Talk:Bit blit

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)

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)


 * 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)

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


 * 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)

Early history
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)


 * 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)

Why BitBlit with a second I?
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)


 * 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)

Another Source to use?
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)