What is the use of opengl?

What is opengl used for?

OpenGL (English: Open Graphics Library, translation: Open Graphics Library or "Open Graphics Library") is a cross-language and cross-platform application programming interface for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. (API). This interface consists of nearly 350 different function calls used to draw everything from simple graphics bits to complex three-dimensional scenes. Another programming interface system is Direct3D only for Microsoft Windows. OpenGL is commonly used in CAD, virtual reality, scientific visualization programs, and video game development.

Highly efficient implementations of OpenGL (which take advantage of graphics acceleration hardware) exist on Windows, some UNIX platforms, and Mac OS. These implementations are generally provided by display device manufacturers and are very dependent on the hardware provided by the manufacturer. The open source library Mesa is a purely software-based graphics API whose code is compatible with OpenGL. However, due to licensing reasons, it only claims to be a "very similar" API.

The OpenGL specification is maintained by the OpenGL Architecture Review Board (ARB), established in 1992. ARB is made up of companies with a particular interest in creating a unified, universally available API. According to the official OpenGL website, voting members of the ARB in June 2002 included 3Dlabs, Apple Computer, ATI Technologies, Dell Computer, Evans & Sutherland, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Matrox, NVIDIA, SGI and Sun Microsystems. Microsoft was the founding One of the members, but quit in March 2003.

Advanced features

OpenGL is designed to be output only, so it only provides rendering functions. The core API has no concept of a window system, audio, printing, keyboard/mouse, or other input devices. While this might seem like a limitation at first, it allows the code that does the rendering to be completely independent of the operating system it's running on, allowing for cross-platform development. However, some things integrated with the native windowing system need to allow interaction with the host system. This is achieved through the following additional APIs:

GLX- window function.

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