In computer graphics and telecommunications, a hard copy is a permanent reproduction, on any media suitable for direct use by a person (in particular paper), of displayed or transmitted data.

Examples of hard copy include teleprinter pages, continuous printed tapes, facsimile pages, computer printouts, and radiophoto prints.

Magnetic tapes, diskettes, and nonprinted punched paper tapes are not hard copy.

HardCopy normally refers to the Altera technique of producing a structured cell ASIC where the cells are the same design as the FPGA, but the programmable routing is replaced with fixed wire interconnect. These devices then do not need and cannot be re-programming as an FPGA.blank">http://www.altera.com/products/devices/hardcopyii/hr2-index.jsp

EasyPath normally refers to the Xilinx technique of producing a customer specific FPGA that is 30% - 70% less expensive than a standard FPGA and where the cells are the same as the FPGA, but the programmable capability is removed.http://www.xilinx.com/products/silicon_solutions/fpgas/easypath/index.htm

Dead tree edition is a term referring to a printed paper version of an article, as opposed to digital alternatives such as a web page. It is a mildly deprecating term for hard copy; variations include dead tree format and dead-tree-ware. "Dead tree" refers to trees being cut down for raw material for producing paper. _The Guardian website on 29 November 2006 printed:

"Maybe this is more a multimedia victory for Jeff Randall himself: he did manage a dead-tree front page, web scoop, vodcast and major plug on the 10 O'clock news."

A related saying among computer aficionados is "You can't grep dead trees", from the Unix command grep meaning to search the contents of text files. This means that an advantage of keeping documents in digital form rather than on paper is that they can be more easily searched for specific contents. An exception are texts stored as digital images (digital facsimile), as they cannot be easily searched, except by sophisticated means such as optical character recognition or examining the infrequently used image metadata. On the other hand, dead trees have tremendous data integrity in proper conditions.

Related terms include tree carcass for a book and tree-killer for a computer printer. These terms are all examples of dysphemism.

Hard Copy is a tabloid news television show that ran in syndication from 1989 to 1999. Hard Copy was aggressive in its use of questionable material on television, including gratuitous violence. Entertainment Tonight and Hard Copy are both produced by Paramount Television, now called CBS Paramount Television.

As investigative news shows and daytime talk shows began to get more and more sensational, this program combined the two formats to create a news program that specialized in celebrity scandals, corporate conspiracies, and bizarre cult practices. This was also one of the shows that portayed the internet as a haven for rapists, perverts and child molesters. Written by Jean-Marc Rocher