cascade 1. (compiler) A huge volume of spurious error-messages output by a compiler with poor error recovery. Too frequently, one trivial syntax error (such as a missing ")" or "}") throws the parser out of synch so that much of the remaining program text, whether correct or not, is interpreted as garbaged or ill-formed.
2. (messaging) A chain of Usenet followups, each adding some trivial variation or riposte to the text of the previous one, all of which is reproduced in the new message; an include war in which the object is to create a sort of communal graffito. 3. (networking) A collection of interconneced networking devices, typically hubs, that allows those devices to act together as a logical repeater. [Jargon File] Last updated: 1997-07-17
