https://signal-and-syntax.com/tags/distributed-systems/Recent content in Distributed-Systems on Signal & SyntaxHugoen-usFri, 28 Nov 2025 06:00:00 -0700https://signal-and-syntax.com/posts/birthday-paradox/Fri, 28 Nov 2025 06:00:00 -0700https://signal-and-syntax.com/posts/birthday-paradox/You generate a UUID. It’s 128 bits total, with 122 bits of randomness ( Davis et al., 2024 ). That’s 340 undecillion possible values. Collision-proof, right? Your system generates a million IDs per second. Still safe? What about a billion? As I like to say, common sense and intuition are the enemies of science. Common sense tells you that with 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible values, you’d need to generate at least trillions before worrying about duplicates.