(15-05-2020, 02:47 AM)venam Wrote:

Quote:What are Xlib pixmaps used for if I can draw directly on windows?

I go into some good explaining of this in this article.

In sum, windows and pixmap are instances of something more abstract called a drawable. The difference is that a window is something on the screen already while a pixmap only lives in a memory buffer. You can then apply the pixmap pixels over some other drawables.

... and one of the main reasons why anyone would want to draw into a pixmap and then copy it to a window is: Double buffering. When you do a lot of drawing operations directly onto a window, it can happen that you see glitches, artifacts, flickering. Even on today's brutally fast machines. So, you first draw an entire frame into a pixmap and then copy the final result to a window. It'll be smoother.