Transactions Glossary

Browse 13 transactions terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

13 Transactions Terms

ACID
An acronym for the four properties that guarantee reliable database transactions: Atomicity (all or nothing), Consistency (data stays valid), Isolation...
Escrow
An arrangement where money, shares, code, or other assets are held by a neutral third party until specified conditions are satisfied. In startup deals, escrow...
Heads of Terms
A high-level summary of the principal commercial terms of a proposed agreement before full legal documents are completed. It is closely related to a term sheet...
Holdback
A portion of purchase price or payment intentionally withheld until certain conditions are met, often to cover post-close claims or performance requirements....
IOI
Usually short for indication of interest, a preliminary non-binding statement that a buyer or investor may be interested in a transaction on broad terms. It...
Isolation Level
The transaction setting that defines how visible one transaction's intermediate or committed changes are to other concurrent transactions. Levels such as Read...
LOI
Usually short for letter of intent, a preliminary document indicating serious interest in moving toward a transaction or agreement. In startup practice, an LOI...
MVCC
Multi-Version Concurrency Control — a technique where the database maintains multiple versions of each row so that readers see a consistent snapshot without...
Right of First Refusal
A contractual right giving a party the option to match an offer before an asset or share can be sold to someone else. In startups, rights of first refusal...
ROFR
Short for right of first refusal, the contractual right to match another buyer's offer before a sale proceeds. It is a common term in shareholder agreements...
Saga
A pattern for managing distributed transactions across multiple services without a global two-phase commit. A saga breaks a transaction into a sequence of...
Secondary Market
The market where existing shares or securities trade between holders rather than being newly issued by the company. In startup contexts, secondary markets give...
Unit of Work
A design pattern (described by Martin Fowler) that maintains a list of objects affected during a business transaction and coordinates writing out changes as a...

Related Topics