In a graphics context, what does the term "rubberbanding" mean?
graphics, opengl, terminology
Solution
It's a very old technique for drawing a shape without clearing the screen. If you want to draw a moving rectangle, the idea is to draw only the difference between the previous frame and the new one (adding the new parts, erasing the old ones, leaving the common part untouched).
The XOR trick is that if you draw something with it, it sets your color to the framebuffer. If you draw with it a second time over the same area, it removes your color.
As far as I know this has not been used in interactive rendering since the 90s (at least on PC-like platforms).
Problem
In various locations, I've seen the term "rubberbanding" used when referring to graphics drawing. In such cases, people have seemed to recommending doing drawing using XOR, and I've gotten the impression that the term refers to a particular drawing technique used to avoid redrawing the entire frame. However, I haven't been able to find anything that defines exactly what the term "rubberbanding" means. Just in a general sense, without discussing implementation details too heavily, what is the meaning of the term "rubberbanding" and what is its purpose?