Distributed Systems
Noun · Development
Definitions
A collection of independent computers that appears to its users as a single coherent system. The fundamental challenge: partial failures, network partitions, and the impossibility of simultaneously guaranteeing consistency, availability, and partition tolerance (CAP theorem).
In plain English: Multiple computers working together as one system — sounds simple, but coordinating them is one of the hardest problems in computer science.
Example: "In distributed systems, the network is always unreliable and the clock is always lying."