Welcome to distributed processing! Imagine you have a massive pile of documents to read - would you rather do it alone or split the work among a team?

Distributed processing is like having that team. Instead of one computer doing all the work, multiple computers work together on the same task.

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Besides Google Search, can you name another service that relies on distributed processing?

Here's the key insight: some tasks are just too big for one computer. Processing terabytes of data on a single machine could take days or weeks.

But when you split that same work across 100 computers, it might finish in minutes or hours instead.

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What is one data-heavy task that would run faster on many computers?

This team of computers working together is called a cluster. Think of it like a group of friends helping you move - each person carries different boxes to the truck.

In a computer cluster, each machine (called a node) handles a portion of the total workload.

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What advantages do you see in having multiple computers work together?

The magic happens when we split the work intelligently. Instead of processing data file by file, we break each file into smaller chunks.

Each computer in the cluster processes different chunks simultaneously. This is called parallel processing.

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If one file takes 1 hour, how long would 10 files take with 10 computers working in parallel?

Here's a simple example: counting words in a library of books. One computer counts words in Book A, another counts words in Book B, and so on.

Then we combine all the counts at the end. Same result, but much faster execution time.

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What step comes after each computer finishes counting its assigned books?

There's one more crucial concept: data locality. It's faster to process data that's already stored on the same computer rather than transferring it over the network.

Think of it like cooking - it's better to have ingredients in your kitchen than running to the store mid-recipe.

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Why do you think moving data between computers slows things down?

Type

Multiple Choice

Practice Question

Let's test your understanding of distributed processing basics! Which scenario best demonstrates the core benefit of distributed processing?

A. One computer processing 1GB of data in 10 minutes B. Ten computers each processing 100MB of data simultaneously in 1 minute C. One computer processing data with better error checking D. Ten computers processing the same 100MB file one after another

Suggested Answers

• A
• B - Correct
• C
• D