thrash
To move wildly or violently, without accomplishing anything
useful. {Paging} or {swapping} systems that are overloaded
waste most of their time moving data into and out of {core}
(rather than performing useful computation) and are therefore
said to thrash. Thrashing can also occur in a {cache} due to
{cache conflict} or in a {multiprocessor} (see {ping-pong}).
Someone who keeps changing his mind (especially about what to
work on next) is said to be thrashing. A person frantically
trying to execute too many tasks at once (and not spending
enough time on any single task) may also be described as
thrashing.
Compare {multitask}.
[{Jargon File}]