   DirectX books vs. Samples in DX9.0c SDK
  I just spent the last 3 weeks studying from "Programming Role Playing Games with DirectX, 2nd Edition"  Even though I knew of all the errors that would eventually happen because it was based on DirectX 9.0 and I have installed DirectX 9.0c on my computer, I figured I would benefit from the learning experience of researching the incompatibilities and fixing them.  After 3 weeks of research and hair pulling I still could not get the code to compile without errors (couldn't find enough info).  Today I found out that the "Microsoft DirectX SDK (August 2007)" (and probably all older ones for that matter), come with a "Samples" folder....  After giving a quick look through some of the samples, I come to realize that the code look NOTHING like what has been shown in the book.  Techniques and function calls are completely different.So, I guess the purpose to my whining is to ask, what's better to learn from, books or SDK samples?  if my purpose is to learn enough to work in the industry as a game developer?Any info will be greatly appreciated.fuzzlog   
  There are plenty of simple directx samples on the net. They are very well commented and in few hundred of line code you can learn how to use directx interface....One good start will be for example this;  I may not be typing the correct search words in google then.  About 90% of the samples relevant to what I was working on in the last 3 week have been geared toward DirectX 9.0 and below. I have been working with .X files and meshes.  I'm pretty much a DirectX noob, so sample code really does not do much good unless it comes with a tutorial which is what I have had trouble finding for DirectX 9.0c   ;  Well, well, what do you know.  Live, meander and learn!!  It turns out that the SDK mentioned above also comes with a folder named "Tutorials" with the following content folders:HLSLWorkshopTut01_CreateDeviceTut02_VerticesTut03_MatricesTut04_LightsTut05_TexturesTut06_Meshes   ;  The best book for learning Direct3D is Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0 by Frank Luna.  Sample code can be found on his website at moon-labs.com   ;  The DX SDK has some great samples in there.  There's basic tutorials for getting you started, samples for basic shader usage, and samples for mor advanced techniques (Shadow maps, shadow volumes, post processing, skinning, HDR, etc.).Just go to the sample browser in the program group for the DX SDK, and have a look.  When you launch the samples from there, it will automatically bring up the corresponding page on that sample in the DX documentation.   ;  Thanks for all the info.  it already looks more promising than the several books i've read.fuzzlog   