what does the oxford standard mean - flag
In programming, a flag is a predefined bit or bit sequence that holds a binary value. Typically, a program uses a flag to remember something or to leave a sign for another program. For example, in a message being exchanged by two programs, a three-bit flag's field or data area might be set to one of three configurations: 001 (meaning I'm a self-contained message) 011 (meaning I'm one of several chunks of data in this message) 111 (meaning I'm the last chunk of data in this message)