Why are Asynchronous processes not called Synchron

Question

So I'm a little confused by this terminology.

Everyone refers to "Asynchronous" computing as running different processes on seperate threads, which gives the illusion that these processes are running at the same time.

This is not the definition of the word asynchronous.

a⋅syn⋅chro⋅nous
–adjective 
1. not occurring at the same time. 
2. (of a computer or other electrical machine) having each operation started only after the preceding operation is completed. 

What am I not understanding here?

Answer 1

Many of the answers here are not correct. IN-dependently has a beginning particle that says NOT dependently, just like A-synchronous, but the meaning of dependent and synchronous are not the same! :D

So three dependent persons would wait for an order, because they are dependent to the order, but they wait, so they are not synchronous.

In english and any other language with common roots with a, syn and chrono (italian: asincrono; spanish: asincrónico; french: asynchrone; greek: a= not syn=together chronos=time)it means exactly the opposite.

The terminology is UTTERLY counter-intiutive. Async functions ARE synchronous, they happen at the same time, and that's their power. They DO NOT wait, they DO NOT depend, they DO NOT hold the user waiting, but all those NOTs refer to anything but synchronicity :)

The only answer possibly right is the CLOCK one, although it is still confusing. My personal interpretation is this story:

"A professor has an office, and he makes SYNCHRONOUS CALLS for students to come. He says out loud in the main university hall: 'Hey guys who wants to talk to me should come at 10 in the morning tomorrow.', or simply puts a sign saying the same stuff.

RESULT: at 10 in the morning you see a long queue. People had the same time so they came in in the same moment and they got "piled up in the process". So the professor thinks it would be nice for students not to waste time in the queue (and do synchronous operations, that is, do parallel stuff in their lives at the same time, and that's where the confusion comes).

He decides students can substitute him in making ASYNCHRONOUS CALLS, that is, every time a student ends talking with him, the students may, e.g., call another student saying the professor is free to talk, in a room where students may do whatever they like in the meantime. So every student does not have a single SYNCHRONOUS CALL (10 in the morning, the same time for all) but they have 10, 10.10, 10.18, 10.27.. etc. according to the needed time for each discussion in the professor office."

Is that the meaning of having the same clock, @Guffa?

Answer 2

The word "synchronous" implies that a function call will be synchronized with some other event.

Asynchronous implies that no such synchronization occurs.

It seems like the definition that you have there should really be the definition for "concurrent," or something. That definition looks wrong.

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PS:

Here is the wiktionary definition:

asynchronous

1. Not synchronous; occurring at different times.
2. (computing, of a request or a message) allowing the client to continue during processing.

Which just so happens to be the exact opposite of what you posted.

Answer 3

It really means that an asynchronous event is happening independently of other events whereas a synchronous event would be happening dependent of other events.

Answer 4

I believe that the term was first used for synchronous vs. asynchronous communication. There synchronous means that the two communicating parts have a common clock signal that they run by, so they run in parallel. Asynchronous communication instead has a ready signal, so one part asks for data and gets a signal back when it's available.

The terms was then adapted to processes, but as there are obvious differences some aspects of the terms work differently. For a single thread process the natural way to request for something to be done is to make a synchronous call that transfers control to the subprocess, and then control is returned when it's done, and the process continues.

An asynchronous call works just like asynchronous communication in the aspect that you send a request for something to be done, and the process doing it returns a signal when it's done. The difference in the usage of the terms is that for processes it's in the asynchronous processing that the processes runs in parallel, while for communication it is the synchronous communication that run in parallel.

So "computer or electrical machine" is really a too wide scope for making a correct definition of the term, as it's used in slightly different ways for different techniques.

Answer 5

I would guess it's because they are not synchronized ;)

In other words... if one process gets stopped, killed, or is waiting for something, the other will carry on

Answer 6

Your second definition is more helpful here:

2. [...] having each operation started only after the preceding operation is completed.

When you make an asynchronous call, that call might not be completed before the next operation is started. When the call is synchronous, it will be.