BOINC Terminology: F

Feeder - The feeder streamlines the scheduler's database access. It maintains a shared-memory segment containing 1) static database tables such as applications and application versions, and 2) a fixed-size cache of unsent result/workunit pairs. The scheduler finds results that can be sent to a particular client by scanning this memory segment, rather than by accessing the database. A semaphore synchronizes access to the shared-memory segment. To minimize contention for this semaphore, a scheduler can mark a cache entry as 'busy' (and release the semaphore) while it reads the result from the database (to verify that it is still unsent).

File Deleter - The file deleter deletes input and output files when they are no longer needed.

Firewall - A firewall is a logical barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between sections of a computer network. This can be a hardware firewall (inside the modem, router or bridge) or a software firewall.

FLOP(S) - In computing, FLOPS (or flops) is an acronym meaning FLoating point Operations Per Second. This is used as a measure of a computer's performance, especially in fields of scientific calculations that make heavy use of floating point calculations; similar to instructions per second.

One should speak in the singular of a FLOPS and not of a FLOP, although the latter is frequently encountered. The final S stands for second and does not indicate a plural. Alternatively, the singular FLOP (or flop) is used as an abbreviation for "FLoating-point OPeration", and a flop count is a count of these operations (e.g., required by a given algorithm or computer program). In this context, "flops" is simply the plural rather than a rate.

Original writer	Original FAQ	Date
Jorden	120	25-01-2007