Distributed computing

Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems, defined as computer systems whose inter-communicating components are located on different networked computers.^[1]^[2]

The components of a distributed system communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another in order to achieve a common goal. Three significant challenges of distributed systems are: maintaining concurrency of components, overcoming the lack of a global clock, and managing the independent failure of components.^[1] When a component of one system fails, the entire system does not fail.^[3] Examples of distributed systems vary from SOA-based systems to massively multiplayer online games to peer-to-peer applications.

A computer program that runs within a distributed system is called a distributed program,^[4] and distributed programming is the process of writing such programs.^[5] There are many different types of implementations for the message passing mechanism, including pure HTTP, RPC-like connectors and message queues.^[6]

Distributed computing also refers to the use of distributed systems to solve computational problems. In distributed computing, a problem is divided into many tasks, each of which is solved by one or more computers,^[7] which communicate with each other via message passing.^[8]

^ ^a ^b Tanenbaum, Andrew S.; Steen, Maarten van (2002). Distributed systems: principles and paradigms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-088893-1. Archived from the original on 2020-08-12. Retrieved 2020-08-28.
^ "Distributed Programs". Texts in Computer Science. London: Springer London. 2010. pp. 373–406. doi:10.1007/978-1-84882-745-5_11. ISBN 978-1-84882-744-8. ISSN 1868-0941. Systems consist of a number of physically distributed components that work independently using their private storage, but also communicate from time to time by explicit message passing. Such systems are called distributed systems.
^ Dusseau & Dusseau 2016, p. 1–2.
^ "Distributed Programs". Texts in Computer Science. London: Springer London. 2010. pp. 373–406. doi:10.1007/978-1-84882-745-5_11. ISBN 978-1-84882-744-8. ISSN 1868-0941. Distributed programs are abstract descriptions of distributed systems. A distributed program consists of a collection of processes that work concurrently and communicate by explicit message passing. Each process can access a set of variables which are disjoint from the variables that can be changed by any other process.
^ Andrews (2000). Dolev (2000). Ghosh (2007), p. 10.
^ Magnoni, L. (2015). "Modern Messaging for Distributed Sytems (sic)". Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 608 (1): 012038. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/608/1/012038. ISSN 1742-6596.
^ Godfrey (2002).
^ Andrews (2000), p. 291–292. Dolev (2000), p. 5.

[tanenbaum-1] Tanenbaum, Andrew S.; Steen, Maarten van (2002). Distributed systems: principles and paradigms. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-088893-1. Archived from the original on 2020-08-12. Retrieved 2020-08-28.

[Distributed_Programs_2010_pp._373–406-2] "Distributed Programs". Texts in Computer Science. London: Springer London. 2010. pp. 373–406. doi:10.1007/978-1-84882-745-5_11. ISBN 978-1-84882-744-8. ISSN 1868-0941. Systems consist of a number of physically distributed components that work independently using their private storage, but also communicate from time to time by explicit message passing. Such systems are called distributed systems.

[FOOTNOTEDusseauDusseau20161–2-3] Dusseau & Dusseau 2016, p. 1–2.

[Distributed_Programs_2010_pp._373–406_II-4] "Distributed Programs". Texts in Computer Science. London: Springer London. 2010. pp. 373–406. doi:10.1007/978-1-84882-745-5_11. ISBN 978-1-84882-744-8. ISSN 1868-0941. Distributed programs are abstract descriptions of distributed systems. A distributed program consists of a collection of processes that work concurrently and communicate by explicit message passing. Each process can access a set of variables which are disjoint from the variables that can be changed by any other process.

[5] Andrews (2000). Dolev (2000). Ghosh (2007), p. 10.

[6] Magnoni, L. (2015). "Modern Messaging for Distributed Sytems (sic)". Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 608 (1): 012038. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/608/1/012038. ISSN 1742-6596.

[7] Godfrey (2002).

[Andrews_2000-8] Andrews (2000), p. 291–292. Dolev (2000), p. 5.

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