Run Time

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What Does Run Time Mean?

Run time is a phase of a computer program in which the program is run or executed on a computer system. Run time is part of the program life cycle, and it describes the time between when the program begins running within the memory until it is terminated or closed by the user or the operating system.

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Run time is also known as execution time.

Techopedia Explains Run Time

Run time is primarily used in software development to isolate and define certain phases of the program/software in development. Run time starts when the program is loaded within the memory along with its required framework, components and libraries. This is generally done by the compiler or a loader application found within software development utilities and languages. The operating system assigns required memory, processor and I/O resources to all the programs, from the start to the end of its run time.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.