3

Fruits is the generic term for apples and pears.

What is the generic term for sender and receiver in an abstract context?

In my special case I have users and servers who both can send and receive messages. I want to create a class to handle general logic for both of them.

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    A transceiver is a device that can send and receive. Jan 23, 2017 at 20:38
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    Are you trying to name a subclass of 'user' that is a superclass for the two separate classes 'sender' and 'receiver'?
    – Mitch
    Jan 23, 2017 at 20:41
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    A communications endpoint can both transmit and receive messages.
    – Jim
    Jan 23, 2017 at 20:45
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    In the pre-digital age these might have been correspondents.
    – 1006a
    Jan 23, 2017 at 21:29
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about "Naming, including naming programming variables/classes". See help center.
    – CJ Dennis
    Mar 31, 2020 at 1:40

5 Answers 5

6

From a native speaker:

Perhaps you are looking not for a single item that sends and receives, but one label that applies to either party. Use party to mean either end of the communication. You can introduce the connection between the label 'party' and both parties on the line by writing "When either party, the send or receiver, is active ..."

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    Yes, and if the OP wants to name a software class used to define them he could use transaction party.
    – BoldBen
    Jan 24, 2017 at 1:52
4

Devices that can both send and receive are known as transceivers:

transceiver noun [ C ]

a piece of equipment that can send out and receive electronic signals:

  • It has an infrared transceiver which can be used to exchange files with similarly equipped machines.

Cambridge Dictionary

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    This would be my favorite if I had only servers or things that communicate. I don't think that this would be applicable for a 'user'. Jan 23, 2017 at 20:51
  • @jordan_conelli - Users aren’t instances of a class. Users interact with objects via a user interface.
    – Jim
    Jan 23, 2017 at 20:57
4

When servers or users send and receive information they communicate.. so in that role perhaps they are:

communicators

Oxford Dictionary's definition of communicator

com·mu··ni·ca·tor kəˈmyo͞onikādər/ noun plural noun: communicators

1. a person who is able to convey or exchange information, news, or ideas, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. "a gifted communicator"

2. an apparatus used to exchange information between individuals, ships, planes, etc. "it'll send a signal to your hand-held communicator"

1

Communication endpoint seems to fit best in my case.

0

Hub, perhaps, - the effective centre of an activity, region, or network. There can be multiple hubs in a network...

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