BITMAP DISPLAY
\bˈɪtmap dɪsplˈe͡ɪ], \bˈɪtmap dɪsplˈeɪ], \b_ˈɪ_t_m_a_p d_ɪ_s_p_l_ˈeɪ]\
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A computer output device where each pixeldisplayed on the monitor screen corresponds directly to oneor more bits in the computer's video memory. Such adisplay can be updated extremely rapidly since changing apixel involves only a single processor write to memorycompared with a terminal or VDU connected via a serialline where the speed of the serial line limits the speed atwhich the display can be changed.Most modern personal computers and workstations havebitmap displays, allowing the efficient use of graphical userinterfaces, interactive graphics and a choice of on-screenfonts. Some more expensive systems still delegate graphicsoperations to dedicated hardware such as graphicsaccelerators.The bitmap display might be traced back to the earliest daysof computing when the Manchester University Mark I (?)computer, developed by F.C. Williams and T. Kilburn shortlyafter the Second World War. This used a storage tube as itsworking memory. Phosphor dots were used to store singlebits of data which could be read by the user and interpretedas binary numbers.[Is this history correct? Was it ever used to display"graphics"? What was the resolution?]
By Denis Howe
Word of the day
basidiomycota
- comprises fungi bearing the spores on basidium: Gasteromycetes (puffballs); Tiliomycetes (comprising orders Ustilaginales (smuts) and Uredinales (rusts)); Hymenomycetes (mushrooms; toadstools; agarics; bracket fungi); in some classification systems considered a division of kingdom comprises fungi bearing spores on a basidium; includes Gasteromycetes (puffballs) Tiliomycetes comprising the orders Ustilaginales (smuts) and Uredinales (rusts) Hymenomycetes (mushrooms, toadstools, agarics bracket fungi).