Distributed computing is a field of computer science studying systems whose interconnected components run on different networked computers, communicating and coordinating by passing messages to achieve a shared goal. Central challenges include managing concurrency, the absence of a single global clock, and the possibility that any individual component may fail independently of the others. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Disputed
Core ConcernWhich computational problems can be solved across networks of independent computers, and how efficiently, given that components communicate only by passing messages and may fail independently. 1 The article itself states there is no single agreed definition of a distributed system, and no clear line separates distributed computing from concurrent and parallel computing. Origin Year1982 marks the founding of PODC, the first major dedicated conference, not a single invention date; the field emerged gradually in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Connections
Associated With
Source Wikipedia: Distributed Computing
Autonomic computing is defined as distributed computing resources with self-managing characteristics.
Source Autonomic Computing (Wikipedia)
Blockchains are managed as a peer-to-peer distributed ledger across a computer network.
Source Blockchain (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Cloud computing
Field-to-field association; both are standard neighbouring areas of computing
Field-to-field association; both are standard neighbouring areas of computing
Source Wikipedia: Cyber-physical system
Grid computing is defined as a form of distributed computing.
Source Grid Computing (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Internet of things
Source Wikipedia: Parallel computing
SOA is placed on a continuum that starts from distributed computing.
Source Service-Oriented Architecture (Wikipedia)
Source Ubiquitous Computing (Wikipedia)
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Source Panagiota Fatourou (Wikipedia)
Source Ramesh Sitaraman, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Rendezvous hashing
Source Schahram Dustdar (Wikipedia)
Source Shahid Hussain Bokhari, Wikipedia
Source Sylvia Ratnasamy (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia, Thomas E. Anderson
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1. Wikipedia: Distributed Computing
Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction section
When a component of one system fails, the entire system does not fail.
Introduction section, on definition
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.
History section
The first widespread distributed systems were local-area networks such as Ethernet, which was invented in the 1970s.
- In Group: Distributed, Cloud and Edge Computing, lead section
View the Source Wikipedia: Erlang (programming language)
Wikipedia: Parallel computing
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Parallel Computing, Distributed computingQuote, Associated With: Parallel Computing, Distributed computing
The terms "concurrent computing", "parallel computing", and "distributed computing" have a lot of overlap, and no clear distinction exists between them.
Wikipedia: Client-server model
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Client-Server Model, Distributed computing sectionQuote, Includes: Client-Server Model, Distributed computing section
In the case of distributed computing projects such as SETI@home and the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search, while the bulk of the operations occur on the client side, the servers are responsible for coordinating the clients, sending them data to analyze, receiving and storing results, providing reporting functionality to project administrators, etc.
Wikipedia: Cloud computing
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Cloud Computing, Similar concepts sectionQuote, Associated With: Cloud Computing, Similar concepts section
Client-server computing refers broadly to any distributed application that distinguishes between service providers (servers) and service requestors (clients).
Wikipedia: Cyber-physical system
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Cyber-Physical Systems, Examples sectionQuote, Associated With: Cyber-Physical Systems, Examples section
In industry the cyber-physical systems empowered by Cloud technologies have led to novel approaches that paved the path to Industry 4.0.
Wikipedia: Internet of things
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Internet of Things, Infobox, General conceptsView the Source Autonomic Computing (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Autonomic Computing, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: Autonomic Computing, Lead section
Autonomic computing (AC) is distributed computing resources with self-managing characteristics, adapting to unpredictable changes while hiding intrinsic complexity to operators and users.
Blockchain (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Blockchain, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: Blockchain, Lead section
Blockchains are typically managed by a peer-to-peer (P2P) computer network for use as a public distributed ledger, where nodes collectively adhere to a consensus algorithm protocol to add and validate new transaction blocks.
Grid Computing (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Grid Computing, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: Grid Computing, Lead section
Grids are a form of distributed computing composed of many networked loosely coupled computers acting together to perform large tasks.
Service-Oriented Architecture (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Service-Oriented Architecture, Defining conceptsQuote, Associated With: Service-Oriented Architecture, Defining concepts
SOA can be seen as part of the continuum which ranges from the older concept of distributed computing and modular programming, through SOA, and on to practices of mashups, SaaS, and cloud computing (which some see as the offspring of SOA).
Ubiquitous Computing (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Ubiquitous Computing, Lead section, list of ubiquitous computing themesQuote, Associated With: Ubiquitous Computing, Lead section, list of ubiquitous computing themes
Ubiquitous computing themes include: distributed computing, mobile computing, location computing, mobile networking, sensor networks, human-computer interaction, context-aware smart home technologies, and artificial intelligence.
Algirdas Avižienis (Wikipedia)
Includes: Algirdas Avižienis, LeadQuote, Includes: Algirdas Avižienis, Lead
He was a distinguished professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was known for his work in fault-tolerant computing.
Hermann Kopetz (Wikipedia)
Includes: Hermann Kopetz, LeadQuote, Includes: Hermann Kopetz, Lead
He was named an IEEE Fellow in 1994 for contributions to fault-tolerant, real-time systems.
Kang G. Shin (Wikipedia)
Includes: Kang G. Shin, LeadQuote, Includes: Kang G. Shin, Lead
He is known for his contributions to the field of real-time fault-tolerant systems.
Wikipedia: David P. Anderson
Includes: David P. Anderson, Infobox: known_forQuote, Includes: David P. Anderson, Infobox: known_for
Volunteer computing
Lamport timestamp (Wikipedia)
Includes: Lamport timestamp, LeadQuote, Includes: Lamport timestamp, Lead
The Lamport timestamp algorithm is a simple logical clock algorithm used to determine the order of events in a distributed computer system.
Chandy-Lamport algorithm (Wikipedia)
Includes: Chandy-Lamport algorithm, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Chandy-Lamport algorithm, Lead section
The Chandy-Lamport algorithm is a snapshot algorithm that is used in distributed systems for recording a consistent global state of an asynchronous system.
Schahram Dustdar (Wikipedia)
Includes: Schahram Dustdar, Lead sentenceQuote, Includes: Schahram Dustdar, Lead sentence
Schahram Dustdar is an Austrian computer scientist known for his work on distributed systems and elastic computing.
Faith Ellen (Wikipedia)
Includes: Faith Ellen, Lead sentence
Faith Ellen (formerly known as Faith E. Fich) is a Canadian professor of computer science at the University of Toronto who studies distributed data structures and the theory of distributed computing.
- Includes: Faith Ellen, Lead paragraph
View the SourcePanagiota Fatourou (Wikipedia)
Includes: Panagiota Fatourou, Lead section
Panagiota (Youla) Fatourou (Greek: Παναγιώτα Φατούρου) is a Greek computer scientist, specializing in distributed computing and concurrent computing, including the design of data structures that can be used in non-blocking algorithms.
- Includes: Panagiota Fatourou, Lead paragraph
View the SourceWikipedia: Joe Armstrong (programmer)
Wikipedia: Leslie Lamport
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Wikipedia: Charles E. Leiserson
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Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Butler W. Lampson, Lead paragraphView the Source Larry Stockmeyer, Wikipedia
Ramesh Sitaraman, Wikipedia
Wikipedia, Thomas E. Anderson
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Shahid Hussain Bokhari, Wikipedia
Danny Dolev (Wikipedia)
Cynthia Dwork (Wikipedia)
Sylvia Ratnasamy (Wikipedia)
Michael J. Freedman (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia: Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau, Lead paragraphView the Source Wikipedia: Rendezvous hashing
Limbo (programming language) (Wikipedia)
Fred B. Schneider - Wikipedia
Includes: Fred B. Schneider, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source Hagit Attiya, Wikipedia
Includes: Hagit Attiya, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source Jayadev Misra (Wikipedia)
Includes: Jayadev Misra, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source Michael L. Kazar (Wikipedia)
Includes: Michael L. Kazar, Infobox field and known_for, lead paragraphView the Source Özalp Babaoğlu (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ozalp Babaoglu, Infobox: known_forQuote, Includes: Ozalp Babaoglu, Infobox: known_for
Contribution to BSD Unix and implementing virtual memory support; Fault-tolerant distributed computing; Biology and nature-inspired computing.
Franck Cappello - Wikipedia
Includes: Franck Cappello, LeadQuote, Includes: Franck Cappello, Lead
He was awarded the IEEE Computer Society Charles Babbage Award in 2024, and named as an ACM Fellow in 2025, "for contributions to parallel/distributed computing, resilience, and scientific data reduction" and IEEE Fellow, class of 2017 "for contributions to high-performance computing, fault tolerance, and grid-based computing".
Wikipedia: Alfred Spector
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Alfred Spector, Infobox: known_forQuote, Includes: Alfred Spector, Infobox: known_for
Opportunities and Perils in Data Science Google's Hybrid Approach to Research CS+X Research on Reliable Distributed Computing Andrew File System (AFS)
Wikipedia: Memcached
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Memcached, LeadQuote, Includes: Memcached, Lead
In computing, Memcached (pronounced either /mɛmkæʃˈdiː/ mem-cash-DEE ["dee/d" being for daemon], or /ˈmɛmkæʃt/ MEM-cashed) is a general-purpose distributed memory-caching system.
Wikipedia: OpenSSI
Includes: OpenSSI, LeadQuote, Includes: OpenSSI, Lead
OpenSSI is an open-source single-system image clustering system.
Lorenzo Alvisi, Wikipedia
Includes: Lorenzo Alvisi, LeadQuote, Includes: Lorenzo Alvisi, Lead
His research focuses on distributed systems and dependability.
Ali Ghodsi (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ali Ghodsi, LeadQuote, Includes: Ali Ghodsi, Lead
Ali Ghodsi (born 1978) is an Iranian-Swedish-American computer scientist and entrepreneur, specializing in distributed systems, big data and data management.
Maurice Herlihy (Wikipedia)
Includes: Maurice Herlihy, LeadQuote, Includes: Maurice Herlihy, Lead
Herlihy has contributed to areas including theoretical foundations of wait-free synchronization, linearizable data structures, applications of combinatorial topology to distributed computing, as well as hardware and software transactional memory.
Ion Stoica (Wikipedia)
Includes: Ion Stoica, LeadQuote, Includes: Ion Stoica, Lead
Ion Stoica (born 1964 or 1965) is a Romanian-American computer scientist specializing in distributed systems, cloud computing and computer networking.
David Cheriton (Wikipedia)
Includes: David Cheriton, LeadQuote, Includes: David Cheriton, Lead
He is a computer science professor at Stanford University, where he founded and leads the Distributed Systems Group.
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