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Books on OpenGL

Started by LordGiovanni Jan 13, 2012 at 3:08 AM 2 replies 1.5k views

Original Post

Jan 13, 2012 at 3:08 AM

I've recently received a bunch of Amazon gift cards and I'm thinking about splurging on some books to help learn OpenGL. I'm looking for particular recommendations for what to buy (I should be able to get two or three books, not that it's necessary to). I've done work with 2d libraries before and have a fairly strong mathematical background so I'm looking more towards learning the API than relearning the typical math that goes along with this. From my nosing about it looks like the "red book" is a fairly good choice, and a newer edition is coming out in a few months. I suppose I'm more jsut worried that if I pick up a book that was published many years ago and may have been a good source then might be a bit outdated now.

Thanks!

nEJC

Jan 13, 2012 at 1:25 PM

Just yesterday I've bought kindle edition of OpenGL® SuperBible: Comprehensive Tutorial and Reference (4th Edition)
It has everything you need to start learning and go to pro

.
Go for the 4th edition not the 5th - see the reasons in 1-star rating comments of the 5th ...

swiftcoder

Jan 13, 2012 at 2:07 PM

Just yesterday I've bought kindle edition of OpenGL® SuperBible: Comprehensive Tutorial and Reference (4th Edition) It has everything you need to start learning and go to pro . Go for the 4th edition not the 5th - see the reasons in 1-star rating comments of the 5th ...

I'd honestly take issue with that. While the 5th edition i next to useless, the 4th edition is so outdated as to also be useless - learning the fixed function pipeline is just an unnecessary distraction in this day and age.

I would recommend the OpenGL ES 2.0 Programming Guide instead. Why? Because OpenGL ES 2.0 doesn't have any of the deprecated crap hanging around, so you will be learning modern OpenGL right from the get-go.

nEJC

Jan 13, 2012 at 5:19 PM

I'd honestly take issue with that. While the 5th edition i next to useless, the 4th edition is so outdated as to also be useless - learning the fixed function pipeline is just an unnecessary distraction in this day and age.

I'll admit that I didn't come to the part II of the book "The New Testament", but doesn't it cover the concepts of OpenGL 2.x there?

Also, my interest is in Android development where many, even new, phones will be stuck with OpenGL ES 1.1 and I'll have to target them also - so not learning the old stuff could potentially directly influence the revenue (I wish) ...

But I will agree with your recommendation - OpenGL ES 2.0 Programming Guide is next that will fall into my library - I hear only good stuff about it ...

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