|
Memory Ordering
Memory ordering describes the order of accesses to computer memory by a CPU. The term can refer either to the memory ordering generated by the compiler during compile time, or to the memory ordering generated by a CPU during runtime. In modern microprocessors, memory ordering characterizes the CPU's ability to reorder memory operations – it is a type of out-of-order execution. Memory reordering can be used to fully utilize the bus-bandwidth of different types of memory such as caches and memory banks. On most modern uniprocessors memory operations are not executed in the order specified by the program code. In single threaded programs all operations appear to have been executed in the order specified, with all out-of-order execution hidden to the programmer – however in multi-threaded environments (or when interfacing with other hardware via memory buses) this can lead to problems. To avoid problems, memory barriers can be used in these cases. Compile-time memory ordering ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Compiler
In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that translate source code from a high-level programming language to a low-level programming language (e.g. assembly language, object code, or machine code) to create an executable program. Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools by Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, Jeffrey D. Ullman - Second Edition, 2007 There are many different types of compilers which produce output in different useful forms. A ''cross-compiler'' produces code for a different CPU or operating system than the one on which the cross-compiler itself runs. A ''bootstrap compiler'' is often a temporary compiler, used for compiling a more permanent or better optimised compiler for a language. Related software include, a program that translates from a low-level language to a h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Function Call
In computer programming, a function or subroutine is a sequence of program instructions that performs a specific task, packaged as a unit. This unit can then be used in programs wherever that particular task should be performed. Functions may be defined within programs, or separately in libraries that can be used by many programs. In different programming languages, a function may be called a routine, subprogram, subroutine, method, or procedure. Technically, these terms all have different definitions, and the nomenclature varies from language to language. The generic umbrella term ''callable unit'' is sometimes used. A function is often coded so that it can be started several times and from several places during one execution of the program, including from other functions, and then branch back (''return'') to the next instruction after the ''call'', once the function's task is done. The idea of a subroutine was initially conceived by John Mauchly during his work on ENIAC, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Undefined Behavior
In computer programming, undefined behavior (UB) is the result of executing a program whose behavior is prescribed to be unpredictable, in the language specification to which the computer code adheres. This is different from unspecified behavior, for which the language specification does not prescribe a result, and implementation-defined behavior that defers to the documentation of another component of the platform (such as the ABI or the translator documentation). In the C community, undefined behavior may be humorously referred to as "nasal demons", after a comp.std.c post that explained undefined behavior as allowing the compiler to do anything it chooses, even "to make demons fly out of your nose". Overview Some programming languages allow a program to operate differently or even have a different control flow than the source code, as long as it exhibits the same user-visible side effects, ''if undefined behavior never happens during program execution''. Undefined behavior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Local Variable
In computer science, a local variable is a Variable (programming), variable that is given ''local scope (programming), scope''. A local variable reference in the subroutine, function or block (programming), block in which it is declared overrides the same variable name in the larger scope. In programming languages with only two levels of visibility, local variables are contrasted with global variables. On the other hand, many ALGOL-derived languages allow any number of nested levels of visibility, with private variables, functions, constants and types hidden within them, either by nested blocks or nested functions. Local variables are fundamental to procedural programming, and more generally modular programming: variables of local scope are used to avoid issues with side-effect (computer science), side-effects that can occur with global variables. Scope Local variables may have a lexical or dynamic scope (programming), scope, though lexical (static) scoping is far more common. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exploit (computer Security)
An exploit (from the English verb ''to exploit'', meaning "to use something to one’s own advantage") is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or a sequence of commands that takes advantage of a bug or vulnerability to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur on computer software, hardware, or something electronic (usually computerized). Such behavior frequently includes things like gaining control of a computer system, allowing privilege escalation, or a denial-of-service (DoS or related DDoS) attack. In lay terms, some exploit is akin to a 'hack'. Classification There are several methods of classifying exploits. The most common is by how the exploit communicates to the vulnerable software. A ''remote exploit'' works over a network and exploits the security vulnerability without any prior access to the vulnerable system. A ''local exploit'' requires prior access to the vulnerable system and usually increases the privileges of the person running the exploit past tho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aliasing (computing)
In computing, aliasing describes a situation in which a data location in memory can be accessed through different symbolic names in the program. Thus, modifying the data through one name implicitly modifies the values associated with all aliased names, which may not be expected by the programmer. As a result, aliasing makes it particularly difficult to understand, analyze and optimize programs. Aliasing analysers intend to make and compute useful information for understanding aliasing in programs. Examples Buffer overflow For example, most implementations of the C programming language do not perform array bounds checking. One can then exploit the implementation of the programming language by the compiler and the computer architecture's assembly language conventions, to achieve aliasing effects by writing outside of the array (a type of buffer overflow). This invokes undefined behaviour according to the C language specification; however many implementations of C will show the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memory-mapped I/O
Memory-mapped I/O (MMIO) and port-mapped I/O (PMIO) are two complementary methods of performing input/output (I/O) between the central processing unit (CPU) and peripheral devices in a computer. An alternative approach is using dedicated I/O processors, commonly known as channels on mainframe computers, which execute their own instructions. Memory-mapped I/O uses the same address space to address both main memory and I/O devices. The memory and registers of the I/O devices are mapped to (associated with) address values. So a memory address may refer to either a portion of physical RAM, or instead to memory and registers of the I/O device. Thus, the CPU instructions used to access the memory can also be used for accessing devices. Each I/O device monitors the CPU's address bus and responds to any CPU access of an address assigned to that device, connecting the data bus to the desired device's hardware register. To accommodate the I/O devices, some areas of the address bus use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embedded System
An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded'' as part of a complete device often including electrical or electronic hardware and mechanical parts. Because an embedded system typically controls physical operations of the machine that it is embedded within, it often has real-time computing constraints. Embedded systems control many devices in common use today. , it was estimated that ninety-eight percent of all microprocessors manufactured were used in embedded systems. Modern embedded systems are often based on microcontrollers (i.e. microprocessors with integrated memory and peripheral interfaces), but ordinary microprocessors (using external chips for memory and peripheral interface circuits) are also common, especially in more complex systems. In either case, the processor(s) used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Memory Model (programming)
In computing, a memory model describes the interactions of Thread (computer science), threads through memory (computing), memory and their shared use of the data (computing), data. History and significance A memory model allows a compiler to perform many important optimizations. Compiler optimizations like loop fusion move statements in the program, which can influence the order of read and write operations of potentially shared variable (programming), variables. Changes in the ordering of reads and writes can cause race conditions. Without a memory model, a compiler is not allowed to apply such optimizations to multi-threaded programs in general, or only in special cases. Or for some compilers assume no multi-threaded execution (so better optimized code can be produced), which can lead to optimizations that are incompatible with multi-threading - these can often lead to subtle bugs, that don't show up in early testing. Modern programming languages like Java (programming language) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dereference Operator
In computer programming, the dereference operator or indirection operator, sometimes denoted by "*" (i.e. an asterisk), is a unary operator (i.e. one with a single operand) found in C-like languages that include pointer variables. It operates on a pointer variable, and returns an l-value equivalent to the value at the pointer address. This is called "dereferencing" the pointer. For example, the C code int x; int *p; // * is used in the declaration: // p is a pointer to an integer, since (after dereferencing), // *p is an integer x = 0; // now x 0 p = &x; // & takes the address of x // now *p 0, since p &x and therefore *p x *p = 1; // equivalent to x = 1, since p &x // now *p 1 and x 1 assigned 1 to variable x by using the dereference operator and a pointer to the variable x. Composition The unary * operator, as defined in C and C++, can be used in compositions in cases of multiple indirection, where multiple acts of dereferenci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pointer (computer Programming)
In computer science, a pointer is an object in many programming languages that stores a memory address. This can be that of another value located in computer memory, or in some cases, that of memory-mapped computer hardware. A pointer ''references'' a location in memory, and obtaining the value stored at that location is known as ''dereferencing'' the pointer. As an analogy, a page number in a book's index could be considered a pointer to the corresponding page; dereferencing such a pointer would be done by flipping to the page with the given page number and reading the text found on that page. The actual format and content of a pointer variable is dependent on the underlying computer architecture. Using pointers significantly improves performance for repetitive operations, like traversing iterable data structures (e.g. strings, lookup tables, control tables and tree structures). In particular, it is often much cheaper in time and space to copy and dereference pointers th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
