negative acknowledgement
1. <character> (NAK) The mnemonic for ASCII character 21.
Sometimes used as the response to receipt of a corrupted packet of information.
Opposite of acknowledgement.
2. <communications> (NAK) Any message transmitted to indicate that some
data has been received incorrectly, for example it may have a checksum or
message length error. A NAK message allows the sender to distinguish a message
which has been received in a corrupted state from one which is not received at
all.
An alternative is to use only ACK messages, in which case the non-receipt of an
ACK after a certain time is counted as a NAK but gives no information about the
integrity of the communications channel.
See also ACK.
(1997-01-07)
Nearby terms:
NEC 780-C « neep-neep « negation by failure «
negative acknowledgement » NELIAC » Neon »
neophilia
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