21 lines
1.2 KiB
Plaintext
21 lines
1.2 KiB
Plaintext
smart terminal
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n. 1. A terminal that has enough computing capability to render graphics or
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to offload some kind of front-end processing from the computer it talks to.
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The development of workstations and personal computers has made this term
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and the product it describes semi-obsolescent, but one may still hear
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variants of the phrase act like a smart terminal used to describe the
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behavior of workstations or PCs with respect to programs that execute almost
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entirely out of a remote server 's storage, using local devices as displays.
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2. obs. Any terminal with an addressable cursor; the opposite of a glass
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tty. Today, a terminal with merely an addressable cursor, but with none of
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the more-powerful features mentioned in sense 1, is called a dumb terminal.
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There is a classic quote from Rob Pike (inventor of the blit terminal): A
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smart terminal is not a smart ass terminal, but rather a terminal you can
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educate. This illustrates a common design problem: The attempt to make
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peripherals (or anything else) intelligent sometimes results in finicky,
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rigid special features that become just so much dead weight if you try to
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use the device in any way the designer didn't anticipate. Flexibility and
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programmability, on the other hand, are really smart. Compare hook.
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