terminology

What exactly does the term synchronization primitive mean? For example: mutex, critical section, waitable timer, event, monitor, conditional variable, semaphore. Are all of them synchronization primitives? Are there any other synchronization primitives I have not listed? And are these a valid questions? Synchronization primitives are simple software mechanisms provided by a platform (e.g. operating system) to its users for the purposes of supporting thread or process synchronization. They're usually built using lower level mechanisms (e.g. atomic operations, memory barriers, spinlocks, context

I'm currently reading a book by Daniel M. Solis called "Illustrated C# 2010." The book says: "When a method is called or invoked ..." What is the difference between these two terms? Deep Sharma Function calling is when you call a function yourself in a program. While function invoking is when it gets called automatically. For example, consider this program: struct s { int a,b,s; s() { a=2; b=3; } void sum() { s=a+b; } }; void main() { struct s obj; //line 1 obj.sum(); // line 2 } Here, when line 1 is executed, the function (constructor, i.e. s) is invoked. When line 2 is executed, the function

What are Vertex and Pixel shaders? What is the difference between them? Which one is the best? A Pixel Shader is a GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) component that can be programmed to operate on a per pixel basis and take care of stuff like lighting and bump mapping. A Vertex Shader is also GPU component and is also programmed using a specific assembly-like language, like pixel shaders, but are oriented to the scene geometry and can do things like adding cartoony silhouette edges to objects, etc. Neither is better than the other, they each have their specific uses. Most modern graphic cards

Audio Terminology IN THIS DOCUMENT Generic Terms Digital Audio Hardware and Accessories Audio Signal Path Android-Specific Terms Sample Rate Conversion This document provides a glossary of audio-related terminology, including a list of widely used, generic terms and a list of terms that are specific to Android. Generic Terms These are audio terms that are widely used, with their conventional meanings. Digital Audio acoustics The study of the mechanical properties of sound, for example how the physical placement of transducers such as speakers and microphones on a device affects perceived audio

What's the definition of a Shim? From Wikipedia: In computer programming, a shim is a small library that transparently intercepts an API, changing the parameters passed, handling the operation itself, or redirecting the operation elsewhere. Shims typically come about when the behaviour of an API changes, thereby causing compatibility issues for older applications that still rely on the older functionality. In these cases, the older API can still be supported by a thin compatibility layer on top of the newer code. Shims can also be used to run programs on different software platforms than they

The BASE acronym is used to describe the properties of certain databases, usually NoSQL databases. It's often referred to as the opposite of ACID . There are only few articles that touch upon the details of BASE, whereas ACID has plenty of articles that elaborate on each of the atomicity, consistency, isolation and durability properties. Wikipedia only devotes a few lines to the term. This leaves me with some questions about the definition : B asically A vailable, S oft state, E ventual consistency I have interpreted these properties as follows, using this article and my imagination: Basically

I have been programming for some months now and a frequently used word is "context" in classes. Like ServletContext (Java), Activity (Android), Service (Java, Android), NSManagedContext (Objective-C, iOS). By looking in dictionaries I see that the word means: situation, environment, circumstances etc. However, because I am not a native English speaker I do not understand what I should translate it directly to. For instance, if I were to write a class that either was named SomeClassContext , or a method that had a context parameter, I would not understand when I should name it context because I

I am crafting an application and cannot decide whether to use the terms Login/out or Logon/off . Is there a more correct option between these two? Should I use something else entirely (like "Sign on/off"). In terms of usability, as long as I am consistent it probably doesn't matter which terms I choose, but I did wonder about the origins of the terms - and whether one or another makes more grammatical sense. I also care deeply about the application I am creating, and want to take the time to investigate all aspects of its user experience. Since you're looking for correctness, login , logout ,