Starting Out with Games and Graphics in C++ [With DVD ROM]

Don't knock the libraries showcased in this book. C++ is designed to use extensions and libraries as an integral part of the language and is not very useful without them. This book is an excellent resource for anyone who intends to use the Dark Game Development Kit or DarkGDK. DarkGDK is a powerful (and free) games and graphics library provided to Microsoft by the good folks at "The Game Creators" in the UK. It is basically a ported version of "Darkbasic Professional", their flagship product. DarkGDK is an excellent resource for game production and Gaddis obviously chose it for some very good reasons. There may be other game libraries available for free somewhere, but this is a good one and can be downloaded from the microsoft VisualC++ download site....for free. (instructions are included in the book) Everything needed to turn out professional game code using this book is free and downloadable....something to consider if you want to dabble in programming without unloading a bunch of money. (in fact, all the examples of graphics design use free tools too!) The price of the book is a little high, but all the supporting programs are free. Tony Gaddis has an effective writing style. He explains extremely difficult topics well. He uses excellent code models instead of having you wade though a thousand lines of code to see his example, he obviously wrote a snippit of code specifically to teach each point. This is a refreshing difference from many other programming books. This book covers most of the basics of C++ using the DarkGDK as an example library, but it also doesn't try to teach every single way of accomplishing something in C++. If you are a real programmer, you know that for any given algorithm there are at least 100 ways of doing it in C++. Gaddis teaches one or two of these ways, and doesn't mire the student down in detail or alternatives. A good approach for a huge topic like C++. If you want to learn all the nuances of C++ or you are looking for a reference book on the language, look elsewhere. If you want to learn to create very professional games in C++ quickly, this book is a good choice.