Busy spin

In computer science, a busy spin is a process looping while continually rechecking if some event has occurred (thus, "busy" for the continual checking, "spin" for the looping).

This is generally considered poor practice, as it eats up processor time, and is an especial concern on multi-taking or multi-user operating systems.

Preferred alternatives include, event notification and polling (depending on the cability of the operating system).