blit

blit

/blit/ 1. To copy a large array of bits from one part of a computer's memory to another part, particularly when the memory is being used to determine what is shown on a display screen. "The storage allocator picks through the table and copies the good parts up into high memory, and then blits it all back down again." See bitblt, BLT, dd, cat, blast, snarf. More generally, to perform some operation (such as toggling) on a large array of bits while moving them.

2. Sometimes all-capitalised as "BLIT": an early experimental bit-mapped terminal designed by Rob Pike at Bell Labs, later commercialised as the AT&T 5620. (The folk etymology from "Bell Labs Intelligent Terminal" is incorrect. Its creators liked to claim that "Blit" stood for the Bacon, Lettuce, and Interactive Tomato).

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

bitblt

(BIT BLock Transfer) In computer graphics, a hardware feature that moves a rectangular block of bits from main memory into display memory. It speeds the display of moving objects (animation, scrolling) on screen.

A hardware bitblt provides fastest speed, but bitblts are also implemented in software, even in non-graphics systems. For example, text scrolls faster when it is copied as a contiguous block (bitblt) to the next part of the window, rather than processing every character on every line. See stretch blt.

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