Editing Bit blit (section)

==Origins==
The name derives from the ''BitBLT'' routine for the [[Xerox Alto]] [[computer]], standing for ''bit-boundary block transfer''. [[Dan Ingalls]], [[Larry Tesler]], [[Bob Sproull]], and [[Diana Merry]] programmed this operation at [[Xerox PARC]] in November 1975 for the [[Smalltalk]]-72 system. [[Dan Ingalls]] later implemented a redesigned version in [[microcode]].

The development of fast methods for various bit blit operations gave impetus to the evolution of computer displays from using character graphics ([[text mode]]) to using [[raster graphics]] (bitmap) for everything. Machines that rely heavily on the performance of [[2D computer graphics|2D graphics]] (such as [[video game console]]s) often have special-purpose circuitry called a ''[[blitter]]''.