What is the halting problem?

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What is the halting problem?

The halting problem is a fundamental problem in computer science and computational theory. It refers to the question of whether an algorithm can determine, given a program and its input, whether the program will eventually halt (terminate) or continue running indefinitely. In other words, it asks if there exists a general algorithm that can decide, for any given program and input, whether the program will halt or not. The halting problem was proven to be undecidable by Alan Turing in 1936, meaning that there is no algorithm that can solve it for all possible programs and inputs.