deadlock
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
deadlock \dead"lock`\, n.
1. A lock which is not self-latching, but requires a key to
throw the bolt forward.
[1913 Webster]
2. A counteraction of things, which produces an entire
stoppage; a complete obstruction of action.
[1913 Webster]
Things are at a deadlock. --London
Times.
[1913 Webster]
The Board is much more likely to be at a deadlock of
two to two. --The Century.
[1913 Webster]
from
Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
deadlock
n.
1. [techspeak] A situation wherein two or more processes are unable to
proceed because each is waiting for one of the others to do something.
A common example is a program communicating to a server, which may
find itself waiting for output from the server before sending anything
more to it, while the server is similarly waiting for more input from
the controlling program before outputting anything. (It is reported
that this particular flavor of deadlock is sometimes called a
starvation deadlock, though the term starvation is more properly used
for situations where a program can never run simply because it never
gets high enough priority. Another common flavor is constipation, in
which each process is trying to send stuff to the other but all
buffers are full because nobody is reading anything.) See {deadly
embrace}.
2. Also used of deadlock-like interactions between humans, as when two
people meet in a narrow corridor, and each tries to be polite by
moving aside to let the other pass, but they end up swaying from side
to side without making any progress because they always move the same
way at the same time.
from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
deadlock
deadly embrace
<parallel, programming> A situation where two or more
{processes} are unable to proceed because each is waiting for
one of the others to do something.
A common example is a program waiting for output from a server
while the server is waiting for more input from the
controlling program before outputting anything. It is
reported that this particular flavour of deadlock is sometimes
called a "starvation deadlock", though the term "starvation"
is more properly used for situations where a program can never
run simply because it never gets high enough priority.
Another common flavour is "constipation", in which each
process is trying to send stuff to the other but all buffers
are full because nobody is reading anything). See {deadly
embrace}.
Another example, common in {database} programming, is two
processes that are sharing some resource (e.g. read access to
a {table}) but then both decide to wait for exclusive
(e.g. write) access.
The term "deadly embrace" is mostly synonymous, though usually
used only when exactly two processes are involved. This is
the more popular term in Europe, while {deadlock} predominates
in the United States.
Compare: {livelock}. See also {safety property}, {liveness
property}.
[{Jargon File}]
(2000-07-26)
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
83 Moby Thesaurus words for "deadlock":
Tweedledum and Tweedledee, arrest, bell, blind alley, block, box,
brake, bring to, bring up short, cessation, check, checkmate,
condition, corner, cul-de-sac, cut short, cutoff, dam, dead end,
dead heat, dead set, dead stand, dead stop, dead-end street,
dilemma, draw, draw rein, dying down, ebb, ebbing, end, endgame,
ending, even break, extremity, fair shake, final whistle, freeze,
full stop, grinding halt, gun, halt, hole, impasse, knotted score,
lock, lockout, neck-and-neck race, photo finish, plight, posture,
predicament, pull up, put paid to, quandary, sit-down strike,
situation, slow down, stalemate, stall, stand, stand-off, standoff,
standstill, state, stay, stem, stem the tide, stillstand, stop,
stop cold, stop dead, stop short, stoppage, strike, stymie,
subsidence, the same, tie, walkout, wane, waning, work stoppage
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