Tony M Oct 30, 2017:

@ Asker In this instance, no more context is really needed, as the usage of this term in this sort of way is entirely commonplace and familiar to anyone working in the field.
With modern rotary (digital) encoders used as 'analogue' controls, instead of having fixed positions (for example, on an oven, 140° / 160° / 180° / 200° / 220° etc.), you simply turn the control knob so as to increment the temperature (etc.) shown on some kind of digital display — often with a much finer (though often unnecessary!) degree of adjustment than individual selector positions would allow.
Such controls are purely indirect and relative, and can be rotated continuously with no end-stops, and so are not terribly user friendly, since they have no 'feel'; it has been common practice for years now to add a kind of notched wheel to the mechanism, to give the impression of some kind of 'click' as you turn it; these would be the indents (and in certain specific contexts, 'detents'), which per se are meaningless — i.e. no one 'click' actually signifies anything, unlike the positions on a fixed switch; they are just a way of giving the user the impression that "something is happening" as they turn the knob.