OpenGL Programming for Windows 95 and Windows NT

By Ron Fosner

Book Overview

The licensing of OpenGL to many leading computer companies, including Microsoft, has made it possible for graphics programmers to learn to write stunning 3D graphics programs using the industry... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0201407094
• ISBN13: 9780201407099
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

OpenGL for MFC Programmers

I found the book useful and practically the only book that shows how to use OpenGL with MFC and the Visual C++ programming environment. If you're interested in SDK c style code this is not the book for you. If you're interested in C++ and MFC this book is highly recommended. The book could use additional topics such as printer & memory DC support, however, overall it's a great introduction.

It tells about what the title says, no more, no less.

This book has two main topics, programming OpenGL and programming OpenGL on Windows. It only covers a little about 3-D graphics programming in general, since that's too big a subject for any book that wants to cover anything else. The coverage of general OpenGL concepts is very clear, as is the discussion of Windows-specific OpenGL concepts. It doesn't try to teach anything other than OpenGL about Windows programming, since there are thousands of other books on Windows programming in general. It uses MFC to cover up the annoying, off-topic details of Windows programming, without obscuring how the same work could be done without MFC. The book is short (around 250 pages), and that's a good thing in this case. The author didn't clutter the book with lots of stuff that everyone who would buy it would already know. He didn't pad it with lots of cut-and-paste filler. It took me two days to read it and start programming worthwhile stuff in OpenGL on Windows. All co! ntent. No Clutter. Thumbs up.

Very good Win32 companion to the 'OpenGL Programming Guide'

Whether you're just learning OpenGL as a hobby or for professional applications, this book offers an easy to read, clean introduction to the basics of preparing an OpenGL scene in the Windows 95 and NT environments. I would recommend it as a secondary resource to the 'OpenGL Programming Guide' (a.k.a. "The Red Book") also published by Addison Wesley which covers OpenGL in excellent detail but is thin when it comes to platform specific implementation issues. Those issues are introduced, addressed, and solved for quite effectively in this book.As the author states in his introduction, if you are already a strong OGL programmer and need to learn it in the MSWindows environment or are a beginner trying to get your feet wet, this book is for you. If you're an expert at OpenGL, MFC, Win32, and general graphics programming, then stick to The Red Book and fill in the blanks as need be.

Ignore what those guys said, this is a great book

Those that know nothing about OpenGL will find this book extremely helpful. It explains concepts that had previously confused me, and proceeds in a logical order. He manages a few clever jokes, and a carefully worded metaphor here and there, but NOTHING that would detract from the readability and terseness of this book. The code is created under the frame of the MFC's, but he acknowledges that early on the book and should come as any great shock. It is inter-compiler supportive. I am interested in being able to use the MFC's, but I do not understand them by any means, and I had little trouble understanding the source code provided.... I recomend this book to anyone that's interested in learning the most popular graphics language of all time. :-)

Good integration of OpenGL with Windows

This book is heavily biased towards MS products, MS VC++ in particular. The author uses MFC throughout almost the whole book, which is either a big plus or a big minus, but at least he gives reasons why you are doing what you are doing before writing the C++ code. Good explanation of pixel formats and why they are important. Could use more in the way of examples, but you end up with a nice MFC view class that's easy to drop into your projects. Assumes that you know little about OpenGL, but are familiar with C++ and MFC. Could have been longer. The last chapter on hardware and optimization is nice.