Synonyms
Definition
Let T be a transaction composed of subtransactions S 0, S 1, …S n−1. Let C 0, C 1, …C n−1 be a set of compensating transactions, such that C i compensates for the corresponding S i . T is semantically atomic iff all S i have committed, or for all S i that have committed, C i has also committed. A schedule (or history) ensures semantic atomicity if all transactions are semantically atomic. If T requires compensating transactions, then the resulting database is semantically equivalent to one in which T did not execute at all, but it is not guaranteed to be identical. Typically, two database states are equivalent if they both satisfy all of the database constraints.
Historical Background
Semantic atomicity is first defined in [6], with the use of counterstepsto remove parts of a failed transaction executing in a distributed database environment, without rolling back the entire transaction. The “step” grew in complexity to a subtransaction with the introduction...
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Speegle, G. (2017). Semantic Atomicity. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_720-2
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