Halting problem
From Wiki @ Karl Jones dot com
In computability theory, the halting problem is the problem of determining, from a description of an arbitrary computer program and an input, whether the program will finish running or continue to run forever.
Description
Alan Turing proved in 1936 that a general algorithm to solve the halting problem for all possible program-input pairs cannot exist.
A key part of the proof was a mathematical definition of a computer and program, which became known as a Turing machine; the halting problem is undecidable over Turing machines.
It is one of the first examples of a decision problem.
Jack Copeland (2004) attributes the term halting problem to Martin Davis.
See also
- Algorithm
- Alan Turing
- Busy beaver
- Computability theory
- Decision problem
- Generic-case complexity
- Geoffrey K. Pullum
- Gödel's incompleteness theorem
- Impossible Programs
- Kolmogorov complexity
- P versus NP problem
- Paradox
- Termination analysis
- Worst-case execution time
External links
- Halting problem @ Wikipedia
