Web OpenGL® is a software library for embedding 2D and 3D computer graphics on websites. It can be implemented freely on any platform without royalty and is supported by all major web browsers. It solves the problem of programming graphics for each piece of hardware separately and allows easy transfer of games and other graphics software between different operating systems and hardware platforms. However, it may not be installed on a specific computer, may be resource-intensive, and may not run smoothly on low-end computers or netbooks.
Web OpenGL® is a software library used to embed 2D and 3D computer graphics on a website. As a public specification, OpenGL® can be implemented freely on any platform without royalty. Partly for this reason, it became quite popular and, by mid-2011, was supported by all major web browsers via the WebGL library. In addition to its popularity on personal computers, Web OpenGL® is available on many other platforms, such as mobile phones and some video game consoles.
In the early 1990s, computer graphics programmers were faced with the daunting job of programming software that supported a rapidly growing number of graphics cards. Each manufacturer provided their own software libraries to help with the task, but programmers would still have to program the graphics for each piece of hardware separately. Each program would then have to be tested separately on different hardware. If new graphics cards were released after the software was released, there was a high chance that the software would need to be updated to work with the new hardware. This process was difficult, long and costly.
One solution to this problem was OpenGL®. The new software library could be implemented on every new graphics card, meaning programmers would only have to program their graphics once, and provided the graphics drivers were accurate and up-to-date, the software would work. OpenGL® also solved the testing problem: all graphics cards became more or less the same from a programming point of view. Since it works the same on every type of computer, it has opened up the possibility to easily transfer games and other graphics software between different operating systems and even hardware platforms. OpenGL® is usually implemented by the manufacturer of each new graphics card.
As more and more content has become available online, the question of how to manage interactive multimedia content online has become more and more of a concern. OpenGL® already solved the problem for software, but websites have technical restrictions on how much access they have to a computer and its hardware. Web OpenGL® attempts to solve this problem by making the OpenGL® library available within a browser without giving web apps any other access to the computer they are running on.
However, Web OpenGL® has some disadvantages. First, while it is implemented on all major browsers, it may not be installed on a specific computer, especially if older software is running on that computer. Web OpenGL® can be resource-intensive and may not run smoothly on low-end computers or netbooks. The programmer can specify exactly what he wants the computer to display, but the rendering process may fail or stop in unexpected ways.
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