win32 HELP!!!!

[JLawson]

I recently started openGL with GLUT... (how easy!) But I have recently heard that If I plan on becoming a professional game writer, I am going to want to use win32/openGL... IS this true? And if so, where can I get some help with the basics (enough to get by) of win32? I looked over some code, and it all looks confusing...

And if you dont mind, can you give me some other sites BESIDES nehe.gamedev.net? thanks!

~Jesse

[mikael_aronsson]

All win32 documentation is available here: http://msdn.microsoft.com

Mikael

[spidey]

You probably won't get too far with win32 programming by trying to follow the MSDN docs (but they are a GOOD reference).

I recommend that you try:

Programming Windows, 4th ed
Petzold, Charles
Microsoft Press, c1996.

Unfortunately, the best development environment for win32 seems to be Visual C++. It could definitely be better, but Micro$oft doesn't care about developers .

G.

[mikael_aronsson]

Getting a book is of course the best thing, but you can get pretty far by using msdn, it does have some examples that are ok and explains the basic stuff to get you started.

Look up SDK documentation/User interface in the tree and the continue from there, there are examples that create simple windows and some overview over the message handling and so on.

There are also zillions of web sites with more info about Win32 programming.

Mikael

[Owlet]

Yes, according to the OpenGL red book (Woo, et. al), you will need something more powerful than GLUT for professional applications.

For the Win32 API, Jeffery Richter's book Advanced Windows should have some good information. It's very, very in-depth, and may contain a lot of stuff you don't want to know. Jamsa's C/C++ Programmer's Bible also covers some of the Win32 API, but this one is large, expensive, and only covers Win32 in the last fifth of the book.

If you want to use the Microsoft Foundation Classes (which are a much gentler introduction to Win32 programming), Programming Microsoft Visual C++ is a good book to pick up. (I actually found my copy in the discount section for like $5.)

[ppinter1]

Having started Windows programming with classic Win32 API calls, I much prefer the object orientation and convenient abstractions of MFC.

The somewhat dated textbook by Marshall Brain and Lance Lovette is, I believe, about the best introduction to MFC I've seen.

For a hopefully cogent example of MFC compliant Visual C++ code that also demonstrates clean OpenGL, check out:
http://p-squared.com/SpaceTime.asp#Mesh3DS

... and good luck in your pursuits.

[marcus256]

I recently started openGL with GLUT... (how easy!) But I have recently heard that If I plan on becoming a professional game writer, I am going to want to use win32/openGL... IS this true?

Yes and no

You probably want to get access to features that GLUT does not provide, and perhaps you want to structure your game in a different way than GLUT allows you to. (that was the "Yes" answer)

You do not necessarily have to learn Win32 programming right away. I would suggest that you have a look at GLFW first (opengl.freehosting.net/glfw). It is similar to GLUT (very easy to learn and use), but it is more game oriented and pure. You also get the source, which you can use to learn Win32 programming. Bonus: GLFW is 100% portable between Win32 ans X11 (Unix), plus the next release will have multi threading support (which GLUT does not have). (That was the "No" answer)

And if so, where can I get some help with the basics (enough to get by) of win32? I looked over some code, and it all looks confusing...

I learned most stuff from example code, COMBINED with the MSDN Win32 API reference. Simply look up the functions and structures that you are uncertain about. Win32 programming IS a bit confusing. Perhaps if you look at both the Win32 and the X11 code in GLFW you will find some common denominators (that usually helps for me).

/Marcus