Dijkstra: self-stabilizing systems in spite of distributed control

What changed

Constructed local-rule examples that converge to legitimacy from arbitrary states.

Scientific scope

The record is Dijkstra's sole-author 1974 Communications of the ACM paper and its specific example systems. It does not imply fault tolerance for arbitrary distributed algorithms or absorb later self-stabilization definitions, impossibility results and protocols.

Evidence

The linked sources identify this contribution and its scope. WRS has not independently reconstructed the scientific claims. The record is Dijkstra's sole-author 1974 Communications of the ACM paper and its specific example systems. It does not imply fault tolerance for arbitrary distributed algorithms or absorb later self-stabilization definitions, impossibility results and protocols.

Contributors

• Edsger W. Dijkstra · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.

• Dijkstra archive transcript of EWD426
• ACM DOI for self-stabilizing systems paper

Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.

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