(Or "wall clock time") 1. "Real world" time (what the clock on
the wall shows), as opposed to the system clock's idea of
time.
2. The real running time of a program, as opposed to the
number of ticks required to execute it (on a time-sharing
system these always differ, as no one program gets all the
ticks, and on multiprocessor systems with good thread support
one may get more processor time than real time).
[Jargon File]
Nearby terms:
wall clock time « wall follower « wallpaper « wall time » WAM » WAN » Wang Laboratories
