html - html5 canvas element and svg

Question

Why do we need the html5 canvas element, when the same can be achieved through embedded svg?

Answer 1

SVG and canvas aren't really interchangeable technologies. SVG is a type of retained mode graphics where everything is drawn from a rather abstract model (the SVG document). Canvas on the other hand is a kind of immediate mode graphics, where there is no model and the client (JavaScript) must take care of redrawing, animations etc.