Comment by onislandtime

Software engineers tend to think in deterministic terms. My code tells the machine exactly what to do and that's it. In real world systems there is uncertainty which requires different thinking. A real-time process needs both, a deadline and the concept of errors. A process must be completed within a deadline or there is an error. As the author said, the absolute time (or latency) is irrelevant. Think of a tennis match. you either hit the ball or you lose. There is a deadline and an error. It's not that complicated yet so many people are confused by the concept.