What is the function and location of a parallel port?

Answer 1

The function of a parallel port was to send at least a byte of data at a time to a printer. As time went on and parallel ports were given bidirectional abilities, they were used for other things such as connecting tape drives and transferring data between two computers. Gamers sometimes used parallel ports to network two computers together for a game, if the game software supported that.

The location of a parallel port varies with the computer. When they exist, they are often located in the back of the PC, or on the side of a laptop. Most computers these days have no such port. The ports were somewhat large and only worked with a limited set of hardware. Everything is going to USB and Firewire these days. Those ports are smaller and support a wider range of hardware.