OpenGL isn't a library in the traditional sense (as in "library is a set of functions") , it's a definition. Instead of implementing the functions, they just declared what manufacturers need to implement to support OpenGL. That's, why graphics card support a certain OpenGL version, and not the other way around.

So, with this it should be much clearer what OpenGL actually does. It just tells the GPU driver what to do, but not how exactly. Same with shader compilation, OpenGL just sends the source to the driver, which compiles it.

Technically, you could pre-compile every shader, but you would be trading a ton of storage space for little performance, especially since shaders get compiled before gameplay

OpenGL and DirectX aren't libraries in the traditional sense (as in "library is a set of functions") , it's a definition. Instead of implementing the functions, they just declared what manufacturers need to implement to support them. That's, why graphics card support a certain version, and not the other way around.

So, with this it should be much clearer what they actually do. They just tells the GPU driver what to do, but not how exactly. Same with shader compilation, they send the source to the driver, which compiles it.

Technically, you could pre-compile every shader, but you would be trading a ton of storage space for little performance, especially since shaders get compiled before gameplay

OpenGL isn't a library in the traditional sense (as in "library is a set of functions") , it's a definition. Instead of implementing the functions, they just declared what manufacturers need to implement to support OpenGL. That's, why graphics card support a certain OpenGL version, and not the other way around.

So, with this it should be much clearer what OpenGL actually does. It just tells the GPU what to do, but not how exactly. Same with shader compilation, OpenGL just sends the source to the GPU, which compiles it.

Technically, you could pre-compile every shader, but yku would be trading a ton of storage space for little performance, especially since shaders get compiled before gameplay

OpenGL isn't a library in the traditional sense (as in "library is a set of functions") , it's a definition. Instead of implementing the functions, they just declared what manufacturers need to implement to support OpenGL. That's, why graphics card support a certain OpenGL version, and not the other way around.

So, with this it should be much clearer what OpenGL actually does. It just tells the GPU driver what to do, but not how exactly. Same with shader compilation, OpenGL just sends the source to the driver, which compiles it.

Technically, you could pre-compile every shader, but you would be trading a ton of storage space for little performance, especially since shaders get compiled before gameplay