21 years and counting of 'eight fallacies of distributed computing' (2025)
The eight fallacies of distributed computing are a collection of mistaken ideas about networks that have been known to be untrue since the dawn of networking. The list was first compiled by Bill Joy and Tom Lyon, and later expanded by L. Peter Deutsch and James Gosling, and is aimed at people writing network software. Understanding these fallacies is crucial in designing protocols and software that can handle the complexities of networks and provide reliable services to users.
- ▪The eight fallacies of distributed computing include assumptions that the network is reliable, latency is zero, and bandwidth is infinite.
- ▪The list was first compiled by Bill Joy and Tom Lyon, and later expanded by L. Peter Deutsch and James Gosling.
- ▪The fallacies are aimed at people writing network software and provide practical guidance on how to think about sending data through a network.
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| Original publisher | APNIC Blog |
| Canonical URL | https://blog.apnic.net/2025/12/08/21-years-and-counting-of-eight-fallacies-of-distributed-computing/ |
| Publication time | Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:07:32 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-06-15T00:37:34.617Z |
| Last seen | 2026-06-15T00:37:34.617Z |
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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. You’d think that by now, networks were well enough understood that people would stop making assumptions that we have known, almost since the dawn of networking, to be untrue. Yet as users, developers, and network administrators, we still seem curiously unable to let go of long-held beliefs. Perhaps the best-known collection of mistaken ideas about networks is the eight fallacies of distributed computing. The eight fallacies The network is reliable Latency is zero Bandwidth is infinite The network is secure Topology doesn’t change There is one administrator Transport cost is zero The network is homogeneous Where did this list come from? The list began with four original fallacies (the first four in the list), collected by Bill Joy and Tom Lyon, two of…
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