Can you explain the concept of distributed systems and their relevance in backend application development?
Distributed systems, in the context of backend application development, refer to a network of computers or nodes that work together to achieve a common goal. Each node in a distributed system is connected and communicates with other nodes to complete tasks in a coordinated manner. The relevance of distributed systems in backend application development is significant due to several key advantages they offer: 1. Scalability Distributed systems allow applications to scale horizontally by adding more machines to the network. This enables handling increasing workloads and accommodating growth without sacrificing performance. As the demand for a backend application grows, additional servers can be added to the distributed system, effectively distributing the workload and ensuring optimal resource utilization. 2. Fault Tolerance With distributed systems, backend applications can tolerate and recover from failures. If a node in the system fails, other nodes can continue the operation, preventing total system failure. This fault tolerance ensures high availability and reliability of backend applications. 3. Performance Distributed systems can improve the