illegal operation
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illegal operation
[i′lē·gəl äp·ə′rā·shən] (computer science)
An operation specified by a program instruction that cannot be carried out by the computer.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
illegal operation
An operation that is not authorized or understood. An "illegal operation" error message typically means that the computer has been directed to execute an invalid instruction and has stopped or has terminated the offending application (see abend). However, programmers may choose to display such a message at certain locations in their code as a safety check, trusting that their logic is sound and the computer should never arrive at those points. If it does, the program halts, and the message is displayed. Such messages may have an error number that refers to a location in the code.Copyright © 1981-2019 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.