1# Introduction {#mainpage} 2 3GLFW is a free, Open Source, multi-platform library for OpenGL, OpenGL ES and 4Vulkan application development. It provides a simple, platform-independent API 5for creating windows, contexts and surfaces, reading input, handling events, etc. 6 7@ref news list new features, caveats and deprecations. 8 9@ref quick_guide is a guide for users new to GLFW. It takes you through how to 10write a small but complete program. 11 12There are guides for each section of the API: 13 14 - @ref intro_guide – initialization, error handling and high-level design 15 - @ref window_guide – creating and working with windows and framebuffers 16 - @ref context_guide – working with OpenGL and OpenGL ES contexts 17 - @ref vulkan_guide - working with Vulkan objects and extensions 18 - @ref monitor_guide – enumerating and working with monitors and video modes 19 - @ref input_guide – receiving events, polling and processing input 20 21Once you have written a program, see @ref compile_guide and @ref build_guide. 22 23The [reference documentation](modules.html) provides more detailed information 24about specific functions. 25 26@ref moving_guide explains what has changed and how to update existing code to 27use the new API. 28 29There is a section on @ref guarantees_limitations for pointer lifetimes, 30reentrancy, thread safety, event order and backward and forward compatibility. 31 32Finally, @ref compat_guide explains what APIs, standards and protocols GLFW uses 33and what happens when they are not present on a given machine. 34 35This documentation was generated with Doxygen. The sources for it are available 36in both the [source distribution](https://www.glfw.org/download.html) and 37[GitHub repository](https://github.com/glfw/glfw). 38 39