< 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 ).
(2003-12-04)