Glossary

• blitting  

  The process of moving bits from a back buffer to an onscreen location. Blitting is not necessary (not recommended) when using Quartz.



• bitmap  

  In Quartz, any two-dimensional array of pixel data in a standard format. Not to be confused with the BitMap data type in QuickDraw, which is a 1-bit pixel array.



• bitmap graphics context  

  A bit-based offscreen drawing destination.



• CG  

  The prefix used for functions in the Quartz API. See also Core Graphics.



• CGLayer  

  An offscreen graphics context, introduced in Mac OS X v10.4, suited for high-quality offscreen rendering of content that you plan to reuse.



• clipboard  

  See pasteboard.



• Core Graphics  

  The name of the framework in which the Quartz API resides—CoreGraphics.framework. The Quartz API is sometimes referred to as the Core Graphics API.



• CopyBits  

  A QuickDraw function that has no direct replacement in Quartz, primarily because Quartz does not use a bit-based graphics model, as QuickDraw does.



• filling  

  A drawing operation that paints an area contained within a path, using either a solid color or a pattern. Quartz has two rules that it can use to determine whether a point should be filled—the winding number rule and the even-odd rule. See Quartz 2D Programming Guide for a detailed discussion of these rules.



• framing  

  See stroking.



• grafport  

  See graphics context.



• graphics context  

  In Quartz, an abstraction for a drawing destination. There are different flavors—window, printing, PDF, OpenGL, and bitmap.



• graphics state  

  Defines the drawing parameter settings (line width, fill color, and many other parameters) for a specific graphics context.



• GWorld  

  An offscreen drawing context. In Quartz, see bitmap graphics context and CGLayer.



• ImageIO  

  A framework, introduced in Mac OS X v10.4, that provides functions for moving image data into and out of Quartz. Image IO functions are in the ImageIO framework. They use the CG prefix.



• pasteboard  

  A standardized mechanism for exchanging data within applications or between applications. The most familiar use for pasteboards is handling copy and paste operations.



• painting  

  For the Quartz equivalent of the QuickDraw painting operation (such as that used for the QuickDraw function PaintOval), see filling.



• pixel manipulation  

  The process of operating on bits. Quartz does not provide functions that operate on a pixel-by-pixel bases. Core Image provides support for image processing on a per-pixel basis.



• Quartz Compositor  

  An advanced windowing system that manages the onscreen presentation of Quartz, OpenGL, and QuickTime content, much as a video mixer does.



• resolution independence  

  A feature that supports drawing to an abstract space such that drawing is the same size when rendered for raster devices of any native resolution.



• stroking  

  A drawing operation which paints a line that straddles a path.