What is the use of reshape() function in glut?

Question

How is the reshape() function working in this code and how is it getting its parameter from glutReshapeFunc(reshape) without any parameter in reshape of glutReshapeFunc(reshape)? What is the value of int x, int y in void keyboard (unsigned char key, int x, int y) function?

#include <GL/gl.h>
#include <GL/glu.h>
#include <GL/glut.h>

static int year = 0, day = 0;

void init(void) 
{
   glClearColor (0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0);
   glShadeModel (GL_FLAT);
}

void display(void)
{
   glClear (GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);
   glColor3f (1.0, 1.0, 1.0);

   glPushMatrix();
   glutWireSphere(1.0, 20, 16);   /* draw sun */
   glRotatef ((GLfloat) year, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
   glTranslatef (2.0, 0.0, 0.0);
   glRotatef ((GLfloat) day, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
   glutWireSphere(0.2, 10, 8);    /* draw smaller planet */
   glPopMatrix();
   glutSwapBuffers();
}

void reshape (int w, int h)
{
   glViewport (0, 0, (GLsizei) w, (GLsizei) h); 
   glMatrixMode (GL_PROJECTION);
   glLoadIdentity ();
   gluPerspective(60.0, (GLfloat) w/(GLfloat) h, 1.0, 20.0);
   glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
   glLoadIdentity();
   gluLookAt (0.0, 0.0, 5.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
}

void keyboard (unsigned char key, int x, int y)
{
   switch (key) {
      case `d':
         day = (day + 10) % 360;
         glutPostRedisplay();
         break;
      case `D':
         day = (day - 10) % 360;
         glutPostRedisplay();
         break;
      case `y':
         year = (year + 5) % 360;
         glutPostRedisplay();
         break;
      case `Y':
         year = (year - 5) % 360;
         glutPostRedisplay();
         break;
      default:
         break;
   }
}

int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
   glutInit(&argc, argv);
   glutInitDisplayMode (GLUT_DOUBLE | GLUT_RGB);
   glutInitWindowSize (500, 500); 
   glutInitWindowPosition (100, 100);
   glutCreateWindow (argv[0]);
   init ();
   glutDisplayFunc(display); 
   glutReshapeFunc(reshape);
   glutKeyboardFunc(keyboard);
   glutMainLoop();
   return 0;
}

Answer 1

It appears that the glutReshapeFunc() function takes a pointer to a function; presumably, in fact, it is declared as something somewhat similar to:

void glutReshapeFunc(void (*function)(int x, int y));

Similarly, glutDisplayFunc() takes another pointer to a function, and glutKeyboardFunc() also takes a pointer to a function. When a function is specified by name without the function call parentheses after it, it reduces to 'pointer to a function' (or you can think of a bare function name as a pointer to the function body, like a bare array name is a pointer to the start of the array).

You'd have to read the manual to discover the purpose of the x and y parameters to the keyboard() function. They aren't used by the code shown. They are likely the position of something, but which something is less than clear without reading the manual.

Answer 2

reshape and keyboard functions are used as so called callbacks. You're giving GLUT pointers to those functions, GLUT keeps those pointers and calls those function, with parameters, at the times as specified in the GLUT documentation.

About like that:

void (*display_callback)(void);
void (*reshape_callback)(int, int);
void (*keyboard_callback(unsigned char, int, int);
/* ... */

void eventloop(...)
{
    while(...) {
        if( keyboard_event )
              keyboard_callback(keyboard_event->key, mouse_x, mouse_y);

        if( window_reshaped )
              reshape_callback(window->width, window->height);

        if( needs_redraw )
              display_callback();
    }
}

Now regarding what's done in the reshape callback: Everything that's placed there in beginner tutorials is actually much better done in the display function. Setting the viewport, setting the projection I mean. Later you'll probably want to draw a HUD, some text or a minimap, or a split view. And once you've reached that point, a reshape function doing viewport and projection setup becomes a liability. So get rid of it now.

void display(void)
{
   int const w = glutGet(GLUT_WINDOW_WIDTH);
   int const h = glutGet(GLUT_WINDOW_HEIGHT);

   glClear (GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);
   glColor3f (1.0, 1.0, 1.0);

   glViewport (0, 0, (GLsizei) w, (GLsizei) h); 
   glMatrixMode (GL_PROJECTION);
   glLoadIdentity ();
   gluPerspective(60.0, (GLfloat) w/(GLfloat) h, 1.0, 20.0);

   glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
   glLoadIdentity();
   gluLookAt (0.0, 0.0, 5.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);

   glPushMatrix();
   glutWireSphere(1.0, 20, 16);   /* draw sun */
   glRotatef ((GLfloat) year, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
   glTranslatef (2.0, 0.0, 0.0);
   glRotatef ((GLfloat) day, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0);
   glutWireSphere(0.2, 10, 8);    /* draw smaller planet */
   glPopMatrix();

   glutSwapBuffers();
}