What is the console? Meaning of a word and a function

The article describes what the console is, where this device is used and what value this word has.

The Digital Age

Still some 15 years ago, not everyone could afford to buy a home computer, not to mention other digital technology. But fortunately, now everything has changed, and for a long time no one is surprised by a smartphone, tablet or laptop. With each passing year, similar technologies are developing, and some inventions, which until recently appeared to be a breakthrough, quickly become obsolete. This concerns both I / O and other control devices . These include the console itself, or rather, its first implementation. The word has several meanings at once, and we will discuss the most common variants in this article. So what is a console?

Definition

According to official terminology, the console is a collection of different devices, which ultimately provide the work and interaction between the computer and its operator. Simply put, in the modern world, the console is all those interactive devices that are connected to the computer directly, and not through the network. The time a person works for a PC with such a periphery is called a console session.

So now we know what the console is. Also in the days of the first computers, the console was called the output devices of system messages of various kinds, but then they were completely replaced by the monitors we used.

However, those readers who are familiar with computers, for sure, know that in our time the console is most often called the window for displaying system messages and entering commands in various games, programs and individual operating systems. It's also possible to name the software that implements only a text interface for working with it and commands again from it. So we sorted out the question of what a console is. Let's consider in more detail their last version.

Appointment

Recently, the text console, which is needed to work with the operating system or a separate program, is strongly associated with people with Linux users, and this is quite deserved. Unlike Windows, users of Linux OS variants have to work in the console mode much more often. This applies to both the interaction with the OS itself, and with specific programs. And the latter sometimes do not have a graphical interface at all and understand only the manually written commands. So now we know the meaning of the word "console".

There is a similar command line in Windows. It serves exactly the same purposes, but it is used mainly by very experienced system administrators, because it opens up a wider and quicker access to the system settings. But there are almost no console programs in "Windows", as they have long been superseded exclusively by those that use the graphical interface. But why such difficulties? After all, not everyone can work in it, unlike the usual graphic program.

Advantages and disadvantages

The main advantages of console programs and console management of the system as a whole include speed of execution of commands. The program, devoid of the graphic layer and taking commands directly, performs them much faster, more stable, and requires much less computing resources. Also, such a software has a smaller size, and it is installed quickly.

By the disadvantages of the same can be attributed to the fact that an unprepared user or accustomed to a specific interface is difficult at first time to master the work in console mode.

How do I enable the console? In Linux, it is called from the Quick Access Toolbar or application list. In short, the terminal in Linux is a program that emulates the console, but allows the user to remain in the graphical mode. And in Windows, the command line (which, like the console, allows to work in the text commands mode) is called through the search for the Start panel. Just enter "cmd".