Plug and Play - what is it? Short review

Probably, every user of the computer heard about such a concept as Plug and Play. It has long been a part of the everyday language of computer scientists. Despite the ease of translation, not everyone understands the topic "Plug and Play - what is it?". Let's try to consider this issue in more detail.

Plug and Play - what is it?

Let's start, perhaps, with the very translation of the term Plug and Play, sometimes referred to as Plug & Play or PnP. If you follow the literal translation from English, then plug means "enable", "connect", "attach", and play - "play". So, what happens? Plug and Play - what is it? You can give an answer in the form of an interpretation of the type "hooked up and play (work)".

In other words, when you connect any new device (not yet present in the system) to the computer, it is detected automatically. After installing the component, you can use it right away, bypassing any manual manipulation to install software for it in the form of the same drivers.

How did the Plug and Play technology come about?

The period of appearance of the already widespread Plug and Play technology dates back to 1995. It was created thanks to the efforts of developers of Western Digital, which played a key role in its development.

At that time, it was not something particularly new, as previously used in a slightly different form on the MCA and EISA tires. With the advent of the PCI bus, which has become a real industry standard, the innovation in the field of computer technology was adopted by Microsoft, which first tried to implement it in Windows 98.

Naturally, that system compared to later products was still very "raw", and the list of supported devices was rather limited. Nevertheless, the beginning was laid. Now on any system there is support for Plug and Play. What is this from a modern point of view, can be explained on the simplest examples.

Basic principles of work

Roughly speaking, an example of the work of Plug and Play technology can be seen when an ordinary USB flash drive is connected to the computer via the USB port. The system in the tray displays a message that a new device has been found, and after some time reports that it is ready to work. By the way, this applies to any "iron" component.

We will not go into the technical aspects. The ordinary user will have enough that when you connect any device that supports this standard, the "operating system" automatically determines its type and manufacturer, then in the same mode, without user intervention, installs the most suitable driver from its database for correct functioning (except for Rare cases). Note, at the end of the process, even a reboot is not required.