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Fundamentals of Distributed Systems

A few friends asked me about a recent presentation I’ve prepared about fundamentals of distributed systems. I’m usually very “friendly” about sharing my presentations. Other than a few patents that I barely understand after the lawyers finished “translating” the knowledge into legalese, I hardly created anything new. If I had somehow organized existing knowledge into a more understandable way, that is definitely something to share.

I’ve learned the hard way the issue with distributing PowerPoint files directly. First, you have the problem with the versions of the product. But past that, the main issue is when someone takes your presentation, adds a macro – usually with bad intentions – and redistributes it. That is why a while ago I decided to minimize such possibility, distributing presentations as PDF files (attention to that “minimize” word: it is not “eliminate”). The problem with redistributing PowerPoint decks as PDF files is that you typically lose animations. At times, that isn’t important. When it is, one has to use macros to create a single slide for each step of the animation. I use a macro that Neil Mitchell shared at this link.

Back to the fundamentals of distributed systems: my main goal in the presentation shared here wasn’t to focus on the academic aspects, but the practical ones. In the non-academic area, some authors have a penchant for not citing the “first source”, and keep citing later references, at times written by themselves. Being a “knowledge engineer” at time looks like being an archeologist. In the middle of so much hype and competition for credit, one has to find who really took the risk of claiming something first. It is harder than it looks like, and certainly mistakes will always happen. However, it is something we need to keep trying. I’ve learned in the history of Physics that some concepts, even the right ones, will come and go in waves of knowledge and ignorance that we cannot avoid. Those that have to courage to continue seeking the correct understanding during the “dark times” deserve the recognition of History (what most times doesn’t come during their lives).

Available link for download