FIFOgedrag

FIFOgedrag refers to the principle of processing items in the order they arrive, i.e., first in, first out. It describes how systems handle resources, tasks or data where oldest items are dealt with before newer ones. In logistics and inventory management, FIFO ensures that older stock is used or sold before newer stock, reducing spoilage, depreciation, or obsolescence. It requires tracking arrival times or lot numbers and is often mandated by regulations for perishable goods.

In computing, FIFO behavior manifests in queuing systems and scheduling. Items enter a queue and are serviced in strict arrival order. This provides fairness and predictability, suitable for print queues, network buffers, or task scheduling. However, strict FIFO can lead to long waiting times for large or long tasks; various scheduling policies introduce priorities or aging to prevent starvation.

In operating systems, the FIFO page replacement algorithm (First-In, First-Out) swaps pages out in the order they were loaded. It is simple but can be suboptimal and may suffer from Belady's anomaly, where adding more frames increases the number of page faults. More advanced algorithms (LRU, LFU, ARC) aim to improve locality of reference.

In manufacturing, software and ERP systems, FIFO behavior supports traceability and regulatory compliance, particularly for foods and medicines.

Implementing FIFOgedrag typically relies on a queue data structure, with timestamps or sequence numbers, and may require synchronization in concurrent environments. See also FCFS, queuing theory, LRU, Belady's anomaly.