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14-letter words containing c, a, o, d

  • race condition — Anomalous behavior due to unexpected critical dependence on the relative timing of events. For example, if one process writes to a file while another is reading from the same location then the data read may be the old contents, the new contents or some mixture of the two depending on the relative timing of the read and write operations. A common remedy in this kind of race condition is file locking; a more cumbersome remedy is to reorganize the system such that a certain processes (running a daemon or the like) is the only process that has access to the file, and all other processes that need to access the data in that file do so only via interprocess communication with that one process. As an example of a more subtle kind of race condition, consider a distributed chat network like IRC, where a user is granted channel-operator privileges in any channel he starts. If two users on different servers, on different ends of the same network, try to start the same-named channel at the same time, each user's respective server will grant channel-operator privileges to each user, since neither will yet have received the other's signal that that channel has been started. In this case of a race condition, the "shared resource" is the conception of the state of the network (what channels exist, as well as what users started them and therefore have what privileges), which each server is free to change as long as it signals the other servers on the network about the changes so that they can update their conception of the state of the network. However, the latency across the network makes possible the kind of race condition described. In this case, heading off race conditions by imposing a form of control over access to the shared resource -- say, appointing one server to be in charge of who holds what privileges -- would mean turning the distributed network into a centralized one (at least for that one part of the network operation). Where this is not acceptable, the more pragmatic solution is to have the system recognize when a race condition has occurred and to repair the ill effects. Race conditions also affect electronic circuits where the value output by a logic gate depends on the exact timing of two or more input signals. For example, consider a two input AND gate fed with a logic signal X on input A and its negation, NOT X, on input B. In theory, the output (X AND NOT X) should never be high. However, if changes in the value of X take longer to propagate to input B than to input A then when X changes from false to true, there will be a brief period during which both inputs are true, and so the gate's output will also be true. If this output is fed to an edge-sensitive component such as a counter or flip-flop then the temporary effect ("glitch") will become permanent.
  • radicalization — to make radical or more radical, as in politics: young people who are being radicalized by extremist philosophies.
  • radio cassette — A radio cassette is a radio and a cassette player together in a single machine.
  • radio receiver — an apparatus that receives incoming modulated radio waves and converts them into sound
  • radio spectrum — the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that includes radio waves.
  • radioacoustics — the science and technology of the production, transmission, and reproduction of sounds carried by radio waves.
  • radiobroadcast — a broadcast by radio.
  • radiochemistry — the chemical study of radioactive elements, both natural and artificial, and their use in the study of chemical processes.
  • radiofrequency — the frequency of the transmitting waves of a given radio message or broadcast.
  • radiographical — the production of radiographs.
  • radiologically — of or relating to radiology.
  • railroad track — railway line
  • rancho cordova — a town in central California.
  • rationalized c — (language)   (RatC, after "RATFOR") A version of Ron Cain's original Small-C compiler.
  • re-accommodate — to do a kindness or a favor to; oblige: to accommodate a friend by helping him move to a new apartment.
  • reach-me-downs — trousers
  • reading notice — a short advertisement placed at the bottom of a column, as on the front page of a newspaper, and often set in the same print as other matter.
  • readjudication — an act of adjudicating.
  • ready reckoner — reckoner (def 2).
  • recodification — the act, process, or result of arranging in a systematic form or code.
  • recommendation — an act of recommending.
  • recommendatory — serving to recommend; recommending.
  • recondensation — the act or process of condensing again
  • reconsolidated — to bring together (separate parts) into a single or unified whole; unite; combine: They consolidated their three companies.
  • record cabinet — a piece of furniture like a cupboard, designed to hold or display vinyl records stacked on their side
  • record changer — a device that automatically places each of a stack of records in succession onto the turntable of a phonograph.
  • record company — business: sells recorded music
  • record library — a collection of records belonging to an individual or an organization, for people to borrow usually without payment
  • record-breaker — A record-breaker is someone or something that beats the previous best result in a sport or other activity.
  • record-changer — a device that automatically places each of a stack of records in succession onto the turntable of a phonograph.
  • recording head — the part of a tape recorder that records a sound source by converting the electrical analog of the sound, as from a microphone, into a magnetic signal for storage on magnetic tape.
  • recording tape — a ribbon of material, esp magnetic tape, used to record sound, images and data, used in a tape recorder
  • rediscountable — able to be rediscounted
  • reindoctrinate — to instruct in a doctrine, principle, ideology, etc., especially to imbue with a specific partisan or biased belief or point of view.
  • ride at anchor — to be anchored
  • rigidification — the state or process of stiffening or rigidifying
  • road allowance — land reserved by the government to be used for public roads
  • rob the cradle — a small bed for an infant, usually on rockers.
  • rock partridge — the Greek partridge; Alectoris graeca
  • rolled tobacco — loose tobacco that is rolled into cigarettes
  • roman calendar — the calendar in use in ancient Rome until 46 b.c., when it was replaced with the Julian calendar.
  • royal canadian — in the service of the Canadian federal government and the British monarch: Royal Canadian Air Force; Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
  • sacred college — the collective body of the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church
  • sacred history — history that is retold with the aim of instilling religious faith and which may or may not be founded on fact
  • sacred monster — a celebrity whose eccentricities or indiscretions are easily forgiven by admirers.
  • sado-masochism — Sado-masochism is the enjoyment of hurting people and being hurt.
  • salade niçoise — a cold dish consisting of hard-boiled eggs, anchovy fillets, olives, tomatoes, tuna fish, etc
  • sales director — a professional responsible for directing and managing the sales department of a company
  • sandwich board — two connected posters or signboards that hang in front of and behind a person and usually bear some advertisement, notice, exhortation, or the like.
  • sansculottides — the festivities held during the five complementary days in the French Republican Calendar
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