CAP — Consistency, Availability, Partition tolerance
Definition: Theorem stating a distributed system can guarantee only two of the three properties at once. CAP is the reason every serious system design discussion eventually comes back to trade-offs.
Example
In engineering planning, you'll often hear something like: "Let's pull the latest CAP numbers before we make a call" — shorthand for consistency, availability, partition tolerance.
When you'll hear it
CAP shows up most often in engineering planning, architecture reviews, and sprint retrospectives. When someone uses it, they're usually referring to consistency, availability, partition tolerance — and they expect the room to already know what that means.
FAQs
What does CAP stand for?
CAP stands for Consistency, Availability, Partition tolerance.
What does CAP mean in technology and engineering?
Theorem stating a distributed system can guarantee only two of the three properties at once. CAP is the reason every serious system design discussion eventually comes back to trade-offs.
Where will I hear CAP used at work?
CAP comes up most often in engineering planning, architecture reviews, and sprint retrospectives. It's used as shorthand for consistency, availability, partition tolerance, so people assume you already know the term.