What is the difference between causal consistency and eventual consistency?

What is the difference between causal consistency and eventual consistency?

Causal consistency ensures that operations that are causally related are seen by all nodes in the same order, while eventual consistency guarantees that, if no new updates are made, all replicas will eventually converge to the same value.

Can you give an example of where each consistency model is used?

Sure! Causal consistency is often used in collaborative applications like Google Docs, where the order of edits matters. Eventual consistency is commonly found in systems like DNS or Amazon's DynamoDB, where updates may not be immediately visible but will eventually synchronize.

What are the trade-offs between these two models?

The trade-offs include performance and complexity. Causal consistency can be more complex to implement and may introduce latency, while eventual consistency is simpler and can offer better performance but may lead to temporary inconsistencies.

Which model is better for real-time applications?

For real-time applications, causal consistency is often preferred as it maintains the order of operations, which is crucial for user experience.