Resource Access Protocols

A resource is any software structure that can be used by a process to advance its execution. Typically, a resource can be a data structure, a set of variables, a main memory area, a file, or a set of registers of a peripheral device. A resource dedicated to a particular process is said to be private, whereas a resource that can be used by more tasks is called a shared resource. A shared resource protected against concurrent accesses is called an exclusive resource.