Message

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Messages
Forms
Transmission Information Data
Abstractions
Communication Instruction Pattern Meaning edit

Message in its most general meaning is an object of communication. It is something which provides information; it can also be this information itself. Therefore, its meaning is dependent upon the context in which it is used; the term may apply to both the information and its form.

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

Any thought or idea expressed briefly in a plain or secret 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.
Record information, a stream of data expressed in plain or encrypted language (notation) and prepared in a format specified for intended transmission by a telecommunications system.