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  • Issue 22 Fall 2021
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Lucy Zhang

Issues of Concurrency


Concurrency: the execution of multiple instruction sequences at the same time. Concurrent: existing, happening, or done at the same time. You could say it was concurrent when they crashed into the trees and shrubs and the older sister dug the paddle into the side bank to push them back to the center of the Rio Grande and the branches latched onto the younger sister’s shirt, pulling her out of the inflatable canoe and into the water. The Rio Grande had feasted that summer, a rapid stream of murky water fed by monsoon rains. You could say they executed concurrency when the older sister, who had drifted further down the river in the canoe, told the younger sister, who was clinging to the branch, to let go and drift downward, except the younger sister felt like a leaf at the mercy of the water’s direction, so she executed her own instructions: cling on for dear life, try to hold onto her hat and flip flops so that after she emerged safely from this situation (and surely she would), she could still walk back to shore under the glaring sun.

Race condition: a bug that occurs in the timing or ordering of events; when two or more processes attempt to access and manipulate a shared resource. The older sister stopped the canoe by stabbing the paddle into the earth, wedging the nose into a bush, and hopped off onto the side bank to run back. The younger sister, fingers purple from the chill of the current, pulled herself upward, gripping the sharp tree branches, scratching her fingers and arms, and attempted to heave her body to land. By the time the older sister made it over, the younger sister had already dragged herself to land–flip flops, hat, and all–drying under the sun and waiting for a rapidly beating heart to slow.

Atomicity: defines whether an operation can only be observed as started or completed, and not in any partially completed state. For example, the older sister observed the younger in the canoe only, and then in the water only. For example, the older sister observed the younger sister alive. For example, the younger sister imagined her body getting washed away somewhere without cellular signal, buried far from roads and cars, and even though she considered herself an endurance swimmer, what was that compared to the force of nature? Even so, she was observed alive. 

Blocking: processes can block waiting for resources. By the time they reached land, their hair had dried and they lifted the canoe up a hill to reach the highway. More accurately, the older sister, a frequent rock climber, carried the entire canoe up herself and the younger sister carried the paddles and still, her thighs burned as they climbed a nearly vertical incline. At the top, they called an Uber and waited under the shade where cars zoomed past and might’ve provided a pleasant breeze if they weren’t so dangerously close.

Starvation: when a process does not obtain service to progress. Perhaps you could say they starved their parents of information. A fun trip, an exciting trip, a worthwhile trip, not a life-threatening trip in which they canoed down the Rio Grande without life jackets because both sisters used to swim freestyle for hours in their high school’s over-chlorinated swimming pool and assumed that should be enough. But enough against a current? If only the younger sister had let go of the branch and given it a try. 

Deadlock: occurs when two processes are blocked and neither can proceed to execute. The older sister is waiting for the younger sister to say I’m ok now, safe and alive and that’s all that matters. The younger sister is waiting for the older sister to say I shouldn’t have taken you canoeing without life vests, I should’ve checked the river flow, who knew it’d be so harsh. They order pho for dinner and talk about tumbleweed and the weather.







--
Lucy Zhang writes, codes, and watches anime. Her work has appeared in Atticus Review, The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Pidgeonholes, Jellyfish Review, and elsewhere. Find her at https://kowaretasekai.wordpress.com/ or on Twitter @Dango_Ramen.

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  • Home
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Masthead
  • Submit
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Submit Here
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Book Reviews
  • Previous Issues
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Issue 22 Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Art Fall 2021 >
      • Bonnie Severien Fall 2021
      • Camilla Taylor Fall 2021
      • Guilherme Bergamini Fall 2021
      • Emanuela Iorga Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Poetry Fall 2021 >
      • Maureen Alsop Fall 2021
      • Annah Browning Fall 2021
      • Romana Iorga Fall 2021
      • Natalie Hampton Fall 2021
      • Sherine Gilmour Fall 2021
      • Adam Day Fall 2021
      • Amanda Auchter Fall 2021
      • Adam Tavel Fall 2021
      • Sara Moore Fall 2021
      • Karen Rigby Fall 2021
      • Daniel Zhang Fall 2021
      • Erika Lutzner Fall 2021
      • Kindall Fredricks Fall 2021
      • Cin Salach Fall 2021
      • Andrew Zawacki Fall 2021
      • Micah Ruelle Fall 2021
      • Rachel Stempel Fall 2021
      • Haley Wooning Fall 2021
      • Rikki Santer Fall 2021
      • Evy Shen Fall 2021
      • Suzanne Frischkorn Fall 2021
      • Danielle Rose Fall 2021
      • Eric Burgoyne Fall 2021
      • John Cullen Fall 2021
      • Maureen Seaton Fall 2021
      • Hannah Stephens Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Nonfiction Fall 2021 >
      • Kevin Grauke Fall 2021
      • Courtney Justus Fall 2021
      • Amy Nicholson Fall 2021
    • Issue #22 Fiction Fall 2021 >
      • Tina Jenkins Bell Fall 2021
      • David Obuchowski Fall 2021
      • Thomas Misuraca Fall 2021
      • Aiden Baker Fall 2021
      • Jenny Magnus Fall 2021
  • Issue 23 Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Art Spring 2022 >
      • Jonathan Kvassay Spring 2022
      • Karyna McGlynn Spring 2022
      • Andrea Kowch Spring 2022
      • Layla Garcia-Torres Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Poetry Spring 2022 >
      • Robin Gow Spring 2022
      • T.D. Walker Spring 2022
      • Jen Schalliol Huang Spring 2022
      • Yvonne Zipter Spring 2022
      • Carrie McGath Spring 2022
      • Lupita Eyde-Tucker Spring 2022
      • Susan L. Leary Spring 2022
      • Kate Sweeney Spring 2022
      • Rita Mookerjee Spring 2022
      • Erin Carlyle Spring 2022
      • Cori Bratty-Rudd Spring 2022
      • Jen Karetnick Spring 2022
      • Meghan Sterling Spring 2022
      • Lorelei Bacht Spring 2022
      • Michael Passafiume Spring 2022
      • Jeannine Hall Gailey Spring 2022
      • Phil Goldstein Spring 2022
      • Michael Mingo Spring 2022
      • Angie Macri Spring 2022
      • Martha Silano Spring 2022
      • Vismai Rao Spring 2022
      • Anna Laura Reeve Spring 2022
      • Jenny Irish Spring 2022
      • Marek Kulig Spring 2022
      • Jami Macarty Spring 2022
      • Sarah A. Rae Spring 2022
      • Brittney Corrigan Spring 2022
      • Callista Buchen Spring 2022
      • Issam Zineh Spring 2022
      • MICHAEL CHANG Spring 2022
      • henry 7. reneau, jr. Spring 2022
      • Leah Umansky Spring 2022
      • Cody Beck Spring 2022
      • Danyal Kim Spring 2022
      • Rachel DeWoskin Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Fiction Spring 2022 >
      • Melissa Boberg Spring 2022
    • Issue #23 Nonfiction Spring 2022 >
      • Srinaath Perangur Spring 2022
      • Audrey T. Carroll Spring 2022
  • Issue #24 Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Art Fall 2022 >
      • Marsha Solomon Fall 2022
      • Edward Lee Fall 2022
      • Harryette Mullen Fall 2022
      • Jezzelle Kellam Fall 2022
      • Irina Greciuhina Fall 2022
      • Natalie Christensen Fall 2022
      • Mark Yale Harris Fall 2022
      • Amy Nelder Fall 2022
      • Bette Ridgeway Fall 2022
      • Ursula Sokolowska Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Poetry Fall 2022 >
      • William Stobb Fall 2022
      • e Fall 2022
      • Stefanie Kirby Fall 2022
      • Lisa Ampleman Fall 2022
      • Will Cordeiro Fall 2022
      • Jesica Davis Fall 2022
      • Peter O'Donovan Fall 2022
      • Mackenzie Carignan Fall 2022
      • Jason Fraley Fall 2022
      • Barbara Saunier Fall 2022
      • Chad Weeden Fall 2022
      • Nick Rattner Fall 2022
      • Cynthia Schwartzberg Edlow Fall 2022
      • Summer J. Hart Fall 2022
      • Daniel Suá​rez Fall 2022
      • Sara Kearns Fall 2022
      • Millicent Borges Accardi Fall 2022
      • Liz Robbins Fall 2022
      • john compton Fall 2022
      • Esther Sadoff Fall 2022
      • Whitney Koo Fall 2022
      • W. J. Lofton Fall 2022
      • Rachel Reynolds Fall 2022
      • Kimberly Ann Priest Fall 2022
      • Annie Przypyszny Fall 2022
      • Konstantin Kulakov Fall 2022
      • Nellie Cox Fall 2022
      • Jennifer Martelli Fall 2022
      • SM Stubbs Fall 2022
      • Joshua Bird Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Fiction Fall 2022 >
      • Otis Fuqua Fall 2022
      • Hannah Harlow Fall 2022
      • Natalia Nebel Fall 2022
      • Kate Maxwell Fall 2022
      • Helena Pantsis Fall 2022
    • Issue #24 Nonfiction Fall 2022 >
      • Courtney Ludwick Fall 2022
      • Anna Oberg Fall 2022
      • Acadia Currah Fall 2022