资料来源 : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

intelligent terminal
     
         (or "smart terminal", "programmable terminal") A
        terminal that often contains not only a keyboard and screen,
        but also comes with a disk drive and printer, so it can
        perform limited processing tasks when not communicating
        directly with the central computer.  Some can be programmed by
        the user to perform many basic tasks, including both
        arithmetic and logic operations.  In some cases, when the user
        enters data, the {data} will be checked for errors and some
        type of report will be produced.  In addition, the valid data
        that is entered may be stored on the disk, it will be
        transmitted over communication lines to the central computer.
     
        An intelligent terminal may have enough computing capability
        to draw graphics or to offload some kind of front-end
        processing from the computer it talks to.
     
        The development of {workstation}s and {personal computer}s has
        made this term and the product it describes semi-obsolescent,
        but one may still hear variants of the phrase "act like a
        smart terminal" used to describe the behaviour of workstations
        or PCs with respect to programs that execute almost entirely
        out of a remote {server}'s storage, using said devices as
        displays.
     
        The term once meant any terminal with an {addressable cursor};
        the opposite of a {glass tty}.  Today, a terminal with merely
        an addressable cursor, but with none of the more-powerful
        features mentioned above, is called a {dumb terminal}.
     
        There is a classic quote from Rob Pike (inventor of the {blit}
        terminal): "A smart terminal is not a smart*ass* terminal, but
        rather a terminal you can educate".  This illustrates a common
        design problem: The attempt to make peripherals (or anything
        else) intelligent sometimes results in finicky, rigid "special
        features" that become just so much dead weight if you try to
        use the device in any way the designer didn't anticipate.
        Flexibility and programmability, on the other hand, are
        *really* smart.
     
        Compare {hook}.
     
        (1995-04-14)