Definition of node (2024)

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(1) See Node.js.

(2) A device connected to a network. Every terminal, computer, hub, switch and router is a node. In a blockchain network, every validating computer, miner computer or specialized miner hardware is a node. However, miners are sometimes contrasted with nodes; for example, "nodes and miners" means validating nodes and miner nodes. See host, hub, switch, router, terminal and crypto glossary.

(3) In database management, a node is an item of data that can be accessed by two or more routes. See DBMS.

(4) In the Document Object Model (DOM), which exposes HTML and XML content to an application or script, every element, every attribute of that element, and each piece of textual content for every attribute is considered a node. See DOM.

(5) In computer graphics, a node is an endpoint of a graphical element. See graphics.

(6) In multiprocessing systems, a node can be a single processor or system. In MPP (massively parallel processing), a node is one processor. In SMP (symmetric multiprocessing), a node is one computer system with two or more processors and shared memory. See SMP and MPP.

The First Four Nodes of the InternetScrawled on this paper in 1969 were the first four nodes of the ARPANET network, which later became the Internet. The four computers were the IBM System/360, the 940 and Sigma 7 from Scientific Data Systems (SDS) and Digital Equipment's PDP 10. (Image courtesy of The Computer History Museum.)