The scalable commutativity rule
Austin T. Clements, M. Frans Kaashoek, Nickolai Zeldovich, Robert Morris, Eddie Kohler · 2013
What fundamental opportunities for scalability are latent in interfaces, such as system call APIs? Can scalability opportunities be identified even before any implementation exists, simply by considering interface specifications? To answer these questions this paper introduces the following rule: Whenever interface operations commute, they can be implemented in a way that scales. This rule aids developers in building more scalable software starting from interface design and carrying on through implementation, testing, and evaluation.