Lockstep

Lockstep is a way of doing things step-by-step with someone else, like holding hands and walking together. Imagine if you were trying to put on your shoes but you needed someone else to help you. You and your helper would need to do each step together, like first putting your left foot in, then putting your right foot in, and tying the laces at the same time. This is like lockstep because you both need to do things in the same order and at the same time to make it work.

When people talk about lockstep, they are usually talking about how it is used in computers. In a computer, there are lots of tiny steps that have to happen very quickly for the computer to work properly. For example, when you click on a button on a webpage, the computer needs to send a message to the server, wait for a response, and then show you the new page. All of these steps need to happen in a certain order and at a certain time, just like with your shoes.

So, lockstep in computers means that everything is done together, step-by-step. This makes sure that everything is working properly and that there are no mistakes or errors. Just like how you and your helper need to work together to put on your shoes, the different parts of a computer need to work together in lockstep to make sure everything runs smoothly.