readset

Readset is a term used in computer science and genomics to denote a collection of reads. The meaning depends on context.

In database and transaction processing: A transaction’s read set is the set of data items read during execution. It is used in optimistic concurrency control to detect conflicts. At commit time, the system checks if any item in the read set has been modified by other concurrent transactions; if so, the transaction may be aborted or rerun to ensure serializability. Read sets can be tracked explicitly or implicitly via versioning.

In genomics: A read set refers to a collection of sequencing reads derived from a biological sample. These reads, typically stored in FASTQ or aligned in BAM/CRAM format, are used for alignment to a reference genome, assembly, variant calling, and error correction.

Other uses: In data integration or log processing, read sets may describe subsets of data read from sources for processing pipelines; similarly, some software libraries provide APIs named ReadSet or readset for batch reading.

See also: write-set, transaction, sequencing read, variant calling.