Contents page

Index (83KB)

overrun


overrun: n. 1. [techspeak] Term for a frequent consequence of data
   arriving faster than it can be consumed, esp. in serial line
   communications.  For example, at 9600 baud there is almost exactly
   one character per millisecond, so if a silo can hold only two
   characters and the machine takes longer than 2 msec to get to
   service the interrupt, at least one character will be lost.
   2. Also applied to non-serial-I/O communications.  "I forgot to
   pay my electric bill due to mail overrun."  "Sorry, I got four
   phone calls in 3 minutes last night and lost your message to
   overrun."  When thrashing at tasks, the next person to make a
   request might be told "Overrun!"  Compare firehose
   syndrome.  3. More loosely, may refer to a buffer overflow
   not necessarily related to processing time (as in overrun
   screw).