How to Keep Distributed Systems Consistent: Versioning vs Vector Clocks

Optimistic locking laughs in the face of traditional locking's sluggishness. It just checks that data remains unchanged before a write—dodging deadlocks and ditching lock overhead like yesterday’s news. Meanwhile, sequential version numbers deliver the knockout punch to timestamps when it comes to maintaining order. They sidestep race conditions and spot missing updates in distributed systems without breaking a sweat.