<programming> (Or "endless loop") Where a piece of program is executed repeatedly with no hope of stopping. This is nearly always because of a bug, e.g. if the condition for exiting the loop is wrong, though it may be intentional if the program is controlling an embedded system which is supposed to run continuously until it is turned off. The programmer may also intend the program to run until interrupted by the user. An endless loop may also be used as a last-resort error handler when no other action is appropriate. This is used in some operating system kernels following a panic. A program executing an infinite loop is said to spin or buzz forever and goes catatonic. The program is "wound around the axle". A standard joke has been made about each generation's exemplar of the ultra-fast machine: "The Cray-3 is so fast it can execute an infinite loop in under 2 seconds!" See also black hole, recursion, infinite loop. [Jargon File] (1996-05-11)

In computer programming, an infinite loop (or endless loop) is a sequence of instructions that, as written, will continue endlessly, unless an external intervention occurs ("pull the plug"). It may be intentional.

infinite loop

<mathematics> 1. Bigger than any natural number. There are various formal set definitions in set theory: a set X is infinite if (i) There is a bijection between X and a proper subset of X. (ii) There is an injection from the set N of natural numbers to X. (iii) There is an injection from each natural number n to X. These definitions are not necessarily equivalent unless we accept the Axiom of Choice. 2. The length of a line extended indefinitely. See also infinite loop, infinite set. [Jargon File] (1995-03-29)

I. a. II. n.

<programming> A loop of code that executes without releasing any resources to other programs or the operating system. Consider the following pointless BASIC loop that counts upward indefinitely 10 i = i + 1 20 GOTO 10 Run on a single-user system such as MS-DOS this will not cause any problems. Run on a cooperative multitasking operating system such as Windows 3, the system would appear to freeze. A pre-emptive multitasking operating system such as UNIX or Windows NT would "steal" cycles away from the program and continue to run other programs. See also busy-wait and multitasking. (1999-05-06)

In topology, a branch of mathematics, given a topological monoid X up to homotopy (in a nice way), an infinite loop space machine produces a group completion of X together with infinite loop space structure. For example, one can take X to be the classifying space of a symmetric monoidal category S; that is, X = BS.