atomic adj.
[from Gk. `atomos', indivisible]
1. Indivisible; cannot be split up. For example, an instruction
may be said to do several things `atomically', i.e., all the
things are done immediately, and there is no chance of the
instruction being half-completed or of another being interspersed.
Used esp. to convey that an operation cannot be screwed up by
interrupts. "This routine locks the file and increments the
file's semaphore atomically." 2. [primarily techspeak] Guaranteed
to complete successfully or not at all, usu. refers to database
transactions. If an error prevents a partially-performed
transaction from proceeding to completion, it must be "backed out,"
as the database must not be left in an inconsistent state.
Computer usage, in either of the above senses, has none of the
connotations that `atomic' has in mainstream English (i.e. of
particles of matter, nuclear explosions etc.).
[from Gk. `atomos', indivisible]
1. Indivisible; cannot be split up. For example, an instruction
may be said to do several things `atomically', i.e., all the
things are done immediately, and there is no chance of the
instruction being half-completed or of another being interspersed.
Used esp. to convey that an operation cannot be screwed up by
interrupts. "This routine locks the file and increments the
file's semaphore atomically." 2. [primarily techspeak] Guaranteed
to complete successfully or not at all, usu. refers to database
transactions. If an error prevents a partially-performed
transaction from proceeding to completion, it must be "backed out,"
as the database must not be left in an inconsistent state.
Computer usage, in either of the above senses, has none of the
connotations that `atomic' has in mainstream English (i.e. of
particles of matter, nuclear explosions etc.).
Related:
- atomic: [from Gk. `atomos', indivisible] adj. 1. Indivisible;
cannot be split up. For example, an instruction may... - wedged adj.
1. To be stuck, incapable of proceeding
without help.
This is different from having crashed. If the system... - wedged: adj. 1. To be stuck, incapable of proceeding without
help.
This is different from having crashed. If the system... - DWIM /dwim/
[acronym, `Do What I Mean'] 1. adj. Able
to guess,
sometimes even correctly, the result intended when... - random adj.
1. Unpredictable (closest to mathematical
definition);
weird. "The system's been behaving pretty randomly... - bit bucket n.
[very common] 1. The universal data sink
(originally,
the mythical receptacle used to catch bits when they... - go flatline v.
[from cyberpunk SF, refers to flattening of
EEG traces upon brain-death] (also adjectival `flatlined').
1. To die, terminate, or fail, esp. irreversibly... - go flatline: [from cyberpunk SF, refers to flattening of EEG
traces upon brain-death] vi.
also adjectival `flatlined'. 1. To {die}, terminate... - software rot n.
Term used to describe the tendency of
software that has not been used in a while to lose;
such failure may be semi-humorously ascribed to...
