checkpoint \checkpoint\ n.
   a place (as at a frontier) where travellers are stopped for
   inspection and clearance.
   [WordNet 1.5]

	

	checkpoint
    n 1: a place (as at a frontier) where travellers are stopped for
         inspection and clearance

	

	checkpoint

    Saving the current state of a program and its
   data, including intermediate results, to disk or other
   non-volatile storage, so that if interrupted the program
   could be restarted at the point at which the last checkpoint
   occurred.

   This facility came into popular use in mainframe operating
   systemss such as OS/360 in which programs frequently ran
   for longer than the mean time between system failures.  If a
   program run fails because of some event beyond the program's
   control (e.g. hardware or operating system failure) then the
   processor time invested before the checkpoint will not have
   been wasted.

   (1995-02-07)