14 lines
2.7 KiB
HTML
14 lines
2.7 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>atomic</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../A.html" title="A"/><link rel="previous" href="astroturfing.html" title="astroturfing"/><link rel="next" href="attoparsec.html" title="attoparsec"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">atomic</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="astroturfing.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">A</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="attoparsec.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="atomic"/><dt xmlns="" id="atomic"><b>atomic</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">adj.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [from Gk. <span class="foreignphrase"><i class="foreignphrase">atomos</i></span>, indivisible]</p></dd><dd><p> 1. Indivisible; cannot be split up. For example, an instruction may
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be said to do several things ‘atomically’, i.e., all the things
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are done immediately, and there is no chance of the instruction being
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half-completed or of another being interspersed. Used esp. to convey that
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an operation cannot be screwed up by interrupts. “<span class="quote">This routine locks
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the file and increments the file's semaphore atomically.</span>” </p></dd><dd><p> 2. [primarily techspeak] Guaranteed to complete successfully or not
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at all, usu. refers to database transactions. If an error prevents a
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partially-performed transaction from proceeding to completion, it must be
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“<span class="quote">backed out</span>”, as the database must not be left in an
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inconsistent state.</p></dd><dd><p>Computer usage, in either of the above senses, has none of the
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connotations that ‘atomic’ has in mainstream English (i.e. of
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particles of matter, nuclear explosions etc.).</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="astroturfing.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../A.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="attoparsec.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">astroturfing </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> attoparsec</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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