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In the context of communication across a computer network, "session" has a very specific meaning and there really is no direct synonym. One common definition of a session is that it is a semi-permanent dialog between two end-user application processes. If you can find some other single word that captures that specific abstract concept, I say go with it.
But you need to be *very* careful about the possible alternative terms you mentioned, because "connection" and "link" also have very specific meanings in network models. Whether you're talking about the seven-layer OSI model or the TCP/IP model, connections and links only exist in the lower layers of the model (the ones concerned with physically transporting the data or media) while sessions are the concern of the upper layers--either a layer of its own in the OSI model or part of the application layer in TCP/IP.
In most cases, sessions are involved with signaling (such as high-level request-response messages that are exchanged between two application processes about what kind of data or media needs to be transported and whether any setup, such as initializing a codec, needs to be done) rather than streaming. Because sessions are not directly invloved in the data transfer or media streaming, it really isn't appropriate to think of a session as a connection or link even in the common-sense understanding of those terms.
-Fred Ridder
> Subject: Session session session...
> Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:33:02 -0400
> From: Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>
> Those of you writing about products that involve communication
> between/among electronic devices, do you know of a good synonym for
> "session"?
>
> In a situation where several levels of communication are going on
> simultaneously, several "sessions" might be set up and torn down among
> devices and processes. It gets a little sticky, if not repetitive to use
> "session" in too many places, especially two or three times (about two
> or three links) in a single sentence.
>
> So yes, I use "link" in some places (which is lightweight considering
> that "session" implies more structure to the connection. (Yes, I'm aware
> I just said "connection", so I'm asking if that too would carry the same
> weight with you as "session" in the sense of a protocolled, stratified,
> time-or-condition-bounded exchange of information among devices, stacks,
> etc.)
>
> "Interaction" is too lame and unbounded for the purpose. So is
> interface, given how I've used it elsewhere.
>
> The paper thesaurus and the online ones all lean heavily toward confabs
> of humans, not of devices and systems.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> - Kevin
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