getting started

Any tools that you use are good because you get involved in the subject. Since you¡¯re still in school then you really want to concentrate on the maths and physics, a lot of the books you get on the subject will focus on these subjects which is a help in learning. Vector operations, matrix operations, etc, all play their parts in modelling 3D worlds which leads onto things like Newtonian mechanics, fluid mechanics, etc. I would learn a language like C++ because you¡¯re young and have time on your hands. C# is another nice language similar to C++ but a little bit easier to learn and you can get results quite quickly using it, plus at the moment you can use it to write apps for the Xbox360 using XNA.

C#, C++, VB, etc, are compilers, basically tools that you use to build your programs whether they¡¯re executables or libraries. An SDK or Software Development Kit has libraries that contain varies methods to aid a developer in creating his product, this saves the developer time since he/she doesn¡¯t have to keep reinventing the wheel. The DirectX SDK has all these components that you can use to aid you in developing your 3D graphics, sound, etc, all the fun stuff you¡¯re after but you¡¯ll need a compiler to turn all that into something usable.