The Orange Game: Routing and Deadlock in Networks

When a lot of people share one network (such as cars using roads, or messages getting through the Internet), there is the possibility that competing processes will create a “deadlock," or an interruption in movement through the resource. Learners model a network by cooperatively passing objects to their correct destinations. They devise algorithms to efficiently route objects to their destinations; they also learn ways to design a network to minimize deadlock. The activity includes the main activity and several extensions to explore how to design an efficient network. Background information is also included.