Packet 7: Tossup 3

Description acceptable. Finding false positives when performing actions of this type leads to the ABA problem. Many purpose-built (-5[1])data structures assume hardware support for primitives for these actions like “FAA” and “CAS.” Like database (0[1])actions, multiple actions (-5[1])of this type are grouped together and executed atomically in collections known as “transactions.” A mechanism (-5[1])to ensure the safety of these actions “spins” (15[1])until a process is allowed to gain (-5[1])control of a (*) “critical region.” The principle of mutual exclusion ensures the safety of these non-database actions but may lead to deadlock. In concurrent systems, (10[1]-5[1])locks and semaphores prevent race conditions (-5[2])arising from improperly performing this type of action, which may lead (-5[1])to segmentation faults. (10[1])For 10 points, what type of action may involve reading or writing bytes? (10[1]0[1])■END■ (10[5]0[6])

Back to tossups

Buzzes

Summary