Partition Tolerance
In plain terms
A system's ability to keep working despite network splits.
Going deeper
Partition tolerance means the system continues operating even when network failures split nodes into groups that can't communicate. It's one corner of the CAP theorem.
Under the hood
In a partition, CAP forces a choice between consistency and availability; real distributed systems must tolerate partitions.
Examples
CAP theorem, network failures, distributed databases, resilience, design tradeoffs.
Think of it like...
Like a company still functioning when phone lines between offices go down.