Understanding WebGL State

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Is there any documentation I can find somewhere which documents the preconditions required for WebGL calls?

I have gotten a fairly strong grasp of the WebGL basics, but now I am creating my own 'framework' and I'm after a deeper understanding.

For example, the enableVertexAttribArray call. Does this call required the current shader to be in 'use'? Where does it store this 'enabled' flag? If I switch shader programs, do I have to re-enable it afterwards when I use it again?

I'd love some kind of diagram explaining where all the 'stateful' information is being stored, and when it will go out of context.

Another example is using gl.bindBuffer, are the buffers for ARRAY_BUFFER and ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER stored in separate locations?

With all this in mind, is it recommended to have a parallel state in JavaScript to avoid running WebGL calls? i.e. storing a 'currentBuffer' object to avoid binding the same buffer over and over if its already bound. I can imagine in the general case, this becomes quite a bit of state duplication, but could be quite good for performance.

Bit of a fundamental question but hard to find info on.

asked 1 min ago

Brendan Annable

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Understanding WebGL State