A confirmation of fact, esp when compared with fantasy: Proxmire's pronouncements provided a reality check on spending requests (1990s+)
1. The simplest kind of test of software or hardware; doing the equivalent of asking it what 2 + 2 is and seeing if you get 4. The software equivalent of a smoke test.
2. The act of letting a real user try out prototype software.
Compare sanity check.
(2007-03-15)