Peterson's algorithm

Peterson's algorithm (or Peterson's solution) is a concurrent programming algorithm for mutual exclusion that allows two or more processes to share a single-use resource without conflict, using only shared memory for communication. It was formulated by Gary L. Peterson in 1981.[1] While Peterson's original formulation worked with only two processes, the algorithm can be generalized for more than two.[2]

  1. ^ G. L. Peterson: "Myths About the Mutual Exclusion Problem", Information Processing Letters 12(3) 1981, 115–116
  2. ^ As discussed in Operating Systems Review, January 1990 ("Proof of a Mutual Exclusion Algorithm", M Hofri).