Talk:Input/output

Keyboard

Wouldn't keyboard as an input device be considered from the computer's perspective rather than to the user's? The user is "outputting" using these devices; it is the computer that is receiving it as input. --Pengu 19:52, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yes, and that's what the article currently says. If it ever said anything other than that, it was presumably changed not to do so. Guy Harris (talk) 22:20, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

Future of I/O

What is the future of I/O? Where is it headed?. to see this topic added to the article, if someone has appropriate content. Westwind273 21:33, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

What input/output is

discussion of what input/output is? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ravinjit (talk • contribs) 01:38, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

input devices

keyboard mouse —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.164.55.249 (talk) 05:02, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Did Ali G write this article or what? I'm no expert on the topic, so I can't swear to the exact grammatical errors, but something's seriously wrong here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.102.96.22 (talk) 22:05, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

This sentence is incomprehensible: "If incase different data formated being exchanged; interface must be able to convert serial data to parallel form and vice-versa."

Was this article partially Google-translated from something? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.229.55.73 (talk) 00:20, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Addressing Modes

Is it really required on this page? It seems more like a programming topic than information about what an I/O device is. I think the section should be removed. Verminox (talk) 14:00, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

It appears to have been removed. Guy Harris (talk) 22:17, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

Memory mapped I/O is not universal

While memory mapped I/O is common in the PC world, it is far from universal. In fact, it is rare in the mainframe world, where various forms of Channel I/O predominate. Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz Username:Chatul (talk) 18:11, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

ALGOL 68

I'm no expert on this topic, but the section about ALGOL 68 seems highly specific for an article on this topic. Why is this specific programming language discussed, and not any of the other hundreds of possibilities? There should either be a rationale for this decision or the part could be removed.Wikikrax (talk) 09:48, 7 June 2013 (UTC)

No rationale provided, so I removed it. About the only "interesting" part is that ALGOL 68 coined the term "transput", but that detail, as well as the details of ALGOL 68's I/O facilities, belong in ALGOL 68, not here. Guy Harris (talk) 22:16, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

I/O without Computers

The first sentence of this article currently states: "In computing, input/output (I/O, i/o, or informally io or IO) is the communication between an information processing system, such as a computer, and the outside world..."

Unless I am mistaken, there is always a computer involved in the type of I/O that this article describes. Can anyone correct me? What kind of information processing system is not a computer? Jtbwikiman (talk) 19:44, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

There are some historical systems, like early calculators or audiovisual equipment, that had input/output components but were not computers. I don't believe you could find anything being made today that would fall in that category, though. And to answer more generally, there were manual information processing systems that implemented algorithms without electronics (Examples would be WWI / early WW2 codebreaking systems), you'll sometimes find them described in books on the history of computer science. MrOllie (talk) 19:52, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

For one example, a Teletype Model 33 is not a computer, accepting keyboard input and producing punched paper tape output. Just plain Bill (talk) 19:57, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

Tabulating machines aren't stored-program computers, so they're not "computers" in the modern sense, but they had punched-card input and printed output. As they performed calculations, they could be considered "computers" in a broader sense.

In addition, a microprocessor or microcontroller in something that doesn't present itself as a "computer", such as a radio or a washing machine or an automobile or a piece of industrial equipment, has input and output.

So it's a question of how you define a "computer". I suspect most readers of the Wikipedia as a whole think of a "computer" as either "something that sits on top of or to the side of your desk", "something that sits on your lap and opens up to show you the keyboard and screen", or "something that sits in a computer room". It might, or might not, also be "something that sits in your hand and has an app to make phone calls". Even many people who would read this article might think of processors in embedded devices not being "computers". Guy Harris (talk) 20:56, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

You make some excellent points here. I think I had a too-broad conception of a "computer", as I would have referred to the washing machine as a computer. But like you pointed out, this is not the sense in which most readers would understand the term, and it would therefore be misleading to use such language here. Jtbwikiman (talk) 21:02, 22 July 2024 (UTC)

I think the distinction might be that a computer is programmable in the sense that it can handle software in addition to the more permanent firmware, while a digital device such as a microwave oven, a digital thermostat, or a VFD are all dedicated to a single task, contain only firmware and are not usually considered computers. But all of these, just like computers, use some sort of input/output features. Dhrm77 (talk) 18:16, 24 July 2024 (UTC)