A flaw in a concurrent system in which the outcome depends on the unpredictable relative timing of multiple threads or processes accessing shared data, so the program can behave correctly on some runs and incorrectly on others depending on how operations happen to interleave.
Facts
Core PrincipleA race condition is a flaw in a system where the outcome depends on the uncontrolled sequence or timing of events, so behavior that is correct on one run can be wrong on another depending on how operations interleave. 1 Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Race Condition
Wikimedia FoundationLead paragraph, definition
the system's substantive behavior is dependent on the sequence or timing of uncontrollable events
Etymology text, Huffman 1954 thesis
The term race condition was in use by 1954, for example in David A. Huffman's doctoral thesis "The synthesis of sequential switching circuits".
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