Since later versions of OpenGL have expanded upon the earlier APIs, the syntax itself has not changed, but some things have been added. Truthfully, the 1.1 API is pretty limited by today's standards, but it can't hurt to much so long as you're ready to absorb the newer methodologies when you can move on to newer material.

The 1.x line went up to 1.5, which also serves as the basis for OpenGL|ES 1.0 and 1.1 for mobile and embedded devices such as cell phones, PDAs, etc.

There is also OpenGL 2.0 and 2.1 (and ES 2.0), which is more focussed on shader-driven graphics and, hopefully coming later this year, OpenGL 3.0 which makes some rather drastic changes to the API and to the model in which things work in OpenGL.


You're time won't be wasted, but I'd move on to one of the more modern APIs as soon as possible. Most of the official OpenGL books are current to the 2.0 and 2.1 APIs.