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Glite Dictionary
💻 Too small value 🌊 Flow below surface 🛑 No data left
underflow

underflow

8.4
An error that happens when a program tries to remove an item from an empty data structure
  • noun
  • /ˈʌndərfloʊ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : error de subdesbordamiento
  • The program crashed due to an underflow error when it attempted to retrieve an item from the empty list.

Examples

  • The developer received an error message indicating an underflow when the function accessed an empty queue.

  • She noticed an underflow in the data structure after trying to remove elements without first adding any.

  • As a result, a program can be decoded and played at the same rate it was encoded, preventing buffer overflow and underflow problems.

    Academic text (1998)

Surface Forms

underflow singular
underflows plural

Morphology

underflow = flow (semi-transparent) = under + flow

The data-structure sense is a metaphorical technical usage (e.g., 'stack underflow') so the components are meaningful but the precise error condition is specialized.

Etymology

Underflow comes from under 'below' and flow 'a moving stream'. Think of trying to take water from a dry well where there is no flow left and the attempt fails, which is why an underflow is the error when a program tries to remove data from an empty container.