Protected or cushioned against impact, shock, or unwanted effects by an intermediate layer or system. In computing, it refers to temporary data storage that smooths data flow.
From 'buffer', originally meaning a device that deadens the shock of collision between railway cars. Extended to chemistry (pH buffers) and computing (data buffers) by analogy with the protective function.
The railway buffer gave us vocabulary for everything from chemistry to computing! The metaphor of 'cushioning against shock' proved so useful it jumped from trains to molecules to megabytes.
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