Distributed computing uses a network of computers to perform tasks faster and allows for open interaction. The World Wide Web is an example of distributed computing, with each computer assigned a role. Grid computing uses idle processor power and SETI@Home is an example. Home computers also use multiprocessing and multithreading.
Distributed computing uses a network of many computers, each performing a part of an overall task, to get a computational result much faster than a single computer. In addition to a higher level of computing power, distributed computing also allows many users to interact and connect openly. Different forms of distributed computing allow for different levels of openness, with most people accepting that a higher degree of openness in a distributed computing system is beneficial.
The segment of the Internet that most people are most familiar with, the World Wide Web, is also the most recognizable use of distributed computing in the public arena. Many different computers make possible everything you do while surfing the Internet, with each computer assigned a special role within the system.
A home computer is used, for example, to run the browser and to break down the information sent, making it accessible to the end user. A server at your Internet Service Provider acts as a gateway between your home computer and the Internet. These servers talk to the computers that make up the domain name system, to help decide which computers to talk to based on the URL entered by the end user. Also, each web page is hosted on another computer.
Another type of distributed computing is known as grid computing. Grid computing consists of many computers operating together remotely and often simply using the idle processor power of regular computers. The most visible example of this form of distributed computing is the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) At Home Project. SETI uses the processing power of more than five million home computers to use far more computing power than even the largest supercomputers. SETI provides free software that a home user can install on a computer. The software runs when the computer is left idle, and each computer with the software contacts a central server in Berkeley and downloads a 250k file that tells it what to analyze. The distributed computing system then analyzes this data for specific patterns, which in theory represent a high probability of intelligent design.
Many home computers are also examples of distributed computing, albeit less drastic ones. By using multiple processors in the same machine, a computer can run separate processes and achieve a higher level of efficiency than it would otherwise. Many home computers now take advantage of multiprocessing, as well as a similar practice known as multithreading, to achieve much faster speeds than their single processor counterparts.
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