real time

This is a term that refers to computing or other processing that happens at the same speed as something is actually happening. A familiar example might be spell-check in your word processing program. In the old days, you did a spell-check of the entire document after it was written. Modern programs do spell-check “in real time” – that is, right as you type, it’s checking; no waiting until the end and doing the whole document at once. Doing something in real time is often a good thing, but it means you have to do whatever you’re doing fast enough to keep up.