Abort (computing)

Last updated

In a computer or data transmission system, to abort means to terminate, usually in a controlled manner, a processing activity because it is impossible or undesirable for the activity to proceed or in conjunction with an error. Such an action may be accompanied by diagnostic information on the aborted process. [1]

Contents

In addition to being a verb, abort also has two noun senses. In the most general case, the event of aborting can be referred to as an abort. Sometimes the event of aborting can be given a special name, as in the case of an abort involving a Unix kernel where it is known as a kernel panic. Specifically in the context of data transmission, an abort is a function invoked by a sending station to cause the recipient to discard or ignore all bit sequences transmitted by the sender since the preceding flag sequence.

In the C programming language, abort() is a standard library function that terminates the current application and returns an error code to the host environment. [2]

Types of aborts

  1. User-Initiated Aborts: Users can often abort tasks using keyboard shortcuts (like Ctrl + C in terminal applications) or commands to terminate processes. This is especially useful for stopping unresponsive programs or those taking longer than expected to execute. [3]
  2. Programmatic Aborts: Developers can implement abort logic in their code. For instance, when a program encounters an error or invalid input, it may call functions like abort() in C or C++ to terminate execution. This approach helps prevent further errors or potential data corruption. [2] [4]
  3. System-Level Aborts: Operating systems might automatically abort processes under certain conditions, such as resource exhaustion or unresponsiveness. For example, a watchdog timer can terminate a process that remains idle beyond a specified time limit. [3] [4]
  4. Database Transactions: In database management, aborting (often termed ‘rolling back’) a transaction is crucial for maintaining data integrity. If a transaction cannot be completed successfully, aborting it returns the database to its previous state, which ensures that incomplete transactions don’t leave the data inconsistent. [4]

Aborts are typically logged, especially in critical systems, to facilitate troubleshooting and improve future runs. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buffer overflow</span> Anomaly in computer security and programming

In programming and information security, a buffer overflow or buffer overrun is an anomaly whereby a program writes data to a buffer beyond the buffer's allocated memory, overwriting adjacent memory locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operating system</span> Software that manages computer hardware resources

An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.

The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining, and terminating communication sessions that include voice, video and messaging applications. SIP is used in Internet telephony, in private IP telephone systems, as well as mobile phone calling over LTE (VoLTE).

In computer programming, an infinite loop is a sequence of instructions that, as written, will continue endlessly, unless an external intervention occurs, such as turning off power via a switch or pulling a plug. It may be intentional.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thread (computing)</span> Smallest sequence of programmed instructions that can be managed independently by a scheduler

In computer science, a thread of execution is the smallest sequence of programmed instructions that can be managed independently by a scheduler, which is typically a part of the operating system. In many cases, a thread is a component of a process.

In computer science, a lock or mutex is a synchronization primitive that prevents state from being modified or accessed by multiple threads of execution at once. Locks enforce mutual exclusion concurrency control policies, and with a variety of possible methods there exist multiple unique implementations for different applications.

ABAP is a high-level programming language created by the German software company SAP SE. It is currently positioned, alongside Java, as the language for programming the SAP NetWeaver Application Server, which is part of the SAP NetWeaver platform for building business applications.

A stored procedure is a subroutine available to applications that access a relational database management system (RDBMS). Such procedures are stored in the database data dictionary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crash (computing)</span> Unexpected program exit due to an error

In computing, a crash, or system crash, occurs when a computer program such as a software application or an operating system stops functioning properly and exits. On some operating systems or individual applications, a crash reporting service will report the crash and any details relating to it, usually to the developer(s) of the application. If the program is a critical part of the operating system, the entire system may crash or hang, often resulting in a kernel panic or fatal system error.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CICS</span> IBM mainframe transaction monitor

IBM CICS is a family of mixed-language application servers that provide online transaction management and connectivity for applications on IBM mainframe systems under z/OS and z/VSE.

A file system API is an application programming interface through which a utility or user program requests services of a file system. An operating system may provide abstractions for accessing different file systems transparently.

A transaction processing system (TPS) is a software system, or software/hardware combination, that supports transaction processing.

In computing, logging is the act of keeping a log of events that occur in a computer system, such as problems, errors or just information on current operations. These events may occur in the operating system or in other software. A message or log entry is recorded for each such event. These log messages can then be used to monitor and understand the operation of the system, to debug problems, or during an audit. Logging is particularly important in multi-user software, to have a central overview of the operation of the system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Process management (computing)</span> Computer system for maintaining order among running programs

A process is a program in execution, and an integral part of any modern-day operating system (OS). The OS must allocate resources to processes, enable processes to share and exchange information, protect the resources of each process from other processes and enable synchronization among processes. To meet these requirements, The OS must maintain a data structure for each process, which describes the state and resource ownership of that process, and which enables the operating system to exert control over each process.

OS 2200 is the operating system for the Unisys ClearPath Dorado family of mainframe systems. The operating system kernel of OS 2200 is a lineal descendant of Exec 8 for the UNIVAC 1108 and was previously known as OS 1100. Documentation and other information on current and past Unisys systems can be found on the Unisys public support website.

A distributed operating system is system software over a collection of independent software, networked, communicating, and physically separate computational nodes. They handle jobs which are serviced by multiple CPUs. Each individual node holds a specific software subset of the global aggregate operating system. Each subset is a composite of two distinct service provisioners. The first is a ubiquitous minimal kernel, or microkernel, that directly controls that node's hardware. Second is a higher-level collection of system management components that coordinate the node's individual and collaborative activities. These components abstract microkernel functions and support user applications.

PL/SQL is Oracle Corporation's procedural extension for SQL and the Oracle relational database. PL/SQL is available in Oracle Database, TimesTen in-memory database, and IBM Db2. Oracle Corporation usually extends PL/SQL functionality with each successive release of the Oracle Database.

In computer science, dynamic software updating (DSU) is a field of research pertaining to upgrading programs while they are running. DSU is not currently widely used in industry. However, researchers have developed a wide variety of systems and techniques for implementing DSU. These systems are commonly tested on real-world programs.

eXtremeDB is a high-performance, low-latency, ACID-compliant embedded database management system using an in-memory database system (IMDS) architecture and designed to be linked into C/C++ based programs. It runs on Windows, Linux, and other real-time and embedded operating systems.

This glossary of computer science is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in computer science, its sub-disciplines, and related fields, including terms relevant to software, data science, and computer programming.

References

  1. ↑ "What is Abort?". www.computerhope.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-22. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  2. 1 2 "C11 standard (ISO/IEC 9899:2011)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2020-03-11.
  3. 1 2 "What is Abort? | Webopedia". nojs-rotate.domaincntrol.com. 24 May 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "C exit(), abort() and assert() Functions". GeeksforGeeks. 2010-07-09. Retrieved 2024-11-03.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.