Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

cough and die
     
         {barf}.  Connotes that the program is throwing its
        hands up by design rather than because of a bug or oversight.
        "The parser saw a control-A in its input where it was looking
        for a printable, so it coughed and died."
     
        Compare {die}, {die horribly}, {scream and die}.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1995-03-07)