The concept of race conditions

Typically, a race condition is defined as a phenomenon during which the output of a system is both indeterminate and dependent on the scheduling algorithm and the order in which tasks are scheduled and executed. When data becomes mishandled or corrupted during this process, a race condition becomes a bug in the system. Given the nature of this problem, it is quite common for a race condition to occur in concurrent systems, which emphasizes the importance of scheduling and coordinating independent tasks.

A race condition can occur in both an electronic hardware system and a software application; in this chapter, we will only discuss race conditions in the context of software development – specifically, concurrent software applications. This section will cover the theoretical foundations of race conditions and their root causes along with the concept of critical sections.

Critical sections

Critical sections indicate shared resources that...