from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
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}).
(2003-12-04)