/sɛnd/
verb … “to transmit data or a message from one system or process to another.”
send is a fundamental operation in computing, networking, and inter-process communication that involves transferring information, signals, or messages from a source to a target destination. Depending on context, send can refer to sending packets over a network, writing data to a socket, transmitting emails, or signaling another process in an operating system. It ensures that data moves reliably or asynchronously between endpoints for computation, communication, or coordination.
At the technical level, send is often implemented through system calls, APIs, or protocol-specific commands. For example, in network programming, the send() function in sockets transmits bytes from a local buffer to a remote host using protocols like TCP or UDP. In web development, sending can involve HTTP requests via Fetch API or WebSocket messages for real-time communication.
send interacts with complementary operations such as receive for data retrieval, acknowledgment in reliable protocols, and encryption to secure transmission. It is also commonly used with asynchronous programming paradigms to avoid blocking execution while waiting for data transfer.
In practical applications, send is used in network messaging, client-server communication, email delivery, process signaling, IoT device communication, and distributed system workflows. Proper use of send ensures data integrity, ordering, and reliability according to the underlying transport or protocol semantics.
An example of send in Python socket programming:
import socket
s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
s.connect(('example.com', 80))
message = b"GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: example.com\r\n\r\n"
s.send(message) # transmits HTTP request to server
response = s.recv(4096)
print(response.decode())
s.close() The intuition anchor is that send acts like a “digital courier”: it packages information and delivers it from a sender to a receiver, ensuring the intended data reaches its target across hardware, software, or network boundaries.