Wait State

A temporary storage area, usually in RAM. The purpose of most buffers is to act as a holding area, enabling the CPU to manipulate data before transferring it to a device. Because the processes of reading and writing data to a disk are relatively slow, many programs keep track of data changes in a buffer and then copy the buffer to a disk. For example, word processors employ a buffer to keep track of changes to files. Then when you save the file, the word processor updates the disk file with the contents of the buffer. This is much more efficient than accessing the file on the disk each time you make a change to the file. Note that because your changes are initially stored in a buffer, not on the disk, all of them will be lost if the computer fails during an editing session. For this reason, it is a good idea to save your file periodically. Most word processors automatically save files at regular intervals. Another common use of buffers is for printing documents. When you enter a PRINT command, the operating system copies your document to a print buffer (a free area in memory or on a disk) from which the printer can draw characters at its own pace. This frees the computer to perform other tasks while the printer is running in the background. Print buffering is called spooling. Most keyboard drivers also contain a buffer so that you can edit typing mistakes before sending your command to a program. Many operating systems, including DOS, also use a disk buffer to temporarily hold data that they have read from a disk. The disk buffer is really a cache.
[view]

A language used to describe the printing of images and text and typically used with laser printing capability. Word processor or desktop publishing applications generate postscript code for higherquality laser products.
[view]

A software program that manages the basic operations of a computer system. It calculates how the computer main memory will be apportioned, how and in what order it will handle tasks assigned to it, how it will manage the flow of information into and out of the main processor, how it will get material to the printer for printing and to the screen for viewing, how it will receive information from the keyboard, etc.
[view]

Privilege to perform action on an object. Read, write, execute, append, modify, delete, and create are examples of access types. The nature of access granted to a particular device, program, or file (e. g. , read, write, execute, append, modify, delete, or create).
[view]

The state in which a process is ready to execute but is waiting for its turn on the CPU.
[view]