OpenGL - Documentation

Documentation

OpenGL's popularity is partially due to the quality of its official documentation. The OpenGL ARB released a series of manuals along with the specification which have been updated to track changes in the API. These are almost universally known by the colors of their covers:

The Red Book

OpenGL Programming Guide, 7th edition. ISBN 0-321-55262-8

A readable tutorial and reference book – this is a 'must have' book for OpenGL programmers.

The Green Book

OpenGL Programming for the X Window System. ISBN 0-201-48359-9

A book about X11 interfacing and GLUT.

The Blue Book

OpenGL Reference manual, 4th edition. ISBN 0-321-17383-X

Essentially a hard-copy printout of the man pages for OpenGL.

Includes a poster-sized fold-out diagram showing the structure of an idealised OpenGL implementation.

The Alpha Book (white cover)

OpenGL Programming for Windows 95 and Windows NT. ISBN 0-201-40709-4

A book about interfacing OpenGL with Microsoft Windows.

Then, for OpenGL 2.0 and beyond:

The Orange Book

OpenGL Shading Language, 3rd edition. ISBN 0-321-63763-1

A readable tutorial and reference book for GLSL.