i’ve been told that im an idiot to use OpenGL in VB why is it so bad? the reason i am is because i haven’t learnt C++, i have a copy of VC++ but cant use it.
programming OpenGL in VB is like placing a 40hp engine into a Ferrari chassis 
Originally posted by Darkside:
i’ve been told that im an idiot to use OpenGL in VB why is it so bad? the reason i am is because i haven’t learnt C++, i have a copy of VC++ but cant use it.
Learning C or C++ is the best choice because you’ll miss lots of things if you don’t. When talking about programming, almost all talk about C or C++.
or you could do it in Java using various Java bindings. Much easier than C++ for a number of reasons and almost no appreciable difference in speed when you figure out the right way to do things. But in the meantime rather easier to debug 
and probably a better bet than VB on account of its similarity with C, which is the language you find most GL tutorial code written in.
Cas 
check out nehe.gamedev.net
these are great tutorials and most have been ported to vb also. Just scroll to the bottom of each tutorial and there is a big list.
Secondly, there is nothing wrong with using opengl in VB. In fact it probably has a place perhaps on a splash screen or an about screen or a dialog box. You won’t however get quake like performance out of it… but if you were going to be writing anything with quake like performance you wouldn’t be asking this question now would you anyway I wish you luck and I hope this helps
Just a quick note on VB!
I’m a professional programmer … that’s what pays my wages … i’m freelance … i earn good rates! VB has a place in this world, cos it’s reasonably powerful - but more imporantly it doesn’t take long to get an app up and running!
I’m in the process of writing a modelling package in VB - and it’s pretty quick in execution.
I use C/C++ for a game i’m writing - but i still use VB when experimenting with new ideas. And all the associated tools are in VB. WHY? Because it’s easy!
Don’t knock PPL starting out with VB - it’s well worth knowing.
BTW - that wasn’t meant as a knock, nor was it meant to induce a flame war … but it’s a commercial reality! 
There is nothing wrong with using VB for OpenGL. If you know VB there is nothing against it to use it to learn OpenGL. Having to learn both C and OpenGL at the same time only complicates things (you will need to read a lot of C though as you search for sample codes and read the various books on the matter).
With the 3D hardware nowadays it is not a choise of “engine” but a choise of who you put behind the steering wheel of that Ferrari. You’ll mostly be feeding data (textures, geometry etc) to the hardware which is not significantly slower in VB.
Especially for learning purposes/prototyping I favor VB. When you get to the point where you start using a lot of algoritms/pre-processing you may want to switch to C. Calling extensions from VB is virtually impossible.
For VB a good site is: http://is6.pacific.net.hk/~edx/
Cheers
I certainly disagree with most of you.
VB is an excellent tool and can be perfectly suited to using OpenGL as the API calls are called as fast from C++ as from VB.
The only speed difference could incur in expensive math algorithms. I recommend letting VB handle all your window, and user input events, and programming important algorithms and modules in C++ and using them in VB as DLL’s. I use that for my projects.
Cheers!
Rod
…mmm… haden’t realized that this post was like 5 years old… haha
Have a nice day everyone!
Rod