   DirectX or OpenGL?
  Hi, i''m not sure what to learn, my high school told me that if I want portability i was to use DirectX but he said that uses the GDI so it''s slow, but he said OpenGL was faster but only worked properly on Windows machines. Is this true?Which should I go for? 
  Your high school teacher speaks LIES!!!Well, that is if you didn''t just mix up what he said.DirectX and OpenGL are NOT the same thing.  Direct3d and OpenGL are what you want to be comparing.  OpenGL is portable, Direct3D (and everything within DirectX for that matter) is limited to the window''s platform.  Direct3D does not use GDI underneath of it AFAIK (I don''t use Direct3D...) but from what I have read it directly interfaces with the hardware.  OpenGL also deals directly with the hardware.  Speed-wise, if you know how to use them well, you can get the same speeds out of both of them.  As for which one you should use, well that is a matter of personal preference.  I prefer OpenGL, but that doesn''t make it better of the two. ;quote:Original post by template  Hi, i''m not sure what to learn, my high school told me that if I want portability i was to use DirectX but he said that uses the GDI so it''s slow, but he said OpenGL was faster but only worked properly on Windows machines. Is this true?Which should I go for?OMFG, you are teh funnies. Incredible. This belongs in the Lounge.;  Well first of all you have them mixed up, and second of all read all of the countless articles on directX vs. Opengl! I''m very very sorry, but this is gonna be scortched with flames... ;  OpenGL seems easier. It depends on your coding style. If you like COM objects and lots of pointers, DirectX seems to have lots of that. OpenGL is easier to me. It has easier stuff, like glBegin(GL_TRIANGLES) activates drawing a triangle. OpenGL is portable on most platforms, and NeHe Productions is an great place to learn it. Cone3D also has some tutorials. And if you like to learn from source, Game Tutorials is very nice.   Scott SimontisC++ Programmer ;  Yeah OpenGL has a lot of advantage because it isn't only easier to understand but also doesn't depend on windows like DX does. The bad thing about OpenGL is that it only does graphics it can't do stuff like sound etc, you need to write or find separate libraries for that...Anyway if that's what your teacher said I would consider changing classes  [edited by - FtMonkey on August 3, 2003 11:33:07 PM];  You could use DirectX for everything if you wanted to, or use OpenGL for graphics and take care of the sound, input, etc with DirectX. 