cascade
1. 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. 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. A collection of interconneced networking
devices, typically {hub}s, that allows those devices to act
together as a {logical} {repeater}.
[{Jargon File}]
(1997-07-17)