OpenGL Programming Guide: The Official Guide to Learning OpenGL, Version 4.3, Eighth Edition

Compiling Shaders

Writing shaders for use with OpenGL programs is similar to using a compiler-based language like “C”. You have a compiler analyze your program, check it for errors, and then translate it into object code. Next, you combine a collection of object files together in a linking phase to generate an executable program. Using GLSL shaders in your program is a similar process, except that the compiler and linker are part of the OpenGL API.

Figure 2.1 illustrates the steps to create GLSL shader objects and link them to create an executable shader program.

Figure 2.1. Shader-compilation command sequence

For each shader program you want ...