What are timer overflows?

Timer overflows happen when a timer counts too high and starts again from zero, like a clock that resets after reaching its maximum number.

Imagine you have a toy counter that only goes up to 10. Every time it hits 10, it flips back to 0 and keeps counting again. That flip is what we call an overflow.

A timer is like your toy counter, it counts seconds or ticks in a regular pattern. But if the timer is too small, it can’t count all the way through a long time period.

For example, say you're timing how many steps you take in 1 minute. If your timer only goes up to 60 and then resets, that's fine, but if you’re counting for 2 minutes, it might start over before you finish! That’s when an overflow happens, the timer says “I’ve reached my limit!” and starts again from zero.

Sometimes, this reset can confuse a machine or a program. It’s like when your toy counter resets in the middle of a game, it might think you took fewer steps than you actually did!

So, timer overflows are just the timer resetting when it can’t count any higher, and that's how we keep track of time even when it goes on for longer than expected.