Getting started with modern OpenGL (3.2 or higher)

Continuous evolution of OpenGL APIs has led to the emergence of a modern standard. One of the biggest changes happened in 2008 with OpenGL version 3.0, in which a new context creation mechanism was introduced and most of the older functions, such as Begin/End primitive specifications, were marked as deprecated. The removal of these older standard features also implies a more flexible yet more powerful way of handling the graphics pipeline. In OpenGL 3.2 or higher, a core and a compatible profile were defined to differentiate the deprecated APIs from the current features. These profiles provide clear definitions for various features (core profile) while enabling backward compatibility (compatibility profile). In OpenGL 4.x, support for the latest graphics hardware that runs Direct3D 11 is provided, and a detailed comparison between OpenGL 3.x and OpenGL 4.x is available at http://www.g-truc.net/post-0269.html.

Getting ready

Starting from this...