overflow bit
1. A flag on some processors indicating an attempt to calculate a result too
large for the destination register to hold.
2. More generally, an indication of any kind of capacity overload condition.
"Well, the Ada description was baroque all right, but I could hack it OK until
they got to the exception handling ... that set my overflow bit."
3. The hypothetical bit that will be set if a hacker doesn't get to make a trip
to the Room of Porcelain Fixtures: "I'd better process an internal interrupt
before the overflow bit gets set".
[Jargon File]
Nearby terms:
outsourcing « overclocking « Overdrive « overflow
bit
» overflow pdl » overhead » overloading
overflow pdl
The place where you put things when your pdl is full. If you don't have one and
too many things get pushed, you forget something. The overflow pdl for a
person's memory might be a memo pad. This usage inspired the following doggerel:
Hey, diddle, diddle
The overflow pdl
To get a little more stack;
If that's not enough
Then you lose it all,
And have to pop all the way back.
--The Great Quux
The term pdl seems to be primarily an MITism; outside MIT this term is
replaced by "overflow stack".
Nearby terms:
overclocking « Overdrive « overflow bit «
overflow pdl
» overhead » overloading » overriding
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