# exits (9000-exits.com)

Exits are ways out of a place, like doors in a building or off-ramps on a highway. People say exits when they want to leave, find the way out, or check how many ways to escape exist.

## What a model may hear
- process termination (operating systems and programming): assume the user wants a program to end, return a status code, or handle a system exit call
- thread or coroutine exit (concurrent programming): look for cleanup handlers, finally blocks, or context manager teardown sequences
- network disconnection (networking and distributed systems): expect TCP close handshakes, connection pool draining, or graceful shutdown protocols
- graph node out-degree (graph theory and pathfinding): count outgoing edges from a node, as in maze-solving or state machine transitions

## Where people and models part ways
- Says: "Show me the exits"
  Means: List the doors or escape routes in this building
  May be taken as: List system calls or program termination methods
  Say instead: "Show me the building exits, like doors and stairways"
- Says: "How many exits are there"
  Means: Count the physical ways out
  May be taken as: Count process termination points or graph out-edges in code
  Say instead: "How many physical exits does this location have"
- Says: "Plan the exits"
  Means: Design evacuation routes for people
  May be taken as: Design program shutdown sequences or exception handling paths
  Say instead: "Plan evacuation routes and emergency exits for people"
- Says: "Check all exits"
  Means: Verify doors are unlocked and clear
  May be taken as: Audit code for proper resource cleanup on program termination
  Say instead: "Check that all physical exit doors are unlocked and unblocked"

## Tips
- Say physical exits or building exits to block the technical reading
- Add for people or for passengers when you mean human egress
- Say emergency exit routes to force the safety context
- Avoid exit codes or exit status unless you want program termination
- Use doorways or escape routes as plainer synonyms when confusion persists

## Often confused with
- escape: broader, includes fleeing without a fixed route
- egress: formal synonym, more common in fire codes and less in casual speech
- logout: account session end, not physical departure
- quit: command to end a program, not leave a space
- abort: forced termination, often with error connotation
- output: data produced, not a way out