OpenGL book

[Airstrip1]

Hi all,

I have an old OpenGL 2.1 book (the red one) that I started reading years ago. Now I'm thinking about picking up where I left, but are not sure if I need a newer version of the book.

The idea is; if newer OpenGL versions only added new features, and deprecated a few odd ones, I can learn the basics with the 2.1 version and when I'm comfortable with its functions (will take a while...), buy the newest version of the book to learn the rest.

But I remember there where supposed to be some fundamental changes to the way OpenGL works, that was supposed to be included in 3.0 but never was, something with OpenGL states. Did it get included in 3.1-4.2? If so, it would be better to start with a new version of the book and forget all about the old ways. If not, I will stick with the old one and see if I get through it this time.

Grateful for your thoughts.

[proliferazor]

Originally Posted by Airstrip1

Hi all,

I have an old OpenGL 2.1 book (the red one) that I started reading years ago. Now I'm thinking about picking up where I left, but are not sure if I need a newer version of the book.

The idea is; if newer OpenGL versions only added new features, and deprecated a few odd ones, I can learn the basics with the 2.1 version and when I'm comfortable with its functions (will take a while...), buy the newest version of the book to learn the rest.

But I remember there where supposed to be some fundamental changes to the way OpenGL works, that was supposed to be included in 3.0 but never was, something with OpenGL states. Did it get included in 3.1-4.2? If so, it would be better to start with a new version of the book and forget all about the old ways. If not, I will stick with the old one and see if I get through it this time.

Grateful for your thoughts.

I am not 100% but I think opengl 2 is fixed function only? After that you use shaders.

You're probably wanna get this book when it gets released but it keeps getting pushed back originally it was going to be out in august of this year.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/032...SIN=0321773039

[Airstrip1]

Originally Posted by proliferazor

I am not 100% but I think opengl 2 is fixed function only? After that you use shaders.

I think you are right. (http://www.opengl.org/wiki/Fixed_Function_Pipeline and http://www.opengl.org/wiki/Shader).

My old book seems to be useless, as with 3.1 the fixed function is removed (according to the references above). Thanks for helping me sort that out, it saved me from wasting time on learning deprecated knowledge!

Originally Posted by proliferazor

You're probably wanna get this book when it gets released but it keeps getting pushed back originally it was going to be out in august of this year.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/032...SIN=0321773039

Thanks for the tip! From the description it sounds really interesting and comprehensive.