deleteupdate

Deleteupdate is a term used in some software development discussions to describe the coordination of delete and update operations within a system. It is not a formal standard, but a concept that covers how deletions interact with subsequent updates to the same data or related data, often to maintain consistency, auditability, or state transitions.

Common patterns fall under three broad ideas. First, a soft delete where a record is marked as deleted (for example, by a deletion flag or tombstone) and an update is applied to related records or metadata to reflect the new state. Second, in event-driven or event-sourced architectures, a delete event may be followed by one or more update events that together represent the complete lifecycle change of an entity. Third, in synchronization and distributed systems, a delete operation is sometimes followed by an update to reconcile state across replicas, which can raise considerations for idempotence and conflict resolution.

Contexts in which deleteupdate concepts appear include relational databases, NoSQL stores, content management and collaboration platforms, and API-driven systems that require careful handling of deletions and subsequent state changes. Implementers should consider transactional integrity, whether operations should be atomic, and how to handle potential race conditions or conflicting updates. Idempotent designs, clear tombstone handling, and robust conflict resolution strategies are commonly recommended.

Overall, deleteupdate serves as a descriptive label for approaches that manage the interplay between removing data and applying state changes, rather than a single standardized technique. Related concepts include soft delete, tombstoning, and event sourcing.