If you want to use GLEW, just put glew.c directly into your project. Do not waste your time trying to get the linkage right with either the static or the dynamic library. It’s a million times easier to just include the source. For Windows projects, just be sure to #define GLEW_STATIC, and you are good to go.

I few years back, I began developing a new framework called XPG. It stood for “cross-platform gaming” (meant to target Windows, OSX, and Linux). It was spurred on by several events.

First, I really wanted to begin using OpenGL 3. SDL 1.2 only supported OpenGL 2.1, and I still do not trust SDL 1.3. I tinkered with other frameworks out there (such as GLFW), but it was really about this time that I became genuinely interested in the low level details. I wanted to learn how to make an OpenGL context myself.

Second, I was tired of C frameworks. I appreciate that people just want to maximize the reach of their APIs, and it matches the fact that OpenGL is in C. Heck, I’ve even built a library in C for the same reasons, but I reached a point where I was tired of wrapping all that behavior in C++ over and over. I always do game development in C++, so I wanted to make a framework custom built for my needs, not someone else’s.

I made a lot of progress on XPG. I managed to create OpenGL windows in Windows, OSX, and Linux. I learned how to catch keyboard/mouse events. It was a very satisfying experience, but I eventually ran into walls. One day, my Windows build stopped working (just displayed a blank window). Not long after, my OSX build stopped working (same blank window). I really had no idea how to debug any of these things. I finally put the project on indefinite hold out of frustration.

Looking back, I see that I should not have jumped straight to building OpenGL windows. I missed a lot of important details. So, this past weekend, I had some quality time with the Win32 API. I put OSX and Linux out of my mind and just played with Windows itself. I banned myself from OpenGL for much of the exercise. I focused strictly on working the event loop and altering window behavior. I separated in my mind what a window class is, what a window instance is, what a device context is, etc. I learned to really control these aspects. I created a recurring timer. I posted a message to the message queue from another thread (‘message’ == Win32 event).

Ironically, adding the OpenGL from there was the easiest thing I’ve ever done. I was able to create a GL 2.1 context and a GL 3.3 context. My code was much more organized this time around too. I plan on revisiting XPG and deploying these improvements soon. Shortly thereafter, I plan on having these zen sessions with X11 and Cocoa. No XPG. No OpenGL. I will make an OS-specific window and mess with it. (Frankly, I’m surprised I ever got a window working my first time hacking it together those years ago.)

I have also learned OpenAL since my first attempt at coding XPG. I always knew I’d be adding OpenAL support eventually, but I struggled to learn OpenAL for a long time. Now, OpenAL and I are buds. I manage my own context, load my own audio files, and play the sounds.

I’ll post more about XPG soon.