Member-only story
The Three Dimensions of System Design: Consistency Models
Welcome to our new series exploring the fundamental dimensions of system design! After examining NFRs in our previous series, we’re now diving into how systems actually interact and work together. Today, we’ll explore our first dimension: Consistency.
This was initially posted in my newsletter BuildItSimple!, if you don’t have a medium membership, you can read it here:
Understanding Consistency Models
Think of consistency like different forms of communication in our daily lives. A phone call ensures immediate, synchronized communication where both parties have the same information instantly (atomic consistency). In contrast, an email or message might be read and responded to later, with information eventually reaching all participants (eventual consistency). This same principle applies to how our distributed systems handle data updates and information sharing.
