input/output

<programming, operating system>

(I/O) Communication between a computer and its users, its storage devices, other computers (via a network) or the outside world. The devices the computer uses to do this are called "peripherals". What actually counts as I/O depends on what level of detail you are considering, e.g. communication between processors would not be considered I/O when considering a multiprocessor as a single system.

Important aspects of I/O are throughput, latency, and whether the communications is synchronous or asynchronous (using some kind of buffer).

Last updated: 2003-12-04

Nearby terms:

input deviceinput/outputinput/output redirectioninquiry/response system

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