This all depends whether you feel confident enough to call your gadget a computer. Then, in RS232-terminology you are entitled to call it DTE and assign it a male DSUB9 connector (you see, it IS sexist). However, that means you have two computers which would fight if you just connect them straight up, so you need to put something twisted between them - that's called the nullmodem.

Otherwise, you have a humble DCE, or, a slave, which has to have a female connector and pins labelled the other way round, obediently to the big fat computer master, using then a simple straight cable.

And some of the Elder of Forum shall now lighten us up how poor practice is for RS232 to use a 9-pin DE-shell connector, which in fact is non-standard...

:-P

JW