The only reason to use glut is...

1.) You are a newbie
2.) Want to code a small app with a small opengl part
3.) Want 100% platform portability

If you write ugly windows code, learn to write clean one. glut won''t bring you very far, it''s to restricting. Why not simply encapsulte the bit of win32 code into a few classes and have all the power while still having clean code ?


Tim

--------------------------
glvelocity.gamedev.net
www.gamedev.net/hosted/glvelocity

How can you dislike something that you have never even used? How can you dislike something that you don''t know how to use? Before you pass judgement you should really try and come up with some valid arguments to your points. You can say "GLUT is slow" or other things, but your arguments won''t hold water unless you can back it up. Even if GLUT is slower it''s probably nothing that will make a huge difference. In my experience GLUT is just as fast as rendering wise as using plain old Win32 code. GLUT''s input may be a little slow, but I believe that is fixed with the game mode stuff in 3.7.

I think the problem is people see GLUT as a silver bullet, something that will solve all of their coding problems, and it''s not. There are times when you should use it and times when you shouldn''t.

Nate Miller
http://nate.scuzzy.net

Men GLUT is fine... please, everything finds it reasons...

Try to initialize a VOODOO2 OpenGl-MiniPort without GLUT
and tell me how long it will take with Win32s ?

DOS IS FINE !!! WHOEVER CRITISISE DOS, TELL THAT WIN ITS BETTER
AND THIS PEOPLE THEY CAN STAY WHERE THEY ARE !

I like the DOS console for debugging... I don''t use GLUT
hehe noo... but I still like it for portability...

GLUT IS NOT FOR BEGINNERS ! IT JUST SHORTEST THE F*@&%ING
WIN32 CODE !!!

dave.sur@caramail.com

FUD "beginers use glut"
i would say that the average skill of the ppl that use glut is far higher than those that use straight win32 , at least thats my impression of use over the years
a couple of programs that use glut
www.blender.nl (one of the best 3d modelling programs around)
http://www.planetquake.com/aftershock/ ( copy of quake3 )

also u might wanna have a look at the blender site for a modified version of glut

http://members.xoom.com/myBollux

Don''t try to oversimplify.

You guys are searching for such generalized rules that I worry about you.

How about try it yourself and decide for yourself.

Glut is a library.

Use it if it works for you.

Don''t if you don''t know how, don''t need to, or don''t want to.

It''s easy enough to use that if you are curious if it''s any good or not, you should try it.

This is like asking, "I''ve never tried orange sherbert. I know it sucks though..."

I started out using GLUT but stopped for these two reasons:

1. The ugly dos window

2. The fact that continual rotation of a sphere is S-L-O-W and I cannot fix it

The non-glut openGL is a lot better in my opinion because it also supports arrow, F1-10, and other VK_* handling.

Yet another case of not digging deeper for a solution to a problem.

1. Read the GLUT FAQ(http://reality.sgi.com/mjk_asd/glut3/glut-faq.html), you can get rid of it.

2. This could be any number of things. You could be using glu*/glaux* functions to draw your sphere which is going to be slow or you might not have a great graphics card. Blaming GLUT is silly.

Finally, there is support for the F keys as well as the arrow keys. Look at glutSpecialFunc().

Nate Miller
http://nate.scuzzy.net

I don''t have the dos window in my GLUT apps. Wanna know why? Well ill tell you why. I make a Win32 Application, NOT a console app and i use WinMain. So that way i dont have that dos window, and to me at least, it seems this way makes my programs load much faster.

Snyper

GLUT offers great portability, and with the game glut, you can do fullscreen and all that other good stuff. Whether you decide to use GLUT is your own descision. I don''t avoid GLUT because I dislike it. When I set out to teach GL, I "personally" wanted to know how it worked in detail. Using GLUT I wouldn''t have learned much about the actual work that goes into creating your window, etc. So I never used it. Plus when I started in programming in GL I hadn''t heard of GLUT believe it or not.

But depending on your needs, use whatever is best for yourself. Some people don''t care about the windows code. I know personally it''s driven me a bit crazy at times. It would be nice to focus mainly on your actual GL code (something GLUT allows you to do), but then again, it''s nice to know more.

My site is just a spec in the sea of amazing GL sites out there. If you search for GLUT, there are probably millions more tutorials then there are for straight windows code. The information is there no matter what you choose to do.

Just thought I''d mention: GLUT is neither slow, nor "bad".

It was created by that wizard Mark Kilgard, who works for nVidia (and formerly for SGI). He''s written books, written bunches of code and has presented papers/talks at conventions (such as "Advanced Hardware and Rendering Techniques" at the 2000 GDC).

Admittedly, having a big name behind it doesn''t make it any better than it is... but there you have it.