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Software Engineering vocabulary · Architecture, Design Patterns and Graphics

Backpressure

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In software engineering, backpressure means: A way for a receiving component to slow or limit incoming work when it cannot process that work fast enough.

In Turkish: geri basınç

How it is used

Used in streams and queues. It communicates limited capacity upstream rather than simply allowing an unlimited backlog.

Example sentences

  1. The stream applies backpressure when the file writer cannot keep up with incoming records.

    The slow consumer limits production so pending data does not grow without control.

  2. Ignoring backpressure caused the worker's memory usage to rise throughout the import.

    Work arrived faster than it was consumed, leaving more data waiting in memory.

Common collocations

  • apply backpressure
  • handle backpressure
  • queueA data structure where the first item added is the first one taken out (FIFO), like people waiting in line. Also a system that holds tasks or messages until they are processed.
  • throughputThe amount of work a system completes in a given time, for example requests per second, messages per minute or megabytes per second.

More terms: Architecture, Design Patterns and Graphics

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