Foundations of Distributed Computing

Analyze a familiar system from your experience (e.g., Revolut's FX trading platform) to identify characteristics that make it distributed (concurrency, lack of global clock, independent failures).

Derive why distributed systems cannot rely on synchronized physical clocks for ordering, using logical reasoning about network delays.

Define and differentiate between linearizability, sequential consistency, causal consistency, and eventual consistency, providing practical examples for each.

Analyze the trade-offs defined by the CAP theorem and its extension, the PACELC theorem, using real-world database systems as examples.

Compare the roles and high-level mechanisms of consensus algorithms (e.g., Paxos, Raft) in providing fault-tolerance and strong consistency.

Define network partitions, node failures, and Byzantine failures, providing concrete examples of how each could manifest in a high-stakes financial system.