Databases
Databases often have features that allow a series of operations to be committed at once as a single transaction.Business Transactions
A business transaction might involve confirming a shipping address, charging the customer and creating an order. If one of these steps fails, all should fail.File Systems
A file operation such as cut-and-paste whereby the source file isn't deleted unless it is successfully pasted.Hardware
Hardware instructions such as test-and-set that involve multiple operations that may be implemented to succeed or fail together.Long Lived Transactions
Transactions that require business logic to implement atomicity because they take too long to use transaction features of databases such as a two-phase commit. For example, a database update that needs to wait for a batch process to run before it can be finalized.Business Processes
Business processes that involve multiple steps that need to fail or succeed together. For example, a customer account update that can't be finalized until a customer service agent speaks with the customer on the phone.Procedures
Procedures and policies such as the requirement that passengers and their bags always fly on the same aircraft together.| Overview: Atomicity | ||
Type | ||
Definition | The guarantee that a series of operations either succeed or fail together. | |
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