Latency and throughput are two key metrics used to evaluate the performance of a system, especially in networking and computing. Latency refers to the delay or time it takes for a unit of work to be completed, while throughput measures the amount of work completed within a given time period. Essentially, latency is about how fast a single operation is, and throughput is about how much work the system can handle overall. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Latency is often measured in milliseconds (ms) and represents the time it takes for a request to be processed and a response to be received. For example, in a web server, latency would be the time between sending an HTTP request and receiving the corresponding HTTP response. High latency means slower response times, while low latency indicates faster processing. [1, 5, 6, 7]
Throughput, on the other hand, is a measure of the rate at which a system can process requests or data. It's typically expressed as the number of operations or amount of data per unit of time (e.g., requests per second, bytes per second). For a web server, throughput would be the number of requests the server can handle per second. A higher throughput means the system can handle more work in a given time frame. [1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10]
In simpler terms: [1, 5, 6]
• Latency: How long does it take for one thing to happen? [1, 5, 6]
• Throughput: How many things can happen in a given time? [1, 7]
Example:
Imagine an assembly line manufacturing cars. [11]
• Latency: The time it takes to build one car.
• Throughput: The number of cars produced per day.
Relationship between Latency and Throughput:
While latency and throughput are distinct concepts, they are often related. Optimizing one may impact the other. For example, splitting a large task into smaller, faster sub-tasks might reduce latency for each sub-task but could increase overhead and reduce overall throughput if the sub-tasks involve significant communication or synchronization. [1, 4, 12, 13]
AI responses may include mistakes.
[1] https://aws.amazon.com/compare/the-difference-between-throughput-and-latency/[2] https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-latency-and-throughput[3] https://sybase91.medium.com/system-design-basics-part-4-latency-throughput-and-availability-99d5e0cfaa11[4] https://blog.dreamfactory.com/latency-vs.-throughput-in-distributed-rate-limiting[5] https://www.fortinet.com/resources/cyberglossary/latency[6] https://www.haproxy.com/glossary/what-is-throughput[7] https://medium.com/@sidharth.shukla19/throughput-vs-latency-in-performance-of-api-or-applications-0977c7b3e1a9[8] https://www.techtarget.com/searchnetworking/definition/throughput[9] https://www.browserstack.com/guide/throughput-in-performance-testing[10] https://help.swarmia.com/throughput[11] https://community.cadence.com/cadence_blogs_8/b/fv/posts/understanding-latency-vs-throughput[12] https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/performance/glossary/what-is-latency/[13] https://medium.com/@apurvaagrawal_95485/latency-vs-throughput-c6c1c902dbfa
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