CAP

Distributed Systems: Applies to systems that run on multiple computers connected over a network.

You can only guarantee two out of three properties:

• Consistency (C): Everyone sees the same data at the same time.
  • also see Eventual Consistency
• Availability (A): The system is always up and running, even with some failures.
• Partition Tolerance (P): The system keeps working even if network problems split it into parts.

Network Problems are unavoidable, so partition tolerance is a must.

Have to choose between consistency and availability when network problems happen:

• CP Systems: Prioritize consistency, may become unavailable during problems.
• AP Systems: Prioritize availability, may show outdated data during problems.