Checksum

2 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  checksum
       n : a digit representing the sum of the digits in an instance of
           digital data; used to check whether errors have occurred
           in transmission or storage

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:



  checksum
       
           A computed value which depends on
          the contents of a block of data and which is transmitted or
          stored along with the data in order to detect corruption of
          the data.  The receiving system recomputes the checksum based
          upon the received data and compares this value with the one
          sent with the data.  If the two values are the same, the
          receiver has some confidence that the data was received
          correctly.
       
          The checksum may be 8 bits (modulo 256 sum), 16, 32, or some
          other size.  It is computed by summing the bytes or words of
          the data block ignoring {overflow}.  The checksum may be
          negated so that the total of the data words plus the checksum
          is zero.
       
          {Internet} {packets} use a 32-bit checksum.
       
          See also {digital signature}, {cyclic redundancy check}.
       
          (1996-03-01)