Introduction

In the previous chapter, we provided a sample code to render a triangle on the screen using OpenGL and the GLFW library. In this chapter, we will focus on the use of OpenGL primitives, such as points, lines, and triangles, to enable the basic 2D visualization of data, including time series such as an electrocardiogram (ECG). We will begin with an introduction to each primitive, along with sample code to allow readers to experiment with the OpenGL primitives with a minimal learning curve.

One can think of primitives as the fundamental building blocks to create graphics using OpenGL. These building blocks can be easily reused in many applications and are highly portable among different platforms. Frequently, programmers struggle with displaying their results in a visually appealing manner, and an enormous amount of time may be spent on performing simple drawing tasks on screen. In this chapter, we will introduce a rapid prototyping approach to 2D data visualization using OpenGL...