Glossary

Filter:
# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z All
F
Fan
FAQ
FAX
FCA
FDM
FEC
FER
FIN
Fix
FOI
FQR
FQT
FRD
Fry
FSD
FTS
Foreground
  • vt. [UNIX] To bring a task to the top of one's stack for immediate processing, and hackers often use it in this sense for non-computer tasks. "If your presentation is due next week, I guess I'd better foreground writing up the design document. " Technically, on a time-sharing system, a task executing in foreground is one able to accept input from and return output to the user; oppose background. Nowadays this term is primarily associated with UNIX, but it appears first to have been used in this sense on OS/360. Normally, there is only one foreground task per terminal (or terminal window); having multiple processes simultaneously reading the keyboard is a good way to lose.