The document discusses the deadlock problem in computing, describing situations where blocked processes hold resources and wait for others, leading to potential deadlocks characterized by four conditions: mutual exclusion, hold and wait, no preemption, and circular wait. It outlines methods for handling deadlocks, including prevention, avoidance, detection, and recovery strategies such as process termination and resource preemption. The document also introduces concepts like resource-allocation graphs and the banker’s algorithm, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a system in a safe state to avoid deadlocks.