In a computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

 or data transmission

Data transmission

Data transmission, digital transmission, or digital communications is the physical transfer of data over a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication channel. Examples of such channels are copper wires, optical fibres, wireless communication channels, and storage media...

 system, to abort means to terminate, usually in a controlled manner, a processing activity because it is impossible or undesirable for the activity to proceed. Such an action may be accompanied by diagnostic information on the aborted process.

In addition to being a verb, abort also has two noun senses. In the most general case, the event of aborting can be referred to as an abort. Sometimes the event of aborting can be given a special name, as in the case of an abort involving a Unix

Unix

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

 kernel where it is known as a kernel panic

Kernel panic

A kernel panic is an action taken by an operating system upon detecting an internal fatal error from which it cannot safely recover. The term is largely specific to Unix and Unix-like systems; for Microsoft Windows operating systems the equivalent term is "Bug check" .The kernel routines that...

. Specifically in the context of data transmission

Data transmission

Data transmission, digital transmission, or digital communications is the physical transfer of data over a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication channel. Examples of such channels are copper wires, optical fibres, wireless communication channels, and storage media...

, an abort is a function invoked by a sending station to cause the recipient to discard or ignore all bit

Bit

A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states...

 sequences transmitted by the sender

Sender

A sender was a circuit in a 20th century electromechanical telephone exchange which sent telephone numbers and other information to another exchange. In some American exchange designs, for example 1XB switch the same term was also used to refer to the circuit that received this information...

 since the preceding flag sequence

Flag sequence

Flag sequence: In data transmission or processing, a sequence of bits used to delimit, i.e. mark the beginning and end of a frame.Note 1: An 8-bit sequence is usually used as the flag sequence; for example, the 8-bit flag sequence 01111110....

.

In the C programming language

C (programming language)

C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

, abort is a standard library function that terminates the current application and returns an error code.

See also

• Abort, Retry, Fail?
  Abort, Retry, Fail?
  In computing, Abort, Retry, Fail? is a computer error message in the DOS operating system which indicates a critical error and prompts the end-user for the course of action to follow. This and other similar error messages are given by the default critical error handler...
  
  
• Abnormal end
  Abnormal end
  An ABEND is an abnormal termination of software, or a program crash.This usage derives from an error message from the IBM OS/360, IBM zOS operating systems. Usually capitalized, but may appear as "abend"...
  
  
• Hang
  Hang (computing)
  In computing, a hang or freeze occurs when either a single computer program, or the whole system ceases to respond to inputs. In the most commonly encountered scenario, a workstation with a graphical user interface, all windows belonging to the frozen program become static, and though the mouse...
  
  
• Reset
  Reset (Computing)
  In a computer or data transmission system, to reset means to clear any pending errors or events and bring a system to normal condition or initial state usually in a controlled manner. It is usually done in response to an error condition when it is impossible or undesirable for a processing activity...