Chapter on Distributed Computing
Leslie Lamport, Nancy Ann Lynch · 1989
Rigorous analysis starts with a precise model of a distributed system; the most popular models, differing in how they represent interprocess communication, are message passing, shared variables, and synchronous communication. The properties satisfied by a algorithm must be precisely stated and carefully proved; the most successful approach is based on assertional reasoning. Algorithms for solving particular problems in a distributed system can then be designed and analyzed. Typical of the problems that have been addressed are: concurrently accessing shared data, chieing consensus, analyzing network topology, obtaining consistent global information, and controlling database transactions.