CAP Theorem

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States that a distributed system can provide at most two of three guarantees simultaneously: Consistency (all nodes see the same data), Availability (every request gets a response), and Partition Tolerance (system works despite network partitions). Since partitions are inevitable, the practical choice is between CP and AP systems.

Key Properties

• CP Systems
• AP Systems
• Partition Tolerance

Related

• PACELC Theorem (extends CAP with latency tradeoff)
• Consistency Models (spectrum of consistency choices)

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distributed-systems fundamentals cap