All Topics  
Buffer (computer science)

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Buffer (computer science)
 
 
  Topics Buffer (computer science) Topic Home

In computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, a buffer is a region of memory used to temporarily hold data
DATA

Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa is a multinational Non-governmental organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2's Bono along with Robert Sargent Shriver III and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign....
 while it is being moved from one place to another. Typically, the data is stored in a buffer as it is retrieved from an input device
Input device

An input device is any peripheral used to provide data and control signals to an information processing system . Input and output devices make up the hardware interface between a computer as a or 6DOF controller....
 (such as a keyboard) or just before it is sent to an output device (such as a printer). However, a buffer may be used when moving data between processes
Process (computing)

In computing, a process is an Object of a computer program that is being sequentially executed by a computer system that has the ability to run several computer programs Concurrency ....
 within a computer. This is comparable to buffers in telecommunication.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Buffer (computer science)'
Start a new discussion about 'Buffer (computer science)'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


In computing
Computing

Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and developing computer technology, computer hardware and computer software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology....
, a buffer is a region of memory used to temporarily hold data
DATA

Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa is a multinational Non-governmental organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2's Bono along with Robert Sargent Shriver III and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign....
 while it is being moved from one place to another. Typically, the data is stored in a buffer as it is retrieved from an input device
Input device

An input device is any peripheral used to provide data and control signals to an information processing system . Input and output devices make up the hardware interface between a computer as a or 6DOF controller....
 (such as a keyboard) or just before it is sent to an output device (such as a printer). However, a buffer may be used when moving data between processes
Process (computing)

In computing, a process is an Object of a computer program that is being sequentially executed by a computer system that has the ability to run several computer programs Concurrency ....
 within a computer. This is comparable to buffers in telecommunication. Buffers can be implemented in either hardware or software, but the vast majority of buffers are implemented in software. Buffers are typically used when there is a difference between the rate at which data is received and the rate at which it can be processed, or in the case that these rates are variable, for example in a printer spooler.

Applications

Buffers are often used in conjunction with I/O
I/O

I/O may refer to:* Input/output, a system of communication for information processing systems* The input-output model, an economic model of flow prediction between sectors...
 to hardware
Hardware

Hardware is a general term that refers to the physical cultural artifacts of a technology. It may also mean the physical components of a computer system, in the form of computer hardware....
, such as disk drives, sending or receiving data to or from a network
Computer network

A computer network is a group of interconnected computers. Networks may be classified according to a wide variety of characteristics. This article provides a general overview of some types and categories and also presents the basic components of a network....
, or playing sound on a speaker. A line to a rollercoaster in an amusement park shares many similarities. People who ride the coaster come in at an unknown and often variable pace, but the roller coaster will be able to load people in bursts (as a coaster arrives and is loaded). The queue area
Queue area

Queue areas are places in which people in line wait for goods or services. Examples include the Department of Motor Vehicles, checking out groceries or other goods that have been collected in a self service Retailing#Shops and Stores, in a shop without self service, at an Automatic Teller Machine, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or in a taxi...
 acts as a buffer: a temporary space where those wishing to ride wait until the ride is available. Buffers are usually used in a FIFO
FIFO

FIFO is an acronym for First In, First Out, an abstraction in ways of organizing and manipulation of data relative to time and prioritization....
 (first in, first out) method, outputting data in the order it arrived.

Telecommunication buffer

A buffer routine
Routine

Routine may refer to:* Routine, as a course of normative, standardized actions or procedures that are followed regularly, often repetition;...
 or storage
Storage

The term Storage may refer to:* Specific storage of an aquiferStorage of goods* Warehouse, a commercial building for storage of goods...
 medium used in telecommunications compensates for a difference in rate of flow of data
DATA

Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa is a multinational Non-governmental organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2's Bono along with Robert Sargent Shriver III and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign....
, or time of occurrence
Time of occurrence

In forensics, the time of occurrence of an event is one of the most important things to determine accurately as soon as possible. Sometimes this can only be estimated....
 of events, when transferring data from one device to another.

Buffers are used for many purposes, such as
  • interconnecting two digital
    Digital

    A digital system uses discrete values, usually but not always symbolized numerically to represent information for input, processing, transmission, storage, etc....
     circuits operating at different rates,
  • holding data for use at a later time,
  • allowing timing corrections to be made on a data stream
    Data stream

    In telecommunications and computing, a data stream is a sequence of encoder coherent Signalling s used to Transmission or receive information that is in transmission ....
    ,
  • collecting binary
    Binary numeral system

    The binary numeral system, or notation with a radix of 2. Owing to its straightforward implementation in digital electronic circuitry using logic gates, the binary system is used internally by all modern computers....
     data bits into groups that can then be operated on as a unit,
  • delaying the transit time of a signal in order to allow other operations to occur.


Buffer versus cache


A cache
Cache

In computer science, a cache is a collection of data duplicating original values stored elsewhere or computed earlier, where the original data is expensive to fetch or to compute, compared to the cost of reading the cache....
 acts often also as a buffer, and vice versa. However, cache operates on the premise that the same data will be read from it multiple times, that written data will soon be read, or that there is a good chance of multiple reads
Input

Input is the term denote either an entrance or changes which are inserted into a system and which activate/modify a process. It is an abstract concept, used in the model ing, system design and system exploitation....
 or writes
Output

Output is the term denote either an exit or changes which exit a system and which activate/modify a process. It is an abstract concept, used in the model ing, system design and system exploitation....
 to combine to form a single larger block. Its sole purpose is to reduce accesses to the underlying slower storage. Cache is also usually an abstraction layer
Abstraction layer

An abstraction layer is a way of hiding the implementation details of a particular set of functionality. Software models that use layers of abstraction include the OSI model for computer network Protocol , the OpenGL graphics drawing library, and the byte stream input/output model originated by Unix and adopted by MSDOS, Linux, and most ot...
 that is designed to be invisible.

See also

  • Bucket (computing)
    Bucket (computing)

    In computing, the term bucket can have several meanings. It is used both as a live metaphor, and as a generally accepted technical term in some specialised areas....
  • Buffer (telecommunication)
  • Buffer overflow
    Buffer overflow

    In computer security and computer programming, a buffer overflow, or buffer overrun, is an Anomaly in software condition where a process attempts to store data beyond the boundaries of a fixed-length buffer ....
  • Buffer underrun
    Buffer underrun

    In computing, buffer underrun or buffer underflow is a state occurring when a Buffer used to communicate between two devices or process is fed with data at a lower speed than the data is being read from it....
  • Circular buffer
    Circular buffer

    A circular buffer or ring buffer is a data structure that uses a single, fixed-size buffer as if it were connected end-to-end.This structure lends itself easily to buffering data streams....
  • Cache
    Cache

    In computer science, a cache is a collection of data duplicating original values stored elsewhere or computed earlier, where the original data is expensive to fetch or to compute, compared to the cost of reading the cache....
  • Streaming media
    Streaming media

    Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by, and normally presented to, an End-user while it is being delivered by a streaming provider ....
  • Frame buffer for use in graphical display
  • Double buffering
    Double buffering

    In computer science, double buffering is a widely used technique for minimizing the delay in input/output operations which use a buffer . Single buffering is affected by buffer underrun and buffer overflow....
     and Triple buffering
    Triple buffering

    In computer graphics, triple buffering is a variant on double buffering, a technique for drawing graphics that shows no flicker, shearing, and screen tearing artifacts....
     for techniques mainly in graphics
  • Depth buffer, Stencil buffer
    Stencil buffer

    A stencil buffer is an extra Data buffer, in addition to the color buffer and depth buffer found on modern computer graphics hardware....
    , for different parts of image information
  • Variable length buffer
    Variable length buffer

    In telecommunication, a variable length buffer is a Buffer into which data may be entered at one rate and removed at another rate without changing the data sequence....
  • Optical buffer
    Optical buffer

    In telecommunications, an optical buffer is a device that is capable of temporarily storing light. Just as in the case of a regular buffer , it is a storage medium that enables compensation for a difference in time of occurrence of events....