Graphics Programming Then and Now : How the ways of showing pixels on screen have changed

Abstract

Graphics programming is relatively unknown form of programming even though everyone uses its capabilities every day, e.g., writing documents, creating art on a computer and playing or creating video games. Graphics programming, at least in Finland, does not have much literature written for it. The purpose of this report is to examine how the graphics programming has evolved from the old times to modern times, and examine how the tools for writing graphics programming has changed.

The author applied background knowledge learned in school and in free time about the research. The work was carried out by using the internet with search engines and online documentation searches. A variety of books, videos, articles and documentation pages were used as materials.

The main results are a brief overview on the differences in graphics programming from the old times to modern times, descriptions on the areas graphics programming handles and a small example on the implementation of graphics program.