Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 23, 2026

Anticiparallelism

Anticiparallelism is a term coined by Bob Metcalfe in 1998. It is a technique of using idle machine cycles to perform useful computing tasks in the background. Such tasks must be readily interrupted for intervals when the computer needs to return to its primary task. An example of such a task is transmitting e-mail. Anticiparalleism is also known as speculative execution, continual computation or optimistic execution.

Last revised
Jul 23, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
188 w
Citations
4
Source
Wikipedia ↗

Anticiparallelism (Anticipatory Parallelism) is a term coined by Bob Metcalfe in 1998. It is a technique of using idle machine cycles to perform useful computing tasks in the background. Such tasks must be readily interrupted for intervals when the computer needs to return to its primary task. An example of such a task is transmitting e-mail.123 Anticiparalleism is also known as speculative execution, continual computation or optimistic execution.4

See also

See also

References

References

  1. "Tired of waiting for your computer to do its job? Say hello to anticiparallelism". InfoWorld. 20 (32). August 10, 1998. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
  2. Anthes, Gary (January 7, 2002). "Anticiparallelism". ComputerWorld. International Data Group Inc.
  3. Hilary W. Poole; Laura Lambert; Chris Woodford; Christos J. P. Moschovitis, eds. (2005). The Internet: a historical encyclopedia. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 178. ISBN 1-85109-659-0.
  4. "Managing information". ASLIB. 17. Association for Information Management: 333.
Further reading

Further reading