Open Graphics Language (OpenGL) is an open standard 2D and 3D graphics library standardized by Khronos group. It is supported on multiple platforms and also with many languages. Multiple vendors like AMD and NVIDIA, provide OpenGL implementation which are accelerated on a GPU (Graphics Processor Unit). Microsoft provided OpenGL support, for PC, from Windows 95.
There are two parts of an OpenGL program, shown as follows:
Core OpenGL APIs, which are platform independent. For core API call, the header
<GL/gl.h>
must be included in all the files using OpenGL. It should be linked toOpenGL32.lib
(part of Windows SDK) in Windows andlibGL.so
in Linux. Another OpenGL utility header<GL/glu.h>
is included most of the time.The windowing and other platform-specific part. There are several libraries like GLX for X Window based system developed by Silicon Graphics, WGL or Wiggle for Windows developed and supported by Microsoft, and Core OpenGL (CGL) or Apple Graphics...