   How much percentage of syntax in DirectX programming should I remember?
  HI!I wonder for a sophisticated programmer in DX, how much syntax can he/she remember? That is, in the developing process, how much code he can do without referring to documentations?I''m a beginner, I want to be skillful in DX. So the first question is WHAT LEVEL can be called skillful.Thx! 
  not muchThe docs are only a click away...[edit] And with a decent IDE it should show the parameters for you as you type the function, so it's not really a problem.   [edited by - Raloth on February 13, 2004 12:25:04 AM];  I don''t think memorization of constants functions and all the other stuff is really making yourself truly skillful. Yes it helps in the long run of not having to look up things all the time...but I really think you get that memorization when you learn how to use it...like how to do certain effects and why they work that way etc...When you talk about the lower level things in DirectX, say DirectX Graphics and the basic device capabilities. Beginning a new scene and presenting etc...those should be remembered easily...but if i want to put it in simple terms.But remember things can actually be skillful, so you know you''re somewhat skilled when you can write a simple DX Wrapper from scratch using the basic functions and tools from DX from your head without reference to the SDK. Because thats all you really need..everything else is just extra cake. ;  I have read a word for a programmer before who said "without a documenation you are lost"it is the thoery and the method of thinking of the engine designa and the code that is important. I nearly remember nothing at all of the parameters of the functions and such stuf, even those that are always used. ;  It''s not worth remembering how to initialize the scene cus once you''ve done one you should put it in to a functaion to use time and again.  Also creating Index Buffers & Vertex Buffers can easily be looked up - and functions for them can be written too.The most useful things to know are the maths things like some of the Plane, Matrix and Vector calls and the rendering stuff (render states) but the renderstates themselves can also easily be looked up.  You do the math calls quite a lot so you start to remember them anyway. ;  I''ve worked with DirectX quite a bit since version 7.0, and I always keep the docs open on the other screen when writing DX code. Just think of trying to learn all the D3DRS_ constants and the values that go with them...  ;  An important thing that should be pointed out is that once you start writing a lot of DX-based code, you can very easily re-use it when you need it again.  For example, you''re writing your new engine, and for the most part, you can just copy the D3D initialization code over from your old engine.  So, it''s not necessary to know every little detail all the time.   Dustin Franklin   Mircrosoft DirectX MVP ;  From having answered questions in this forum for a few years, if you remember nothing else about the DX API, please remember this...Over 99% of the DX APIs have the capability of returning some sort of error code when they fail.  This added value provided by the API is wasted if your app doesn''t test that value and handle the failure appropriately.;  To be skillful in DX, you must remember 62.825% of the syntax. ;  ah, yes, foo fighter.  I assume you used the central limit theorem with a sample size of 30 and std dev of .2432 to calculate that, right? 