OpenGL #1: Creating a Window

About this series

For some time now I have been intending to come to terms with understanding the ins and outs of OpenGL and GLSL and its many quirks and intricacies. This all began many moons ago when I was first fidling my way through shading languages & graphics API’s but I could not or had not afforded the time or headspace to fully dive down the rabbit hole. The goal of this series is to serve as a place to document my journey as I stumble my way through learning its fundamentals and figure things out in creating OpenGL applications and graphics programming.

I’ll be primarily relying on the excellent https://learnopengl.com by Joey De Vries as the primary resource though there may be times where other resources are referenced. Those will be linked as I work my way through the many challenges and roadblocks that I’ll inevitably come acrosss. Let’s get started!

Required Programs and files

• Some sort of IDE or code editor with Intellisense code completion and basic debugging. Some choices:
  • JetBrains Rider
  • Microsoft Visual Studio Community
• CMake
• GLFW 3.3 Source Package
• GLAD1

I’m sticking with Rider as my preferred IDE of choice as I find its minimalist interface and integration with off the shelf engines easier to work with.

Build GLFW

Compile GLFW Libraries

Resource Preparation

Creating an Empty Project/Solution

Linking

Generating GLAD file

Referencing GLAD

Creating main function

Initializing GLFW

Creating a Window

Initializing GLAD

Creating frame buffer & glViewport

Some basic error checks

Running the application

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