Distributed Consensus

Computer Science research fellow of Cambridge University, Heidi Howard discusses Paxos, Raft, and distributed consensus in distributed systems alongside with her work “Paxos vs. Raft: Have we reached consensus on distributed consensus?” She goes into detail about the leaders in Paxos and Raft and how The Raft Consensus Algorithm actually inspired her to pursue her PhD. Paxos vs Raft paper: Leslie Lamport paper “part-time Parliament” Leslie Lamport paper "Paxos Made Simple" Twitter : @heidiann360 Thank you to our sponsor Monday.com!

Guest

Heidi Howard: I am a Senior Researcher in the Confidential Computing group at Microsoft Research Cambridge. My research sits at the intersection between the theory and practice of distributed computing, with a focus on developing resilient and trustworthy distributed computer systems. Previously, I was a Research Fellow in Computer Science at Cambridge University’s Trinity Hall(opens in new tab), an Affiliated/Visiting Researcher at VMware Research(opens in new tab), and an Affiliated Lecturer at Cambridge University’s Department of Computer Science and Technology(opens in new tab). I received my Ph.D. from Cambridge University in 2019 for my research on Distributed Consensus(opens in new tab). I am probably best known for my work on the Paxos algorithm, and in particular, the invention of Flexible Paxos(opens in new tab). Opens in a new tab