Dictionary:

stateless

  (stāt'lĭs)

1. Having no state.
2. Not having any recognized citizenship in a state or nation.

Refers to software that does not keep track of configuration settings, transaction information or any other data for the next session. When a program "does not maintain state" (is stateless) or when the infrastructure of a system prevents a program from maintaining state, it cannot take information about the last session into the next, such as settings the user chose or conditions that arose during processing.

The Perfect Example

The most ubiquitous stateless environment is the World Wide Web. The HTTP protocol, which is the communications vehicle for Web transactions, is stateless. After a Web page is delivered to the user, the connection is closed. Counter measures, such as the use of cookies, have been developed to maintain the state of a user moving from page to page on a Web site. Contrast with "stateful," which means that continuity is maintained from session to session. See HTTP and cookie.

The adjective has one meaning:

Meaning #1: without nationality or citizenship
  Synonym: homeless

The term stateless can mean more than one thing:

• A stateless society is another word for anarchy.
• In law, a stateless person is a person without a state, in other words someone who is not a citizen or subject of any state.
• The legal and social concept of statelessness applicable to communities of stateless persons
• In computer science, stateless refers to a system or protocol which does not keep a persistent state between transactions. See stateless server.
• In the fiction of Greg Egan, Stateless is a large artificial island that is home to refugees of all nations.
• Stateless is the title of a motion picture by filmmaker Chris Morrissey that stars latin actor Johnny Diaz Reyes.
• Stateless is the title of the first album release by singer Lene Lovich.
• Stateless (band)
• Stateless is the title of an album which is the collaborative work of the bands Early Day Miners and Unwed Sailor. A film of the same name, by U.S. photographer Chris Bennett is also included on the Enhanced CD.

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