ProgramViz
Step 620–25 minutes

Input / Output (I/O)

Programs are useless if they can't interact with the world. I/O is how a program gets data (Input) and sends data out (Output).

Common I/O devices include the keyboard, mouse, monitor, storage disks, and network cards.

The I/O Path

Your Program
System Call
Operating System
Driver

How Programs Wait

PROGRAM

The program stops execution entirely until the I/O operation (like reading a file) is finished. It's simple but can feel slow.