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Look up message in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A message in its most general meaning is an object of communication. It is a vessel which provides information. Yet, it can also be this information. Therefore, its meaning is dependent upon the context in which it is used; the term may apply to both the information and its form. A communiqué is a brief report or statement released by a public agency.

[edit] In communications science

More precisely, in communications science, a message is information which is sent from a source to a receiver. Some common definitions include:

Messages are important.

• Any thought or idea expressed in a language, prepared in a form suitable for transmission by any means of communication.
• An arbitrary amount of information whose beginning and end are defined or implied.

In communication between humans, messages can be verbal or nonverbal:

• A verbal message is an exchange of information using words. Examples include face-to-face communication, telephone calls, voicemails, etc.
• A nonverbal message is communicated through actions or behaviors rather than words. Examples include the use of body language and the actions made by an individual idea.

[edit] In computer science

There are two main senses of the word "message" in computer science: messages passed within software, which may or may not be human-readable, and human-readable messages delivered via computer software for person-to-person communication.

• Message passing is a form of communication used in concurrent and parallel computing, object-oriented programming, and interprocess communication, where communication is made by sending messages to recipients. In a related use of this sense of a message, in object-oriented programming languages such as Smalltalk or Java, a message is sent to an object, specifying a request for action.

• Instant messaging and e-mail are examples of computer software designed for delivering human-readable messages in formatted or unformatted text, from one person to another.

[edit] See also

• Airmail
• Amateur radio emergency communications
• Beacon
• Communications satellite
• Drum (communication)
• Electronic mail
• Emergency Alert System
• Encryption
• Express mail
• Flare (pyrotechnic)
• Homing pigeons
• Instant messaging
• Interstellar messages
• Message in a bottle
• Packet (information technology)
• Pioneer plaque
• Pony Express
• Radio
• Semaphore
• Sign language
• Smoke signals
• Steamshipping
• Telegraphy
• Telephony
• Television
• Text messaging
• Wind-powered shipping

[edit] External links

• A brief history of messaging through the ages