Joel said
The code doesn't compile with Visual Studio C# 2005 and doesn't work with the most recent DirectX 9. Please read other 1 star reviewers. They are correct. Don't waste your money.
Guy Smeyers said
The book is written for people with a basic knowledge of C# and no knowledge of Directx. The author starts with simple applications as how to display a triangle and rotate it. I'm sure you can find these things in several online tutorials. But he explains things very well. The examples on the CD are not very spectacular; the author doesn't show you how to program a complete first person shooter.At the end of reading this book, you will have a decent understanding of this 3D API, which seems to me become better and better with later releases. (I always thought that OpenGL code looked very clean, now Directx code can evenly rival this other 3D API) In my opinion you should combine this book with other books over network programming (there is a small chapter in this book about DirectPlay Server-Client network) and other books about 3D engine design.
James D. Peckham said
Background: No professional programming experience, but i wrote MUDs in the late 90s. I learned C++ at a junior college. 4 classes of C++, analysis and design, discrete math, calculus, and a class of java. (and some other unrelated stuff)
I will recommend reading Ron Pentons MDX book before this one... it's much simpler (even though his sprite implementation is from dx 9.0b and won't compile... but learning how to fix it is good for you :P)
Tom does a great job of leaving out all of the baby stuff (like how to set up your IDE, install DX, etc etc.) and goes right into the meat and potatoes. So, for people who get bored too fast skipping simple concepts... this book is great for you.
I recommend getting this book, reading each chapter twice, then printing the sample code and hand typing it (don't let intellisense do the work). You'll quickly memorize the methods in MDX that way. Then read the chapter a third time to recap what you just did.
Hope you all enjoy learning as I have.
Brian Lawler said
This is a very good book on managed DirectX - i.e. using C# rather than using C++, using the managed rather than unmanaged API, using .Net, etc. Adequate chapters on how to get started but not in as much literal detail as some books - you will need to already understand how to use Visual Studio, how to include libraries into your Visual Studio projects, etc. Starts off with the basics and fundamentals but quickly moves into more advanced topics.
J. McCormick said
The way that this book approaches teaching Managed DirectX is a pretty good one compared to some other books I have looked at, provided that you are willing to do most of the work of trying to understand what you're doing yourself.
However, the book has loads and loads of errors. Many of them are simple and easy to correct if you know a little about C# or .NET (which you should if you want to use the book), but there are some that will probably confuse most beginners. For example, the book gets a pretty fundamental bit of information about back face culling completely backwards from the way things really work.
For those interested in the technical details, this book tells you that counterclockwise culling mode means you must specify vertices in counterclockwise order for them to be displayed and that clockwise-ordered vertices are not rendered. This is completely wrong. Counterclockwise culling mode means that counterlockwise-ordered vertices are the ones that are not displayed (if you check the official DirectX SDK documentation [and most every other source of info about DirectX available on the Internet] you will see that this is the case).
While probably not the worst DirectX book you could possibly find, this book should not be used by itself. Just about everything it tells you should be double-checked against the SDK documentation or some other DirectX reference to make sure that the information is correct.
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