Distributed computing is a model in which components of a software system are

shared among multiple computers to improve efficiency and performance. According to the
narrowest of definitions, distributed computing is limited to programs with components shared
among computers within a limited geographic area. Broader definitions include shared tasks as well
as program components. In the broadest sense of the term, distributed computing just means that
something is shared among multiple systems which may also be in different locations.
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system is a
model in which components located on networked computers communicate and coordinate their actions by passing
messages(In computer science, message passing sends a message to a process (which may be an actor or object) and
relies on the process and the supporting infrastructure to select and invoke the actual code to run. Message passing differs
from conventional programming where a process, subroutine, or function is directly invoked by name. Message passing is
key to some models of concurrency and object-oriented programming.

Message passing is used ubiquitously in modern computer software. It is used as a way for the objects that make up a
program to work with each other and as a means for objects and systems running on different computers (e.g., the Internet)
to interact. Message passing may be implemented by various mechanisms, including channels.). The components interact
with each other in order to achieve a common goal. Three significant characteristics of distributed systems are:
concurrency of components, lack of a global clock, and independent failure of components.[1] Examples of distributed
systems vary from SOA-based systems to massively multiplayer online games to peer-to-peer applications.

A computer program that runs in a distributed system is called a distributed program, and distributed programming
is the process of writing such programs.[2] There are many alternatives for the message passing mechanism, including
pure HTTP, RPC-like connectors and message queues.[

A goal and challenge pursued by some computer scientists and practitioners in distributed systems is location
transparency(In computer networks, location transparency is the use of names to identify network resources, rather than
their actual location.[1][2] For example, files are accessed by a unique file name, but the actual data is stored in physical
sectors scattered around a disk in either the local computer or in a network. In a location transparency system, the actual
location where the file is stored doesn't matter to the user. A distributed system will need to employ a networked scheme for
naming resources.

The main benefit of location transparency is that it no longer matters where the resource is located. Depending on how the
network is set, the user may be able to obtain files that reside on another computer connected to the particular network.
[1]
This means that the location of a resource doesn't matter to either the software developers or the end-users. This creates
the illusion that the entire system is located in a single computer, which greatly simplifies software development.); however,
this goal has fallen out of favour in industry, as distributed systems are different from conventional non-distributed
systems, and the differences, such as network partitions, partial system failures, and partial upgrades, cannot simply
be "papered over" by attempts at "transparency" (see CAP theorem).[citation needed]

Distributed computing also refers to the use of distributed systems to solve computational problems. In distributed
computing, a problem is divided into many tasks, each of which is solved by one or more computers, [3] which
communicate with each other by message passing

A distributed system is a model in which components located on networkedcomputers communicate and

coordinate their actions by passing messages. ... Three significant characteristics of distributed systems are:
concurrency of components, lack of a global clock, and independent failure of components.