<graphics> (Sometimes called "object-oriented" graphics, though it's nothing to do with object-oriented programming). A drawing program which deals with separate shapes such as lines, polygons and text and groups of such objects as opposed to a painting program which stores only bitmaps. The advantage is that it is possible to change any element of the picture at any time since each part is stored as an independent object whereas once something in a bitmap has been overwritten it cannot in general be retrieved.
(30 Sep 1996)