OpenGL是行业标准的跨平台应用编程接口（API）。这份API的规范在1992年完成，1993年出现第一份实现。
它与Silicon Graphics股份有限公司设计和支持的叫做Iris GL (图形库)的自用API大部分兼容。为了建立一个行业
标准，Silicon Graphics与各种其它图形硬件公司合作创建了一个开放的标准，称为"OpenGL"。
OpenGL is an industry-standard, cross-platform APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE (API). The
specification for this API was finalized in 1992, and the first implementations appeared in 1993.
It was largely compatible with a proprietary API called Iris GL (Graphics Library) that was
designed and supported by Silicon Graphics, Inc. To establish an industry standard, Silicon
Graphics collaborated with various other graphics hardware companies to create an open
standard, which was dubbed "OpenGL."
The evolution of OpenGL is controlled by the OpenGL Architecture Review Board, or ARB,
created by Silicon Graphics in 1992. This group is governed by a set of by-laws, and its primary
task is to guide OpenGL by controlling the specification and conformance tests. The original ARB
contained representatives from SGI, Intel, Microsoft, Compaq, Digital Equipment Corporation,
Evans & Sutherland, and IBM. The ARB currently has as members 3Dlabs, Apple, ATI, Dell, IBM,
Intel, NVIDIA, SGI, and Sun Microsystems.
OpenGL shares many of Iris GL's design characteristics. Its intention is to provide access to
graphics hardware capabilities at the lowest possible level that still provides hardware
independence. It is designed to be the lowestlevel interface for accessing graphics hardware.
OpenGL has been implemented in a variety of operating environments, including Macs, PCs, and
UNIX-based systems. It has been supported on a variety of hardware architectures, from those
that support little in hardware other than the frame buffer itself to those that accelerate
virtually everything in hardware.
Since the release of the initial OpenGL specification (version 1.0) in June 1992, six revisions
have added new functionality to the API. The current version of the OpenGL specification is 2.0.
The first conformant implementations of OpenGL 1.0 began appearing in 1993.
