event

Definition: Action or input from human or other generator (e.g. mouse-clicks, input from key-board or a triggering pulse from an infra-red detector) to a software program which initiates a response by that program. * An event may cause a simple action like a letter to appear on screen or, in computer games and inter-active multimedia, cause a whole train of complex actions such as the running of an animation sequence, together with sound-track and even movement through actuators in the case of a simulator. * Clearly, most modern software is event-driven, i.e. they sit around waiting for a event to kick them into action. * Events cause a hardware interrupt i.e. they produce a signal that tells the microprocessor to pay attention to what information is coming in, then to check the program to see what to do with it and finally, of course, to do it.

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