A racetrack problem is a specific instance of a type of
race condition
A race condition or race hazard is the condition of an electronics, software, or other system where the system's substantive behavior is dependent on the sequence or timing of other uncontrollable events. It becomes a bug when one or more of t ...
. 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. This problem is semantically different from a race condition because of the circular nature of the problem.
The term originates with the idea of two signals racing each other in a circular motion to influence the output first.{{Citation needed, date=January 2011 Racetrack problems can occur in electronics systems, especially logic circuits, and in computer software, especially multithreaded or distributed programs.
See also
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Concurrency control
In information technology and computer science, especially in the fields of computer programming, operating systems, multiprocessors, and databases, concurrency control ensures that correct results for Concurrent computing, concurrent operations a ...
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Deadlock
In concurrent computing, deadlock is any situation in which no member of some group of entities can proceed because each waits for another member, including itself, to take action, such as sending a message or, more commonly, releasing a lo ...
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Synchronization
Synchronization is the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. For example, the conductor of an orchestra keeps the orchestra synchronized or ''in time''. Systems that operate with all parts in synchrony are said to be synchronou ...
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Therac-25
The Therac-25 was a computer-controlled radiation therapy machine produced by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) in 1982 after the Therac-6 and Therac-20 units (the earlier units had been produced in partnership with of France).
It was invol ...
External links
Starvation and Critical Race Analyzers for Ada*Paper
by Robert M. Fuhrer, Bill Lin and Steven M. Nowick
*Paper
by Luciano Lavagno, Cho W. Moon,
Robert K. Brayton and
Alberto Sangiovanni-Vincentelli
Alberto Luigi Sangiovanni-Vincentelli (born June 23, 1947) is an Italian-American computer scientist. He currently sits on the board of directors of Cadence Design Systems, an EDA company he co-founded in 1988.
Biography
Born in Milan, Italy ...
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Secure programmer: Prevent race conditions—Resource contention can be used against you by David A. Wheeler
*Chapter
(Secure Programming for Linux and Unix HOWTO)
with sample source code and comparison to C code, by Chiral Software
Computer security exploits
Anti-patterns
Concurrency (computer science)
Software bugs
Logic gates
Logic in computer science