Encyclopedia

Halt and Catch Fire

Also found in: Acronyms, Wikipedia.

Halt and Catch Fire

(humour, processor)
(HCF) Any of several undocumented and semi-mythical machine instructions with destructive side-effects, supposedly included for test purposes on several well-known architectures going as far back as the IBM 360. The Motorola 6800 microprocessor was the first for which an HCF opcode became widely known. This instruction caused the processor to toggle a subset of the bus lines as rapidly as it could; in some configurations this could actually cause lines to burn up.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

Halt and Catch Fire

A fictitious name for an assembly language instruction that causes the computer to stop. Dating as far back as the 1960s, the HCF moniker has been jokingly assigned to undocumented instructions used by hardware engineers for testing purposes on various platforms.

The TV Series
From 2014 to 2017, the TV series entitled Halt and Catch Fire aired on the AMC cable channel. Also available on Netflix and comprising 40 episodes, the story is about the trials and tribulations of fictitious startups in the personal computer revolution from the 1980s to the early 1990s. Although filmed in Atlanta, Georgia, the scenes were about events in Silicon Prairie (Texas) and Silicon Valley (see high-tech regions).


Mutiny Headquarters
The series centers mostly around Mutiny, a startup in the online video game business. Inspired by real personalities of the era, Halt and Catch Fire is a story of a smooth-talking visionary and the men and women who made it all happen. There is plenty of computer jargon.
Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
References in periodicals archive
Seeking to wed the birth of the personal-computer era to a "Mad Men" vibe, AMC's "Halt and Catch Fire" takes a 30-year leap back to the early days of the business, pairing a fast-talking salesman/wheeler-dealer with a buttoned-up, family-man tech genius.
'Fire' starter feels a little bit floppy driven
Copyright © 2003-2025 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.