I recently started reading Beginning DirectX 10 Game Programming written by Wendy Jones, and I'm about 60 pages in on the chapter about sprites, and I feel like I haven't learned anything, half the code they throw at me I can hardly decipher, and even if I do that, how am I supposed to remember it all? I feel like all I'm doing is copy-pasting without learning anything.
P.S. I only have some basic C++ knowledge.
You should need to pace yourself. First learn concepts of programming. Get a good grasp of it. Learn's the ins and outs of one programming language. Learn about data structure. Learn about algorithms. Practice more and more. Then once you feel you have gotten a good grasp, then do some simple 2D graphical program. Use SDL. Its easy to learn and comprehend. Learning directX right of the back is hard because there is so much stuff you need to do before you get your first triangle application up. So start slow and steady. Don't just jump into something complicated, gradually take it step by step and before you know it, it will all make sense to you. Good Luck. Come here for help if you need to.
If you are just starting out, but have a bit of C++ knowledge, this tutorial would be about perfect for you to run through.
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