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What does "circular buffer" mean in programming?
circular buffer is one of the most common terms in software development. This guide explains what it means, how it is used in practice, and why it matters, with real examples from the developer world.
Definition
A fixed-size buffer that wraps around when it reaches the end, overwriting the oldest data. Also called a ring buffer. Commonly used in audio processing, logging, and producer-consumer scenarios where you always want the most recent N items.
Example
"A circular buffer of size 1024 keeps the last 1024 log entries without allocating more memory."
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