Word for the Day Archive

Driver

In the world of computers, a virtual road map exists that tells data for each piece of equipment or program which path to take to its chosen destination. Just like in the real world, you need directions on how to get from A to B. In the world of computers, we call those devices "drivers". Drivers are bits of software code used to enable various pieces of hardware and software so they can be recognized by other programs in a computer and have the appropriate data routed to them in a format they can understand. For example, Windows uses drivers to communicate with a MIDI interface. If you do not have the proper driver installed your computer may not recognize or work properly with a given piece of hardware or software.