Reading is an action performed by computers, to acquire data from a source and place it into their volatile memory for processing. For example, a computer may read information off a floppy disk and store it in random access memory to be placed on the hard drive to be processed at a future date. Computers may read information from a variety of sources, such as magnetic storage, the Internet, or audio and video input ports.
The act of reading one unit of information (e.g. a byte) is sometimes called a read cycle. The electrical circuit that transforms the physical magnetic flux changes into abstract bits is called the read channel. A read error occurs when the physical part of the process fails for some reason, such as dust or dirt entering the drive.
Reading can be abstracted to one of the main functions of a Turing machine.
Famous quotes containing the word reading:
“Common sense should tell us that reading is the ultimate weapon—destroying ignorance, poverty and despair before they can destroy us. A nation that doesn’t read much doesn’t know much. And a nation that doesn’t know much is more likely to make poor choices in the home, the marketplace, the jury box and the voting booth...The challenge, therefore, is to convince future generations of children that carrying a book is more rewarding than carrying guns.”
—Jim Trelease (20th century)