Talk:Bit blit

This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Computing: Amiga / Software Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Computing, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of computers, computing, and information technology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ComputingWikipedia:WikiProject ComputingTemplate:WikiProject ComputingComputing Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject Amiga (assessed as Low-importance). This article is supported by WikiProject Software (assessed as Low-importance). Things you can help WikiProject Amiga with: edit history watch purge Tagging Tagging Amiga related articles into the project by adding the template {{WikiProject Computing|class=|importance=|amiga=yes|amiga-importance=}} Tagging Amiga related articles into relevant categories, for example adding [[Category:Amiga software]] Tagging Amiga related articles with a relevant Link template for easier navigation of a given topic, e. g. {{AmigaOS 4}} Articles Improving the accuracy and updating dates about events Improving the clarity and the quality of articles Articles of high-importance that needs expanding or improvements: AmigaOS versions (missing dates etc) Workbench (AmigaOS) Expanding articles Expanding Stub articles and Start articles Creating/Expanding missing articles Companies: Amiga Technologies, Haage & Partner, Eyetech Software: AmiDock, JXFS (filesystem), Hollywood (programming language), Warp3D Hardware: Phase5 accelerator boards; the 1230/1240/1260 blizzards and the PPC boards. Computers (expanding): AmigaOne SE, AmigaOne XE, AmigaOne Micro-A1, DraCo, The Access Hardware prototypes: Amiga Multimedia Convergence Computer Other: Denise (computer chip), Paula (computer chip), Copper (OCS), Alice (computer chip), Lisa (computer chip), Mediator PCI, Clock port Images Uploading legal missing Amiga related images/screenshots.

Tip: Anchors are case-sensitive in most browsers. This article links to one or more target anchors that no longer exist. [[Alpha compositing#Alpha blending|alpha blending]] The anchor (#Alpha blending) is no longer available because it was deleted by a user before. Please help fix the broken anchors. You can remove this template after fixing the problems. | Reporting errors

The article explains blitting using masks. While this technique was used with planar devices, when using a chunky framebuffer is much more common to just flag a color (usually 0) as transparent, and only copy pixels different from that color. --Pezezin 11:13, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The article equates "BLIT" with "BitBLT" which is not necessarily correct. I believe the term "BLIT" actually stands for "Block Image Transfer" (and this is mentioned in the article on Blitter). R1chardJ0n3s 04:58, 19 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nope. And it's irrelevant anyway. 'Blt' stands for 'BLock Transfer'. And 'Bit BLT' stands for 'bit block transfer'. Mostly because that's exactly what it does. Transfers a block of bits. There are no images associated with this. The masking can and is used for any general bit masking/moving op - not just computer displays and 'sprites'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.217.209.23 (talk) 16:58, 17 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Shouldn't this page redirect to BitBlt? 94.194.63.222 (talk) 15:40, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm inclined to agree... I've found in some reading material that it's actually "Bit Boundary Block Transfer"...

Source: Pike, Rob, Leo Guibas, and Dan Ingalls. “Bitmap Graphics SIGGRAPH’84 Course Notes - Technical Memorandum,” May 21, 1984. https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/%7Ersc/pike84bitblt.pdf. Joedf (talk) 16:40, 10 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

In "The Early History of Smalltalk" Alan Kay states explicitly "Diana built an early version of a bit field block transfer (bitblt) for displaying variable pitch fonts and generaIIy writing on the display." Kay does not credit Dan Ingalls, Larry Tesler, Bob Sproull with CREATING bitblt even though they had a part in it. Kay also says "Diana Merry's bitblt (the now famous 2D graphics operator for bitmap graphics) redesigned by Dan [Ingalls] and implemented in microcode, and a better, more general window interface." It seems clear that Diana Merry should not be listed after Dan, Larry and Bob in this WIkipedia article. She should get credit as the original inventor, and others worked on improvements. RLS (talk) 22:01, 9 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I worked with (or near, really) all these people at PARC in the 70s, and I believe what you say is correct. I think Dan was responsible for the generalization of the logical operation; Diana perhaps just had the 'or' operation; but I'm not sure. I can ask, but what you've already found in a sources seems worth going with. Dicklyon (talk) 06:49, 10 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The article says BitBlt stands for "bit block transfer". This however explains not how BitBlit (with a second I) came to be. In none of the given etymology phrases (the one before and "bit-boundary block transfer") there is more than one i. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.219.233.164 (talk) 13:21, 24 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I think just since saying "Blt" out loud sounds like "Blit". Adding that extra "i" is likely makes it bit easier for readers or in verbal discussion. Joedf (talk) 16:36, 10 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I mentioned this source as a reply above, but perhaps it be used for this wiki page: Pike, Rob, Leo Guibas, and Dan Ingalls. “Bitmap Graphics SIGGRAPH’84 Course Notes - Technical Memorandum,” May 21, 1984. https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/%7Ersc/pike84bitblt.pdf. Joedf (talk) 16:41, 10 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]