Hard-wired

Definition: Hard-wired: A processing function built in to the computer's electronic circuits instead of facilitated by program instructions. To improve computer performance, computer designers include circuits that perform specific functions, such as multiplication or division, at higher speeds. These functions are hard-wired. The term hard-wried also refers to the prorgam instructions contained in the computer's read-only memory (ROM) or firmware. From QUECID

* Linux/Unix/Computing Glossary