C graphics programs

 For some reason I had a sudden urge to work out how to write graphics programs.  The natural place to start is on Windows.  I have Mingw installed so I can run X11 programs, in particular X11 programs written under WSL can be run in a window.  The Xeyes sample is shown in the screen shot below.

I also have code::blocks installed so I had a quick look at whether it could do anything for me.  C::B includes a number of openGL related templates.  I tried the openGL template first, it compiled cleanly and gave me a lovely rotating triangle.  I then tried to use GLUT which is mentioned in a number of Google articles on the subject.  GLUT is obsolete and replaced by freeglut which needs some tweaking to get working under C::B (directions provided by GeekforGeeks). Again it provides a lovely demo, in this case some pretty wire frame demos.

In summary I have some great tools at my finger tips when I get an urge to actually write graphics programs.

Shortly after finishing this little investigation on how to write C graphics programs, I stumbled across HTML5 Canvas which provides you with space in your web page where you can put graphics.  The graphics commands themselves are written in javascript.  This is definitely an easier way of doing simple graphics.  A bit of cutting and pasting and I could do a sample on my website.