   c++ and graphics
  Hi, I'm new to c++ but learning fast. I'm almost done with the "Begginning c++ game programing book", and I want to know where to go next. The book doesn't say anything about graphics at all, so I want to get started with that.   
  C++ itself doesn't have any way to deal with things such as graphics (and a lot of other things).  They're covered in libraries other people created, such as Direct3D & OpenGL.   ;  If you are programming on Windows,   the DirectX SDK (see the microsoft website for 240meg DL) has alot of sample programs demonstrating alot of graphics 2D and 3D, sound, input, etc....   It can give you an idea about what you can do with graphics  (samples that actually work and can be modified).   I'm a long time programmer (20+ years) and seeing the DirectX demo programs a few years ago convinced me that realtime 3D programming was now actually workable on PC (without having to write all or half the library yourself).OpenGL is another solution (esp if you are in Linux).  I dont know if they have any equivalent to the DirectX SDK (software development kit).   