headofline

Headofline is not a term with a fixed, widely recognized definition in standard English. In practice, it generally appears as a misspelling or concatenation of other terms, most commonly headline or head of line. Some specialized fields use head of line as two separate words to describe the leading element in a sequence.

In journalism, a headline denotes the title of a news article, designed to summarize its content and attract readers. Because headofline is not an established variant, it is typically corrected to headline in editorial work. When encountered in informal writing or code, it may simply reflect a typographical error.

In computer networking, head-of-line blocking (HOL blocking) is a well-known phenomenon in input-queued switches and other queuing systems. It occurs when the first packet in a queue cannot be transmitted due to a delay on its path, causing subsequent packets to wait even if their paths are clear. Mitigation strategies include priority or fair queuing, virtual output queuing, larger buffers, or active queue management techniques.

Separately, head of line is a general phrase in queueing and service contexts to denote the person or item currently at the front of a line. System designers may apply policies that prioritize or bypass the head of line to improve throughput or reduce waiting time for other customers or tasks.

See also Headline, head-of-line blocking, and queueing theory.