An introduction to distributed data processing

the long version

Two functions that are fundamental to organized society are communication and dispersion. Communication provides a means for information to be accumulated, and dispersion permits effective and efficient use of resources. Communication and dispersion also provide the basis for a major technological advance in the computer field known as Distributed Data Processing. The move to distributed data processing offers five general benefits: reliability, responsiveness, incremental growth, correspondence to organizational patterns, and resource sharing. The objective of this book is to summarize the key concepts of distributed data processing from an introductory point of view.