Just wanting confirmation of my information

Hello everyone. The title says what I am looking for. I am just wanting confirmation on my understanding of the information that I have on the camera matrix. If any of my understanding is wrong I would greatly appreciate any corrections.

matrix:
x1 y1 z1 w1
x2 y2 z2 w2
x3 y3 z3 w3
x4 y4 z4 w4

Ok, now this is how I understand the above camera matrix.

w1 w2 w3 w4 = camera translation in world space

x1 y1 z1 w1 = X axis orientation of the camera
(strafe? vector)

x2 y2 z2 w2 = Y axis orientation of the camera (or up vector)

x3 y3 z3 w3 = Z axis orientation of the camera
(or view/look at vector)

x1 y2 z3 = scale vector

x1 y1 z1
x2 y2 z2 = rotation matrix of camera
x3 y3 z3

I seen reference to the negative Z axis being the view but not sure what that means exactly. Any hints? Is my understanding correct? I tried searching these forums but never found any definitive information on what parts of the matrix are for what.
Thank you.

Hi,
What do you mean from the camera matrix? In OpenGL, there’s no camera. Camera is just a projection from the 3D space to the 2D space. In OpenGL, camera does not move. When you do a translation, rotation, or scaling, you transform the modelview matrix. When you write the following code, you say that i want to use or transform the modelview matrix:
glMatrixMode( GL_MODELVIEW );
As an example, when you do a translation, you multiply the translation matrix to the current modelview matrix.There’s no camera matrix in OpenGL.
-Ehsan-

I am not sure then how to explain what I am talking about. Camera matrix is the only term I have been told. I will think on it and continue my research, hopefully I can give a “better” explanation.