OpenGL.GL.ARB.shader_objects

OpenGL extension ARB.shader_objects

This module customises the behaviour of the OpenGL.raw.GL.ARB.shader_objects to provide a more Python-friendly API

Overview (from the spec)

This extension adds API calls that are necessary to manage shader objects and program objects as defined in the OpenGL 2.0 white papers by 3Dlabs.

The generation of an executable that runs on one of OpenGL's programmable units is modeled to that of developing a typical C/C++ application. There are one or more source files, each of which are stored by OpenGL in a shader object. Each shader object (source file) needs to be compiled and attached to a program object. Once all shader objects are compiled successfully, the program object needs to be linked to produce an executable. This executable is part of the program object, and can now be loaded onto the programmable units to make it part of the current OpenGL state. Both the compile and link stages generate a text string that can be queried to get more information. This information could be, but is not limited to, compile errors, link errors, optimization hints, etc. Values for uniform variables, declared in a shader, can be set by the application and used to control a shader's behavior.

This extension defines functions for creating shader objects and program objects, for compiling shader objects, for linking program objects, for attaching shader objects to program objects, and for using a program object as part of current state. Functions to load uniform values are also defined. Some house keeping functions, like deleting an object and querying object state, are also provided.

Although this extension defines the API for creating shader objects, it does not define any specific types of shader objects. It is assumed that this extension will be implemented along with at least one such additional extension for creating a specific type of OpenGL 2.0 shader (e.g., the ARB_fragment_shader extension or the ARB_vertex_shader extension).

The official definition of this extension is available here: http://www.opengl.org/registry/specs/ARB/shader_objects.txt