Want to learn Windows API for Game Programming

My book Beggining Game Programming http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA240_.jpg is based in C but uses also Windows API.

As I'm about to finish the theory of C I want to learn Windows API separately, because the book describes it very shortly -despite the fact that it is reffered to a begginer- I found the following book but it seems to me like that API has tools for purposes that exceed game progamming.

Is it true?
If thats true it would be a waste of time, and i should get a book that learns you API for Game programming. Do you know any?

Programming Win32 Under the API

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Depends on what you want to do. I used Win32 API for making little programs that do my bidding :) If you want to do 3D programming look in to OpenGL. There's a template for it on the codeblocks 8.02 compiler so you can get a feel for the basic "skeleton". I used the allegro library when I made my first pong game (good starting game btw). Really it depends on your plans. So... what are they?

My book by using C, API and DireXt teaches you how to crete simple 2D games and inb the end a 3D pong game.

So I have to learn API from a specific source?

Not really. You can learn API where ever you feel best teaches you. I started with winprog.org. That site will teach you the basics of windows programming. The best 3D tutorial/learning site I have found for opengl is NeHe. This site can get really advanced really quick though, if you don't fully understand one concept before moving to the next.

No, for anything more than just a basic program, Win32 API won't do. Especially not 3D games.
It simply wasn't designed for it.

Its not using for the basic programming, but from what i understood, for the code to contact wi windows and so the input-output devices (speakers, aceess to audio-graphic files etc)

Playing sound files, sure. Putting together complex stuff and playing from resources and doing 3D-positioning stuff, no.
Blitting pixels on surfaces, sure (may or may not be hardware accelerated, beware). Doing complex 3D stuff with triangles, lights, shadows, etc, no.
Foreground input, sure. Background input, force feedback, action mapping, no.

The list goes on. Win32 API was not designed for games.
Even if it could be used for serious programming, it wasn't designed for it, so it isn't easy or flexible.
Gaming APIs was made for this exact purpose and is flexible and easy to use and employ for games. Far easier than Win32 API anyway.

API gaming? Whats this? are you sure?

Yes, DirectX.
Direct3D, DirectSound, DirectInput, DirectShow (though this is part of the platform sdk now), OpenGL and more.
Point me to some Win32 API that handles 3D rendering and enables you to create shaders and lighting and maybe I'll change my mind.
(You realize that Direct3D works directly with the drivers and not Win32 API, yes?)

API gaming is direXt?!

The book i think does use it, dont know where exactly but....

So a prgoramm of DireXt is like a prgoramm in API?

We may be talking at cross purposes here. "API" is a general term for a programming interface that allows you access to some library without being a wizard in it. So there's the "Windows API", which allows you to do things in Win32, like pop up message boxes, draw windows, deal with messages from the OS, all the things you would want to make an "ordinary" Win32 program. DirectX is also an API that gives you access to more fancy graphics things, sound, etc. It doesn't overlap much with the Windows API. OpenGL is another API that does much the same as DirectX (graphics only, though) -- same/similar end product, but a different interface (so the "look and feel" as you are programming will be different).

There are quite a few other game development APIs out there, but if I try to list them out I'll miss somebody and they'll feel bad. But you can probably find them if you try.

I'm writing a 2D game that uses the BitBlt function - it's pretty fast even though I haven't fully optimised yet.

Yes, Windows API may "cut it" for 2D, or simple games. But for more complex stuff, it just won't cut it.

True.

I do know OpenGL, but can't really be bothered to use it for 2D. I wouldn't even know how to off the top of my head - would you just use textured polygons as sprites?

This book I found to be very useful for game programming, the first thing it teaches you is how to use the Windows API, then it moves onto DirectX, even though it uses a very old version (DirectX 7) it teaches you all the very advanced math's needed to make games. But I still baught it for the maths, and its always nice to know how all the low level stuff work (like how to write a function to draw and clip lines). I would still reccommend it :)

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I do know OpenGL, but can't really be bothered to use it for 2D. I wouldn't even know how to off the top of my head - would you just use textured polygons as sprites?

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All the more reason you should be using it. Sprites in 3D now will consist of a textured quad. You get rotation, scaling, and translation for free since you are using the hardware. The days of blitting are over.