Java to C/C++

Hi,

I've worked as a Java based programmer for the past 3 yrs designing apps for the web and i'm looking to get into windows based c/c++ and directx. I'm obviously not new to programming generally but can anyway, who knows what they are talking about, recommend the best way to go to learning this kinda stuff?

Cheers

Infiniti

Infiniti wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've worked as a Java based programmer for the past 3 yrs designing apps for the web and i'm looking to get into windows based c/c++ and directx. I'm obviously not new to programming generally but can anyway, who knows what they are talking about, recommend the best way to go to learning this kinda stuff?
>
> Cheers
>
> Infiniti

Going to C++ from Java is a good direction to approach C++ from IMO. It
means you're more likely to treat C++ as an OO language which is where
it is at its most useful and elegant IMO.

I'd grab Bruce Eckle's Thinking in C++ and work through that as the
starting point. It's free on the web.

Though, if you're wanting to do 3d games using OpenGL, there's no real
need to go to c++ (Java is just as fast) for other types of games, your
milage might vary. What was it you were trying to achieve?

Peter.

Ivor Horton writes the most famous and highly regarded treatment of msvc++
programming, "Beginning Visual C++". It is by far the most popular book for
learning msvc++ programming, and not without good reason. I still refer
back to his explanations of certain Windows C++ concepts sometimes. I would
start with this book.

Charles Petzold writes "the bible" on old school windows programming, called
"Programming Windows." He was on staff with Microsoft during the early
development of the Windows operating system. I personally far and away
prefer to write games without using MFC at all, and if you also make that
choice, this book is an absolute must.

Microsoft Press puts a book called "Inside DirectX." Written by a pair of
guys who were on the DirectX development team at Microsoft from DirectX's
beginnings, it is probably the authoritive and definitive work on DirectDraw
(2d graphics), DirectInput, DirectSound, and DirectPlay.. as of DirectX
version 5.1. A used copy can be picked up fairly inexpensively from Amazon
or wherever, and I would still recommend it for learning about DirectInput,
DirectSound, and DirectPlay, and possibly even DirectDraw if you plan to do
2D stuff, and you're not concerned about alpha blending or anything too
modern or advanced. But this is not the place to go for anything 3D or any
really advanced graphics topics.

Once you have gotten through all that (lol), you will probably want to read
a good book on doing 3D programming with Direct X 9.0.

So, five or six books, a few thousand bucks in graphics and sound tools, and
about 2,000 hours of tearing your hair and banging your head against a wall
over the SDK, the code for the sample programs that come with it, and your
own code - and you'll be good to go, hehehe. /cheers

~rm


"Infiniti" <infiniti@infiniti.com> wrote in message
news:1062202397.40758.0@despina.uk.clara.net...
> Hi,
>
> I've worked as a Java based programmer for the past 3 yrs designing apps
for the web and i'm looking to get into windows based c/c++ and directx. I'm
obviously not new to programming generally but can anyway, who knows what
they are talking about, recommend the best way to go to learning this kinda
stuff?
>
> Cheers
>
> Infiniti

Ivor Horton writes the most famous and highly regarded treatment of msvc++
programming, "Beginning Visual C++". It is by far the most popular book for
learning msvc++ programming, and not without good reason. I still refer
back to his explanations of certain Windows C++ concepts sometimes. I would
start with this book.

Charles Petzold writes "the bible" on old school windows programming, called
"Programming Windows." He was on staff with Microsoft during the early
development of the Windows operating system. I personally far and away
prefer to write games without using MFC at all, and if you also make that
choice, this book is an absolute must.

Microsoft Press puts a book called "Inside DirectX." Written by a pair of
guys who were on the DirectX development team at Microsoft from DirectX's
beginnings, it is probably the authoritive and definitive work on DirectDraw
(2d graphics), DirectInput, DirectSound, and DirectPlay.. as of DirectX
version 5.1. A used copy can be picked up fairly inexpensively from Amazon
or wherever, and I would still recommend it for learning about DirectInput,
DirectSound, and DirectPlay, and possibly even DirectDraw if you plan to do
2D stuff, and you're not concerned about alpha blending or anything too
modern or advanced. But this is not the place to go for anything 3D or any
really advanced graphics topics.

Once you have gotten through all that (lol), you will probably want to read
a good book on doing 3D programming with Direct X 9.0.

So, five or six books, a few thousand bucks in graphics and sound tools, and
about 2,000 hours of tearing your hair and banging your head against a wall
over the SDK, the code for the sample programs that come with it, and your
own code - and you'll be good to go, hehehe. /cheers

~rm


"Infiniti" <infiniti@infiniti.com> wrote in message
news:1062202397.40758.0@despina.uk.clara.net...
> Hi,
>
> I've worked as a Java based programmer for the past 3 yrs designing apps
for the web and i'm looking to get into windows based c/c++ and directx. I'm
obviously not new to programming generally but can anyway, who knows what
they are talking about, recommend the best way to go to learning this kinda
stuff?
>
> Cheers
>
> Infiniti