Self-help books
To be honest I do not like the idea of a book helping me. But recently I have tried one about self-discipline and I decided to go one with a few. Most of them are of those "... within x days" books which feels like you are put on a time constraint. However after I put it off and off I decided to finally read the first book and go for it and in one of the paragraphs it told me that I shouldn't think of something not useful and that even if the book helps you a tiny bit then you could already consider it a success. At first I was skeptical about it but then the book told me that I would properly be skeptical about that previous sentence because how could a book help me? In which it answered why not?
Anyway to make a long story short, I decided to try out the book as I had nothing to lose.
I still think that self-help books are some form of a scam but that is because we all think we don't need help until it's too late. If you have a problem you should try to solve it before it becomes a real problem and if you need someone else his help then so be it. Asking for help is not a weakness, it's wise. There is of course a limit too it and you might even think that you should be able to solve it on your own but sooner or later you will come across something which just requires someone else his help. Once more it is a strength asking for help.
So back to self-help books, are they any good?
I would say "Yes, unless they talk you into something you don't want" and that is the difference between helping and scamming someone. If someone else talks you into something you don't want, then it's a scam.
Commercials are thus a scam, self-help books who tell you you need more are a scam.
People, books or any other media who give you an advise but tell you also to not do it if you don't feel comfortable are people, books or media that are helping you.
So try out a self help book. There are certainly a few of those in library and else you can look on the internet for semi-professionals who write free self help books. There is bound to be something for you around.
Pushing the customer
Today I decided to finally update Java (had put it off for a few days) and as I was saying "next, next, next..." until I found this.
I know that Apple has done the same with ITunes and Safari (a web browser). I don't really mind Safari as I do use it from time to time (though I prefer Opera) however Safari is 18.7 MB while OpenOffice is 127 MB. Both are too big if you ask me, but that is besides the point. What I'm really irritated by is the fact that the wink was filled in. If this was an online service asking you to send letters from a third party it would be explained as spam. (How many of you have installed google toolbar?)
Using DXUT
DXUT is the DirectX Utility Toolkiit and until recently whenever you called it's name I would immediately note down your name on my list of people to ignore. And in case your wondering, yes, I always lose the list.
Anyhow, as a programmer I always want to reinvent the wheel, not because I think I know better or can do a better job, but more because I want to get familiar with. By know I have rewritten a lot of my own engines because there was always something missing here or there.
Is DXUT better than my own engines? Maybe, but DXUT is not an engine, it's a template, you could even combine DXUT with few of my engines. The only thing it does is creating structure in your application (by events like OnDeviceCreate, OnDeviceDestroy, OnDeviceReset, etc) and further it creates the window for you.
You also got access to a lot of other features, but they are optional. The only thing I dislike is the fact it includes DX10 specific elements in it, which you don't always want. I believe that a earlier version would allow you to use a define to disable it and else you could add it back yourself.