on the disk works 100%. I recommend this to anyone wanting to learn C++, even if you have never used it. And a very big plus, if you need questions you can contact the author and he will help you out.
15 people found this helpful
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Aaron F. Young
3.0 out of 5 stars mistitled?
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2006
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if you, like me, sometimes go by titles alone, then you may be disappointed in this book. I am a professional programmer, and I was looking for a beginner book on games for someone like me. a title like, "Beginning C++ Game Programming for Non Game Programming Professional Programmers", is what I wanted and what this book is not. What this book is, is an introduction to c++ programming to write some simple games for someone that's never programmed.

that being said

I found this book well written and very good at what it actually is, which is "Beginning C++ Game Programming for Non Programmers". The simple games you create will come together slowly enough that you will learn a little programming (there ARE better learn c++ texts out there) but quickly enough that you'll be able to play these simple games and get a taste for what game programming is probably all about (remember, I still haven't found the book I need).

If I hadn't already typed in games from Compute! as youngster, this book would be just what I needed. But I have, so I happily passed it on to my younger brother who needs a book like this.
12 people found this helpful
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Jon R.
5.0 out of 5 stars Not for true beginners, but a good book.
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2006
Verified Purchase
I bought this book after already having some knowledge of c++ and I think I would have a much harder time if I had simply started with this book. Regardless, There is a very good coverage of several libraries that I needed to learn about as well as a good way of viewing c++ from a game production point of view.

I would reccommend this book for anyone who already has minimal c++ knowledge, but if you feel dedicated enough to learn the language, you should do fine as well and should get a lot out of reading this book.
2 people found this helpful
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Jack
4.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction to C++
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2005
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This is a reasonable introduction to C++ and lays a lot of ground work for moving into more complicated aspects of game programming. What it doesn't do is teach you anything about displaying graphics: all of the programing is text only DOS-type games. You will need to learn win32 API or some other image display stuff before writhing even simple graphic programs.

That said, I found the game-oriented presentation to be helpful. It makes the various functions a lot easier to understand when they are presented in a familiar context (gaming), with practical uses. A failing of many other programming books is that they take a rather abstract approach, leaving you unsure what you would ever use something for.
11 people found this helpful
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K. Whicheloe
5.0 out of 5 stars May never see the reader again.
Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2007
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I bought this for my 15 year old son. He spends loads of time reading and using the information. He says it is a very useful book.
3 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2016
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Just great!
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Top reviews from other countries

Denis
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on November 10, 2016
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was what I expected, no issues, thanks!!!
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David Gunner Jnr
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2016
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Fantastic book, fast delivery, great condition. Highly recommended. Thanks
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Freebird
5.0 out of 5 stars Well done
Reviewed in Germany on August 12, 2006
Verified Purchase
Let me begin by telling you what this book is *not*: This isn't one of that books trying to rush through short explained C++ principles only to get the user as fast as possible to an API like DirectX - and leaving the reader alone with all nasty little traps that C++ provides to a newbie. In fact, this book does not cover any gaming API at all and that's a good decision for book being aimed to an completely unexperienced audience, both in programming and games programming.

This is one of the best introductions to C++ I've ever read. The author knows exactly what questions an aspirant will have and provides slim and well documented examples to document his answers. Every chapter ends in "questions and answers" about the Do's and Don'ts in C++ and adds some exercises testing your understanding of the basic principles. Because of the steep learning curve of C++ the author has chosen well not trying to teach you more than the language itself - in form of easy understandable console games like Tic-Tac-Toe, Hangman and Blackjack.

It's hard enough to get into Types & Variables, Loops, Strings, Arrays and the correct usage of STL containers. You learn about the real differences between references and pointers, call-by-value and call-by-reference, etc. The book concludes in explaining member access levels, allocating memory and inheritance. Every principle is well explained and clarified in easy program examples, initiating the reader to try them by his own.

I would recommend this book as the very first book to begin with C++ programming, and doing this with simple games is even more fun. The knowledge of this material will prove invaluable when it comes to deal with real gaming APIs.
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