Difference between transformation and projection

linear-transformationsprojectionprojective-geometrytransformation

We know that world coordinates $(x_w, y_w)$ transform to viewport coordinates $(x_v, y_v)$ which are the physical device coordinates. And during projection, any point $(x, y, z)$ projects to $(x, y)$ onto the projection plane. My question is: Are projection and transformation both the same?
Please explain it with a small example. I want to understand intuition rather than details proof.

Best Answer

Projections are the subset of transformations which reduce the size of a space. That is, all projections are transformations, but not all transformations are projections.

Projections often come up in linear algebra and functions between real numbers, in which a projection means that the dimensionality of the space is reduced. As that seems to be the case here, let's say that $x_w, y_w, x_v, y_v \in \mathbb{R}$. Then $(x_w, y_w) \rightarrow (x_v, y_v)$ is a transformation, while $(x_w, y_w) \rightarrow x_v$ would be both a transformation and a projection.