Why Logical Clocks are Easy: Sometimes all you need is the right language.

Abstract

Any computing system can be described as executing sequences of actions, with an action being any relevant change in the state of the system. For example, reading a file to memory, modifying the contents of the file in memory, or writing the new contents to the file are relevant actions for a text editor. In a distributed system, actions execute in multiple locations; in this context, actions are often called events. Examples of events in distributed systems include sending or receiving messages, or changing some state in a node. Not all events are related, but some events can cause and influence how other, later events occur. For example, a reply to a received mail message is influenced by that message, and maybe by prior messages received.

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Index Terms

• Computer systems organization

  • Architectures

    • Distributed architectures

• Software and its engineering

  • Software organization and properties

    • Software system structures

      • Distributed systems organizing principles