Introduction to Distributed systems

A distributed system is a computing environment in which various components are spread across multiple computers (or other computing devices) on a network.

The general notion of distribted system is:

  • If a machine can do a task in 2 hr, two machines can do it in 1 hr
  • If a machine can store 1 GB data, two machines can store 2 GB data
  • If a CC camera can look at 5 metres square, two cameras can look at 10 metres square

Examples of distributed systems

  1. Machine learning (for compute)
  2. P2P file sharing (high availability, share large files, piracy)
  3. Google search engine (for storage and bandwidth)
  4. Facebook (for storage and bandwidth)
  5. Multiplayer games (entertainment)
  6. Space rockets (correctness)
  7. Black hole image (distributed observation)
  8. IOT (Sensors on a network)
  9. Blockchain (decentralized record of transactions)
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