   Newb with questions
  I'm a newbie with some questions.  I'll preface the rest of this post by saying that I'm a COMPLETE newbie and I get easily confused.  Some of my questions might not make sense b/c I don't know what I'm talking about!  I'm currently learning C++ and will move to beginning game programming after that.  I know I'm probably jumping ahead of myself with all of this game stuff b/c I don't even know enough C++ yet, but the reason I'm asking now is that I'm about to purchase a new laptop and I'm trying to decide on the specs for it. I'm probably going to get a book like Jonathan Harbour's Beginning Game Programming to get an introduction into game programming and DirectX.  My first question is:  Would the DirectX code from an introductory book like this work with both DirectX 9.0c and DirectX 11?  My current laptop is running XP and DirectX 9.0c. while my new one would run DirectX 11.  I understand some features (code?) have been deprecated from 9.0c.  I don't want to learn something that is obsolete.My next question is about Windows 7.  64 bit is being pushed pretty hard (at least by Dell and Best Buy) from what I can tell.  How different is programming 32 bit Windows and 64 bit?  Would 32 bit code work in 64 bit?  Is 64 bit a lot harder to learn?  Also, would 32bit code in XP work in 32bit Windows 7?  My concern is about whatever books/tutorials I read.  Since I know NOTHING about Windows programming, I would really prefer to make sure the books I get work with whatever OS my new laptop has.I guess to sum up my first few questions:  Would Jonathan Harbour's Beginning Game Programming (or other similar beginning books) work with 64 bit Windows 7 running DirectX 11?  Would they run with 32 bit Windows 7 running DirectX 11?  Would I be better off sticking with XP?   Are there "better" (I know it's subjective) learning resources than the aforementioned book?  Thanks for any help, and sorry for the long post.   
  IMO it sounds like you are devoting too much attention to the graphics API you will be using. If you don't know anything about coding or graphics, than it really doesn't matter what API you use. 95% of graphics programming is exactly the same whether you're using DX9, DX11, OpenGL, or a software rasterizer. Once you learn the basics, you should be able to switch from one api to another with relative ease.Focus on the concepts, not the API. You can pick the one that you like based on what you've got to work with, but don't throw your book away because it uses DX9 and you wanted DX11. The fundamentals are the same, and no matter what API you work in you will be gaining valuable knowledge.   ;  Thank you for the reply.  That is very helpful to know that the fundamentals are the same for DX.  Also good to know other API's should be easy to grasp when I learn the basics.  Do you know if "basic" code for 32bit Windows is the same for 64bit?  I guess would an introductory book/tutorial for 32bit and 64bit be the same?   ;  Yes they should be essentially the same from a programming point of view.   