The present invention is a turbo product code decoder capable of decoding multi-dimensional coding schemes. The decoder may be implemented in any digital communication system capable of receiving an encoded stream of data. The decoder is configured for receiving soft decision values. The decoder iteratively decodes the data by generating new soft difference values for each axis-iteration of decoding. These soft difference values represent the change in soft decision values after each axis-iteration. The soft difference values from each axis-iteration are then summed with the original soft decision values in decoding each of the other axis. After any full iteration--i.e. after all axis dimensions have been decoded one full time, the previous difference values for any axis are discarded when that axis is decoded in subsequent iterations. Accordingly, the same information is not continuously fed into the decoder during each subsequent iteration, thereby decreasing the likelihood of error and offering an improvement over prior decoders. Moreover, using unique nearest neighbor computation logic, the decoder of the present invention is able to generate valid nearest neighbors more efficiently without requiring the use of a look-up table, thereby reducing the amount of time required to decode. Finally, the decoder of the present invention utilizes four decoders arranged in parallel along with a unique memory array accessing scheme such that multiple rows or columns may be decoded at the same time, thereby increasing the data throughput time of the decoder over prior turbo product code decoders.