Terminal

What Does Terminal Mean?

A terminal is an electronic communication hardware device that handles the input and display of data.

Techopedia Explains Terminal

Terminals vary by required data type and format. Early terminals resembled typewriters. Current versions include input keyboards and output display screens.

Terminals are divided into the following three classes, according to their processing power:

Intelligent Terminal: Includes main memory and CPU
Smart Terminal (fat client): Equipped with robust data processing power, but has fewer processing capabilities than an intelligent terminal.
Dumb Terminal (thin client): Relies on the host for processing

Related Reading

Margaret Rouse

Technology Specialist

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.

All Articles by Margaret Rouse