.TH block "" "" "Technical Information"
.PC
.PP
.II "block-special device"
.II "character-special device"
A
.I block
is a mass of data that is read at one time.
Blocks are different lengths under different operating systems;
\*(CO defines a block as being
.B BSIZE
bytes long.
.PP
Information is read in blocks from block-special devices, such
as the hard disk or floppy disks.
This is done to increase the speed with which data are read from
these devices; reading characters one at a time, such as is done
with character-special devices such as terminals or modems, would
be too slow.
.SH "See Also"
.Xr "Using COHERENT," using_coh
.br
\*(AS, \(sc3.6.2
