The writing out (dumping) of the entire contents of primary memory In some systems in it written to a file named core When analyzed by specialized software it may indicate the nature of the problem Usually indicates a serious problem
A printout, usually in hexadecimal characters, of the contents of core memory Note: A core dump is useful for analyzing an abnormally terminated computer run or finding bugs in a computer program
An image of a terminated process saved for debugging A core file is created under the name core in the current directory of the process when an abnormal event occurs that results in the process's termination