tcm@srhqla.SR.COM (Tim Meighan) (12/23/89)
Someone asked a couple of days ago what a real-time process was. When a program operates in the clock time of the real world, it is a real-time process. In an arcade video game, for example, the program is simulating on-going events that you must interact with. Whether or not you operate the controls of the game, the program continues to run its course. This is a real-time process. In a text-based adventure game, however, the program waits as long as necessary for you to type in your commands and press the ENTER key. You could wait for days between moves, and these waits would have no effect on the functioning of the program, which would pick up right where it left off. This is not a real-time process. Tim Meighan SilentRadio