A printer that forms the character or shape to be printed from an array of dots. The dots can be formed on paper by a stylus impacting an inked ribbon, by separate drops of ink ejected from a nozzle, or by one of the other nonimpact technologies in which dots are formed by changing the colour of the media by heating (thermal printer) or by ink adhering to an electric charge or magnetic pole pattern (electrographic and magnetographic printers). When the term is used in reference to a single type of printer it generally means an impact printer or dot matrix printer.