DirectX, OpenGL.

[Fatboy]

A few dum questions,

1. Is DirectX and open-source API?

2. I know OpenGL is open-source. But do mainstream compilers usually ship with the necessary libraries? Do you think MS Visual C++ 2008 Express ships with OpenGL libraries?

3. If DirectX is open-source, would it be shipped with MS Visual C++ 2008 Express?

[aewarnick]

DirectX==Microsoft and is NOT open source.
I don't think OpenGL is open source, it's an open standard to graphics card vendors.

My choice is OpenGL for 2 reasons.

1. I like the api.
2. This is the main reason. OpenGL is CROSS PLATFORM. DirectX is NOT. I program primarily on Linux.

[bovinedragon]

2. I know OpenGL is open-source. But do mainstream compilers usually ship with the necessary libraries? Do you think MS Visual C++ 2008 Express ships with OpenGL libraries?

OpenGL is not open source, despite the name. And yes, the basic OpenGL libs come with VC++ 2008

[Fatboy]

So the basic OpenGL libraries come with VS 2008 express, which means these libraries are free right? If you say OpenGL isn't open source, that must mean some of its more advanced libraries are not free and cost money. But which?

[aewarnick]

I'm not aware of any that cost money.

[bovinedragon]

None of the OpenGL libs cost money, you just may need to go download them. A quick google search does the trick.

[links]

Using DirectX doesn't cost money either and you can easily use it with Visual C++ 2008 Express. Just download the latest DirectX SDK from microsoft.com

[aewarnick]

Stick with OpenGL if there is a chance of someday porting your app to other operating systems.

[IllegalCharacter]

I'd stick to OpenGL for the following reasons:

1) It's cross-platform. This might not affect you now if you don't use a non-Windows platform, but in the future you might want to have a version for other platforms like Mac, Linux, or a non-Microsoft console. I'm not certain but Playstation 3 might use OpenGL.

2) You don't need to hold down the Shift key while you're coding. It seems like a Microsoft programmer at some point had his Caps Lock button stuck, as a large majority of the objects in DirectX have names in all caps. This is a personal preference, but I think OpenGL produces a lot cleaner code.

3) It seems to follow more of a KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) idea. You don't need to toss around vertex buffer objects or device objects to use OpenGL. You can just go straight to the fun part.

4) Most compilers ship with OpenGL. Last time I checked, most didn't ship with DirectX. The last Microsoft compiler I used was Visual Studio .NET 2003, which didn't come with DirectX (but did come with OpenGL, oddly enough) and more recently I've used Dev-C++ and Code::blocks, which also don't come with DirectX.

5) John Carmack supports OpenGL. When it comes to graphics, he is the man