A computer program or subroutine is called reentrant if multiple invocations can safely run concurrently on multiple processors, or if on a single-processor system its execution can be interrupted and a new execution of it can be safely started (it can be "re-entered"). The interruption could be caused by an internal action such as a jump or call, or by an external action such as an interrupt or signal, unlike recursion, where new invocations can only be caused by internal call.
This definition originates from multiprogramming environments, where multiple processes may be active concurrently and where the flow of control could be interrupted by an interrupt and transferred to an interrupt service routine (ISR) or "handler" subroutine. Any subroutine used by the handler that could potentially have been executing when the interrupt was triggered should be reentrant. Similarly, code shared by two processors accessing shared data should be reentrant. Often, subroutines accessible via the operating system kernel are not reentrant. Hence, interrupt service routines are limited in the actions they can perform; for instance, they are usually restricted from accessing the and sometimes even from allocating memory.
Reentrancy is neither necessary not sufficient for thread-safety in multi-threaded environments. In other words, a reentrant subroutine can be thread-safe, but . Conversely, thread-safe code need be reentrant (see below for examples).
Other terms used for reentrant programs include "sharable code". Reentrant subroutines are sometimes marked in reference material as being "signal safe". Reentrant programs are often "pure procedures".
Reentrancy is not the same thing as idempotence, in which the function may be called more than once yet generate exactly the same output as if it had only been called once. Generally speaking, a function produces output data based on some input data (though both are optional, in general). Shared data could be accessed by any function at any time.
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Provides an overview of MicroC/OS-II, a real-time kernel with multitasking capabilities and deterministic functions, covering topics such as task management, kernel, and intertask communication.
A computer program or subroutine is called reentrant if multiple invocations can safely run concurrently on multiple processors, or if on a single-processor system its execution can be interrupted and a new execution of it can be safely started (it can be "re-entered"). The interruption could be caused by an internal action such as a jump or call, or by an external action such as an interrupt or signal, unlike recursion, where new invocations can only be caused by internal call.
In computer science, a call stack is a stack data structure that stores information about the active subroutines of a computer program. This kind of stack is also known as an execution stack, program stack, control stack, run-time stack, or machine stack, and is often shortened to just "the stack". Although maintenance of the call stack is important for the proper functioning of most software, the details are normally hidden and automatic in high-level programming languages.
In computer programming, a function or subroutine is a sequence of program instructions that performs a specific task, packaged as a unit. This unit can then be used in programs wherever that particular task should be performed. Functions may be defined within programs, or separately in libraries that can be used by many programs. In different programming languages, a function may be called a routine, subprogram, subroutine, or procedure; in object-oriented programming (OOP), it may be called a method.