
107
7
Teaching an Introductory
Computer Graphics
Course with WebGL
Edward Angel and Dave Shreiner
7.1 Introduction
For almost 20 years, OpenGL has been the standard API used in teaching computer
graphics. Regardless of the approach used in a course, OpenGL has allowed instructors to
support their courses with an API that is simple and close to the hardware.
e deprecation of the xed-function pipeline in OpenGL 3.1 forced instructors to
make some dicult decisions as to which version to use. In OpenGL Insights [Angel 13],
we argued for using a fully shader-based approach in a rst course. Now, with the popu-
larity of WebGL, instructors must decide ...