The CAP theorem's widely-taught 'two-out-of-three' framing is technically shaky and an incomplete theory of distributed data systems.

NeetCode says the popular CAP theorem is oversimplified, and felt vindicated when researcher Martin Kleppmann published a critique of it. ✦ AI generated

NeetCode (Navdeep Singh) · The Pragmatic Engineer · 2026-06-24 · original ↗

The CAP theorem’s “two-out-of-three” framing is widely taught, but technically shaky. Neet believes this theory of distributed data systems is incomplete, and says he felt validated when researcher and author Martin Kleppmann criticized it. It’s a reminder to think independently and not accept theories without understanding them.

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