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Learn OpenGL

Free, thorough tutorial site that teaches modern shader-based graphics, praised as the best OpenGL starting point. Critics say it stays tied to the OpenGL API.

Summarized from 24 comments.

Free, thorough tutorial site that teaches modern shader-based graphics, praised as the best OpenGL starting point. Critics say it stays tied to the OpenGL API.

recommend
15
criticize
3
months recommended
3 of 13

Why people love it

  • Best OpenGL tutorial available · 5

    You will never get the same quality of fundamental education material from any of the other tutorials

    Jul 2026 · comment

    the most useful resource for OpenGL by an order of magnitude

    Jul 2026 · comment

    The one and only Holy Bible of Graphics Programming.

    Jul 2026 · comment
  • Thorough coverage of graphics fundamentals · 4

    I've never seen a more detailed tutorial than LearnOpenGL that actually goes through the concepts of graphics programming thoroughly

    Jul 2026 · comment

    learnopengl explains a lot of basics like transformation coordinates, what a mesh is

    Jul 2026 · comment

    what it covers is the fundamentals of real time graphics, not just OpenGL API

    Jul 2026 · comment
  • Teaches modern shader-based approach · 3

    The site teaches you the shader approach (rather than the fixed function pipeline of the 90s)

    Jul 2026 · comment

    With the new/shader-based API, well... https://learnopengl.com/Getting-started/Hello-Triangle

    Jul 2026 · comment

    the learnopengl.com tutorial and examples will still work

    Jul 2026 · comment
  • Good introduction for beginners · 2

    I used Learn OpenGL to learn about graphics

    Jul 2026 · comment

    learn opengl is a really good introduction

    Jul 2026 · comment

What people warn about

  • Fundamentals tied to OpenGL API · 3

    Is it? All the fundamentals are tied to how it's done in OpenGL with somewhat sparse explanations in between.

    Jul 2026 · comment

    Then you should learn concepts of graphics programming that isn't defined with code snippets

    Jul 2026 · comment

    Everything is steeped in OpenGL API. All the "fundamentals" are about OpenGL.

    Jul 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

Every quote

The 23 most detailed of 24 comments. Each links to the original.

  1. I've never seen a more detailed tutorial than LearnOpenGL that actually goes through the concepts of graphics programming thoroughly

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  2. You will never get the same quality of fundamental education material from any of the other tutorials

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  3. The site teaches you the shader approach (rather than the fixed function pipeline of the 90s)

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  4. With the new/shader-based API, well... https://learnopengl.com/Getting-started/Hello-Triangle

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  5. learnopengl explains a lot of basics like transformation coordinates, what a mesh is

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  6. what it covers is the fundamentals of real time graphics, not just OpenGL API

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  7. the most useful resource for OpenGL by an order of magnitude

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  8. the learnopengl.com tutorial and examples will still work

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  9. The one and only Holy Bible of Graphics Programming.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  10. Most articles there are practically API-agnostic.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  11. I used Learn OpenGL to learn about graphics

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  12. learn opengl is a really good introduction

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  13. by far the best tutorial on opengl

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “What to Learn to Be a Graphics Programmer”

  14. found it of top notch quality

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  15. Is it? All the fundamentals are tied to how it's done in OpenGL with somewhat sparse explanations in between.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  16. Then you should learn concepts of graphics programming that isn't defined with code snippets

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  17. Everything is steeped in OpenGL API. All the "fundamentals" are about OpenGL.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  18. nowadays I would recommend getting Real Time Rendering and going through https://learnopengl.com/

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Max Payne – two decades later – Graphics Critique”

  19. one of the biggest things it helps with is explaining the setup boilerplate for OpenGL

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  20. If you follow the LearnOpenGL tutorials you'll get as far as HDR lighting and shadows.

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  21. learnopengl.com should have a mandatory section for how to use RenderDoc

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  22. Please don't learn this; it's obsolete.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

  23. It hardly explains the necessary math.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Learn OpenGL, extensive tutorial resource for learning Modern OpenGL”

Counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, Nov 2025 to Nov 2026. How we count · Report a mistake