https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=The+Daleksexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-04-13T02:36:22ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2315:_Eventual_Consistency&diff=1928622315: Eventual Consistency2020-06-04T01:45:47Z<p>The Daleks: Added a much-needed "citation needed" to the part about "continue his work in the COVID-19 pandemic".</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 2315<br />
| date = June 3, 2020<br />
| title = Eventual Consistency<br />
| image = eventual_consistency.png<br />
| titletext = Later I'm going to get a head start on the heat bath.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|Created by an EVENTUALLY CONSISTENT BOT. First revision. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
[[Cueball]]'s employer wants him to continue his work in the {{w|COVID-19}} pandemic.<sup><nowiki>[</nowiki>[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/285:_Wikipedian_Protester citation needed]<nowiki>]</nowiki></sup> The stated task is to "test the database" and "guarantee eventual consistency". Trying to avoid work, Cueball points out that the {{w|second law of thermodynamics}} itself "guarantees eventual consistency", as the {{w|universe}} is ''guaranteed'' to ''eventually'' die a {{w|Heat death of the universe|heat death}}, at maximum {{w|entropy}} and perfect ''consistency''. His boss retorts that in a heat death, nobody can work; Cueball claims that he's simply getting a head start on this.<br />
<br />
''Eventual consistency'' has a double meaning here. In computing, many systems are ''{{w|distributed computing|distributed}}'' (spread out) across multiple servers, sometimes in very different parts of the world. When data changes -- like the number of views on a video or the likes on a social media post -- updating it across ''every'' server can be a challenge, and it's often not practical to keep the data perfectly in synch everywhere. So the system will use {{w|eventual consistency}} instead. Each individual server will record changes, and after a certain amount of time or a certain amount of change, the results will be synched across the whole network. At any given moment, an individual server's data will be a little off -- but ''eventually'' everything will get recorded correctly.<br />
<br />
The title text constitutes another play on the words "heat bath", which can refer to the thermally uniform state of the universe at heat death. However, in this context, we can assume Cueball instead plans to prepare a literal warm bath for his own relaxation and enjoyment after or during (or instead of) his work.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}<br />
:[Cueball sits at a home desk.]<br />
:Laptop: I know it's hard to focus right now, but we should try to finish testing the DB.<br />
:Cueball: ''Ughhhh.''<br />
:Cueball: Okay.<br />
<br />
:Laptop: The system needs to guarantee eventual consistency.<br />
:Cueball: I mean, it does.<br />
<br />
:[Closeup of Cueball.]<br />
:Cueball: Eventual consistency is guaranteed by the 2nd law of thermodynamics.<br />
:Cueball: Sooner or later this will all be a uniform heat bath.<br />
:Cueball: Maximum entropy.<br />
<br />
:[Back to Cueball and desk.]<br />
:Laptop: Maximum entropy means no useful work can be done!<br />
:Cueball: I'm getting a head start by doing no useful work ''now''.<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
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[[Category:COVID-19]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Programming]]<br />
[[Category:Physics]]</div>The Daleks