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Which version of OpenGL should I learn?
What version of DirectX do you have installed?
How is that relevant?
DirectX 9 works with OpenGL 2.1, DirectX 10 works with OpenGL3.0 and DirectX 11 works
with OpenGL4.0. The version of DirectX you have determines which OpenGL you can use.
I have a Windows machine. So what OpenGL version can I use?
Windows supports all versions of OpenGL, but the Microsoft OS versions don't always work
with the latest version of DirectX.
Part of that is due to Microsoft just not bothering to keep up the drivers for open
source OpenGL. I've heard that Windows just does it to force people to upgrade operating
systems.
You might want to learn OpenGL ES 2.0 so you could work on any operating system, including
the Mac.
That's a couple versions behind. I've heard version 2.x is hard to make a lot of functionality
work on advanced video cards.
True, they did add a lot of functionality with version 3.x. But OpenGL 1.x is the most
portable, even working on Android.
I'm not getting an obsolete version to be able to use it on my smart phone.
But it uses a classical fixed function model, so it starts having performance problems when
you try to render vertices.
And then there's the problem of learning the equivalent of Windows 2000 when people are
moving to Windows 8.
You could start learning the latest version of OpenGL.
The latest version isn't always the officially supported one. I'm not sure I want to start
working with it without support.
Don't worry about official support, because there are plenty of resources out there.
What if I make a mistake?
You're learning, so you'll make mistakes anyway.
What if I pick the wrong version?
Try learning WebGL. It is close to OpenGL.
Fine, I'll get the latest OpenGL version that my PC can support or that I can find online.