COMPUTING SYSTEM WITH EXCEPTION HANDLER AND METHOD OF HANDLING EXCEPTIONS IN A COMPUTING SYSTEM

A computing system in which permanent state changes to portions of the system are effected using transactions, including an exception handier and a method of handling exceptions in such a system is disclosed. Specifically, the computing system comprises a processor for executing at least one process; and scratchpad memory. A transactional subsystem is interconnected with the processor and has a plurality of states. State changes to the transactional subsystem are made irreversible only upon successful completion of a transaction. Program memory interconnected with the processor contains an exception handler for handling an exception dependent on one of a transaction. The handler adapts the processor to buffer data resulting from the exception in the scratchpad memory; and upon successful completion of the transaction, transfer the buffered data to an exception buffer accessible by a software process executing on the processor. Upon unsuccessful completion of the transaction, the buffered data in the scratchpad memory is discarded. Preferably, the transactional subsystem is a shared memory system.