Line Drawing

Walking the line #

Computers draw lines and circles during many common tasks, such as using an image editor. But how does a computer know which pixels to darken to make a line?

This activity shows how difficult it is for a computer to do something as simple as drawing a straight line or a circle, and shows a clever way (Bresenham’s algorithm) to do it quickly.

This exercise was developed by Joshua Scott (University of Canterbury).

Cartoon

Downloads #

Great Principles of Computer Science #

  • Computation
  • Recollection

ACM K12 Curriculum #

  • Level I (Grades 6-8) Topic 9: Demonstrate an understanding of concepts underlying hardware, software, algorithms, and their practical applications.