Resources: Module 01 — Introduction to Distributed Systems¶

Verified resources for this module's content. All links checked on 2026-06-09.

Primary Reading¶

"Designing Data-Intensive Applications" by Martin Kleppmann — Chapter 1 (Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Applications) and Chapter 8 (The Trouble with Distributed Systems) are directly relevant to this module. Chapter 8 is the most comprehensive treatment of distributed systems failure modes available in book form. [O'Reilly Media]
"A Note on Distributed Computing" by Waldo, Wyant, Wollrath, Kendall (1994) — The original Sun Microsystems paper that laid the groundwork for the 8 Fallacies. [Verify: available via ACM or Sun Labs — confirm URL before using]

"Brewer's Conjecture and the Feasibility of Consistent, Available, Partition-Tolerant Web Services" (Gilbert and Lynch, 2002) — The formal proof of the CAP theorem. Available via ACM Digital Library. Dense but important if you want to understand the theorem's precise conditions.
"CAP Twelve Years Later: How the 'Rules' Have Changed" by Eric Brewer (2012) — Brewer himself explains how the CAP theorem has been misunderstood and overused. Recommended before relying too heavily on CAP classifications. [Verify: originally published in IEEE Computer magazine — confirm current accessible URL]
"Consistency Tradeoffs in Modern Distributed Database System Design" by Daniel Abadi (2012) — Introduces the PACELC model. [Verify: available via IEEE — confirm URL]

Martin Fowler, "Microservices" (with James Lewis) — The original article articulating the microservices architecture style. [martinfowler.com/articles/microservices.html] — Verified 2026-06-09.
Martin Fowler, "MonolithFirst" — Fowler's argument for why to start with a monolith before splitting. [martinfowler.com/bliki/MonolithFirst.html] — Verified 2026-06-09.
Martin Fowler, "DistributedMonolith" — Short but important description of the anti-pattern. [Verify: martinfowler.com/bliki/DistributedMonolith.html — confirm URL]

"The Fallacies of Distributed Computing Reloaded" (various conference talks) — Multiple versions available on YouTube by searching the title. Pick one with a recent date for updated examples.