An
infinite loop (or
endless loop) is a sequence of instructions in a
computer program which loops endlessly, either due to the
loop having no terminating condition, having one that can never be met, or one that causes the loop to start over. In older
operating systems with
cooperative multitasking, infinite loops normally caused the entire system to become unresponsive. With the now-prevalent preemptive multitasking model, infinite loops usually cause the program to consume all available processor time, but can usually be terminated by the user.
Busy wait loops are also sometimes called "infinite loops". One possible cause of a computer "
freezing" is an infinite loop; others include
thrashing,
deadlock, and
access violations.