
Why a computer buffer is called a buffer - kintamanimatt
http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2010/10/25/buffers/
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dalke
I did some research just now on what 'buffer' meant in the early days of
computers. It actually mean a logical-or circuit. It appears to have been used
in the input circuits of the ENIAC.

I can conjecture that the progression was logical-or -> input circuits ->
input data -> I/O-based register -> secondary storage. But if so, the use in
computing may derive from the 1950s when the "buffer" was part of main memory,
and not a later use when it was a secondary temporary storage.

Anyway, the details of my research are in the moderation queue for this blog
entry.

