Roberto Vitillo
Author of Understanding Distributed Systems (2nd edition). Works in the distributed systems space; background in building and operating large-scale cloud services.
Works in This Wiki
- Understanding Distributed Systems — Understanding Distributed Systems (2nd ed.) Breadth-first guide to distributed systems for backend developers. Bridges formal theory (Raft, CRDTs, CAP) with practical cloud services (CDNs, load balancers, messaging). Recommends Designing Data Intensive Applications as the companion read for depth.
Perspective and Approach
- Favours pragmatic mental models over exhaustive formal treatment.
- Two recurring themes throughout his writing:
- Failures are unavoidable — design around failure, not its absence.
- Coordination is expensive — minimise it; push it off the critical path when possible.
- Uses a running example ("Cruder" CRUD app) to ground scalability concepts concretely.
- Recommends Kleppmann (Designing Data-Intensive Applications) for depth on storage and data systems.