Computer
Science
Now
Glossary
Computer Graphics
- achromatic
- Without color, as black, white, and shades of gray.
- affine transform
- A transformation which preserves parallelism of lines.
- animation
- A simulation of movement created by displaying a series of
pictures, or frames.
- anti-aliasing
- A form of interpolation used in graphics display technology
when combining images; pixels along the transitions between images
are averaged to provide a smooth transition.
- applet
- A small program that is intended not to be run on its own, but
rather to be embedded inside another application.
- arc
- A section of a circle.
- ascent
- The distance which the characters rise above the baseline.
- AWT
- A package of GUI classes which was part of the original Java
version.
- baseline
- (Type) The imaginary line on which all of the characters
rest.
- bilevel
- A display which shows images in only 2 colors.
- binary operator
- An operator which takes two operands
- bmp
- A Microsoft graphics file format for (usually) device
independent bitmaps.
- Border Layout
- (Java) A layout manager which divides the area into center,
north, south, east, and west regions.
- Box Layout
- (Java) A layout manager which arranges components in either a
single row or a single column.
- brightness
- The perceived intensity of light source.
- check box
- A GUI component which is intended to be selected or deselected,
independently of other GUI selections.
- chord
- A straight line segment between two points on a curve.
- circle
- A curved planar figure, all points of which are the same
distance from a fixed point called the center.
- class
- A composite type which can contain both data and subprograms,
and which can participate in inheritance.
- clipping
- The restriction of graphics display to a designated area.
- color gamut
- The entire range of hues possible to reproduce using a specific
device, such as a computer screen, or system, such as four-color
process printing.
- colorimetry
- The measurement of color.
- compiler
- A translator from a high level language to a low level
language.
- complementary colors
- Colors which are on opposite sides of a color wheel.
- descent
- The distance which the characters fall beneath the
baseline.
- dynamic range
- The ratio between maximum and minimum intensities.
- edge
- A line segment between two vertices.
- ellipse
- A curved planar figure, the locus of all points which have the
same total distance from two fixed points called the foci.
- excitation purity
- The physical purity of a color.
- Flow Layout
- (Java) A layout manager which arranges components in rows from
left to right, and top to bottom.
- font
- A set of character glyphs, usually consistent in size, face,
and style.
- gamma correction
- Correction for nonlinearities of luminance to brightness.
- gif
- A bit mapped graphics file format which uses LZW compression
and a 256 (maximum) color palette.
- Grid Layout
- (Java) A layout manager which divides the area into a specified
number of rows and columns.
- GUI
- A graphic, mouse-oriented paradigm which allows the user to
interact with a computer.
- halftone
- A printing technique which uses dot size to control
lightness.
- hue
- The perceived dominant color.
- interpreter
- A program expressed in one language which executes programs
expressed in another language.
- Java component
- A visual GUI item.
- Java container
- A visual GUI window which can be used to hold Java
components.
- Java package
- A set of Java classes organized for convenience in the same
directory.
- JPEG
- A lossy compression technique for color images.
- layout manager
- A Java class which handles the arrangement of visual objects,
as in a panel.
- leading
- The space between lines of type.
- lightness
- The perceived intensity of a light reflecting surface.
- luminance
- The physical intensity of light.
- monochromatic light
- Light consisting of a single wavelength.
- object
- A variable which is the instantiation of a class.
- object-oriented programming
- A style of programming that defines data as objects with
attributes and methods that are applied to those objects, and which
can be inherited by other objects.
- polygon
- A closed figure made by joining line segments, with each line
segment intersecting exactly two others.
- portability
- The ability to be easily accessed or run by different systems
and applications.
- radio button
- A GUI component which can be grouped to allow selection of a
single choice from the group
- raster graphics
- Generation of images as a collection of small, independently
controlled dots (pixels) arranged in rows and columns.
- rectangle
- A plane figure with 4 sides and 4 right angles.
- rotation
- A transformation which linearly changes the angle between the
vector to a point and one of the axes, without changing the
distance of the point from the origin.
- saturation
- The perceived purity of a color.
- scaling
- A transformation in which each coordinate is multipled by a
factor.
- self-similarity
- Appearing the same at all magnifications.
- shade
- Artists' term for a color produced by mixing black with a
colored pigment.
- shear transform
- A transformation in which the change in one coordinate is
linearly related to another coordinate.
- Swing
- A Java 2 package of GUI classes
- tint
- Artists' term for a color produced by mixing white with a
colored pigment.
- tone
- Artists' term for a color produced by mixing black and white
with a colored pigment.
- translation
- Uniform translation of points to a new location without change
in the size or orientation of an object.
- unary operator
- An operator with a single operand.
- vector graphics
- Generation of images from mathematical descriptions that
determine the position, length, and direction in which lines are
drawn.
- vertex
- The vertices of a polygon are the points where its sides
intersect.
