Editing Sprite (computer graphics) (section)

== Etymology ==
According to Karl Guttag, one of two engineers for the 1979 [[TMS9918|Texas Instruments TMS9918]] video display processor, this use of the word ''sprite'' came from David Ackley, a manager at TI.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Guttag |first1=KArl |title=First, Be Useful (Home computers and Pico Projectors) |url=https://kguttag.com/2011/12/06/first-be-useful-home-computers-and-pico-projectors/ |website=KGOnTech |date=December 6, 2011}}</ref> It was also used by [[Danny Hillis]] at Texas Instruments in the late 1970s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnstone |first1=Bob |title=Never Mind the Laptops: Kids, Computers, and the Transformation of Learning |date=2003 |isbn=978-0595288427 |page=108 |publisher=iUniverse |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UsWRDjcuao8C&q=daniel+hillis+sprites&pg=PA108}}</ref> The term was derived from the fact that sprites "float" on top of the background image without overwriting it, much like a ghost or [[Sprite (folklore)|mythological sprite]].

Some hardware manufacturers used different terms, especially before ''sprite'' became common:

'''Player/Missile Graphics''' was a term used by [[Atari, Inc.]] for hardware sprites in the [[Atari 8-bit computers]] (1979) and [[Atari 5200]] console (1982).<ref name=dere>{{cite web|title=De Re Atari|url=http://www.atariarchives.org/dere/chapt04.php|date=1981|access-date=2017-08-10|archive-date=2017-07-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731041803/http://www.atariarchives.org/dere/chapt04.php|url-status=live}}</ref> The term reflects the use for both characters ("players") and smaller associated objects ("missiles") that share the same color. The earlier [[Atari 2600|Atari Video Computer System]] and some Atari arcade games used ''player'', ''missile'', and ''ball''.

'''Stamp''' was used in some arcade hardware in the early 1980s, including ''[[Ms. Pac-Man]]''.<ref name=golson/>

<span id="MOB">'''Movable Object Block''', or '''MOB'''</span>, was used in [[MOS Technology]]'s graphics chip literature. [[Commodore International|Commodore]], the main user of MOS chips and the owner of MOS for most of the chip maker's lifetime, instead used the term ''sprite'' for the Commodore 64.

'''OBJ'''s (short for ''objects'') is used in the developer manuals for the [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]], [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super NES]], and [[Game Boy]]. The region of [[Video random-access memory|video RAM]] used to store sprite attributes and coordinates is called '''OAM''' (Object Attribute Memory). This also applies to the [[Game Boy Advance]] and [[Nintendo DS]].