In short
A theorem stating a distributed system can only guarantee two of three properties at once during a network failure: Consistency, Availability, and Partition tolerance.
How to learn this
- 1Explain CAP theorem in your own words with a concrete example.
- 2Classify a database you know, e.g. PostgreSQL or DynamoDB, by which two properties it prioritizes.
- 3Understand partition tolerance is essentially mandatory for any real distributed system — the real choice is C vs A.
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