negative acknowledgement


negative acknowledgement

[′neg·əd·iv ik′näl·ij·mənt] (computer science) In a data communications network, a control character returned from a receiving machine to a sending machine to indicate the presence of errors in the preceding block of data. Abbreviated NAK.

negative acknowledgement

(character)(NAK) The mnemonic for ASCII character 21.

Sometimes used as the response to receipt of a corruptedpacket of information.

Opposite of acknowledgement.

negative acknowledgement

(communications)(NAK) Any message transmitted to indicatethat some data has been received incorrectly, for example itmay have a checksum or message length error. A NAK messageallows the sender to distinguish a message which has beenreceived in a corrupted state from one which is not receivedat all.

An alternative is to use only ACK messages, in which casethe non-receipt of an ACK after a certain time is counted as aNAK but gives no information about the integrity of thecommunications channel.

See also ACK.