Latency Components¶

Network latency decomposes into propagation delay (distance/speed of light), transmission delay (message size/bandwidth), queuing delay (waiting in buffers), and processing delay (computation at each hop); understanding which component dominates guides optimization.

Tension Addressed¶

Reliability vs. Latency; Simplicity vs. Performance

Recognizable As¶

Performance profiling categories, pipeline stage analysis, critical path identification, bandwidth-delay product calculations

Canonical Sources¶

Kleinrock, "Queueing Systems" (1975); Grigorik, "High Performance Browser Networking" (2013)

Transfers To¶

Performance optimization, capacity planning, system design (where to place components), any latency-sensitive system

Propagation delay is bounded by physics (speed of light); transmission delay depends on infrastructure investment; queuing delay is the primary target for optimization in congested systems.