Definition of Print (computing)

Printing is leaving a mark, written text, drawing or figure on a paper or other support by means of mechanical or digital procedures.

In this article we will deal with digital printing and not traditional printing media such as lithography, flexography, gravure or letterpress.

In computing, print can take various meanings such as:

* Transfer a text, drawing, photo or digital model to some physical medium (usually paper, but can be others) using some type of printer. Objects can now also be created using 3D printers.

The most popular printing methods are
inkjet and laser, where printers deposit pigments or toner on a wide variety of media such as paper, photo paper, glass, metal, canvas, among others.

* Print on screen: involves displaying something on a computer monitor or any other electronic device with a screen. It is usually used in the field of programming in phrases such as «print the result of this operation on the screen». For example, the PRINT function is often used in some programming languages ​​to display text on the screen.

* Print Screen: capture what is displayed on a computer screen. In this way, what is displayed on a screen can be saved in a digital image. See: Capture screen.

* Print virtually: see Virtual printer.

digital printing applications
Digital printing has many advantages over traditional methods, some applications can be:

– Desktop publishing, also called desktop publishing (DTP): digital systems for the treatment of graphics using computers, special programs and printers. They are usually very cheap and accessible even for the home. Multifunction printers are the most popular among home users.

– Print-on-demand: Digital printing is used for personalized printing, for example, personalized children’s books with a child’s name, photo books (such as wedding photo books), or any other book.

– Advertising and promotion: for the creation of parades, business cards, event cards, etc.

– Photos: print digital photos in high quality, allowing touch-ups and improvements before printing.

– Architectural and interior designs.

– Art: creation of paintings or other arts.

classification of printers

Depending on the form or type of printing they use, they can be classified into:

– Daisy printer.

– plotter

– Dot Matrix

– Inkjet (Inkjet)

– Laser printer

– 3D printer

– Virtual printer (by software)

– Shared or network printer: it can be any of the previous printers, but it is shared through a network.

– Wireless printer: is one that connects to a computer without using cables.

history of printers

To read the history of digital printers see: Printer.

print quality

The DPI or PPP is a unit of measurement of the resolution of an image (related to the quality) of a scanner, a printer, etc. It is used to measure resolution, which is the number of dots that fit into one inch. It is expressed as: (number)x(number) dpi.

A resolution of 300 dpi will produce text that will show broken lines visible under a magnifying glass. Even higher resolutions are needed to obtain smooth photo reproductions. Professional graphics use printers with resolutions from 1200 to 2400 dpi.

For more information read: DPI or PPP.

Curiosities of digital printing

Both office and home printers print hidden data on each page of paper. Manufacturers that do include Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, HP, IBM, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lanier, Lexmark, Ricoh, Toshiba, and Xerox, especially their laser printers. These dots are barely visible to the human eye, but contain data such as the printer’s serial number, date and time of printing, etc.

For more information read: Steganography in printers

Related:

printers

print speed

printer driver

print processor

Do laser printers pollute?

Do laser printers (their toner) harm humans?

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