What is the difference between livelock and deadlock?

What is the difference between livelock and deadlock?

Livelock and deadlock are both conditions that can occur in concurrent systems. Deadlock happens when two or more processes are unable to proceed because each is waiting for the other to release resources. In contrast, livelock occurs when processes continuously change states in response to each other without making progress.

Can you give me an example of each?

Sure! In a deadlock scenario, imagine two trains on the same track facing each other, unable to move because each is blocking the other. For livelock, consider two people trying to pass each other in a narrow hallway; they keep stepping aside for each other but never actually pass.

How can we prevent deadlock?

Deadlock prevention can be achieved through various strategies, such as resource allocation protocols, avoiding circular wait conditions, or using timeouts to force processes to release resources.

What about livelock prevention?

To prevent livelock, systems can implement randomized backoff strategies, where processes wait for a random time before retrying, reducing the chances of continuous state changes.