A Retrospective on “ Weak Ordering — A New Definition ” Sarita

In summary, the key to our work was (1) we took a more programmer-centric view of the problem compared to the more prevalent hardware-centric view at that time, and (2) our persistence in seeking the minimal possible constraints for the hardware interface. This resulted in our redefining the problem in programmer-centric terms, enabling a better understanding of some of the fundamental issues. It is perhaps worth noting that when we began this work, the problem seemed deceptively simple, and a highly respected senior colleague actually warned us that we were getting into what appeared to be a closed area!