The term terminal has two meanings in computer science, relating to an individual computer and to a computer network.

In the context of an individual computer, a terminal is a device that enables the user to communicate with the computer. Generally, the device is a combination of a keyboard and a display screen. There are three classes of terminals with respect to their processing speed and data handling capability: intelligent terminal, smart terminal, and dumb terminal.

An intelligent terminal is a device that can process information. It has memory and a processor. In contrast, a dumb terminal has no processing capabilities. A dumb terminal can only accept data from the central processing unit of the computer to which it is linked. It is also the slowest operating of the three terminal classes. Nevertheless, a dumb terminal is adequate for most applications for which terminals are required. The third...