A distributed system refers to a system whose various components reside on separate, networked computers. These components communicate and work together by exchanging messages with each other. The study of such systems falls within the field of distributed computing, a branch of computer science.
To achieve a common goal, the components of a distributed system interact with each other. However, such systems face three major challenges: Maintaining component concurrency, solving the problem of the lack of a global clock, and dealing with failures of independent components. Unlike centralized systems, the failure of a single component in a distributed system does not cause the entire system to fail. Distributed systems come in various forms, including SOA-based systems, massively multiplayer online games, and peer-to-peer applications.
In addition to studying distributed systems, distributed computing involves using such systems to solve computational problems. In this process, a problem is divided into numerous tasks, with each task being solved by one or more computers that communicate with each other via messaging.
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