GRGR 1,2 oddments

[Will Layman]

I believe the word "pixel" was in common use in the '60s in reference to the
dots of light on a TV screen.

-- Will

On 11/9/05 7:24 AM, "jporter" <jp3214 at earthlink.net> wrote:

> 
> On Nov 8, 2005, at 5:23 PM, David Casseres wrote:
> 
>> But I think that the dots in a newsprint photo are only called dots,
>> never pixels.  I doubt that Pynchon knew the word pixel in 1973.
>> 
> 
> 
> I think I remember hearing the term in the late sixties.
> Anyhow "pixel" just turned 50:
> 
> http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4021/is_5_26/ai_n6080242
> 
> 
> Nor does "pixel" seem exclusive to computer graphics:
> 
> Pixels are generally thought of as the smallest complete
> sample of an image. The definition is highly context sensitive.
> For example, we can speak of pixels in a visible image (e.g.
> a printed page) or pixels carried by one or more electronic
> signal(s), or represented by one or more digital value(s), or
> pixels on a display device, or pixels in a digital camera (photo-
> sensor elements). This list is not exhaustive and depending
> on context there are several synonyms which are accurate in
> particular contexts, e.g. pel, sample, bytes, bits, dots, spots,
> superset, triad, stripe set, window, etc. We can also speak of
> pixels in the abstract, in particular when using pixels as a
> measure of resolution, e.g. 2400 pixels per inch or 640 pixels    per
> line. Dots is often used to mean pixels, especially by
> computer sales and marketing people, and gives rise to the
> abbreviation DPI or dots per inch.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel
> 
> 
> So it's completely possible that Pynchon was aware of the concept
> and the term by 1973.  I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to stake
> my life on it.
> 
> jody
>