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<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation: ASA-EMulatR Reference Guide > Introduction > Architecture Overview > Chapter 6 - Serialization and Stall Model > 6.3 What Serialization Means |
Serialization enforces global completion points in execution. A serialized point guarantees:
1.All prior instructions have completed
2.All prior memory operations are globally visible
3.All relevant buffers are drained
4.No later instruction may observe earlier speculative state
Serialization is achieved by stalling the pipeline, not by executing additional work. Barriers act as gates — they do not produce values, do not access memory, and do not modify registers. They only enforce completion of prior operations.
Serialization does not execute memory operations, lock memory, block other CPUs, imply atomicity by itself, or guarantee fairness. It only guarantees completion and visibility.
See Also: 6.5 Pipeline-Level Behavior.