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Distributed systemsCase 03 of 05

Lamport / vector clocks (causal ≠ UTC order)

Causal order and UTC order are different relations. A can happen-before B while A's UTC timestamp is later, because of queue delay, retry, or skew. Event sourcing and multi-agent systems need the causal order.

Class
Case to account for
Affects
1 conversion
01

Detection

Downstream logic depends on ordering across nodes/agents.

02

Mitigation

01
Carry a Lamport or vector timestamp (or a hybrid logical clock) for ordering; keep UTC for wall-clock reporting.
03

Affected conversions

semantics
OPEN