The Life Starter
0 of 6 complete0%
Course Library · Lesson 2 of 6
Digital · Guided lesson

Keep an original buffer and a new result

About 19 minutes · 4 reading + 15 practice and checks
Time includes reading, practice, and questions. Extra videos or further study are optional.
See this course’s project requirements

A local original 4×4-to-64×64 pixel image tool with RGBA inspection, grayscale and threshold filters, preserved alpha and checked PNG export.

Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.

What to include

  • Produce a checked RGBA and coordinate-to-offset inspection table.
  • Demonstrate separate source/result buffers and a working original reset.
  • Calculate and verify equal-channel grayscale with alpha unchanged.
  • Produce a below/equal/above threshold matrix with preserved alpha.
  • Create and inspect the actual 64×64 PNG with intended crisp scaling and alpha behavior.
  • Deliver source, checked channel math, actual rendered/export evidence, and honest unavailable checks.

Review and revise

Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.

  • The implementation or declared simulation follows the supplied contract and retains inspectable original inputs.
  • Normal, boundary and rejected cases are recorded with expected versus observed results.
  • The changed case has a correct explanation and does not rely on hidden state.
  • The project includes source, outputs, instructions and honest tool, privacy and verification limits.
Open the full course project
Want more background?
Before you begin

The idea in everyday life

Files pixels.html, pixel-filters.mjs and test-pixels.mjs supply an original 4×4 pattern: each row repeats red, green, blue, transparent white. Serve locally with python3 -m http.server 8765 --bind 127.0.0.1. Export scales the result to 64×64 PNG.

The idea

Filters should compute from the original buffer into a separate result so repeated operations are predictable and reset really restores the source.

Follow along

Keep an original buffer and a new result — original worked practice

Filters should compute from the original buffer into a separate result so repeated operations are predictable and reset really restores the source.

Files pixels.html, pixel-filters.mjs and test-pixels.mjs supply an original 4×4 pattern: each row repeats red, green, blue, transparent white. Serve locally with python3 -m http.server 8765 --bind 127.0.0.1. Export scales the result to 64×64 PNG.

  1. 1. Step 1

    Read new Uint8ClampedArray(data) at the start of filter.

    You should see: The result has its own copied channel buffer.

    Filters should compute from the original buffer into a separate result so repeated operations are predictable and reset really restores the source.

  2. 2. Step 2

    Activate Grayscale then Original in the browser.

    You should see: Original restores the supplied colors rather than the previous filtered values.

    Filters should compute from the original buffer into a separate result so repeated operations are predictable and reset really restores the source.

  3. 3. Step 3

    Inspect each filter call using original rather than the canvas’s last output.

    You should see: The source is stable across operations.

    Filters should compute from the original buffer into a separate result so repeated operations are predictable and reset really restores the source.

  4. 4. Step 4

    Run the original-unchanged assertion and retain before/after buffer evidence.

    You should see: A source/result separation record.

    Filters should compute from the original buffer into a separate result so repeated operations are predictable and reset really restores the source.

Now change one thing

Threshold reads the last grayscale result instead of the original without documenting it. Is that the same declared independent-filter design?

Your work

What to finish

Demonstrate separate source/result buffers and a working original reset.

Common mistake

Watch for this

Mutating the original buffer and losing a reliable reset or changed-case baseline.

How can I tell I understand it?

Demonstrate the rule: Filters should compute from the original buffer into a separate result so repeated operations are predictable and reset really restores the source. Use the supplied variant to distinguish a changed result from a broken implementation.

Try 3 questions

Quick knowledge check

Answer all 3 questions. Get at least 2 right and the lesson completes automatically.

Not yet passed

You’ll get an explanation for each answer. Signed in? Your results save to your account.

1Why copy the pixel data before modifying channels?
2Which input does the supplied Threshold button use?
3What would reveal destructive source mutation?
0 of 3 answeredApply the lesson to a short question, then review the explanation.
2
Finish this lesson

Pass the check. We’ll save the progress.

Answer all 3 questions above and get at least 2 right. You can review the explanations and try again.

Go to the knowledge check
Tools, templates, and lesson sources

Tools and templates

Tools open in a new tab so you can keep your place here.

Sources and further reading

Explore the references behind this lesson.

developer.mozilla.org — Pixel_manipulation_with_canvas
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Relevant documented module/API behavior inspected during expansion authoring; actual execution evidence is recorded separately. No grant eligibility is established.

Access: Official page retrieved with the web reader on 2026-10-01. Documentation reading does not certify execution in every native tool or browser.

Reuse: Original local practice files, fictional data, worked examples and questions. Concepts paraphrased and linked; source exercises are not copied.

developer.mozilla.org — putImageData
Source & access notes · checked 2026-10-01

Relevant documented module/API behavior inspected during expansion authoring; actual execution evidence is recorded separately. No grant eligibility is established.

Access: Official page retrieved with the web reader on 2026-10-01. Documentation reading does not certify execution in every native tool or browser.

Reuse: Original local practice files, fictional data, worked examples and questions. Concepts paraphrased and linked; source exercises are not copied.

Report a problem with this lesson

Tell us what went wrong. Please leave out personal information and private project contents.

No sign-in needed.