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:
“There are women in middle life, whose days are crowded with practical duties, physical strain, and moral responsibility ... they fail to see that some use of the mind, in solid reading or in study, would refresh them by its contrast with carking cares, and would prepare interest and pleasure for their later years. Such women often sink into depression, as their cares fall away from them, and many even become insane. They are mentally starved to death.”
—Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (1842–1911)