stale data

Part of the TechTarget Network of Enterprise IT Web Sites
Home Look It Up ITKnowledge Exchange Fast References Products White Papers Blogs

Search our IT-specific encyclopedia for:
 
OR Jump to a topic:
 
Advanced Search
Browse alphabetically:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #
All Categories Hardware

stale data

In computer processing, if a processor changes the value of an operand and then, at a subsequent time, fetches the operand and obtains the old rather than the new value of the operand, then it is said to have seen stale data.

On a uniprocessor, stale data cannot be tolerated. It would mean that the processor violated fundamental expectations about its own behavior. On shared memory multiprocessors, however, it is considered acceptable for machines to generate stale data on operands shared between processes. For such operands, the expectation is that programs will take precautions ( atomic instructions or critical section routine ) to prevent stale data from being seen.



Last updated on: Apr 05, 2005

>  Enterprise Software related Research & News
>  White Papers for the Retail Industry

Are you a Know-IT-All?
What does the i in iSCSI stand for?
Answer

WORD OF THE DAY...
full-disk encryption (FDE)
LEARN MORE ABOUT...
business intelligence tools
Buzz Alert: Facebook Connect
Every File Format in the World
Learning Guides and Tutorials
Our Favorite Cheat Sheets
Our Latest Discovery
Our 60 tech-specific sites
Tech Trivia
Writing for Business
WhatIs.com RSS Feeds
Home Look It Up ITKnowledge Exchange Fast References Products White Papers Blogs
About Us   |   Contact Us   |   For Advertisers   |   For Business Partners   |   Reprints   |   RSS   |   Awards
TechTarget provides enterprise IT professionals with the information they need to perform their jobs - from developing strategy, to making cost-effective IT purchase decisions and managing their organizations' IT projects - with its network of technology-specific Web sites, events and magazines.

TechTarget Corporate Web Site  |  Media Kits  |  Reprints  |  Site Map




All Rights Reserved, Copyright 2008, TechTarget | Read our Privacy Policy
  TechTarget - The IT Media ROI Experts