Transaction

transaction

An activity or request. Orders, purchases, changes, additions and deletions are typical business transactions stored in the computer. Transactions update one or more master files and serve as both an audit trail and history for future analyses. Ad hoc queries are a type of transaction as well, but are usually just acted upon and not saved. Transaction volume is a major factor in figuring computer system size and speed.

Keeping Transactions in Sync
A major problem in a transaction processing system is ensuring that all master files are updated before the transaction is considered completely processed. For example, if two files must be updated, but a system failure occurs after the first one, but before the second one, the software must be able to roll back the first update and start over later. In a distributed environment, this is called "two-phase commit." See transaction file.

---

transaction

1. something that is transacted, esp a business deal or negotiation

2. (in business computing) the act of obtaining and paying for an item or service

3. (in general computing) the transmission and processing of an item of data

---

transaction [tran′sak·shən]

(computer science)

General description of updating data relevant to any item.

---

transaction - A unit of interaction with a DBMS or similar system. It must be treated in a coherent and reliable way independent of other transactions. See atomic.

---

Transaction 

an action to establish, alter, or terminate civil law rights or duties. The commonest transaction is a contract, that is, a transaction between two or more persons. However, a transaction can also be unilateral, an expression of the intent of one person, for example, a will.

For a transaction to be valid, several conditions must obtain. A transaction must be effected only on the basis of a conscious expression of will directed to bringing about specific legal consequences not otherwise prohibited by law. The actions themselves must be lawful. A transaction can be effected only by legally competent citizens; those not fully competent can effect a transaction within the limits provided by law (seeTRANSACTIONAL CAPACITY). A juridical person may effect only transactions consistent with its objects as referred to in its charter (bylaws).

In Soviet civil law, a person effecting a transaction can express his or her intent orally or in writing. Transactions performed at the same time as they are entered into—for example, store purchases without time payments—may be made orally if the law does not otherwise provide. Some transactions are usually required to be in writing: the transactions of state, cooperative, and public organizations among themselves and with citizens and transactions of citizens among themselves for a sum of more than 100 rubles. If the legal requirement of a written form is not complied with, a transaction is invalid, if the law directly provides for such—as in the Civil Code of the RSFSR, Article 195 (on pledges), Article 203 (suretyship), and Article 45 (foreign-trade transactions). In other instances, if the requirement of written form is not complied with, the parties lose the right, in the event of a dispute, to refer to the testimony of witnesses in confirmation of the transaction and can assert the existence of a transaction only through written evidence.

In instances specified by law, notarial authentication of a transaction is required, for example, for a contract of sale of a residential building, or for a gift contract for more than 500 rubles. If this requirement is not complied with, the transaction is usually invalid.

A transaction for which the law does not specify a definite form is also considered effected if a person’s behavior makes clear his or her intent to effect the transaction, for example, if an heir actually takes possession of his or her inheritance. The law sometimes holds that silence betokens the intent to effect a transaction, for example, if a payer, over a certain period of time, makes no statement refusing to accept a demand for payment.

Transactions are invalid when they are effected with an object contrary to the interests of the state and society. Also invalid are transactions of a juridical person inconsistent with its purposes as stated in its charter, transactions effected by legally incompetent persons, and transactions effected under the influence of fraud, violence, or threats.

An invalid transaction may be either void or voidable. A void transaction is invalid irrespective of whether an interested person requests it or not. A voidable transaction can be rendered invalid by a ruling of the court upon the request of an interested person or upon the request of a legally recognized third party.

If a transaction is ruled invalid, each side must usually return to the other anything received under the transaction; if this is impossible, each side must make monetary restitution for what was received (bilateral restitution). In some instances, the law provides for unilateral restitution or prohibits restitution altogether; in this instance, anything received under the transaction is forfeited to the state.

V. S. POZDNIAKOV