The difference between Controller and Driver

Controller as a noun:

One who controls something.

Controller as a noun (electronics):

Any electric or mechanical device for controlling a circuit or system.

Controller as a noun (business):

A person who audits, and manages the financial affairs of a company or government; a comptroller.

Controller as a noun (computing):

A mechanism that controls or regulates the operation of a machine, especially a peripheral device in a computer.

Controller as a noun (nautical):

An iron block, usually bolted to a ship's deck, for controlling the running out of a chain cable. The links of the cable tend to drop into hollows in the block, and thus hold fast until disengaged.

Controller as a noun (espionage):

The person who supervises and handles communication with an agent in the field.

Controller as a noun (linguistics):

The subject of a control verb. See

Controller as a noun (software architecture):

In software applications using the model-view-controller design pattern, the part or parts of the application that treat input and output, forming an interface between models and views.

Driver as a noun:

One who drives something, in any sense of the verb to drive.

Driver as a noun:

Something that drives something, in any sense of the verb to drive.

Driver as a noun:

A person who drives a motorized vehicle such as a car or a bus.

Driver as a noun:

A person who drives some other vehicle.

Driver as a noun (computing):

A program that acts as an interface between an application and hardware, written specifically for the device it controls.

Driver as a noun (golf):

A golf club used to drive the ball a great distance.

Driver as a noun (nautical):

a kind of sail, smaller than a fore and aft spanker on a square-rigged ship, a driver is tied to the same spars.

Driver as a noun:

A mallet.

Driver as a noun:

A tamping iron.

Driver as a noun:

A cooper's hammer for driving on barrel hoops.

Driver as a noun:

A screwdriver.