OpenGL

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a programming interface for 3D graphics which helps computer programmers make their 3D graphics perform better and faster by running parts of their programs on a video card (GPU) rather than just the central processor (CPU). Programming interfaces like OpenGL are usually called an "API," which stands for "Application Programming Interface".

OpenGL
Original author(s)Silicon Graphics
Developer(s)Khronos Group
(formerly ARB)
Initial releaseJune 30, 1992 (1992-06-30)
Stable release
4.6 / July 31, 2017 (2017-07-31)
Written inC[1]
Type3D graphics API
Websiteopengl.org

OpenGL is often compared to Direct3D, an API for 3D graphics on Windows. Programming for Direct3D is different in some ways because the APIs use different naming schemes for talking to a computer's graphics driver, which means that programmers need to write different code for OpenGL and Direct3D to do the same things.

OpenGL is owned by the Khronos Group, and is an example of open source software. This means that all of OpenGL's programming, and the explanations for how the programming all works, can be viewed, copied, revised, and re-released by anyone.

References
  1. Lextrait, Vincent (January 2010). "The Programming Languages Beacon, v10.0". Archived from the original on May 30, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2010.

Further reading
  • Shreiner, Dave; Sellers, Graham; et al. (March 30, 2013). OpenGL Programming Guide: The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL. Version 4.3 (8th ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-77303-6.
  • Sellers, Graham; Wright, Richard S.; Haemel, Nicholas (July 31, 2013). OpenGL SuperBible: Comprehensive Tutorial and Reference (6th ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-90294-8.
  • Rost, Randi J. (July 30, 2009). OpenGL Shading Language (3rd ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0-321-63763-5.
  • Lengyel, Eric (2003). The OpenGL Extensions Guide. Charles River Media. ISBN 1-58450-294-0.
  • OpenGL Architecture Review Board; Shreiner, Dave (2004). OpenGL Reference Manual: The Official Reference Document to OpenGL. Version 1.4. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-321-17383-X.
  • OpenGL Architecture Review Board; Shreiner, Dave; et al. (2006). OpenGL Programming Guide: The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL. Version 2 (5th ed.). Addison-Wesley. ISBN 0-321-33573-2.

Other websites
Wikimedia Commons has media related to OpenGL.
The English Wikibooks has more information on:
  • GLFW -- Library for creating OpenGL contexts.
  • GLEW -- Extension wrangler library for newer OpenGL features.


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