Understanding Bitmaps: A Comprehensive Guide

A bitmap is a type of data structure that stores a grid of pixels, each pixel being represented by a single bit. It is commonly used in computer graphics and image processing to store and manipulate images.

In a bitmap, each pixel is represented by a single bit, which can be either 0 or 1. The collection of all the bits in the bitmap forms an array of pixels, where each pixel is identified by its x and y coordinates.

Bitmaps are commonly used in various applications such as:

* Graphics rendering: Bitmaps are used to store the color and texture information of objects in a graphics scene.
* Image processing: Bitmaps are used to perform operations such as image filtering, resizing, and cropping.
* Computer vision: Bitmaps are used to represent images captured by cameras or other sensors.

Some key features of bitmaps include:

* Resolution: The number of pixels in a bitmap, which determines the level of detail it can capture.
* Color depth: The number of bits used to represent each pixel's color, which affects the range of colors that can be displayed.
* Compression: Many bitmaps use compression algorithms to reduce their file size and improve performance.

Some common types of bitmaps include:

* Grayscale bitmaps: These are bitmaps where each pixel is represented by a single grayscale value.
* RGB bitmaps: These are bitmaps where each pixel is represented by three values (red, green, and blue) that combine to form the final color.
* CMYK bitmaps: These are bitmaps used in printing, where each pixel is represented by four values (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black).