Circular reference

A circular reference, or sometimes known as a run-around by some people, is a series of references where the last object references the first, thus causing the whole series of references to be unusable.

=Circular references in business=

Often, improperly planned business support will result in a circular reference. This is known as a run-around.

For example:

: Alice needs to return her washing machine – it s defective and she needs it working. She is instructed by Bob of customer service to report to Carol of Return (finance)s and Exchanges for the requested service. Carol, however, tells Alice to report to David. David tells Alice to talk to Bob.

The entire set of references is now worthless because none of them can satisfy Alice s request; they have been told to refer to someone else.

=Circular references in computer programming=

Circular references can appear in computer programming when one piece of code requires the result from another, but that code needs the result from the first. This leads to a deadlock. It also appears in spreadsheets when two cells require each others result.

=Circular reference as an explanation=

A circular reference happens when a person tries to explain or prove something based on what it is they are already talking about. For example, a person trying to prove the reliability of what is written in a book by referencing something written elsewhere in the same book. In some cases, circular references can be found in technical documentations and dictionaries. This leads confusions and in some cases lower productivity in solving the problem at hand than not having the documentation as a reference. Some such cases exist in the documentation of Visual_Studio_.NET#Visual_Studio_.NET_2003

=See also=

*Ms Fnd in a Lbry *Nested function *Halting problem *Catch-22 (logic)