drop-dead halt

drop-dead halt

[¦dräp ¦ded ′hȯlt]

(computer science)

A machine halt from which there is no recovery; such a halt may occur through a logical error in programming; examples in which a drop-dead halt could occur are division by zero and transfer to a nonexistent instruction word. Also known as dead halt.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.