real-time

1. Describes an application which requires a program to

respond to stimuli within some small upper limit of response

time (typically milli- or microseconds). Process control at a

chemical plant is the classic example. Such applications

often require special operating systems (because everything

else must take a back seat to response time) and speed-tuned

hardware.

2. In jargon, refers to doing something while people are

watching or waiting. "I asked her how to find the calling

procedure's program counter on the stack and she came up with

an algorithm in real time."

Used to describe a system that must guarantee a response to an

external event within a given time.

(1997-11-23)