hey, im new(ish) to programming, im learning alot and enjoying my experience's almost as much as shouting at my pc on a regular basis. 
could someone please recommend a few sites where i can learn / begin reading about open GL, i have had a little poke around and there are so many different versions and books etc, its quite confusing i appreciate all and any recommendations... thanks
*Edit* sorry should have said im using c++ and visual studio 12/13
I recommend this online book. This book uses OpenGL 3.3, but most of the techniques (or all) can be used in OpenGL 4. I however prefer to use GLFW instead of FreeGLUT or similar but you could easily use his examples with GLFW.
Edit: in case you don't know: libraries like GLFW and FreeGLUT provide easier cross-platform access to the OS-specific API. For example, instead of having to learn both the Windows API and Linux-specific API's, you can learn one easy-to-use API.
see this is why i love this forum, i ask for help, i get good sound advice, cheers mate
https://www.opengl.org/wiki/Getting_Started
http://www.opengl-tutorial.org/
http://www.arcsynthesis.org/gltut/
https://sites.google.com/site/opengltutorialsbyaks/introduction-to-opengl-3-2---tutorial-01
http://tomdalling.com/blog/modern-opengl/01-getting-started-in-xcode-and-visual-cpp/
The "opengl-tutorial.org" is the best one I think.
If you dont yet have any GL project done, Ive just posted this a day ago:
http://www.gamedev.net/topic/655851-basic-opengl-sdl-2-app-source/
I've found this book the other day "OpenGL Development Cookbook" and i have to say it look very nice. Instead of being for beginers or focusing on advanced stuffs, it's somewhere in between, which is very refreshing. Also, very nice for visual people like me, lots of images and code that goes for each topics.
Once you've got a handle on using OpenGL, http://www.rastertek.com/tutindex.html is an excellent resource for showing you how to implement some interesting effects.
Ah I just had a look at the OpenGL section, and it seems to be a bit lacking when compared with DirectX
I find the Superbible books fantastic. I started on the 6th edition about a month ago, but dropped down to the 5th edition where they cover 3.3. They cover it really well and I found it very beginner-friendly. Could be worth looking into :)
cheers people, i have loads to go on now
You can get pretty far with OpenGL 3.2 or 3.3 and "core" profile.
After you have practiced with that for a while, you can get into OpenGL 4 things as you need them. Most of them are pretty advanced and mostly useful on specific cases, although there are a few extensions here and there that are just nicer to work with than plain OpenGL 3 "core" profile (like shading_language_420pack for example).
http://www.g-truc.net/ is your friend when you have to check what extensions/features are supported where.
