Glossary

API

The set of function calls in a library, along with their arguments and their semantics. APIs are published so that programmers can always know which interface a vendor supports.

asynchronous signal

A signal that is sent to a process independently of what the process happens to be doing. An asynchronous signal can arrive at any time whatsoever, with no relation to what the program happens to be doing (cf. synchronous signal).

async I/O

An abbreviation for asynchronous input/output—normally, I/O calls block in the kernel while waiting for data to come off a disk, a tape, or some other “slow” device. But async I/O calls are designed not to block. Such calls return immediately, so the user can continue to work. Whenever the data comes off ...

Get Multithreaded Programming with JAVA™ Technology now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.