To buy, or not to buy.....that is the question

Hi all,
I’m just looking for comments to help me decide…
My faithful OpenGL Programming Guide is starting to fall apart (I dropped it on its spine accidentally - on concrete). It is the OpenGL version 1.1 edition.
It is still okay to use (maybe for not much longer), but I was thinking of buying the new edition, which is about OpenGL version 1.2.
The question is it worth spending the money on? What new stuff is in the new edition?

Thanks guys,
Brendan.

yes

If you’ve already read thru the redbook, then you have a firm knowledge and understanding of this thing we call OpenGL. You’re on this board, so you know how to use the internet to find information. You probably know how to query for extensions and use them. Basically, you’ve already outgrown the redbook no matter what version it is.

I think the money could be spent on much better items. I have the v1.2 copy, and I’ll have to really pay attention to notice the differences between it and the v1.0 (i think) that’s publically available. I thouroughly recommend it as a starting point, but you’ve already been there, already done that. If there’s a specific feature of 1.2 that you’re interested in, I’m sure you already know how to get that information. Also, if you on a windows box, 1.2 is vaporware anyways.

Just my $0.02

Dave

Thanks guys.
I think I’ll save the hard-earned pennies for something else.

Cheers,
Brendan.

opengl1.3 is coming soon, i have no idea if the red book will be renewed at the same time . i hope so unlike the huge delay from 1.2 before the 1.2 redbook came out.

I think that version isn’t as important (unless you use a lot of fairly advanced features) as the speed and extensions on the card. (I would use a Geforce 1 or a Radeon at very least, if I were you).

Originally posted by zed:
opengl1.3 is coming soon, i have no idea if the red book will be renewed at the same time . i hope so unlike the huge delay from 1.2 before the 1.2 redbook came out.

Isn’t this way too early to say. MS haven’t even supplied 1.2 DLL entrypoints yet.

I just want to clear up a couple possible misconceptions here.

First, windows does have OpenGL 1.2 implementations today. The bindings aren’t in OpenGL32.lib, but if you have a card that advertises the 1.2 version string you can query for those entrypoints.

Second, MS’s schedule has nothing to do with when a new version of the OpenGL spec gets published. When an OpenGL 1.3 spec is released, the entrypoints will be accessible the same way they are today.

Finally, the ARB is the body responsible for moving GL forward technically. MS (one member of the ARB) is the one that deals with releasing new OpenGL32 dll’s and libs. It would be silly for the ARB to not keep pushing GL forward because one company hasn’t updated a library.