The basic properties of the anytime are the following:

• measurable quality: the precision of the approximate result is known
• a predictable precision: if the amount of time is given the precision of the result can be easy computed
• monotonicity: the precision of the result is growing in time
• consistency: the quality of the result is correlated with the computation time and the quality of the inputs
• the diminishing returns: the improvement of the solution is larger at the early stages of computation and it diminishes over time
• Interruptibility: the process can be interrupted at any time and provide some answer
• Preemptability: the process can be suspended and continued with minimal overhead

- from Anytime Algorithms In Digital Signal Processing, by Csaba Benedecsik

My motto and epitaph is:
“Anything, anytime, any place, for no reason at all”.
- Frank Zappa
Humo, December 1993 (an interview with Frank Zappa)

Anytime was commissioned by the SMCQ with the financial assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts. It was premiered in November 2003 by Quasar, Quad and Walter Boudreau (cond.) at the Salle Pierre-Mercure (Montreal).