Definition
Plain language
The guarantee that even when things run at the same time, the end result matches some order where they happened one fully after another.
As stated in the literature
The gold-standard correctness criterion for concurrent execution: an interleaved schedule is serializable if it produces a result equal to some serial ordering of the transactions, regardless of which ordering.
Also called: serializable
Why it matters: It is the standard that keeps simultaneous operations from corrupting shared data, ensuring results are always as trustworthy as if they happened one at a time.
For example, if two people transfer money from the same account at the same time, serializability guarantees the final balance matches what you'd get if one transfer had fully finished before the other began.
Heard on the show
“… The gold standard for "correct" when things run concurrently is called serializability: your messy parallel run has to come out identical to some run where the transactions happened …”Episode 150 — Don't Kill the Loser: A Different Way to Handle Two AI Agents Colliding