I want to start learning OpenGL but I don't really want to have to learn another language to do it. I already am pretty proficient in python and enjoy the language. I just want to know how close it is to the regular api? Will I be able to pretty easily follow tutorials and books without too much trouble?
I know C++ gives better performance, but for just learning can I go wrong with PyOpenGL?
Thanks alot
With the caveat that I have done very little OpenGL programming myself, I believe that for the purposes of learning, PyOpenGL is a good choice. The main reason is that PyOpenGL, like most other OpenGL wrappers, is just that: a thin wrapper around the OpenGL API.
One large benefit of PyOpenGL is that while in C you have to worry about calling the proper glVertex3{dfiX} command, Python allows you to just write glVertex3(x,y,z) without worrying about telling Python what type of argument you passed in. That might not sound like a big deal, but it's often much simpler to use Python's duck-typing instead of being overly concerned with static typing.
The OpenGL methods are almost completely all wrapped into Python methods, so while you'll be writing in Python, the algorithms and method calls you'll use are identical to writing OpenGL in any other language. But since you're writing in Python, you'll have many fewer opportunities to make "silly" mistakes with proper pointer usage, memory management, etc. that would just eat up your time if you were to study the API in C or C++, for instance.
PyOpenGL
I don't think it is a good choice. In my opinon in C/C++ it is easier to play around around with your OpenGL code - start with simple app, then add shader, then add some geometry functions, make a texture/geometry generator, build scene via CSG, etc. You know - to have fun, play around with code, experiment and learn something in process. I honestly just don't see myself doing this in python. Surely it is possible to do OpenGL programming in Python, but I see no reason to actually do it. Plus several OpenGL functions take memory pointers as arguments, and although there probably a class (or dozen of alternatives) for that case, I don't see a reason to use them when a traditional way of doing things is available in C/C++, especially when I think about amount of wrappers python code uses to pass vector or array of those into OpenGL function. It just looks like making things more complicated without a real reason to do that. Plus there is a noticeable performance drop, especially when you use "RAW" OpenGL.
Besides, if you're going to make games, it is very likely that you'll have to use C++ or some other "non-python" language.
P.S. I've done enough OpenGL programming, a lot of DirectX programming, but I specialize on C++, and use python only for certain algorithmic tests, tools and scripts.