How can deadlocks be prevented?

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How can deadlocks be prevented?

Deadlocks can be prevented by implementing one or more of the following techniques:

1. Mutual Exclusion: Ensure that resources can only be accessed by one thread at a time. This can be achieved by using locks or semaphores to enforce exclusive access.

2. Hold and Wait: Avoid situations where a thread holds a resource while waiting for another resource. One way to achieve this is by implementing a policy where a thread must acquire all required resources before starting execution.

3. No Preemption: Do not allow resources to be forcibly taken away from a thread. This means that a thread cannot be interrupted or have its resources forcibly released by another thread.

4. Circular Wait: Avoid circular dependencies by imposing a total ordering of resources. This can be done by assigning a unique identifier to each resource and ensuring that threads always request resources in a specific order.

By implementing these techniques, the occurrence of deadlocks can be minimized or completely prevented.