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🔄 Interactive Consistency Model Explorer

Explore consistency models through interactive scenarios and real-time visualizations

🎮 Interactive Model Explorer

Click on any consistency model below to see its properties, trade-offs, and real-world applications:

Strict Serializable
🔒 Strongest
↓
Linearizable
⏰ Real-time
Serializable
📋 ACID
↓
Sequential
🔄 Global Order
Snapshot Isolation
📸 MVCC
↓
Causal
🔗 Cause-Effect
Read Committed
✅ No Dirty Reads
↓
Session Guarantees
👤 Per-User
↓
Eventual
🕐 Eventually

Select a consistency model above to explore its details

Click on any model in the hierarchy to see:

  • 📋 Detailed definition and properties
  • 💡 Real-world analogies
  • 📊 Performance characteristics
  • 🏢 Example applications
  • ⚖️ Trade-offs and limitations

🏦 Banking Transfer Scenario

Alice transfers $30 from Account A ($100) to Account B ($50). How do different consistency models handle concurrent reads?

Transfer Transaction: Read A: $100 Write A: $70 Read B: $50 Write B: $80
Concurrent Read: Read A: $70 Read B: $80 ✅ Consistent State
Strict Serializable: The concurrent read sees either the complete before-state (A=$100, B=$50) or the complete after-state (A=$70, B=$80). Never a partial state that would violate the transfer invariant.

💬 Social Media Feed Scenario

Alice posts "Hello World!" then comments "My first post!". How do different users see this sequence?

Alice: Post: "Hello World!" Comment: "My first post!"
All Users See: ✅ Post before Comment (causally ordered)
Causal Consistency: All users must see the post before the comment since the comment causally depends on the post. However, concurrent posts from different users can appear in any order.

📈 Performance vs Consistency Trade-offs

Consistency

Strongest

Availability

Not Available

Performance

~500ms latency

🎯 Use Case Recommendations

🏦 Financial Systems: Strict Serializable Critical correctness, can tolerate high latency
⚙️ Configuration Systems: Linearizable Need strong consistency for coordination
💬 Social Media: Causal Consistency Preserve conversation flow, allow concurrency
🌐 CDN/DNS: Eventual Consistency Prioritize availability and performance