<s>
In	O
computer	B-General_Concept
science	I-General_Concept
,	O
a	O
sequential	B-Algorithm
algorithm	I-Algorithm
or	O
serial	B-Algorithm
algorithm	I-Algorithm
is	O
an	O
algorithm	O
that	O
is	O
executed	O
sequentially	O
–	O
once	O
through	O
,	O
from	O
start	O
to	O
finish	O
,	O
without	O
other	O
processing	O
executing	O
–	O
as	O
opposed	O
to	O
concurrently	B-Architecture
or	O
in	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
term	O
is	O
primarily	O
used	O
to	O
contrast	O
with	O
concurrent	B-Architecture
algorithm	I-Architecture
or	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
algorithm	I-Operating_System
;	O
most	O
standard	O
computer	O
algorithms	O
are	O
sequential	B-Algorithm
algorithms	I-Algorithm
,	O
and	O
not	O
specifically	O
identified	O
as	O
such	O
,	O
as	O
sequentialness	O
is	O
a	O
background	O
assumption	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Concurrency	B-Architecture
and	O
parallelism	B-Operating_System
are	O
in	O
general	O
distinct	O
concepts	O
,	O
but	O
they	O
often	O
overlap	O
–	O
many	O
distributed	B-Operating_System
algorithms	I-Operating_System
are	O
both	O
concurrent	B-Operating_System
and	O
parallel	B-Operating_System
–	O
and	O
thus	O
"	O
sequential	O
"	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
contrast	O
with	O
both	O
,	O
without	O
distinguishing	O
which	O
one	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
these	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
distinguished	O
,	O
the	O
opposing	O
pairs	O
sequential/concurrent	O
and	O
serial/parallel	O
may	O
be	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
"	O
Sequential	B-Algorithm
algorithm	I-Algorithm
"	O
may	O
also	O
refer	O
specifically	O
to	O
an	O
algorithm	O
for	O
decoding	O
a	O
convolutional	B-Error_Name
code	I-Error_Name
.	O
</s>
