In computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory
organization or image file format used to store digital images. The term
bitmap comes from the computer programming terminology, meaning just a
map of bits, a spatially mapped array of bits. Now, along with pixmap,
it commonly refers to the similar concept of a spatially mapped array of
pixels. Raster images in general may be referred to as bitmaps or
pixmaps, whether synthetic or photographic, in files or memory.
Vector Art
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points,
lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based on
mathematical equations, to represent images in computer graphics.
Vector graphics formats are complementary to raster graphics, which is
the representation of images as an array of pixels, as is typically used
for the representation of photographic images. Vector graphics are
stored as mathematical expressions as opposed to bit mapped graphics
which are stored as a series of mapped 'dots', also known as pixels
(Picture cells).
