In computing, spooling refers to the process of transferring data by placing it in a temporary work area, where another program can access it for processing at a later time. This temporary work area is usually in a file or on a storage device.
Uses of spooling
Spooling is useful for devices that access data at different speeds. Or in those cases where there is no direct communication between the programs that write the data and those that read it.
The data in the temporary area can only be modified by adding or removing to the end of the area (in general, there is no random access or editing).
It is also widely used in printing (print spooling), where the documents to be printed are loaded into the print spool, and the printer takes them in due time to print them. Spooling allows you to put documents in a «print queue», which will be printed in that order, while the user does other tasks.
Another use of spooling is email spool, a temporary storage area for emails to be sent by the email transmitting agent program. However, this type of spooling is different, since it allows random access to email messages in the temporary storage area.
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