lock
lock
1. (lock primitive) An indivisible operation that allows a process to ensure that it alone has access to a particular resource. On a single-processor system the indivisible nature of the operation can be guaranteed by turning off interrupts during the action, ensuring that no process switch can occur. On a multiprocessing system it is essential to have available a test-and-set instruction that, in a single uninterruptible sequence, can test whether a register's contents are zero, and if they are will make the contents nonzero. The same effect can be achieved by an exchange instruction. See also unlock, semaphore.
2. See locks and keys.
1. (lock primitive) An indivisible operation that allows a process to ensure that it alone has access to a particular resource. On a single-processor system the indivisible nature of the operation can be guaranteed by turning off interrupts during the action, ensuring that no process switch can occur. On a multiprocessing system it is essential to have available a test-and-set instruction that, in a single uninterruptible sequence, can test whether a register's contents are zero, and if they are will make the contents nonzero. The same effect can be achieved by an exchange instruction. See also unlock, semaphore.
2. See locks and keys.
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