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
{thrash}ing 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}).
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {buffer overflow}{firehose syndrome}{overrun screw}]