buffer

Device for the temporary storage of electronic data that is located between two other devices of differing speeds. For example, a computer is much faster than a printer output device, so the output from the computer will be sent to the buffer before it is sent to the printer. This allows a computer to continue working instead of waiting for the printer to catch up.

Area of a computer's memory set aside to hold information temporarily. The buffer compensates for the different rates that hardware devices process data. For instance, the buffer holds data waiting to be printed so that the central processing unit is free to perform other tasks. A buffer is also used to hold information received from a computer in a remote location when doing Telecommunications. This is known as a capture buffer. A down-loaded ASCII file may be loaded into a word processing program and edited. Further, the ASCII data file may then be loaded into a smart telecommunications software program's transmit buffer and uploaded to another remote computer over the telephone lines.