Editing Dekker's algorithm (section)

{{Short description|Mutual exclusion algorithm}}
'''Dekker's algorithm''' is the first known correct solution to the [[mutual exclusion]] problem in [[concurrent programming]] where processes only communicate via shared memory. The solution is attributed to [[Dutch people|Dutch]] [[mathematician]] [[Theodorus Dekker|Th. J. Dekker]] by [[Edsger W. Dijkstra]] in an unpublished paper on sequential process descriptions<ref>{{Cite EWD|35|Over de sequentialiteit van procesbeschrijvingen}} (undated, 1962 or 1963);  English translation [http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/translations/EWD35-English.html About the sequentiality of process descriptions]</ref> and his manuscript on [[cooperating sequential processes]].<ref>{{Cite EWD|123|Cooperating sequential processes}} (September 1965)</ref> It allows two threads to share a single-use resource without conflict, using only [[Shared memory (interprocess communication)|shared memory]] for communication.

It avoids the strict alternation of a naïve turn-taking algorithm, and was one of the first [[mutual exclusion]] algorithms to be invented.