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Dark GDK / Knowledge Prerequisites?

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DarkBasic Pro Guy
20
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Joined: 4th Jun 2004
Location: Broomfield, Colorado
Posted: 1st Jun 2008 21:44
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I was just wondering if there is some recommended knowledge, before I start DarkGDK? I'm already programming in C++ (I've been away from the programming world for a few years, but I got off the games' hook and back into programming) but I'm a beginner again.

Really what I was thinking was maybe I should learn some DirectX or start off with SDL? I want to know how easy DarkGDK is compared to SDL, as far as I hear is SDL should come before any DirectX.

Marcus
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Lilith
16
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Joined: 12th Feb 2008
Location: Dallas, TX
Posted: 1st Jun 2008 22:54
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I started with SDL and abandoned it for SFML. But before I could get deeply into SFML I found Dark GDK. SDL is okay and probably easier to write wrappers around but, from my perspective, it left a lot up to the programmer. Dark GDK removes a lot of that concern plus gives you a few more things. Dark GDK also has 3D whereas, if I understand it right, SDL has an interface for Open GL. With SDL you have to use other libraries for some functionality, particularly sound. DGDK provides that for you. Some animation is built into DGDK whereas I don't see that in SDL, though it wouldn't be hard to code. The one problem I have with DGDK is the sparsity of detail in their documentation. It sometimes requires some inquiry or testing to determine what works and what doesn't.

DirectX isn't absolutely necessary but it's not only helped me to understand what's going on under the hood, it's given me the ability to access images more directly.

Lilith, Night Butterfly
I'm not a programmer but I play one in the office
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Bishop
21
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Joined: 18th Dec 2002
Location: In my favorite chair...
Posted: 2nd Jun 2008 03:48
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To be honest, simple C++ knowledge is enough to start with DarkGDK. Sure, more advanced certainly helps as you gain more general programming theory and knowledge, but to get into it and actually start making stuff, all the basic C++ is fine.

As to your question about SDL vs. DarkGDK, I would say that DarkGDK is much easier, especially for a beginner. Firstly, it ships with Visual C++ Express, so there is no compilation/installation problems. Secondly, much of the required stuff for SDL, like windows and other basic things, are handled internally in DarkGDK. Finally, if you ever programmed with DarkBASIC Pro, then you will find DarkGDK a breeze.

Cheers.


Tux is my guildmaster.
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DarkBasic Pro Guy
20
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Joined: 4th Jun 2004
Location: Broomfield, Colorado
Posted: 10th Jun 2008 00:05
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So basically after finishing Accelerated C++ and The C++ Standard Library I'm probably about ready to start?
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aersixb9
16
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Joined: 29th Nov 2007
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Posted: 10th Jun 2008 03:27
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The only downside to DarkGDK is, to my knowledge, there's no books about it! Also it's kind of poorly documented. Other than that it's a breeze.
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burned333
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Joined: 8th Jun 2008
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Posted: 10th Jun 2008 03:39
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yup, it's really hard to find any DGDK tutorials on the net. i started to use DGDK actually because i know some basic knowledge on c++, therefore it would be much easier.
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