each part of a message is transmitted independently and one
part can be forwarded to the next
node before the whole
message has been received. All parts of a single message
follow the same route.
The independent parts are normally small, e.g. one 32-bit
word. This reduces the
latency and the storage requirements
node receives the whole message before it starts to forward it
to the next node. It is more complex than message switching
because each node must keep track of the messages currently
flowing through it.
a packet starts as soon as its destination is known, before
the whole packet had arrived.
(2003-05-15)