OpenGL教程之ZEUS教程第一课：什么是OpenGL

ZEUS 教程1：What Is OpenGL?

作者：Grant James (ZEUS) 翻译：oglmatrix
译者序：Grant James (ZEUS)的OpenGL教程比较简单，基本属于入门级教程，教程中对OpenGL的使用过程讲解的极为细致，有的时候感觉都过于详细，不过对于初学者这是好事。英文教程中每篇都有相应的源码下载，如果你使用教育网不方便下载的话，也可以与我联系。
英文教程的网址：http://www.zeuscmd.com/tutorials/opengl/index.php
中文翻译网址：http://blog.csdn.net/oglmatrix/

What is OpenGL?
"OpenGL is the premier environment for developing portable, interactive 2D and 3D graphics applications. Since its introduction in 1992, OpenGL has become the industry's most widely used and supported 2D and 3D graphics application programming interface (API), bringing thousands of applications to a wide variety of computer platforms. OpenGL fosters innovation and speeds application development by incorporating a broad set of rendering, texture mapping, special effects, and other powerful visualization functions. Developers can leverage the power of OpenGL across all popular desktop and workstation platforms, ensuring wide application deployment." - OpenGL.org

什么是OpenGL?
OpenGL是开发可移植，交互的2D和3D图形应用程序的首要选择。自从1992年被公布以来，OpenGL已经成为业界应用最广泛并支持2D和3D图形应用程序接口(API)，并将上千种应用程序带入多种计算机平台上。OpenGL通过组合了一套着色，材质映射，特殊效果及其它强大的显示函数来鼓励创新和加速应用程序开发。开发者可以在所有流行的桌面和工作站平台上发挥OpenGL的力量，来保证应用程序可以广泛使用。

The 2 most commonly used graphics APIs are OpenGL and Microsoft's DirectX. A great advantage of OpenGL is that it is platform independent, allowing your applications to be developed for Windows, Linux, Mac OS and other operating systems.

目前最常应用的两个图形应用程序接口（API）是OpenGL和微软的DirectX,OpenGL的一个巨大优势是它的平台独立性，允许在Windows ,Linux, Mac OS或者其他的操作系统上开发你的应用程序。

What additional knowledge is required for these tutorials?
As these tutorials are written in C and C++, it is recommended that you have an understanding of the languages. If you are unfamiliar with C and C++, you can visit the C / C++ tutorials section.

这些教程需要那些额外的知识？
这些教程都是使用C或者C++语言编写的，这就要求你能够理解这些语言，如果你对C和C++不熟悉，你可以访问C/C++教程。

What format will the tutorials follow?
The tutorials will be written for both Windows and Linux. For the windows platform, source files for both Microsoft Visual Studio.NET and Dev-C++ will be provided.
If you are developing under Windows, you need to decide on whether to follow these tutorials using Win32 or using GLUT (the OpenGL Utilitity Toolkit). At present, the source files for the Linux tutorials will only be available using the GLUT library.

这个教程将使用什么版式？
这个教程将提供Windows和Linux版本，对于Windows平台，源代码文件将提供微软Visual Studio.NET和Dev-C++两个版本
如果你在Windows下开发，你需要决定是使用那些利用Win32的教程还是使用那些利用GLUT的教程。目前，Linux下的源代码只是提供使用了GLUT库。

What is GLUT？
The OpenGL Utility Toolkit (GLUT) is a library used to simplify the process of creating an OpenGL window as well as the process of capturing keyboard and mouse input. A great advantage of the library is that it is cross-platform, allowing programs to be easily ported to other operating systems. The library may also be used free of charge.

什么是GLUT?
OpenGL实用工具包（GLUT）是一个用来简化OpenGL窗口创建过程的库，同时也用来处理相应键盘和鼠标输入，这个库的最大好处就是其跨平台性，使程序可以简单地移植到其他的操作系统中，并且可以免费使用。

How do you decide whether to use GLUT or Win32？
If you have never programmed using Win32 before, it is recommended that you use GLUT. If you feel that you must use Win32, it is advisable to visit the Win32 tutorials section.
If you are wanting to run your applications on multiple operating systems, it is strongly recommended that you use GLUT. It is extremely easy to set up an OpenGL window and more time can be spent concentrating on OpenGL.
Win32, although more complex, is much more flexible allowing you to process additional windows messages, create more flexible user interfaces, modify window properties and much more. A great disadvantage of using Win32 is that your programs will only be able to run on a Windows operating system.

如何决定使用GLUT还是Win32?
如果你之前从来没有使用过Win32编程，建议你使用GLUT。但如果你必须要使用Win32，你可以访问Win32教程章节。
如果你想让你的应用程序运行在多种操作系统上，强烈建议你使用GLUT。因为使用GLUT建立OpenGL窗口十分容易，可以让你把大部分时间集中在OpenGL上。
尽管Win32更为复杂，但使用它你可以更加灵活地处理额外的窗口消息，创建灵活多变地用户接口，修改窗口属性等等。使用Win32最大的劣势在于你的程序之能够在Windows操作系统上运行。

PS：余学OpenGL数月，甚感国内教程之少，故将国外教程译之，方便国人。由于本人能力有限，翻译中难免出现错误，还望各位指正！Email：oglmatrix@126.com
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