The mutual exclusion problem: part I—a theory of interprocess communication

@article{Lamport1986TheME,
  title={The mutual exclusion problem: part I—a theory of interprocess communication},
  author={Leslie Lamport},
  journal={J. ACM},
  year={1986},
  volume={33},
  pages={313-326}
}
  • L. Lamport
  • Published 1 April 1986
  • Computer Science
  • J. ACM
A novel formal theory of concurrent systems that does not assume any atomic operations is introduced. The execution of a concurrent program is modeled as an abstract set of operation executions with two temporal ordering relations: “precedence” and “can causally affect”. A primitive interprocess communication mechanism is then defined. In Part II, the mutual exclusion is expressed precisely in terms of this model, and solutions using the communication mechanism are given. 
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