Idempotence

Idempotence is a property of some mathematical and computer science operations. An operation is idempotent if it can be repeated multiple times and always provide the same result, with no side effects to other objects in the system. It is an important concept in many functional programming languages and database systems.

The term was coined by mathematical philosopher Benjamin Peirce in his self-published 1870 book, Linear Associative Algebra.

Computer science, Database, Functional programming, Logical operation, Programming terms, Relational algebra