OpenGl API Specs?

I know nothing about programming OpenGl, but am trying to learn the basics for a scientific application my research group is starting up on.

My question is this: where’s the OpenGL api? am i absolutely required to buy a book? I would have expected there to be a pdf lying around somewhere…

what i think i’m looking for is simply a language specification, such that if i see a gl*() function call, i can look up what it does.

so i’ve been looking at the old reference manual at

http://www.rush3d.com/reference/opengl-bluebook-1.0/

how different is this from the latest version?

Originally posted by frozenflip:
My question is this: where’s the OpenGL api?
On the frontpage? There is a whole menu dedicated to the docs & specs.