Software flow control

Software flow control is like playing a game of catch with someone. When you throw a ball to the other person, you wait for them to catch it before you throw another ball. This way, they don't get overwhelmed or miss any balls.

In computer communication, software flow control is used to prevent one computer from sending too much data too quickly to another computer, which could cause the receiving computer to become overwhelmed and miss some data.

Just like in the game of catch, the sending computer will wait for the receiving computer to confirm that it has received and processed the data before sending more. This confirmation is called an "acknowledgment" or "ACK" for short.

Imagine you're sending a long message to your friend over text. You might divide the message into smaller parts and send each part separately. After you send each part, you wait for your friend to respond with a confirmation (ACK) that they received it before sending the next part. This way you can be sure that your friend is getting each part of the message and not missing any.

Software flow control can help ensure that data is transmitted reliably and efficiently between computers, without overwhelming the receiving computer with too much data all at once.