In a

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

data transmission Data communication, including data transmission and data reception, is the transfer of data, signal transmission, transmitted and received over a Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication chann ...

system, to abort means to

terminate Terminate may refer to: *Electrical termination, ending a wire or cable properly to prevent interference *Termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer *Terminate with extreme prejudice, a euphemism for assassinati ...

, 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 Diagnosis (: diagnoses) is the identification of the nature and cause of a certain phenomenon. Diagnosis is used in a lot of different academic discipline, disciplines, with variations in the use of logic, analytics, and experience, to determine " ...

information on the aborted process. 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 Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

kernel Kernel may refer to: Computing * Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems * Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution * Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming * Kernel method, in machine learnin ...

where it is known as a

kernel panic A kernel panic (sometimes abbreviated as KP) is a safety measure taken by an operating system's Kernel (operating system), kernel upon detecting an internal Fatal system error, fatal error in which either it is unable to safely recover or con ...

. Specifically in the context of

, an abort is a function invoked by a sending station to cause the recipient to discard or ignore all

bit The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communication. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented as ...

sequences transmitted by the

sender Sending, or to send, is the action of conveying or directing something or someone to another physical, virtual, or conceptual location for a specific purpose. The initiator of the action of sending is the sender. With respect to humans, "sending" ...

since the preceding

flag sequence In telecommunications, frame synchronization or framing is the process by which, while receiving a stream of fixed-length frames, the receiver identifies the frame boundaries, permitting the data bits within the frame to be extracted for decodin ...

. In the

C programming language C (''pronounced'' '' – like the letter c'') is a general-purpose programming language. It was created in the 1970s by Dennis Ritchie and remains very widely used and influential. By design, C's features cleanly reflect the capabilities of ...

, abort() is a standard library function that terminates the current application and returns an error code to the host environment.

Types of aborts

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

References

Computing terminology {{compu-stub

Types of aborts

See also

References