Surface's are conceptually rectangular area's of allocated memory that are primarily used for holding, manipulating and displaying graphical images. Surface's may also be used to store non-display information, such as z-buffer, alpha or VBI information.
Complex surfaces result from the creation of an entire flip chain in a single creation call. The root surface of the flip chain must be destroyed to destroy a flip chain formed in such a way.
Flip chains can also be formed by explicitly attaching surfaces to one another.
The primary surface is a surface that is currently being displayed on a display device.
A back buffer is a non visible surface that can be modified and then displayed once modifications are complete.
The source surface is simply the area of allocated memory from which data is being copied.
The destination surface is simply the area of allocated memory to which data is being copied.