Project SherlockEst. Knowledge

Paper

2015

A Critique of the CAP Theorem

Martin Kleppmann

Argues CAP's definitions of consistency and availability are too narrow to guide real design decisions, and that the theorem is routinely invoked to justify choices it does not actually imply.

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FreeIntermediatelink checked 17 Sept 2026

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Not a difficulty warning — a route. These are in the library too.

Brewer's Conjecture and the Feasibility of Consistent, Available, Partition-Tolerant Web ServicesSeth Gilbert & Nancy Lynch, 2002Proves Brewer's conjecture formally: under network partition a system must give up either consistency or availability.

Filed under Distributed Systems in Computer Science.