Distributed Systems 1.1: Introduction
What it is
The first lecture in Martin Kleppmann's 8-lecture distributed systems series from the University of Cambridge undergraduate course. It introduces the subject, and accompanying lecture notes are available.
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN regularly recommends the series as a free, accessible, theory-oriented course on distributed computing that complements his book Designing Data-Intensive Applications.
- 5 people recommended it
- 5 different months
- 2 strong recommendations
- first 2021, last 2025
What HN commenters said
“the distributed system audio course on youtube is extremely accessible”
Theory-oriented lecture series complementing the DDIA book
MichaelMoser123, 2021-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: What are the best tech books you read in 2021?”
“Martin's writing and explanation style is truly awesome!”
Clear, enjoyable explanations of distributed systems by Kleppmann
posharma, 2022-03 · Strong recommendation · in “Making CRDTs Byzantine Fault Tolerant [pdf]”
“The Book Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann and the Youtube videos -”
Kleppmann's distributed systems lecture series
avinassh, 2021-06 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: Suggest me a free/open course on distributed computing”
“His lectures are also on youtube”
Kleppmann's lectures on distributed systems
Wonnk13, 2021-07 · Recommendation · in “Thinking in Events: From Databases to Distributed Collaboration Software [video]”
“Martin Kleppmann (author of DDIA)”
Kleppmann's course builds understanding of consensus and causality
bigmutant, 2025-02 · Recommendation · in “Distributed systems programming has stalled”
Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.
Topics: distributed systems, consensus, causality, university course, kleppmann
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