Processor having content addressable memory with command ordering

An article comprising:

• a storage medium having stored thereon instructions that when executed by a machine result in the following:
• placing at least a portion of a received read/modify/write (RMW) command for a first memory address into a first location of a content addressable memory (CAM) having an address field, a first field, a second field and a command field in a linked list structure;
• placing a second command for the first address in a second location of the CAM;
• and
• updating the first field of the first CAM location to point to the second CAM location and updating the second field of the first CAM location to point to the second CAM location.

A processing unit, comprising:

• a main command memory to store received memory commands;
• a content addressable memory (CAM) including
• an address field to store an address of a command;
• a first field to point to a next command to be processed in a linked list of commands to be executed;
• a second field to point to a last command in the linked list;
• and
• a command field to store the command.

A network forwarding device, comprising:

• at least one line card to forward data to ports of a switching fabric;
• the at least one line card including a network processor having multi-threaded microengines configured to execute microcode resulting in the following:
• placing at least a portion of a received read/modify/write (RMW) command for a first memory address into a first location of a content addressable memory (CAM) having an address field, a first field, a second field and a command field in a linked list structure;
• placing a second command for the first address in a second location of the CAM;
• and
• updating the first field of the first CAM location to point to the second CAM location and updating the second field of the first CAM location to point to the second CAM location.