downloading ==>
download
<jargon> To transfer data from one computer to another. Downloading
usually refers to transfer from a larger "host" system (especially a server or
mainframe) to a smaller "client" system, especially a microcomputer or
specialised peripheral, and "upload" usually means from small to large.
Others hold that, technically, download means "receive" and upload means "send",
irrespective of the size of the systems involved.
Note that in communications between ground and space, space-to-earth
transmission is always "down" and the reverse "up", regardless of size. So far
the in-space machines have invariably been smaller; thus the upload/download
distinction has been reversed from its usual sense.
[Jargon File]
(2003-11-04)
Nearby terms:
Doug Lenat « DOW COMPILER « down « download »
downloading » downsizing » downstream
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