Also try cplusplus.com. And if you''re using the STL (which you should be), SGI''s STL documentation is indispensable (for those moments when MSDN falls far short - and they are many).

COOL! thnx a lot for the STL link, I never knew there was an online reference, I''ll still buy the book though =P

quote: Original post by Drizzt DoUrden
What more could you expect though? The "M" stands for Microsoft; Everything with Microsoft ivolved it crap.

Shithead fanboy GL groupie.

quote: Original post by Ziphnor
Amazing! I asked a question completely unrelated to Microsoft, and the thread still manages to turn into a i-hate-MS vs i-hate-those-i-hate-MS-people !

Your point?

I don''t hate anyone, but fanaticism sickens me. Microsoft manufactures tools I like to use - very competent tools at that. I also happen to like the tools produced by the Free Software Foundation and the GNU Project, KDE Project and GNOME Project. They are all utilities that help me accomplish what I wish to on my chosen platform for the particular project in the particular moment. To broadly castigate any of them as "intrinsic crap" is narrow-minded, ignorant and just plain stupid. I like my Windows 2000 and MSVC and MSDN, thankyouverymuch; I don''t like OpenGL as an API. Yet you don''t see me coming around saying it''s crap or participating in flamewars.

I said what I said about Drizzt because that''s all he is - a shithead, rabid anti-Microsoft fanatic GL groupie. In every matter he manages to bring up platform and API wars. He''s the kind of losing-ass lamer who probably does this to show how "l33t" or "r0x0rs" he is - and it doesn''t work.

NEWB: "Hi, I''m a newbie and I''d like some info about how to make games. Thanks!"DRIZZT: "Well, what API will you be using - DirectX or OpenGL? DirectX sucks..." 

Never narrow your mind! Never close off options! If you intend to work in the software industry, you will be faced with projects where you are required to work with tools you aren''t terribly ecstatic about (VB/Java/OpenGL/DirectX/Delphi/<insert your underdog of the day here> - and that''s being a professional. Every one of these tools exists for a reason; they gain dedicated followings because they are good at that reason, and if you come along badmouthing them then I regard you as a pissant fool who doesn''t understand those reasons.

I stand by what I said, and stand by what I say.

quote: I cant help but comment though, because i do feel that most Microsoft documentation is pretty alienating, and generally poorly written.

I find Microsoft documentation of the Win32 API, while incomplete and inaccurate in places (there are know undocumented functions, and there are functions in MSDN which have blank entries), to be some of the best available from a proprietary solutions provider. UNIX is built on public solutions and has existed for over 30 years - that discountenances Sun''s core OS documentation, along with IBM''s, HP''s, Compaq''s, Digital''s...

Windows is also a platform designed for the most rapidly changing sphere of computing. Compare the changes in desktop computing and mainframe applications over the last 10 years alone - OS/390 is older than half the GameDev membership while the 32-bit NT kernel is still popping zits, so to speak. OpenGL is built on a former proprietary solution, reworked and revisited over two to three decades; DirectX is a purchased technology overhauled within five years to become a cutting edge competitor.

What does this all prove? That for the rate of change and breadth of products shipped by this company, it''s doing a pretty damned good job!

quote: On the other hand, while i also dislike MS policies(product activation for example i think that some of their products are quite impressive(Windows 2000/XP and Visual Studio/C++ comes to mind).

Microsoft legal department is a company of bastards, its PR is from hell like Johnny Depp''s movie and half its upper management is absolutely clueless. However, Microsoft''s technology is undisputably noteworthy. Look up the Millenium notes on computing. Product Activation is one of the most maligned and misreported technologies in the history of man, largely a function of rabid anti-Microsoftism. It''s nowhere near as bad as you think it is, and that''s your fault.

quote: I have yet to make up my mind in the whole OpenGL vs. DirectX thing, though.

If you gain anything from this entire rant, let it be this: don''t. They''re both very useful, very applicable technologies. Why pidgeonhole yourself into one?