What is computer network?

The term "computer network" is to mean an interconnected collection of autonomous computers. Two computers are said to be interconnected if they are able to exchange information. The connection need not be via a copper wire; fiber optics, microwaves, and communication satellites can also be used. By requiring the computers to be autonomous, we wish to exclude from our definition systems in which there is a clear master/slave relation. If one computer can forcibly start, stop, or control another one, the computers are not autonomous. A system with one control unit and many slaves is not a network; nor is a large computer with remote printers and terminals.