I must say the book OpenGL superbible 5th edition is not structured properly. The mass spring system is given in chapter 11 (the whole vertex shader is given) but no implementation details (buffer handling and vaos) is discussed.
To be fair, buffer objects are dealt with in Chapter 8, going by the table of contents on Amazon. Though I honestly can’t imagine what was in the previous 7 chapters if it took them that long to explain buffer objects. Especially since you can’t render in core OpenGL without them.
I don’t have the book, but I cannot for the life of me think of what would possess them to introduce blending in Chapter 3, but hold off on a detailed discussion of buffer objects until Chapter 8, when you need buffer objects to render at all. And antialiasing? Is someone really ready to understand what antialiasing is all about when they’ve just rendered their first triangle? Before they even really grok the framebuffer?
I don’t want to judge the Superbible based on its table of contents. But it seems to have a very strange layout and order for presenting information. And do they actually discuss sRGB textures and framebuffers without a substantive discussion of linear space vs. gamma-correct space, and the effect this has on lighting?
I guess this is because the Superbible tends to be more focused on imparting OpenGL knowledge than on teaching specific graphics skills. That is, how to use OpenGL features rather than why to use them.