Abstract: A signal encoded with a linear block code is iteratively decoded using a sequential updating method. The sequential updating method calculates check-to-variable messages and variable-to-check messages such that intra-iteration information is exchanged. In some embodiments, a partial horizontal pass of a column of the matrix is followed by a vertical pass of the column using the results of the partial horizontal pass. In other embodiments, a partial vertical pass of a row of the matrix is followed by a horizontal pass of the row using the results of the partial vertical pass.