What is Simplex, Half-Duplex & Full-Duplex?
Simplex
Half-Duplex
Half-Duplex is like the dreaded "one lane" road you may have run into at construction sites. Only one direction will be allowed through at a time. Railroads have to deal with this scenario more often since it's cheaper to lay a single track. A dispatcher will hold a train up at one end of the single track until a train going the other direction goes through. The only example I could think of for Half-Duplex is actually a Parallel interface. Even though parallel is eight lanes, data travels through the lanes in the same direction at the same time but never in both directions at the same time. The IEEE-1284 allows printers to send messages to the computer. The printer cannot send these messages while the computer is sending characters but when the computer stops sending characters, then the printer can send messages back. It's kind of like some roads that head into downtown. In the morning, they're one way roads, allowing traffic to go into downtown. In the evening their one way roads, allowing traffic to head out of downtown. The only advantage that Half-Duplex would have is the single lane or single track is cheaper then the double lane or double track.
Full-Duplex
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