The naming convention for functions is the name of the header file minus the extension, so for example, ‘gl.h’ contains all of OpenGL's core API. All header files containing references to externally accessible functions are collected in a top-level directory gl. The organization of OpenGL's API is broken up into distinct modules defined by separate headers. OpenGL lets the user code supply a custom callback function which the system then calls to determine how each primitive is drawn. For example, in some cases, low-level 3D scenes need to be rendered from more than one primitive type (triangles, lines, points). In these cases, the generic implementation of an OpenGL function is used. Hardware that supports it, or using vendor-specific OpenGL extensions, OpenGL functions use platform-specific graphics APIs that allow the programmer to access the graphics hardware's capabilities.Įven on hardware that supports it, many functions are still not implemented by all of the available devices. In addition, it provides a software abstraction of graphics devices by rendering them onto a local area 2D memory bitmap. The library is composed of the necessary state-setting steps, utility routines for managing resources and access to other functions in the system. OpenGL interface functions with the ‘ client- side’ API library in basic implementations, which does not include hardware-specific code. In addition, the architecture of OpenGL takes advantage of a layered design that makes it easier to extend it in the future without breaking support for older hardware devices.

The API makes it easier to use OpenGL functions by removing cross-platform issues such as different graphics hardware capabilities, different windowing systems and operating system graphics device drivers.

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