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alien method
From the perspective of a class C, an alien method is one whose behavior is not fully specified by C. This includes methods in other classes as well as overridable methods (neither private nor final) in C itself [Goetz 2006a].

anti-pattern
An anti-pattern is a pattern that may be commonly used but is ineffective and/or counterproductive in practice [Laplante 2005].

availability
The degree to which a system or component is operational and accessible when required for use. Often expressed as a probability [IEEE Std 610.12 1990].

big-endian
"Multibyte data items are always stored in big-endian order, where the high bytes come first." [JVMSpec 1999] Chapter 4 "The class File Format." This term refers to the tension between Lilliput and Blefuscu (regarding whether to open soft-boiled eggs from the large or the small end) in Jonathan Swift's satirical novel Gulliver's Travels; it was first applied to the question of byte-ordering by Danny Cohen [Cohen 1981].

canonicalization
Reducing the input to its equivalent simplest known form.

class variable
A class variable is a field declared using the keyword static within a class declaration, or with or without the keyword static within an interface declaration. A class variable is created when its class or interface is prepared and is initialized to a default value. The class variable effectively ceases to exist when its class or interface is unloaded [JLS 2005].

condition predicate
An expression constructed from the state variables of a class that must be true for a thread to continue execution. The thread pauses execution, via Object.wait(), Thread.sleep(), or some other mechanism, and is resumed later, presumably when the requirement is true and when it is notified [Goetz 2006a].

conflicting accesses
Two accesses to (reads of or writes to) the same variable provided that at least one of the accesses is a write [JLS 2005].

data race
Conflicting accesses of the same variable that are not ordered by a happens-before relationship [JLS 2005].

deadlock
Two or more threads are said to have deadlocked when both block waiting for each other's locks. Neither thread can make any progress.

error tolerance
The ability of a system or component to continue normal operation despite the presence of erroneous inputs [IEEE Std 610.12 1990].

exploit [Seacord 2005]
A piece of software or a technique that takes advantage of a security vulnerability to violate an explicit or implicit BB. Glossary [Seacord 2005].

fail safe [IEEE Std 610.12 1990]
Pertaining to a system or component that automatically places itself in a safe operating mode in the event of a failure – for failure—for example, a traffic light that reverts to blinking red in all directions when normal operation fails [IEEE Std 610.12 1990].

fail soft [IEEE Std 610.12 1990]
Pertaining to a system or component that continues to provide partial operational capability in the event of certain failures – for failures—for example, a traffic light that continues to alternate between red and green if the yellow light fails [IEEE Std 610.12 1990].

fault tolerance [IEEE Std 610.12 1990]
The ability of a system or component to continue normal operation despite the presence of hardware or software faults [IEEE Std 610.12 1990].

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