This book introduces readers to selected issues in distributed systems and primarily focuses
on principles not on technical details. Though the systems discussed are based on existing
(von Neumann) computer architectures the book also touches on emerging processing paradigms.
Uniquely it approaches system components not only as static constructs but also in action
exploring the different states they pass through. The author's teaching experience shows that
newcomers to the field students and even IT professionals can far more readily grasp the
essence of distributed algorithmic structures in action than on the basis of static
descriptions.
