Ask the Expert

What do interrupt and polling mean?

Explain what is meant by the terms "interrupt" and "polling" in relation to real time programming, and list the advantages and disadvantages of each technique. Describe a situation where polling may be used within a program instead of an interrupt. Give three different examples of interrupt sources, and discuss typical examples of what function the signal may be providing.
You have asked for what would typically take a few days of class time to cover in an Intro to Programming course. Basically, an "interrupt" is a is a gateway within an application that you can watch for similar to an event like QueryOpen in the Notes world. Polling is the concept of watching for an event to occur, like the creation of a new document. For a better detailed description you should check with your local college book store for a Intro to Programming book that describes these topics in detail.

This was first published in September 2002

Back to top