maxlast

Maxlast is a term that appears in programming, data analysis, and documentation as a generic identifier. There is no single standard definition for maxlast; instead it is commonly used to denote a value or function related to the maximum value among the most recent data points or within a limited window.

In time-series and streaming contexts, maxlast is often used to refer to the maximum value observed within the last N elements, i.e., the sliding window maximum. This interpretation is common in dashboards, anomaly detection, and moving-window analyses.

In algorithm design, maxlast may represent a variable that stores the running maximum of the most recent k inputs. As new data arrives, the variable is updated and older observations expire from the window, which may require recomputation in some implementations.

In software libraries, maxlast may be exposed as a function name that returns the maximum of the last elements of a sequence, or as a property within a data structure that tracks the last window's peak value. Implementations vary across languages and frameworks.

Etymology: the name combines "max" indicating maximum and "last" indicating recency, signaling that the value relates to the maximum recent element rather than the overall maximum.

See also: sliding window maximum, running maximum, rolling maximum, moving maximum.