Mac OS X Unleashed

By John Ray and William C. Ray

• Table of Contents
  • Copyright
  • About the Author
  • Acknowledgments
  • Tell Us What You Think!
  • Introduction
  • Part I: Introduction to Mac OS X
  • Chapter 1. Mac OS X Component Architecture
    • Mac OS X Overview
    • Darwin
    • QuickTime
    • OpenGL: Open Graphics Language
    • Quartz
    • Classic
    • Carbon
    • Cocoa
    • Java 2
    • Aqua
    • Migration Issues
    • Summary
  • Chapter 2. Installing Mac OS X
  • Chapter 3. Mac OS X Basics
  • Chapter 4. The Finder: Working with Files and Applications
  • Chapter 5. Running Classic Mac OS Applications
  • Part II: Inside Mac OS X
  • Chapter 6. Native Utilities and Applications
  • Chapter 7. Internet Communications
  • Chapter 8. Installing Third-Party Applications
  • Part III: User-Level OS X Configuration
  • Chapter 9. Network Setup
  • Chapter 10. Printer and Font Management
  • Chapter 11. Additional System Components
  • Part IV: Introduction to BSD Applications
  • Chapter 12. Introducing the BSD Subsystem
  • Chapter 13. Common Unix Shell Commands: File Operations
  • Part V: Advanced Command-Line Concepts
  • Chapter 14. Advanced Shell Concepts and Commands
  • Chapter 15. Command-Line Applications and Application Suites
  • Chapter 16. Command-Line Software Installation
  • Chapter 17. Troubleshooting Software Installs, and Compiling and Debugging Manually
  • Chapter 18. Advanced Unix Shell Use: Configuration and Programming (Shell Scripting)
  • Part VI: Server/Network Administration
  • Chapter 19. X Window System Applications
  • Chapter 20. Command-Line Configuration and Administration
  • Chapter 21. AppleScript
  • Chapter 22. Perl Scripting and SQL Connectivity
  • Chapter 23. File and Resource Sharing with NetInfo
  • Chapter 24. User Management and Machine Clustering
  • Chapter 25. FTP Serving
  • Chapter 26. Remote Access and Administration
  • Chapter 27. Web Serving
  • Part VII: Server Health
  • Chapter 28. Web Programming
  • Chapter 29. Creating a Mail Server
  • Chapter 30. Accessing and Serving a Windows Network
  • Chapter 31. Server Security and Advanced Network Configuration
  • Chapter 32. System Maintenance
  • Appendix A. Command-Line Reference
  • Appendix B. Administration Reference

OpenGL: Open Graphics Language

For many years, Apple stayed in its own little world and created the technology it needed for its operating system. Sadly, some pieces of technology were not adopted by the computing industry and Apple had to adapt or be left behind. An example of this is QuickTime 3D. QuickTime 3D was a fully cross-platform 3D API. Unfortunately, it was not widely used by developers, and its very existence hindered the development of 3D applications on the Macintosh.

As Apple continued to build and refine QuickTime 3D, the industry took another direction. Building on a standard developed by SGI, most developers were increasingly turning to OpenGL to create both games and productivity applications.

The best description of OpenGL is found in SGI's OpenGL FAQ http://www.sgi.com/software/opengl/faq.html, quoted here:

• The OpenGL API is the most widely adopted 3D graphics API in the industry, bringing thousands of applications to a wide variety of computer platforms. The API is not tied to any one operating system and reflects the thinking and talents of software developers from diverse graphics backgrounds. As a highly versatile 2D and 3D graphics API, the OpenGL API enables developers of software for PC, workstation, and supercomputing hardware to create high-performance, visually compelling graphics software applications. The OpenGL API is a rendering-only, vendor-neutral API providing 2D and 3D graphics functions, including modeling, transformations, color, lighting, and smooth shading, as well as advanced features such as texture mapping, NURBS, fog, alpha blending, and motion blur. The OpenGL API works in both immediate and retained (display list) graphics modes.
• The OpenGL API is window-system and operating-system independent. The OpenGL API has been integrated with Microsoft Windows and with the X Window System under Unix. Also, the OpenGL API is network-transparent. A defined common extension to the X Window System allows an OpenGL client on one vendor's platform to run across a network to another vendor's OpenGL server. The OpenGL functions described on the data-sheet are available in every OpenGL implementation to make applications written with OpenGL easily portable between platforms. All licensed OpenGL implementations are required to pass the conformance tests and come from a single specification and language-binding document.

Although the FAQ mentions only Windows and X Window System directly, it is also available (obviously) on Mac OS X and Mac OS 8 and 9. OpenGL has been available on the Macintosh platform only since the late 1990s, but already the Mac is seeing a surge in the production of game software. Game creators such as id Software, which refused to create Mac OS 8/9 games inhouse, are returning to develop for Mac OS X. In early 2001, Apple became the envy of the gaming community when id Software demonstrated an early version of the new DOOM game, running on the nVidia GeForce 3 card, which was announced as being available on the Macintosh platform before the Windows counterpart. Mac OS X 10.1 is fully optimized to take advantage of the GeForce 3—bringing high-end workstation 3D capabilities to a stable and robust platform.

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