Racetrack problem
Encyclopedia
A racetrack problem is a specific instance of a type of race condition
. A racetrack problem is a flaw in a system or process whereby the output and/or result of the process is unexpectedly and critically dependent on the sequence or timing of other events that run in a circular pattern. Note that this problem is semantically different than a race condition because of the circular nature of the problem. To truly be a racetrack problem, there must be at least three laps around the racetrack during program execution. Fewer than three laps is a plain old race condition.
The term originates with the idea of two signals racing each other in a circular motion to influence the output first. Racetrack problems can occur in electronics systems, especially logic circuits, and in computer software, especially multithreaded or distributed programs.
The term "Racetrack problem" was coined by a Research Engineer at Penn State University. This engineer noticed that the problem seemed to involve a racetrack, instead of just any kind of race.
Race condition
A race condition or race hazard is a flaw in an electronic system or process whereby the output or result of the process is unexpectedly and critically dependent on the sequence or timing of other events...
. A racetrack problem is a flaw in a system or process whereby the output and/or result of the process is unexpectedly and critically dependent on the sequence or timing of other events that run in a circular pattern. Note that this problem is semantically different than a race condition because of the circular nature of the problem. To truly be a racetrack problem, there must be at least three laps around the racetrack during program execution. Fewer than three laps is a plain old race condition.
The term originates with the idea of two signals racing each other in a circular motion to influence the output first. Racetrack problems can occur in electronics systems, especially logic circuits, and in computer software, especially multithreaded or distributed programs.
The term "Racetrack problem" was coined by a Research Engineer at Penn State University. This engineer noticed that the problem seemed to involve a racetrack, instead of just any kind of race.
See also
- Race ConditionRace conditionA race condition or race hazard is a flaw in an electronic system or process whereby the output or result of the process is unexpectedly and critically dependent on the sequence or timing of other events...
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External links
- Starvation and Critical Race Analyzers for Ada
- Paper "Algorithms for the Optimal State Assignment of Asynchronous State Machines" by Robert M. Fuhrer, Bill Lin and Steven M. Nowick
- Paper "A Novel Framework for Solving the State Assignment Problem for Event-Based Specifications" by Luciano Lavagno, Cho W. Moon, Robert K. Brayton and Alberto Sangiovanni-VincentelliAlberto Sangiovanni-VincentelliAlberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli is an academic researcher, teacher, entrepreneur, technical advisor and business man. He is a co-founder of the two largest EDA companies: Cadence Design Systems and Synopsys, Inc....
- Article "Secure programmer: Prevent race conditions—Resource contention can be used against you" by David A. WheelerDavid A. WheelerDavid A. Wheeler is a computer scientist. He is best known for his work on Open source software/Free-libre software and Computer security.-Open Source Software:...
- Chapter "Avoid Race Conditions" (Secure Programming for Linux and Unix HOWTO)
- Race conditions, security, and immutability in Java, with sample source code and comparison to C code, by Chiral Software